Indiana Palladium, Volume 6, Number 12, Lawrenceburg, Dearborn County, 27 March 1830 — Page 2

from ihe cast and came west and turned the corner to go north: From the testimony of fVyllis Turner, it appears that he saw the persons coming down the steps of the jail; saw the middle man struggling and hearing back, heard him cry murder three times, saw his hat fall off, and Chesehro make motions a3 if putting a handkerchief to his mouth. This witness also states that he saw S iwyer rap on the curb of the well; saw the carriage driven by Hub. bard go to the east and turn; that it stopped in the road where the three persons who came from the jail were standing; that the middle man was put into it forcibly by the others. Concluded next week.) CU2TDAY MAIL. Mr. Johnson, ot Keniu ky, troin U? Committee . on the Post Ollice and Post Roads, to which had been referred petitions and remonstrances ggainst the transportation and opening of the public mail on the Sabbath day, made thefoi lowing The Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads to which the memorials were re

ferred for prohibiting the transportation of the Mails, and the opening of Post Offices, on Sundays, report. That the memorialists regard the first day of the week as a day set apart by the Creator for religious exercises; and consider the transportation of the mail, and the opening of the post offices on that day, the violation of a lreligiofls duty, and call for a suppression of the practice. Others, by c unter memorials, are known to entertain a different sen'iment, believing that no one day of the week is holier than another. Otlvrs, holding the universality and -immutability of the Jewish decalogue, believe in the sanctity of the seventh day of the week as a day of religious devotion; and by their memorial now before the committee, they also request that it may h set apart for religious purposes. Each ha3 hitherto been left to the exercise of his own opinion; and it has been regarded as the proper business of Government to-protect all, and determine for none. But the attempt is now made to bring about a greater uniformity, at least, in prac tice; and, as argument has failed, the Government has been called upon to interpose its authority to settle the controversy. Congress acts under a constitution of delegated and limited powers. 1 he committee 1 ok in vain to that instru merit for a delegation of power authori ing this body to inquire and determine what part of time, or whether any, has been set apart by the Almighty for religious exercises. On the contrary, among the few prohibitions which it contains, is one that prohibits a religious test ; and another, which declares that Congress eh ill pass no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The committee might here rest the argument, upon the ground that the question' referred to them, does not come within' the cognizance of Congress ; but the perseverance and zeal with which the memorialists pursue their object, seems to require a further elucidation of the subject. And, as the opposes of Sunday mails disclaim all intention to unite church and state, the committee do not feel disposed to im pugn their motives; and whatever may be advanced in opposition to the measure, will arise from th fears entertained of its fatal tendency to the peace and happiness of the nation. The catastrophe of other nations, furnished the framere of the constitution a beacon of awful warding, and ihey have evinced the greatest possible care in guarding against the same evil. The law, as it now exists, makes no distinction as to the days of the week, but is imperative that the Postmasters shall attend at all reasonable hours, in every day, to perform the dti'ies of their offices: and the Postmaster General hrs given his instructions lo all Posfmas'ers, that, at Post Offices, where the mail ar rives on Sunday, the office is to be kept opnone hour, or more, after the arrival and assorting the mail; but in case that would interfere with the hours of public worship, the office is to be kept open for one hour after the usual time of dissolving the meeting. This liberal construction of the law does not satisfy the memorialists. But the Committee believe that there is no iust ground of complaint, unless it be conceded that they have a controlling power over the consciences of others. IT Congress shall, by the authority of law, sanction the measure recommended, it would constitute a legislative decision of a religious controversy, in which even Christians, themselves, are at issue. However suited such a decision may be to an ecclesiastical council, it is incompatible with a republican legislature, which is purely for political, and not religious purposes. In our individual character, we all entertain opinions, and pursue a corres ponding practice upon the subject of religion. However diversified these may be, we all harmonize as citizen?, while each is willing that the other shall n .y the same liberty which he claims for himself. Jt5ut in our representative character, our individual character is

lost. The individual acts for himself; the representative for his constituents. He is chosen to represent their political, and not their religious views to guard the rights of man; not to restrict ths rights of conscience. Despots may regard their subjects as their property, and usurp the Divine prerogative of prescribing their religious faith. But the history of the world furnishes the melancholy de monstration, that the disposition of one man to coerce the religious homage of another, springs from an unchastened ambition, rather than a sincere devotion to any religion. The principles of our Government do not re-

cognize in me majority, any aumorny over me minority, except in matters the which regard the conduct of man tn hi -------. . v . w fellow man. A Jewish monarch, by grasping the holy censer, lost boih his sceptre and his freedom; a destiny as little to be envied, may be the lot of the American people, who hold the sovereignty of power, if they, in the person of their representatives, shall attempt to unite, in the remotest degree, Church and State". From the earliest neriod of time, religious teachers have attained great ascendancy over the minds of the people: and in every nation, ancient or modern, whether Pagan, Mahomedan, or Chrislian, have succeeded in the incorporation of their religious tenets with the political institutions cf their country. The Persian idols, the Grecian oracles, the Roman auguries, and the modern priesthood of Europe, have all, in their turn, been the subject of poputar adulation, and the agents of political deception. If the measure recommended

should be adopted, it would be difficult plained of, was persecution. What did for human sagacity to foresee how rapid the Protestants of G- rmany, or the Hu would be the succession, or how numer- genots ofFrance,ask oftheir Catholictuous the train of measures which might periors? Toleration. What do the perfollow, involving the dearest rights ol all secuted Catholics ol Ireland ask of their the rights of conscience. It is perhaps oppressors? Toleration.

fortunate for our country, that the proposition should have been made at this early period, while the spirit of the Revolution yet exists in lull vigor. Religious zeal enlists the strongest preju dices of the human mind; and, when misdirected, excites the worst passions of our nature, under the delusive pretext of doing God service. Nothing so infuriates the heart to deeds of rapine and blood ; nothing is so incessant in its toils; so persevering in its determinations; so appalling in its course; or so

dangerous in its consequences. 1 he to action, and not virtue or religion, equality of rights secured bytheConsti- Do they complain that men, less conscitution, m ty bid defiance to mere politi- enliousin relation to the Sabbath, obtain cal tyrants; but the robe of sanctity too advantages over them, by receiving their often glitters to deceive. The constitu- letters and attending to their contents? tion regards the conscience of the Jew S ill their motive is worldly and selfish, as sacred as that of the Christian; and But, if their motive be to induce Congives na more authority to adopt a meas- gress to sanction, by law, their religious ure affecting the conscience of a solitary opinions and observances, then their . ff.rts individual, than that of a whole com- are to be resisted, as in their tendency munity. That representative who would fatal, both to religious and political freeviolate this principle, would lose his de- dom. Why have the petitioners confinlegated character, and forfeit the confi- ed their prayer to the mails? Why have dence of his constituents. If Congress they not requested that the Government shall declare the first day of the week be required to suspend all its executive holy, it will not convince the Jew nor functions on that day ? Why do they not the Sabbatarian. It will dissatisfy both; require us to enact that our ships and, consequently, convert neither. Flu- shall not sail? that our armies shall not man power may extort vain sacrifices; march? that officers of justice shall not but Deitv alone can command the af- seize the suspected, or guard the confections of the heart. It must be recol victed? They seem to forget that pov-

lected,thatin the earliest settlement of this country, the spirit of persecution which drove the pilgrims from their native home, was brought with them to their new habitations; and that some Christians were scourged, and others put to death, for no other crime than dissenting from the dogmas of their rulers. With these facts before us, it must be a subject of deep regret, that a question should be brought before Congress, which involves the dearest privileges of the constitution, and even by those who enjoy its choicest blessings. We should all recollect that Catal ine, a professed patriot, was a traitor to Rome; Arnold, a professed whig, was a traitor to America; and Judas, a professed disciple, was a traitor to hi? Divine Master. With the exception of the United States, the whole human race, consisting, it is supposed, of eight hundred millions of rational beings, is in religions bondage ana in reviewing the scenes ol persecution which history every where presents, unless the committee could believe that the cries of the burning victim, and the flames by which he is consumed bear to Heaven a grateful incense, the conclusion is inevitable, that the line cannot be to strongly drawn between Church and State. If a solemn act of legislation shall, in one point, define the law of God, or point out to the citizen one rel igious duty, it may, with equal propriety, proceed to define every part of divine revelation; and enforce every religious obligation, even to the forms and ceremonies of worship; the endowment of the church, and the support of the rlrrgy. It was with a kiss that Judas betrayed his Di vine Master, and we should all be admonished, no matter what our faith may be that the rights of conscience, cannot be so successfully assailed as under the pretext of holiness. The Christain religion made its way into the world in opposition to all human Governments. Banishment, tortures, and death, were iuflicled ia vain to atop its progress. But

many of i(s professor?, as soon as clothed with political power, lost the meek spirit which their creed inculcated, and began to inflict on other religions, and on dis

senting sects of their own religion, per secutions more aggravated than those which their own aDoslles had endured. The ten persecutions of Pagan Emper ors. were exceeded in atrocily by the " massacres and murders perpetrated by Christian hands;andin vain shall we ex amine the records of Imperial tyranny for an engine of cruelty equal to the Holy Inquisition. Every religious sect, however meek in its origin, commenced the work of persecution as soon as it acquired political power. The frame rs of toe constitution reuugmscu iuc eieuiai nrincinle. that man's relation with his f t God is above human legislation, and his rights ot conscience inaiienaoie. Kea soning was not necessary to establish this truth: we are conscious oi u in our own bosoms. It is this consciousness which, in defiance of human laws, has sustained so many martyrs in tortures and in llames. They fell that their duty to God was superior to human enactments, and that man could exercise no authority over IB their conciences: it is an inborn princi pie which nothing can eradicate. The bigot, in the pride of his authori tJYmav lse signt f il )ut stl'P him of his power; prescribe a taith to him which his conscience rejects; inreaieu mm in turn with the dungeon and the faggot; i - i and the spirit which God has implanted in him, rises up in rebellion end defies you. Jjid the primitive nnsiians ask that Government should recognise and observe their religious institutions? All they asked was toleration; all the) cornDo not all men in this country enjoy every religious right which martyrs and saints ever asked? voice of complaint? Whence, then the Who 19 it, that, in the full enjoyment of every principle which human laws can secure, wishes to arrest a portion of these principles from his neighbor? D the petitioners allege that they cannot conscientiously participate in the profits of the mail contracts and post offices, because the mail is car ried on Sunday? If this be their motive, then it is worldly gain which stimulates ernment i3 as necessary on Sunday as on any other day of the week. The spirit of evil doe3 not rest on that day. It is the Government, evr active in its functions, which enables us all, even the petitioners, to worship in our churches in peace. Our Government furnishes very few blessings like our mails. They bear from the centre of our Republic to its distant extremes, the acts of our legislative bodies, the decisions of the judiciary, and the orders of the Executive Their speed is often essential lo the defence of the country, the suppression of crime, and the dearest interests of the people. Were they suppressed one day of the week, their abscence must be often supplied by public expresses; and, besides, while the mail bags might rest, the mail coaches would pursue their journey with the passengers. The mail bears, from one extreme of the Union to the other, letters of relatives and friends, preserving a communion of heart between those far separated, and increasing the most pure and refined pleasures of our existence: also, the letters of commercial men convey the state of the markets, prevent ruinous speculations, and promote general, as well as individual interest: they bear innumerable religious letters, newspapers, magazines and tracts, which reach almost every house throughout this wide Republic. Is the conveyance of these a violation of the Sabbath? The advance of the human race in intelligence, in virtue, and religion itself, depends in part upon the speed with which a knowledge of the past is disseminated. Without an interchange between one country and another, and between different sections of the same country, every improvement in moral or political science, and the arts of life, would be confined to the neighborhood where it originated. The more rapid and the more frequent this interchange, the more rapid wi!l be the march c f intellect, and the progress of improvement. The mail is the thief means by which intellectual light irra

diates to (he extremes of the Republic. Stop it one day in seven, and you retard one seventh the advancement of our country. So far from stopping the mail on Sunday, the committee would recommend the use of all reasonable means to give it a greater expedition and a greater extension. What would be the elevation of our country, if every new conception could be made to strike every mind in the Union at the same time? It is not the distance of a Province or State from the seat of Government, which endangers its separation ; but it is the difficulty and unfr quency of intercourse between them. Our mails reach Missouri and Arkansas in les-s time than they reached

Kentucky and Ohio in the infancy of their settlements; and uow, when there are three millions of people extending a thousand miles West of the Allegheny,we hear less of discontent, than when there were a few thousands scattered along their Western base. To stop the mails one day in seven would be to thrust the whole Western country, and other distant parts of this Republic, one day's journey from the seat of Government. liut, were it expedient to put an end to the transmission of letters and newspapers on Sunday, because it violates the law of God, have not the petitioners begun wroi gin their efforts? If the arm ol" Government be necessary to cc-mpel men to respect and obey the laws of God, do not the State Governments possess; infinitely more power in this respect? L 1 the petitioners turn to them, and see if they can induce the passage of laws to respect the observance ol the babbatn: lor, if it be sinful for the mail to carry letters on Sunday, it must be equally sinful for in dividuals to write, cany, receive or read them. It would seem to require that these acts should be made penal, to com plete the system. 1 ravelling on busi ness cr recreation, except to and from church; all printing, carrying, receiving and reading of newspapeis; all conversations and social intercouse, except up on religious subj- ctSj must necessarily be puilisneu , lO feuppivaa hg ? , uuiu it not also follow, as an inevitable conse quence, that every man, woman, and child, should be compelled to attend meeting? and, as only one sect, in the opinion of some, can be deemed ortho dox, must it not be determined, by law, which that is and compel all to hear thos teachers, and contribute to their support? If minor punishments would no! restrain the Jew, or the Sabbatarian, or the Infidel, who believes Saturday to be the Sabbath, cr disbelieves the whole, would not the same system require that we should resort to imprisonment, banishment, the rack, and the faggot, to force men to violate their own consciences, or compel them to listen to doctrines which they abhor? When the State G overnments shall have yielded to these measures, it will be time enough for Congress to declare that the rattlirg of the mail coaches shall no longer break the silence of thi3 despotism. It is the duty of this Government to afford to ell to Jew or Gentile, Pagan or Christian, the protection and the advantages of our benignant institutions, on Sunday, a& well as every day of the week. Although this Government will not convert itself into an ecclesiastical tribunal, it will practice upon the maxim laid down by the founder of Christianity that it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day. If the Almighty has set apart the first day of the week as time which man is bound to keep holy, and devote exclusively to his worship, would it not be more congenial to the precepts of Christians, to appeal exclusively to the Great Lawgiver of the Universe to aid them in making men better in correcting their practices by purifying their hearts? Government will protect them in their efforts. When they shall have so instructed the public mind, and awakened the consciences of individuals, as to make them believe that it is a violation of God1 law to carry the mail, open post offices, or receive letters, on Sunday, the evil of which they complain will cease of itself, without any exertion of the strong arm of civil power. When man undertakes to be God's avenger, he becomes a demon. Driven by the frenzy of a religious zeal, he loses every gentle feeling; forgets the most sacred precepts of his creed; and becomes ferocious and unrelenting. Our fathers did not wait to be oppressed, when the mother country assorted and exercised an unconstitutional power over them. To have acquiesced in a tax of three pence upon a ponnd of tea, would have led the way to the most cruel exactions; they took a bold stand against the principle, and liberty and independence was the result. The petitioners have not requested Congress to suppress Sunday mails upon the cround of political expediency, but because they i violate the sanctity ol the hrst day of the week. This being the fact, and the petitioners havir-g indignantly disclaimed even the wish to unite politics and religion, may not the Committee reasonably cherish the hope, that they will ;te! reconciled to its decision, in the case; especially, as it ii alio a fcer, that the

counter memorials, equally respectable, opposes the interference of Congress, upon the ground that it would be legislating upon a religious subject, and therefore unconstitutional. Cl Ilesolted, That the Committee be discharged from the further consideration of the subject. Mr, Mct'reery, from the Committee on tha Posi Otiice and P st Uobds, ttj which va3 referred sundry memorials nd petitions upon the subject cf trans porting- and opening1 the public mail on the Sabbath dy, submits tti following as his view of the subject:

The minority of the Committee, to whom were referred the memorials relative to the transportation of the mail, and the delivering if letters, &c. on the Sabbath, beg leave to state the reasons of their dissent from the report made by the com rnilteeon that subject. All Christian nations acknowledge tbe firet day of (be week, to be the Sabbath. Almost ererj State in this lnion have, by positive legislation, not only recognized this day as sacred, but bag forbidden its profanation uuder penalties imposed by law. It was never considered, by any of thaea. States, as an encroachment opon tbe rights of conscience, or as an improper interference wirh tbe opinions of the few, to guard the sacrednesa of that portion of time acknowledged to bo holy by the many. 1 he petitioners as cot Congress to elpound the moral law; they ask not Congress to meddle with theological controversies, much less to interfere with the rights of (he Jew cr tba Sabbatarian or to treat with the least disrespect the religious feelings of any portion of tha inhabitants of tbe Union; they ask the introduction of no rt ligious coercion into our civil institutions; no blending of religion and civil affairs; but they do ask, that the agents of Government, employed in the Post Office Department, may be permitted to enjoy tbe same) opportunities of attending to morai and reli gions instruction, or intellectual improvement, oa that day, which is enjoyed by the rest of tli'eir fellow citzens. 'Ihey approach tbo Government, not for personal emolument, bot as patriots and Christians, to express their high sense of tbe moral energy and necessity of the Sabbath for tbe perpetuity of our repub lican institutions; and respectfully requestthat Congress will not, by legislative enactments, impair those energies. Among tbe many reasons which might ba advanced that it is both expedient and a duty o grant the prayer of tbe petitioners, the following are only submitted: The petitioners ask the enactment of nolat? establishing the first day pf tbe week as the Christian Sabbath; tbey only ask the extension and application, to one Department of Governrr?nt, a principle which is recognized, and has, since tbe foundation of our Government, been acknowledged in every other Departm nt, The principle embraced in the petitions, has been recogn zed by Congress, by adjourn ir. over tl f first day of the week. At tbe first session of tbe first Congress, a law was psss ed establishing Judicial Courts, and in that law Sunday is excepted from tbe days on which that court may commence ita sessions. All the other Executive Departments of Govern ment are closed on that dav. Congress ha never, by tbia, considered itself as expounding the moral law, or as introducing any relig oua coercion into our civil institutions, or making any innovations on the religious rights of the citizens or settling by legislation anytheolo gieal question that may ex'st between Jews, Sabbatarians, and other denominations. Tha good of society requires the strict observance of one day ?n seven. Paley, and other writer on moral philosophy, have shown, that tbe res ting of iuen every seventh day; their winding up their labors end concerns once in spvcq days; their abstraction frcm the sfriirs of lb world, to improve their mind3 and conversa with their Maker; their orderly attendance upon the ordinances of public worship and instruction, have a flirect end powerful tendency to improve tbe morata and temporal happisees of mankind The wise and good .Ruler of tha universa made the appointment, not by a mere arbitral ry exercise of authority, but for our good; and whatever ditference of opinion may exist ia respect to the proper day to be observed, a' most all agree, that oae day in seven hould ba devoted to religious exercises. That being admitted, can any thing be more reainnabla than the request of the petitoners. that at least, so much of the law should be repealed. a requires the post offices to be kpt open everv day of the week. Doe3 not the enactment c the law plainly imply, that mankind is under no moral obligation to refrain from secular labor on any day of the week? h it not ii direct opposition to tbe received opinion of almost all professing Christians? It is to that part of the law, more particularly, which re quires, in terms, all the postmasters throughout the United States to deliver letters, packets, and papers, on every day of the week, to wbich tbe minority of jour committee object, and which is most offensive lo the petition r lo this statute is at once seen, a palpable encroachmeut on (he rights of conscience. It either drives every man, bo feels himself morally bound to observe the Sabbath in a religious manner, from the service of his country, and equal participation in her favors, or suhjecta him to the hard terms of remaining in office, at the expense of his principles. It is freely acknowledged, that the works of necessity and mercy are not forbidden; and, if the transput, taticn of the mail on Sunday, could be justified : n that groucd, (wbich is not admitted) it cannot be contended, that t he keeping open office where no mail arrives on that day U the woik of necessity. The arguments whbh have been urged for the transpo.-tatiao of the mail, c. on tha Sabbath, ?re mainly derived from commercial cenrenitace, and from alleged derangrttent of business and intercourse. This doctrine militates against the first principles af good mor t!3. if these are imortaLt tt ell, tbey ire