Fair play., 1892-09-10

longed to another man. And now his
voice is lifted mp in the land again, cry
ing for a New Missouri"
FATHER CUMMINGS CASE.
Mr.. Chairman, ] might go on in
definitely. almost ad intinitum, calling
up these cases of political persecution,
which are part of the history of the
state The reports of the supreme
court from 1865 to 1874 are full of them.
There were a half dozen or more cases
pending at one term of that court in
lS6T-indictments of lawyers, teachers
and preachers for the crime OF practis-
ing their several professions without
first having the so-ca!lcd oath OF
loyalty" Sir, | could recite some har-
rowing stories of bitter wrong, of un-
relenting persecution. ! could tell you
how one young man, only Il years old
when the war began, the son
of a widow, was disfranchised be-
cause he had an uncle in the con-
fedcrate army, for whom he acknoyl-
edged, on being examined. he would
have synpathizei if he had been in
trouble. could tell you how a young
girl, whose father had been killed in
the confederate army, and who alone
supported her invalid mother, was in
dictcd for the crime of teaching school,
convicted and imprisoned. | could tell
you how priest was dragged from his
pulpit and murdered in cold blood sim
ply for preaching the the Word of God
| could fill a volnme with these horrible
stories. But | viii refer in detail to but
one additional ease. 1t Will illustrate
how even those whose lives were cOnsc-
Grated to the sacred work of bearing
the Lords holy gospels. with their mes
sagcs of peace and love and hope,
throughout the world, were followed
| with spirit of persecution as savage
and intolerant as ever dishonorcd our
civilization.
Mr.. John \. Cummings was a priest
| in the Roman Catholic church. lie was
indicted in Pike county for preaching;
! was tried, convicted and sentenced.
He appealed to the supreme court of
the state, then composed Of three re-
publican judges. That court in No
vcmber, 1865, affirmed the Judgment of
the circuit court, held the conviction
| lawful and sustained the law under
which it was obtained. Father Cum
mings then appea led to the supreme
court of the United States-that most
august OF all the judicial tribunals in
tbt W. Sttib SouI
elaborate opinion, held the state CON
stitutional provision under which the
conviction was had TO be in conflict
with the constitution of the United
States and supervision of the inalien-
a BILE rights of every American citizen.
| wish to make one or two brief quota
tions from the opinion delivered in that
case. The court said:
The oath prescribed by the constitu-
ton, divided into separate parts, en-
| braces more than thirty distinct atfirlna-
tionS or tests. Some of the acts against
which it is directed constitute offcnses
of the highest grade, to which, upon
conviction, heavy penalties are attached.
Some of the acts have never been
classcd as otfenses in the laws of any
state, and some of the acts, under many
circumstances, would not even be
blameworthy.
The oath thus required is, for its
severity, without any precedent that
| we can discover. In the first place it is
| retrospective; it embraces all the past
from this day; and, if taken ten years
| hence, it will also cover all the inter
vening period. In its retrospective
feature we believe it is peculiar to this
country. In England and France there
have been test oaths, but they we're
always limited to an affirmation
| of present belief or present dis
| position toward the government, and
| were never cxacted with reference to
particular instances of past miscon-
duet. In the second place, the oath is
| directed not merely against overt and
| visible acts of hostility to the govern
ment. but is intended to reach words,
desires and sympathics also. And in
| the third place, it allows no distinction
| between acts springing from malignant
| enmity and acts which may have been
prompted by charity, or affection or re-
| lationship. If one has ever expressed
sympathy with any who We're drawn
| into the rebellion, even if the recip-
| tents of that sympathy We're connected
| bv the closest ties of blood, he is as I'M
able to subscribe to the oath as the
| most active and the most cruel of the
rebels. and is equally debarred from
| the Offices of honor or trust, and the
| positions and employments specified. y
Such was the stern judicial denunci-
alton OF this barbarouS and wicked law
by the highest court in the republic.
| The state court was directed ito dis
charge the defendant from imprison
| ment, and suffer him to depart without
day." Thus at last the prison dooi
| swung open, the sunlight fell athwar'
| the dungeon, and this man of Goo
| wa liked forth free once more to do hi:
| part in lifting the world up and making
men better therein.
NOT ANCIENT HISTORY.
| Mr.. Chairman. have not been recit
| ing ancient history nor foreign history
it is both modern and domestic. 1t i
not OF Poland's sad, pathetic story
have been speaking. These are no
| sorrows that come sobbing out of thu
midnight which has hung starless fol
| 700 wears above the Emerald Isle
These are not stories born on the shiv
ering winds blown down from tha
mighty despotism in northern Europe
where men are hunted like wild beast
and driven like cattle into hopeless
exile. have been telling You simpl,
of what occurred here in Missouri onl,
twenty years ago, when the republican
party was triumphant in this state
and when the laws it put upon tn
statute books were being inforccd b,
the officers of its own choosing.
have been speaking of the same oeriot
in our history to which Maj. Warne
referred, and of the same politica
party whose achievements Maj. War
ner applauded. l thought, since thu
ma ior had invited comparison and in
dulged in historical rcminiscence, tn
Young men of the state should know
something more of the past than h
seemed disposed to give them.
thought would simply tear the vel
away and let all the ghostly skeleton
out.
STONE NOT INToLEHANT.
Mr.. Chairman. perhaps | had as wei
pause here. before leaving this recor
of priest butchering and political an'
religious intolerance, to notice an ot
scrvation in Maj Warmers Sedali
speech. In that speech he used thi
language:
.sIn ushering in the dawn of the Ney
Missouri. ask. what believe will re
ceivc. the votes of tie men who bcliev
that neither the religious belief or tn
place or birth of candidate should b
a sufficient shibboleth to entitle him I
nomination or election
What did Maj. Warner mean by tha
insinuation? spoken in connection