The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-08-18

WAITER {, DI NION, Il5liitl VI huNidiffs
JEROME b. BROMLEY, District OF rairhH'rn.
-------------
TO WORSHIP GDD IA
VElsuONr.
/. there is any one thing upon which the
whole American people are agreed IN, it is
belief in religious tolc.ation. The first set
;l-neu, Of the ccuuuy was the result OF a
pcrseculi n for conscience sake. and the
organic law OF the nation. as well It's OF
every state in the Union. recognizes the
right Of every man to worship God accord |
ing to the dictate. ot his own conscience. |
We know of no right Tor which American |
citizens would contend more earnestly, yet, |
if Judge Wheeler is correct, Il large Lum-
Der of children are deprived of that right !
save on Sunday. Cur readers will remem-
Der that some weeks ago, over one hundred
children were expelled from the public
schools of Brattleboro for being absent
without the permission of their teachers,
but by the consent and direction of their
parents, for the purpose Of attending relig-
ious worship or mass on "Corpus Christi
day. Soon thereafter, one or more of the
parents, acting for all, applied to Judge
Wheeler for a mandamus compelling the
committee, superintendent or teachers,
whoever might have the authority so
to do, to reinstate these children
in school which mandamus he has
refused to grant, giving his reasons therefor
in an elaborate opinion. AS the real
essence of this case and of Judge Wheeler's
decision lies in very narrow compass, we
propose to examine it as briefly as possible,
our attention being called to the snhjeei by
the Boston Pilot In doing this, we shall
allow Judge Wheeler to speak for himself
to a considerable eXtent-belieying that he
has answered himself more completely than
we an-accompanying the same with run
ming comments of our own. We do this
with extreme diflidence, because Judge
Wheeler is a man learned in the law while
we are ere layman. We have for our
excuse the desire to defend religious tolera-
ton and liberty of conscience in the good
old state of Vermont. We do not say that
he is wrong in his law; but we do say that
either he is wrong or that the school COM
mittee of Brattleboro have committed a
most grievous wrong against the liberty of
conscience which the courts can rectify
and we firmly believe that both are wrong.
Let us see, in the first place, the nature
of the day on which these children were
absent from school, the day on which they
were required to be present, and for absent.
ing themselves on which, by the directions
of their parents, they were expelled. We
will let Judge Wheeler describe it, for he
certainly, would not use any stronger Ian,
guage than it would bear. He says
"Pope Urban w., in the year 1854, ap
pointed Thursday of the week after Pente
cost for the celebration of the feast called
Corpus Christi, and since then this festva
has been kept as one of the greatest in thu
Roman Catholic church, and the day is ONT
on which there is a strict obligation OF
members of that church to hear mass and re
frain from servile works" For non-atten
dance at school on this day, these children
were expelled. They could not attenC
school without violating their religious du
ties, yet they were refused permission t.
be absent. They could not violate thei
conscience and VOWS by attending an
were, therefore, expelled, and Judg
Wheeler refuses to reinstate them. Blu
what reason does he give for his refusal
After stating the constitutional provision
in reference to the right to worship Go
according to the dictates of their own cor
science and that no person shall b
deprived of their civil rights, he quote
the statutory provision making it tn
duty of certain officers TO 'ador
all requisite measures for the il
"speclion, examination and regulatio
of the schools, and for the improvement {
the scholars in learning" We call particl
lar attention to this provision ON accoul
of the strange, and as it seems 20 us ridict
lous, use made thereof by the Judge. ii
then, after the passage first quoted, state
in substance that the orators-who are Ill
representatives of the children--haye
perfect a right to keep this festival as la,
the members of other religious denomini
tons to worship according to their usage
but that the constitution and LAWS only T.
gard the Sabbath. In other words, tn
under our constitution and laws, no persc
has right to worship God except Sun6a
and II he does SO worship the laws affol
him no protection. We are very strong
of the opinion that our laws protect a
bodies assembled for religious worship, I
matter what the day of the week may be
and that the constitution expressly declar
that no man shall be interfered with Z"
the free exercise of religious worship" "
are strongly of the opinion, moreover, tn
article four of part one of our CONSTITUTE,
has reference to something else besid
mere worship on the Sabbath. And Y
challenge any one to read that section, al
rise from the reading of 1t with the lea
idea that, except in one clause, it was /
tended to refer to Sunday more than a,
other day of the week.