new Constitution, which has been adopted by a slender majority and which is publicly denounced as fraudulent, requires the clergy of all denominations, all professors of seminaries and colleges and all school teachers of either sex (including nuns) to take the following oath: " That they have at no time in the past uttered a word nor sympathized in any manner in favor of the rebellion," etc. Preaching and performing the marriage ceremony are expressly forbidden to the clergy by this law. The priests are generally agreed that, on principle, such an oath cannot be taken, because our authority does not emanate from the State and we cannot, without compromising the ecclesiastical estate, consent to take such an oath. No Catholic priest in Missouri will take it; the Protestant ministers have generally done so. The penalty for those who refuse to take this abominable ex post facto oath is a fine of $5oo and imprisonment. The Governor has announced in a speech " that he has had the State prison enlarged and that the law shall be executed." If this cruel law is really enforced our churches will have to be closed and our schools and colleges will be ruined.
We have thus far been left in peace at St. Louis, but in the interior of the State, in places where the radicals are in a majority, religious persecution is beginning to seethe. Four priests have been cited before their tribunals " for having preached the gospel " contrary to their iniquitous law. One of the priests is actually in prison, the other three have given bail. Two Sisters of Charity have also been cited before these famous judges " for having taught chil dren " and have been released under bail. Serious as this matter is, it has also its curious side; it is wonderful that a land so proud and jealous of its liberty can hatch so many tyrants of the lowest and most detestable kind. This law is at the same time so absurd that I am inclined to believe that the odious act, after a few vain efforts, will be smothered and expire after having seen the light of day. This black and infamous blemish in the Constitution of Missouri will, it is hoped, react promptly upon its contrivers.