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Show RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. Tuesday night an unfrocked priest of the Catholic church and his wife, an ex-nun, went to Savannah, Georgia, to lecture on Catholicism and were mobbed. Before these people could leave the building where the lecture waB delivered the city government was compelled to summon eleven companies cf militia and every policeman on the force to protect them. This, after the order of Hibernians had first applied to the mayor to forbid the lecture. It was estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 men, riotous men, were assembled with-the avowed purpose of preventing the lecture or of killing the lecturer and his wife, and there is no doubt but this would have been done but for the care of the authorities of the city in providing a sufficient protection. Has it come to this, in this nation? The constitutions of both the United States and the state of Georgia declare that freedom of speech shall be enj yed by every American citizen and none shall be interfered with because of the exerciBe of thiB privilege. We are aware that men leaving the priesthood, of their own volition or for any cause, are put under the ban by the membership of the Romish church, and we are also aware of the exceeding horror which attends the desertion and marriage of a nun. But this, great as it may be.does not warrant men in rioting and in upsetting the law or in committing muraer ana ine use. This priest, Slattery, while a member in good standing of the Catholic Cath-olic priesthood, Bhould have obeyed the authorities set over him by his church, but when he quit his office and . his church he had a most periect and undoubted right to speak on any subject, sub-ject, even to call in question the policy and doctrines of the church or any branch of it, and no man or combina tion of men had the least shadow of rii?ht to seek to prevent him or to mo lest him, for so doing. They mistake the character and policy of this nation and its government most widely who think they can enforce their prejudices over the law in cases of this kind, "While the government will not permit any power of whatever nature to interrupt in-terrupt or persecute any Catholic, yet it will never permit any Catholic to prevent pre-vent any American citizen or any one else who in a lawful way speaks of any denomination of Christians, or who calls in question or criticises any doctrine doc-trine of any such Christian church. This is called religious freedom and and it is guarded most jealously by the whole genius and power of the government. govern-ment. i i The mayor of Savannah acted in a manly way in the emergency. lie refused re-fused to forbid the lecture and assigned J an excellent reason for such refusal. When the interference was made he called to his side the police po-lice and the military and afforded the lecturer and his wife ample protection. pro-tection. Every good American citizen must commend his act and at the same time condemn the mob spirit in the 1 TY:t. 1 l , . iiiueiuiaua uu ougiit 10 prevent a free American citizen from enjoying the rights which are guaranteed to him by the national and state constitutions consti-tutions both. No church nor any other power in this land can muzzle people inthiswav. It will not be tolerated here. Before this ex-priest could have been prevented from 6peaking to the people on any subject whatever, the last man in the nation and its last dollar dol-lar would have been expended in his defense, Why will not all tbe people and all the cburcheB learn thiB great truth and act accordingly? Why attempt at-tempt so fool-hardy a thing as to prevent pre-vent the exercise of this freedom? They must learn it and learn it well long ere they are worthy of citizenship. This occurrence at Savannah is only another loud-mouthed argument against the predominance of any gect or religious combination In tnis government. govern-ment. Neither the RomiBh or any other church, nor all of the churches put together are Etrong enough to prevent pre-vent any, even the humbliest American Ameri-can citizen born, speaking his honeBt sentiments on any rostrum in the land. |