The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1898-03-05

that this case will not be allowed to
drag indefinitely, as the public. IN
terest, as we'll as that of the accused,
demands that; it be promptly tried.
The accusation against Mr..
Avant is that he collected from the
parish the sum of 500 for Mr..
Thompson Hofpauir. and that he
turned over to that gentleman only
s45, leaving balance of SIS un-
accounted for. Whether or not
the action of the Police Jury will
have any connection with the trial
Of the case remains to be seen.
lNR. HES7ER'.S ORDINANCE.
Mr.. Hester has introduced an Or
dinance in the Constitutional Con
vention which will hardly meet with
the approval of the sensible mem
is that no man in Louisiana shall
vote or hold Office unless ne be
lieves in Supreme Being. If
there are any religious cranks in
vote for Mr.. Ees:er's bill, but we
are confident that his iil-conceived
measure will find very few sup
por:ers among the gentlemen com
posing the Convention. The adop-
ton Of this narrovninded ordi-
nance would mean the death of re-
ligious liberty in Louisia' n. Such
Intolerance as Mr.. Hester proposes
is more in accord with the spirit of
bigotry that prevailed during the
Dark Ages than with the enlightened
ideas Of this century. The advo-
Gates OF the Hester ordinance
s, ouid he unceremoniouslY sat
down upon by the other members
OF the Convention and Mr.. Hester
should be taught that he was not
sent to the Constitutional Ccnven-
ton to look after the spiritual well
fare of the people of Louisiana.
Should the supporters of this short
sighted ordinance be successful in
ENGRAVING their peculiar notions Of
government in the organic law of
the State their next step will
doubtlessly be to prescribe par
.icular mode Of worship for every
citizen who would exercise the
right Of suffrage.
That usually sensible and broad
minded journal, The Daily States,
saws Of this ordinance.
s.There is no man in the history of
America so abhorred by churchmcn Tom
Paine. No man has been SO mathematical
held up agent of hell-as man to be
held in detestation, abhorred and stoned by
the people. Yet man did more to bring
about the American Revolution that re-
suited in our independence and religious
freedom than did this same blacklisted
statesman, patriot and large-hearted man.
His services in the Revolution were not
second to those of Jefferson, Mason, Henry
and Adams; and he was held in the highest
estimation, honor and affection by George
Washington himself. Yet. under Mr.. Hes
ter's qualification, Tom Paine and all who
believe with him would be proclaimed an
infidel; he would be refused the right to
register, and he would not be allowed to
vote IN an clcCuOn IN a country whose Tree
dom, independence and republican insttu-
tons he did more than any other man living
dead to establish.
can yet, Paine was not an infidel; he was
not, indeed, Christian; but he believed
in an everything Providence; and no mans
writings more replete with noble views
and high sentiments than those of this de-
spsed author. Mr.. Hester say, s.But
if he believed in Supreme Being he would
not be DISTINGUISHED by my qualification
Aye; but if, despite his noble writings; his
patriotic life; his services to liberty and the
elevation of man, he is still denounced as
an infidel, what chance, under such quail
6cation, would meaner men, whose only
crime is nonbelief in the divinity Of Christ.
have?
''But before the Convention adopts Mr..