The true Democrat., 1855-09-18

IS cOnSollnS 10 witness the ndenty WltH WHICH the democratic party everywhere adhere to the primitive doctrines which prevailed in the earlier and better days of the Republic.
 The democracy of Pennsylvania have recent ly held State convention, and we earnestly commend the following extracts from their address to the people of that State, to the care and sober consideration of our readers:
 We have again to confront the same issues that were made in 1799, and to fight for the same principles that convulsed this country then, and in vindicating which Jefferson trl- umphed and Madison earned the love and gra- titude of thankful people, The insignificant and minor subjects of difference that have for some time past divided the public men of the country, are all obliterated by the magnitude of the question now before you. Your opponents under deluding and tempting cry, have at last, with forced and compulslve candor, ac- knowledged that they wish to establish two principles:
 l. That none but those born in this country shall enjoy the rights of citizenship.
 2 That there shall be established a religious test for office.
 To reach these ends the constitution of the United States must be changed or its provisions evaded, and the spirit of our democratic repub- lican forms of government thus altogether sub- verted. The declaration of Independence it. self charged upon the King of Great Britain as one of the most serious grievances under which we had suffered that "he had endea- vored to prevent the population of these States for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of land" The complaint thus made was part of the first public protest of united people against arbitrary authority, and in favor of hu- man rights The reason that then prompted this, have been ever since acknowledged as an element of our institutions that has secured to us the confidence of mankind, and been the l first great cause of our marvellous success as a people.
 When the defects of the confederation were made apparent and the necessities of the pub lie called for more stable and perfect form of union, the constitution was adopted; among Its most conspicuous provisions was the authotlty delegated to Congress to establish unl- form rule of naturalization and in the very last clause of the very last section of that instrument the following words were inserted "No RELIGIOUS TEST SHALL EVER | BE REQUIRED AS QUALlflCAIlON 1O AM UT FICE OR PUBLIC TRUST UNDER THE UNITED STATES" Thus sealing, as 1t were, the bond of our Union with the sacred and rational prin- ciple of the liberty of conscience and the right of private judgment.
 When the constitution was submitted to the States for their adoption, it is to be remember ed that New Hampshire, New York, Pennsyl vania, and Virginia, all ratified 1t with a solemn declaration of rights, which they set forth as explanations consistent with 1t and which could not be abridged or vioated as amendments thereto. Rhode Island and North Carolina, In a spirit of sturdy resistence to abSolutsm and of manly devotion to the cause of liberty, tor thclr own SakeS, for the sake of their posterlty, and | for the sake of the human race, reaSserted the doctrines and dogmas of the bill of rights, and for while declined to ratify the constitution until these sacred and inviolable principles of natural right were acknowledged and adopted as part of its text and in all of these proposed amendments were incorporated d solemn de- claration ill favor of civil and religious liberty 1 At the first session of the first Congress the amendments to the constitution were adopted and subsequently, ratified by the States, and the first article of those amendm ents set the question at rest forever by declaring that CON GREss SHALL MAKE NO LAWS RESPECTING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF"
 It is worthy of observation that when in convention it was proposed by MT. Pickney to add to the sixth article the clause prohibiting a religious test that Mr. Sherman thought 1t un- necessary, the prevailing liberality being sui Gcent security against such test, after which Mir. Gouverneur Morris and Gen. Pinckney approved the motion, and it was carried
 
 too we'll aware of the disastrous consequent ces attendant on any interference by the State with the religious opinions of its citizens. The bloody record of fanatical persecution was spread out before them, and in it they read of these atrocities that were the darkest stains upon the character of the human race. From the earliest days down to their own time had the history of mankind shown that its advance ments in civilization had been retarded, and sometimes almost stilled in the ferocious con- tiicts between contending sects and extermna- ting propagandsm. In all parts of the world had lire and faggot, the sword and the spear brutalzed men into implicit obedience to reli- gious opinions they did not understand, and faiths at which their consCienceS revOted.- From religious persecution had their fathers fled, and by emi grafton had their soverei igntes been established. Up to that time, by Gods providence, had this land been the refuge of op- pressed men, and with Gods protection they were resolved to dedicate their country to the cause of civilization and religious freedom, and from that day to this time has their noble work remained, untouched. May it last for ever!
 But now, after we have enjoyed the bles- sings of these sacred provisions, has a party arisen in our midst, and with secret, oath bound combinations, resolved to blot out this pure and fe-giving principle, and by force and violence of law restrain and abridge the liberties of men and limit their civil rights by an odlous and i'm pious religious test. Ascitizens of this mighty republic, as members of the great democratic party, as men for the sake of mankind at large, we call upon you to resist this sacrllege and rehuke those conspirators against the honor and dignity of our constitution and laws.
 Our constitution was not wrested from the re- luctant hands of lawless kings. It was the free compact of free sovereignties of freemen, made with each other for their own domestic advantages in the common cause of human freedom, and for the perpetuation of human rights. Our commercial and public necessities, and our political principles, all prompted us to encourage emigration, and by its healthful inhu- ehce nave we prospered as people. we nave multiplied in our inhabitants. We have in- creased in our wealth and grown mighty with a population that has been driven to us for shel- ter, and to whom we are pledged before the world to secure the rights of civil and religious liberty, and upon whom we are likewise pledg- ed as democrats, to confer the rights of cit- zenship as the inalienable righ of manhcod.- In the making of the laws that govern them, they as freemen have right to participate. To refuse them that right would be impolitic, illegal, and inhuman. By adopting them we have secured the services of men skilled in all the mysteries of the mechanic arts, and we have dispoiled Europe, and European Monar- chies of greater sources of national and person. al property, individual happiness and public renown, than if we had conquered in a hun dred fights Treat them as aliens, disqualfy