The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1855-06-01
For the Western Democrat.


will, communications which. know, can al best
only claim secondary consideration in point OF
merit, or solicit a place, among The columns oil
your paper for matter to the subject of which |
have not the vanity to presume myself capable OF
doing the most ordinary justice. But, when we
see among US, and around US. factions and CON-
binalions which carry with them The elements OF
destruction to our Constitutions, and inevitable
ruin 10 our time. bonored institutions, such re.
quest may be reasonably asked. and as reasona.
bly, granted, when our Widows mite is cast into
the scale Of Human Rights and Religious 10te.
aytion. Il u.s. TO the man who honors tho land that
gave him birth, who respects the government un-
der which his fortunes have been cast. who cher
ishes the history Of his country, and reveres the
patriotism that achieved for Us the independence
we now enjoy, no matter OF Indifference to stand
by n silence, with our hands folded, and quietly
see the noble institutions Of our revolutionary
fathers, won at the cost Of so much blood and
treasure, prostituted to the venai and degraded
purposes Of seIi-aggrandizement, and the elevation
Of one political faction above another. For wha,
purposes but these, is it that an organization has
christian crusade mmenced against the limo.
cent and unofending foreign population of our
country, who have no sin to answer for, save that
of being born in another land-no crime for
which to atone, other than that OF exercising as
citizens the privileges guaranteed to them by the
IiberaIily OF our Constitution. Against Catholicism,
too, has been raised throughout the land, hue
nd Gli in rs 0rI.
gin as mischevous in It's consequences. | am,
Mr.. Editor, no admirer Of the Catholic Church,
its officials, nor the doctrines which they nculcate,
but were it Pagan institution were its members
buried in The grosses darkness OF heather idoa.
try, would as soon extend to them the protec.
ton of our laws, to the church people Of any
other state or nation. Invest Congress with the
power to direct the minds Of men; and to crush
by legislative tyranny that freedom Of opinion the
natural. and inaenable right of every rational
creature, in matters between his conscience and
his God, and what becomes of our humane and
our charitable laws of religious tolera'ion? A
fanaticism and bgotry, unparalleled except by
the blind superstition that swept over fairest por
ton OF Europe, at age when ignorance and
of men, has been sprung with all the baneful con.
sequences of an unjust and tyrannical proscrp.
ton upon the American people, at period when
might have hoped for more suspicious events
in the history of our country. A prescription
and an intolerance, the consequences of which,
we have but 10 turn to the examples furnished US
by the histories of Spain, France, Germany and
r Il = II
tanism. In mcnarchical and despotic govern.
religions intnlnranra from motives of poll.
cy is thought by some TO possess, perhaps, some
shadow of FEASIBILITY. when exerted against ca.
balls and factions, organized for purposes of trea-
son and revolution. Under such forms OF gov.
eminent, as experience in some instances has
shown, is also thought essential to the being
and peace of the nation that the religion Of the
Crown should be the established religion of the
Stale. But in country like ours, where The su-
premacy of no religious sect is acknowledged no
church, no creed, is can be recognized under
the present Constitution, as possessing the only
virtues and the only means by which the souls OF
men TO be saved, but where freedom of thought
and liberty of speech are left free and untram.
Iieeu from TIC PecuilaFllles OF any forms anu cer
emonies, save the dictates of mems own con.
sciences and the revelations Of the divine scrip
lures, where can be The necessity Of waging war
against church the members Of which, from the
earliest times of our history down to the present,
have ever been among the most loyal supporters
OF the Constitution, and the unfinching advocates
of Republican institutions
For arguments 10 stay the progress of Catholi.
cism in America, and TO excite the prejudices of
the people against This unofending class Of ct-
zens, let their enemies point with exu.taon TO the
bloody affairs of Protestant immoation, to the va J..
ley of Piedmont, the desoatlon of chvalrous
Spain, the ruined splendors of classic Italy, the
carnage OF fire and sword that swept like blight.
ing curse over the fruitful fields Of Germany and
the Low Countries; while the bloody exc of re-.
ligious persecution cleaned from chaIky heights
Of England, as if in reponse to the horrid TRACE.
dies that were enacting beneath the sunny skies Of
benighted France. These, Mr.. Editor, NAV be
regarded as SO many reasons why, in this coun.
try, everything like political intolerance and poli,.
ical discrimination in religion, should be met at
once with the stern protest OF the American PEG.
pie, and denounced as foreign to our Constitution,
destructive OF liberties, and at open variance
with the genius of our institutions. These, too.
are the warning voices that speak to US from the