L. Rapier, of the Daily Register of Mobile, the Supreme Court of the United States gave to Congress unlimited control over the mail within the limits of the several States. The appellants were charged with sending lottery matter through the mail in violation of an act of Congress. The opinion of the court was based on a previous deliverance of that tribunal, known as Jackson, ex parte, a case where the prohibition of the mailing and transmission of lottery matter by the law was questioned. The prohibitive provisions were as to fraudulent lotteries, but the amended statute includes all lotteries. In the former case it was argued that to exclude from the mail newspapers containing printed matter relating to fraudulent lotteries was an abridgment of the constitutional right of the press, and this argument was used in the cases of Dupre and Rapier on the far more solid ground that the Louisiana Lottery was a chartered institution of a sovereign State, over whose local legislation Congress has no power to legislate. But the court decided that the amended. act gives the United States authority to regulate transportation of letters and newspapers in each State, which carries with it punishment for violation, and which must be conceded to be an enormous step toward centralization.

The United States become usurpers when they

infringe the freedom of speech and of the press. The lottery was a purely local institution. It was not opposed to "the general welfare." The United States are not the custodians of the morals of the people of the States. The States are such custodians. The mail belongs to the States. The United States are their agent and mail-carrier.

What about church and State?

Massachusetts gave us the first amendment. It is worthy of the young Liberty that was rocked in the cradle of old Faneuil Hall. Entire separation of State and church is meant by it. The principals or the States reserved to themselves the acknowledgment of a Supreme Being, and so omitted it in the charter of the agent.

Mark the words of prohibition: Congress shall make no law respecting what? "An establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The amendment does not say "a relig ion," but any religion, whether Aryan, Christian, Mohammedan, or Pagan. The United States must have nothing to do with the religious consciences of men. In no case must they prohibit the free exercise of that conscience.

Our treaty with Tripoli explains itself. This treaty was concluded November 4, 1796, was rati

fied by the Senate June 7, 1797, and proclaimed June 10, 1797.

Article XI. is as follows:

"As the government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquillity of Mussulmans; and as the said States have never entered into any war or act of hostility against the Mohammedan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

This treaty bears the signature of George Washington and his Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, and as this was only twenty-one years after the Declaration of Independence, with most of the great actors in the founding of the government still living, and with whom this treaty found no protest, it may be accepted, whether right or wrong, as an expression of what its founders regarded as the character of the government of the United States.

That which the States prohibited to the United States they meant to be applicable to themselves. A State is debarred from using its official authority to sustain the worship of any sect. All it can do is to protect all sects from molestation or vio

lence. The people of the State of New York, in the preamble to its Constitution, return grateful thanks to Almighty God for their freedom, and simply declare that "the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed in the State to all mankind."

Free religion, free speech, free press, free schools, and free assemblages make a free people.

Article II. "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." This is both declaratory and restrictive, and really amends section 8, Article I., unamended Constitution, which provides for the organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for the governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, and which reserves to the States respectively the appointment of the officers and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress. The amendment restrains Congress from disarming the militia, as well as the people of the several States. The people would not have a great standing army for the use of a Cromwell or a Cæsar. A small body of regular troops for frontier and special use were enough for the general agent of the States.

Articles III. and IV. prohibit interference with the property rights and personal rights of individuals, by quartering soldiers in time of peace in any house without the consent of the owner, or in time of war unlawfully, and also protects the people from unreasonable searches and seizures. It is proper to say that soldiers of the United States should not be quartered on the soil of any State without the express consent of the legislature of such State in time of peace. Such soldiers may pass through a State to the reservations of the United States at all times.

Articles V. and VI. declare the sanctity of indictment by grand jury, and the right to a speedy and public trial in all criminal prosecutions by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, the accused person to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with. witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have. the assistance of counsel for his defence. The word "district" is an is an amendment to section 3, Article III., original or unamended Constitution. An accused person could be indicted and tried anywhere in a State until this amendment was ratified. A fruitless effort was made by a citizen of the District of Columbia to extradite