WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENCE.
Anti-Mormon Church-and-Statism Rebuked in the Senate.
To unbiased observers it has been apparent all along that the campaign which has been, and is being, waged for the expulsion of Senator Reed Smoot of Utah, the Mormon apostle, from the Senate of the United States, was inspired more by religious and theological sentiment, zeal, and prejudice, than by considerations civic, social, and rational, which afford the only proper basis of political and legal action in this country, and that therefore this campaign was by no means free from one of the chief evils and offenses alleged against Senator Smoot and the Mormons as a reason for his exclusion from the Senate—the evil and offense of ignoring and violating the principle of separation of church and state by making, or seeking to make, religion and theology direct and dominate political action. Though not asserted in terms, it has been assumed in this campaign that political action could be had and determined by religious sentiment, and that offense in creed or action against religious and theological sentiment was a proper ground for excluding a man from political office. It is therefore gratifying to all who stand for a strict and consistent adherence to the principle of separation of church and state that this anti-Mormon church-and-statism has at last been recognized and rebuked in the Senate of the United States, where it seeks to effectuate itself through the action of that body, and where petitions inspired largely by it have been pouring in constantly since the election of Senator Smoot, demanding his exclusion. In presenting one of these petitions, “signed by several thousand representative women of the state of California,” in the Senate on February 19, Senator Perkins of California stated that he had been requested to accompany the presentation of the petition “with a few remarks defining my position in relation to their demand,” and then proceeded to make the following little religious liberty speech, which shows that he recognizes that the great principle which he calls attention to is being ignored in campaign and demand for the exclusion of Senator Smoot, and that it is needful that the principle should be emphasized in connection therewith: The right to petition Congress on any subject is one guaranteed by the Constitution, and will ever be held sacred, and I do not think any member of this body would consider that any circumstances whatever would justify him in refusing to submit a respectful appeal made by any body of citizens. The signers of the petition which I here submit are among the religious, cultured, and most public-spirited women of the state of California. They are to be commended for the interest in public affairs which their action in this case demonstrates. There can be no doubt that whenever public-spirited women express their wishes in this or any similar way, they are actuated by the best and most pure motives, which must and do command our sincere respect. But in petitioning this body in a manner like that here referred to, a fact is sometimes lost sight of that we do not stand toward it in the relation which we bear to almost all other questions which come before us. In this we occupy the position of both