to attaint men for their religion, and also for their birth. If this object can prevail, vain are the triumphs of civil freedom in its many hard-fought fields, vain is that religious toleration which we all profess. The fires of Smithfield, the tortures of the Inquisition, the proscriptions of non-conformists, may all be revived. It was mainly to escape these outrages, dictated by a dominant religious sect, that our country was early settled, in one place by Quakers, who set at nought all forms; in another by Puritans, who disowned bishops; in another by Episcopalians, who take their name from bishops; and in yet another by Catholics, who look to the pope as their spiritual father. Slowly among sects was evolved the great idea of the equality of all men before the law, without regard to religious belief; nor can any party now organize a proscription merely for religious belief, without calling in question this unquestionable principle. . . . The history of our country in its humblest as well as most exalted spheres testifies to the merits of foreigners. Their strong arms have helped furrow our
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main body,” said he, “it may still show a brief vitality, as a head of a turtle still bites for some days after it is severed from the neck, but can have no permanent existence.”
“It is proposed,” he as justly as eloquently remarked,
B. B. Russell, 1874.
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