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7 f rrr Doll:, pc- annum
Volumt X.]
From the Baltimore American
. * motion was made at the last session
of tim legislature of North-Ca, oh net
for the cap'/.’;i*n of Mr. f.ic.t>n I
Hr. May a jew. an.! member 01
shat house—alledging hi: disbelief
*f the divine authority of the New
‘> cstan.cut. 7o il mot in: he made
zkc following speech in that bodv,
biha’f of himself is? consti. ::ci:ts.
Ihe speech is aikdreJ to he ft on j
the imfiul: of the moment. A 1
W: c. -id argumentative !
one v:e have seldom seen. j he
metis: was unanimously related 1
I Mr. lie'• y —Though I viil not !
cm i ca! the urprlfe I felt that tl.e <
g r tier’ > .utd have thought pro
pel yesterday to ! ve moved nr;
expulsion from *! • hoiifv. on the
illt deed ground; that I disbelieve
in the i ivine authority of the New
TANARUS lament, without co. fd< ring him
felf bound hy thole tules of -lit
enel.o, which, according to my sense
oi propriety, should have ltd him
to give me f >me previous intima
?• nos his design—yet fit tee lam
btought to the difeuflior., ! feel
prepated to meet the object of his
ft Solution.
I ctituin’v, Mr. S f . .<hary/
rot the delig’i oi the declaration o{
rights trade by the people cf thi:.
.fta:.- in the year *76, and •?’}? day
b ‘ore the Constitution, if it was
rot to concentrate certain great nnj
fundamental rights and principles,
which even the Constitution could
ret impair; for the -14'h feefion of
the latter instrument declares that
the declaration of rig.-its ought nev
er to be violated on any pretence
v. hatever —If there is any apparent
difference between the two instru
ments, they ought ; f pcfT*!>le to be
reconciled. But it there is a final
repugnanre between them, the dec
laration of righ's rruft be cenfider
ed paramount; for I believe it is to
tile Constitution, as the Cor.fiitu
♦ on jc to a law ; ft control- end t!i
rvets it ahloluttlv IS: exclusively.
II then, a belief in the Protestant
rtoglon is required by the Conftitu
fi >n to quality a man for a feat in
his house, and furh qualification is
dispensed with by the declaration of
rii'hts, the provision of the Confti
tutii n must he altogether inopera
tive, as the language oi the bill of
rights is that all men have a natural
ui. 1 unalienable right to worship Al
nighty God according to the dicl
atu of their own confeience. It is
undoubtedly a natural right, and
when it is declared to be an unalien
able one by the people in tlitir orir.
inal capacity, any aitempt to alien
ate it either by the Constitution or
by law, must he vain & fruitlefs.
It ft difficult to conceive ho?.’
nich a provision crept into the Con
uitution, unlcfs it was from thediffi
cnitv the human mind ft els in sud-
Jenly emancipating itlclf from fet
ters r y which it hr; long been en
• h.rined ; ’’.d hoev averse it is to the
manners or the r ‘n'e of the present
day, every gentle...an may fatisly
himftlf bv glancing at tin: religious
hf.li sos the perft-nr wlv i v*.
MONITOR.
WASHING I ON, ( O&oNGiA ) Printed weeklv for SARAH HILLHOUSE.
rious civil offices of this state :
’ here are Presbyterians, Luther
ans Calvinifls, Menonifts, Baptists,
Trinitarians and Unitarians—but
as far as my obfet v: ticn extends,
there are fewer Proteflants in the
Uriel sense of the word tiled by the
convention than of any other per
fuafton; for I suppose they meant
by it the Protestant religion as efl
nblithed by the law ol England.—
Ft r other persuasions we f t houses
of worship i’l almost every part of
th ft ife, but very few for Pn teft
art; so few th.tt ! fear the people
of thi- state would remain unrepre
sented in this house, if that clnuie
ol the Constitution is supposed to
be in force. Solar from believing
in the truths of the VJ articles, 1
will venture to aflirt that a major
ity of the people have never r ad
them.
If a man fhoulJ hold religious
principles incompatible with the
f’vedom and fafety of the slate, I
do not hesitate to pronunce that he
should be excluded from the public
councils of the lame; and I truil,
il I know myielf, tit; one would be
more ready to aid and aftift than
niyfclf. Bur I should really let?
r. ir>fs to fueciiv ar.v known r !.•>’
* e cm
principles which are thu- dan
pen'its. Ir is finely a qtHIFn !>• -
tween a man and his Maker, am!
requires more than human attri
butes to pronounce which rs the
numerous feels prevailing in the
world, is moft a'c pts.de to the I);
ity. If a man fulfils the duties of
that religion, which his education
or his conf< iti:ce has pointed to
him as the true one, no person, 1
hold, in this our land of liberty,
has a right to arraign him at the
bar of any inquisition—At and the
day I rrult is long past, when prin
ciple. merely fpecuiative were pr >-
pogated by force; when the fine ere
and pious were made victims, and
the light minded bribed into hypo
crites
The proud monum: nts of libe-fy
knew’ that the purest homage man
coulJ render to the Almighty w'as
in the facrifice of his passions and
* in the performance of his duties;
that the ruler of the universe would
receive with equal benignity, the
various offerings of man’s udora
t’on, if they proceeded from an
humble spirit and sincere mind ;
that intnllerance in matrers of faith,
had been from the earliest ages oi
tlie world, thi fevered torments by
which mankind could he afflided ;
and that governments were only
concerned about the actions and
conduft of man, and not his fpecu
iative notions. Who among v.s
feels himfelt to exalted above his
fellows, as to have a right to didate
to them thi ;r mode of belief? fliall
this free country set an example of
perfection, which even tlie return
ing rcafon of enfiaved Europe would
not submit t ? Will you bind the
confeience it chains, & faften con
viefion upon the mind, in spite of
the conclufio/.s of reason, and of
tb.ofe ties and habitudes which are
Mended with every puiJat : „a of
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2+, 1ß10
phe heart ? Are you prepared to
plunge at once from the sublime
heights of moral legislation, into the
dark and gloomy caverns of super
stitious ignorance ? Will you drive
from your fliores & from the fhei
ter of your constitutions, all who
do not lay their oblations on the
fame alter, observe the fame ritual,
and fubferibe to the fame dogmas.
If so, which atnongft the various
fi£ls into which we are divided,
Hull be tlie favoured one ? I
should insult the undei Handing of
this house to suppose it pcfiible that
they could even absent to such ab
surdities. For ail know that perfe- 1
r it’ion in all its fliapes and modifi
atior , is cnitraiy to the genius
iTt our government, and the spirit of
| our laws ; and that it can never
produce anv other efF.-ft, than to
i render men hypocrites or martyrs.
I When (lharLs the sth, emperor of
Germany, tired of the cares of go
vernment, r.'figned hi.; crown to his
fort, he retired to a monastery . where
be amused tlie evening of his life
in regulating the movements of
watches, endeavouring to make a
rumb**r keep the fame time, but
not being able to make any two
go tx iCtly alike, it led hi.n to re
st-is upon the folly and crimes he
bad ci>! emit led, in attempting the
inioofTihility of making men ti:i:.k
N ‘thing i? nv-*"* caf.ly detnon
fiiated than that the ci n luct alone
i the fubjetf fjf fiumati laws, and
that man ought to fuller civil dif
quahfnarion for wh.it he does, and
not ior what he thinks. The mind
can ri five laws only from him of
w hose divine offence it is a portion ;
he alone can punish the dilbbcdient;
for who elle can know it: rm ve
nnnts, or estimate tin ir merits?
1 he religion I prof.'fs inculcates cv
cry duty which tnan owes to his
f how men; it enjoins up -n its vo
taries the practice of evety virtue,
anJ the detestation of every vice;
it teaches them to hope for the fa
vor ci licuven, exactly in propor
tion as their lives are directed by
just, honourable and bctiificicnt
maxims—This, then, gentlemen is
my creed ; it was impressed upon
my infant mind, it has been the
diredtor of my youth, the monitor
of my manhood, and will 1 trust be
the consolation of my old aj;e.
At any rate Mr. Speaker, I am
sure that you cannot fee any thing
in this religion to deprive me of my
feat in this house. So far as relates
to ray life and conduct, the exami
nation ofthefel submit with cheer
fu'nefs to your candid and liberal
conftrudion. What may be the
religi m of him who made this ob
jection again ft me, or uhither he
has any religion or not, I am una
ble to fay. I have never conferr
ed it my duty to pry into the be
lief of ether members of this house:
if theii actions are upright and their
conduct just, the rest is for their
own ccr.fideration, not for mine.
1 do not seek to make converts to
my < rith, whatever it may beefteem
ed in the eves of tr.y officious friend.
[Payable half yearly .
[Number 471.
nor do I expd any man from my
tfteem or trienufhip, becauic lit Sc
I differ in that relptft. Ihe lame
charity, therefore, it is not urocaf
onable to exptbt, will be cxtipued
to myielf, becauie in all things that
relate to the state and to the- ‘Juries
of civil life, I am bound hy the lame
obligations with my fill* w < itizens :
nor does any man fubferibe in!-re
• sincerely, than niyfelf, to the n>ax
’ im “wbatevir ye would that men
should do ut.to you, do ye lo even
unto them, tor such is the law and
the prophet.”
From the New- York Columbian .
JOHN R ANTMT PH, F.q m c.
I
The fubjetl of tl is menmir is a
defeendant of one of the an
citnt families in the state of Virgin
ia, an * is allied by blood to the fa-1
nious que'en Pocah< ntas. He was
born about the year 1777, and re
ciivtd ibe rudiments ot his educa
tion at Richmond Academy, Ir m
whonct he was lent with his >wo I
feniot brothers to this city, t have
the advantage of a college finifh.
W’liilc here, he mingled Lidorp in
the y luihlul fp<;rts oi his cotempo
raiie.-.; and at the hours of pemit
t. and and nect ffary amufemept, he
was frequently to he seen as a Hte-i
rnry lounger in John Reid’s book-’
ft ore, carefully ptrufiug feme f..vn.
site author, or invisible to all, bting
lo ked up in his favorite apartm> •t.
Ibnce fie was denominated i!.e
‘ bt.t k worm,* the ‘ young pedai.t*
of his class. At that time howev- ■
er, (perhaps the moft in popart ’n
the life of a man ot genius) while
ins though t left, class -mans and gid
dy brothers wxre devoting th-.r
days to dissipation, and preparing
borrow as the treasure of more ati
vanced y ;.rs. young Randolph u s
waxing pi!< over the 1 midrii. ht
lamp, am! distilling fweetn Is fr ir.
tin (1 t*. k and Roman fpi'ini'. Af
te; fit filing his (Indies with credit,
and i btainitig 1 is degree, he reUir
tud lo bis native (late, and at thel
lolu itatioii of an afftftionafe an; 1 c.- -
miablc father, ccn'mencei! tin flu
dy of the law unfiti the care <f a
maternal uncle. Naturally a hard
ftudent.th diigufting and. rv r :d
----it:g ol Coke ano Lvitletoii <;io r*i?
alarm him ; in a fliort period hy
ptileverance he ohtaine ? a > t -
found general knowledge of that
important icience. His fait tit were
as vc r known orfiy to the ft led few
whom he accounted his friend'.—
Bui alter commet cing his praftice,
on the fiift favorable oppor?un : ty
that offered, hi shone forth a‘ ‘ho
lun after a cloud has oblcur f
refulgence, and illuminated he
wh.'lt hoiizoti within hi riale.
Ilis fame Iprcac! like eleftricirv. &
with it his practice increased ir r o
portion But the d;!t?> . I his ve
nerated father and his elder hi th
er, which happened atom this > : me
left hint more than a cemp tenry
for ( tie < t his lieu i ‘it 4- ’ its ;
he theres 7e t imp. ‘bed h- &
as a pioiclhvii, anu, m tus courf^