Amendments to the Constitution.
THE JANESVILLE (Wis.) Gazette, at the close of an article on the proposed religious amendment to the Constitution, speaks thus of the effect of the movement, should it succeed:— “But, independent of the question as to what extent we are a Christian nation, it may well be doubted whether, if the gentlemen who are agitating this question should succeed, they would not do society a very great injury. Such measures are but the initiatory steps which ultimately lead to restrictions of religious freedom, and to commit the government to measures which are as foreign to its powers and purposes as would its action be if it should undertake to determine a disputed question of theology. Moreover, the world has had some experience on this subject, and that experience has not been favorable to the assumption of the right of one man to interfere with his neighbours’ religion, or to make any proclamation whatever thereof. If the government of the United States—which means the people—will exert all its energies to establish justice, it will do much more to aid the cause of religion than it can possibly do by taking any action of the kind contemplated in the circular to which we have referred.”