Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1855-05-15

ouinou, or belief but that all linen shall he free to proiets
ri hr nruu.u 10 maintain their opiunss IN matter, Of
ro,6p and tha the SHINE sl'hil III no Wise diminish,
i.rrn or strct shfir civil rhphciiies
a., ,hnurh well know thPt this Assembly elected
onnc for the ordinary purpuecs of c,islniior ONLY
,, or 10 restrain the OF succeeding assemblies
cnns,uted with powers equal 10 and that there
f to this net 10 DO irrcvocabs. would c
tot in law vet FREQ to declare and do declare ,ut
,ho hereby asserted OF the natural rirfs
Sni aud that any act sh" be hereafter passed Ia repeal
the or to nnrrow its operation such will hr
Infringement ui haiurnirlght.
By that act you find ii is declared that all attempts
10 influence tho mind in respect TO its Creator hv tenn
poral punishment, burden, civil Interpretation,
only tend to beget hypocrisy and mcanne-As and
departure from tho plan OF the Holy Author of
religion. who, being Lord both of body aud mind ye,
chooses not to propagate it by force, being careful in
other parts 10 denounce the mpious presumption ui
Legislators aud rulers, who had assumed dominion over
the faith Of others, setting up their opinions "n
modes OF thinking us the only true and nfallbe, and
endeavorng to impose them others; that our cri!
rights have no dependence our religious, any moro
than our opinions III physics geometry; that, there
FORE the prescribing any citizen as unworthy OF inc
public confidence or laying upon him any incapaciiy
Of being elected TO office of trust cmuurien un-
less he profossrS ronouncss this that religious
opinion, is depriving him njurously Of those Priri-
leges and Ssntsces to which, in common WIN h"
fellow ctzsns, he Inns nat urnl right that IL tehis 10
corrupt the principle of that religion which 1t IL
meant to encourage, md therefore proclnim6 ns the
law of tho lund that man shal be tih"rced' re-
strained, molested burdcned i'll his body or C"'i'
nor shall otherwise suffer account 0i his religious
opinions or belief; that all mon shall be free 10 p'
fess and by argument to maintain their Opinions Ill
lnattcrs Of roll ,ion uni that the same shall IN u"
wise dtm'1ish, enI'rSc or "y"cs their ci'h c"p"'i
| ties
| Now II understand the doctrine Of the Know-No-
things they violate not only every principle ol tnis
act but they violate its very terms III many respects
for they do propose. on tho one hand, 10 earSc .e
I,.rkh
capacities of Others because of their religious opt
MONS Thus they exclude the Catholic, because oi
hs religious opinions, thereby declaring that ihe
others alone, who either have no religion, or proeSS
q different religion from the Catholic-tluS strangely
confouuding and identifying the man without Religion
with tho religious Puritan-sha be alone qunIitcH L"
fill or hold any Office to that extent therefore, en-
lwgnG the privileges of the privilcsed cn"t, %h,I"
they do not diminish mnrey y, but destroy absolutely
the rights of the excluded class.
You may expel the Catholics from the oihces hhh
honors of the counry-(by the way, IN al my Know,
ledge OF the Legislature of Virginia, never khe"
hut one Catholic TO be member ui II, and he was MI
Irishman and Wing, and doubt not is now hno"
Nothing, a Naive American know-No,hng, for
have seen TINT extraordinary thing, Naive Auicr
can Know Nothing Irirhm@n)-you may, say "1pcl
,h. Catholics from tho offices aud hunorr Of the couu-
try aud rou NAV deprive them of the privilege, nt
citizens, while You impose all tho buricns" citizen
ship upon them-yuu may, hs doubtless Yun VIII, II
this war shall bo successfu bring them 10 tho stake,
and proclaim that you burning them for freedom,
and to purify religion, shameless and impi"us cruel
ty as il will be- but there is thing that You cannot
deprive them of and will not, apprchcnd, be 'is-
posed to deprive them Of and that Is the disposition
aud the capacity to perform tho Offices of their r-li.
gon 10 the sick and suffering tho dying and rester
| tial
| cannot forbear to relate to you m incident
here that occurred under my own ahser'utinn Many
of YOU lcaat, know that there formerly, IN the
ctv a Catholic Priest called father o Briru. hap
pened 10 know him, nnd found Him scnsible and, "A
it scomcd to inc, kind-hearted mnn One day. when
the chncru was raging through our city; when The
hearses were Inadequate to supply the demands "i
the grave for victims md even furniture wagons
were put in rcqmisition; when the pe,ilencc
seemed 10 have overloaded and 70 charged
the atmosphere with poison, that II was
hardly rcspirable, | was passing down the
street, and not fur from the nf the Cnth".:c
Church. met with father O'Bren. ! sud TO linn.
after the ordinary salutn"n. "fathcr Ol'ren sup
the signs sec abSf be terrific to-day not only from
pressure Of the atmosphere, which ,"o
thick 10 breathe, which III" physicians rhy Is clarac-
teristic of the prevalence of the pestcntia poison
Yes, sir said he ii is very bad have been all the
morning engaged performing the lust Offices for the
dying, and have just now left house in which there
were three dead before i LETT. and twC more
that ] suppose are dead BY this timo.' "And
how is it," said l. ''that hear much more of
you iu the chambers Of disease and snnng the
victims Of pestlcnce, than OF any other Minister -
WELL" snid he Il know not; probably more Of my
people may Le assaulted with it, but it il moro natural
and proper that should be there, because am but
one on this earth havo no wfe or children, To whom
upon my lips my Clothes ! might bear the pes
thence that would consume them II went among
them. have nothing therefore, to restrain me fr"m
a full performance of the duty which my Master re.
qnres at my hands Perhaps # had | would, and
properly too in regard for the living who would b."
denr to inc, abstain somewhat more from con-
tact with tho dying. But M il H. il pesience
should seize upon me, it will only terminate, n little
sooner, that career which can't be very long and
minister and servant l am, to receive, il he should
deem worthy of it, tho reward Of my lttc labors
here"
ldont know my counrymen, what You may think
of that man, and tho Of Justice that should
be dealt out to him. but, confess have always
thought that, instead Of forfeiting his claim to the
rights and privileges OF actYen by surh spirit and
such conduct, he had establiahcd lis right to them
by this most sacred OF all titles.
| To such extraordinary extent docs their
candidate for Governor Mr. Flou-nny carry
bis bigotry, that while he professes to
be the leuder Of the American party, he de-
nounees Americans and proposes to exclude them
from al the offices of tho country not because
they not natives becnute they foreigners.
not because they are not patriots not because they arc
wanting in intelligence, not because they are vicinus
not in short because they ara not sincerc, pious
christians, but because h-y are not cbratias inter
his faith, aud do not worship God after his ia
shion or after the faith and fashion Of some Of
the sects OF whom he ia the proclaimed leader
Nor is this oil: C"nceding that they are CatiI"-
lics, tor that IL assumed IN tho donunclaiions
Of them, and concedng a1o that they are Christians,
for Catholics are Christians, ne proposes utterly to eX-
cude them from any participation in any Of the Off
ees; thnt a to exclude Them from all the offices Of tho
government, because they not ft for office ON
account Of the religion they profess and despite of all
the other good qualltic. they may possers native
inhdel; in other words, mun may be disbeliever
in Christ and boot at a the doctrines Of revelation
and conversion, and yet il he is not as great fool
as to say, what probably one man in thousand
silly enough to say that there il God tha all this
beautiful world OF ours into existence by accident
that this very light that now llumnes the hail III which
Ispek and you listen, ia tho work Of chance, because
by chance the con WIS formed, as nlso the men
by whose con'1ned agency the gas was made winch
gives light that order out of chaos came by chance
and violating every rule md Law ofnauro and making
accidents the results OF aws he prOcaims there IL M
God; he ID qualified tu fill any otice-though he may
never have labored day for himself or his coun-
try, spent hour in the service of his Creator or
serious meditation of ln-ho lis better fitted to fill
all otfico than native Christian because. by chance
he was born upon the soil which he has done
nothing but dishnnnr from his birth for nstiveisn
necessarily excludes all other qualities, however
great, however admirable, borrower strong i'll com
bnation, when brought IN competition.
confess, that, entertaining as did, high personal
respect for Mr. Flournoy read that letter Of his
with amazemcn in which, as he said, he proposed
| to exclude men us well bred, men us we'll born, men
as Intelligent, men rs vir,uous himself, men who
| clan Us much paternity of tho sol az he can,
from the lowest office in the government, while he as
pires TO the highest, because they worship God in
one form, and he in another. Thus, for instance, if
one should be born of Catholic parents who were
born of Catholic parents too who. not only were "a
tholics but were Americans who, not only were Anne
reans, but were Eirsinuns, who, not only were lir-
giniurs but may have shed their blood, lost a life
in defence of thut country which gave them birth.
and of that flag which is drsccruted to the pur-
poses of secret and anatca association, who wor-
shipped God after the fashion Of his ancestors be-
cause hs mother had in the moment of helpless inno-
eence and infancy impressed upon him her own Pious