The National Reform Convention.
THIS Convention was held, according to appointment, in Philadelphia, Jan. 18 and 19. A preliminary report, all that has yet come under our notice, states the number of delegates who assembled from different parts of the country, in a representative capacity, to be over two hundred. Large audiences listened with interest to the proceedings. Hon. James Pollock, Ex-Governor of Pennsylvania, was made permanent President of the Convention. Among the first resolutions offered by the Business Committee, were the following:— “Resolved, That this Convention of those who aim to secure a religious amendment to our National Constitution, gratefully acknowledge the good providence of God in the evident progress of this cause during the past year. “Resolved, That with the conviction that, under God, all that is wanting for its ultimate and its early triumph, is to publish the facts and illustrate the principles upon which it is based, we pledge ourselves to renewed zeal in its prosecution.” “That, in view of the controlling power of the Constitution in shaping State, as well as national, policy, it is of immediate importance to public morals and to social order to secure such an amendment as will indicate that this is a Christian nation, and place all Christian laws, institutions, and usages, in our government, on an undeniable legal basis in the fundamental law of the nation, specially those which secure a proper oath, and which protect society against blasphemy, Sabbath-breaking, and polygamy.” There are some who plainly see the tendency of this movement, and raise the alarm, as the following from a letter sent by W. Jamison of Chicago, to be read at the Convention, plainly shows:— “With a great deal of interest I am watching the movement in which you are engaged to Christianize our peerless Constitution—peerless since the blot of slavery has been wiped from it. As an American citizen, I must frankly say to you that, in my judgment, your organization is fraught with danger to our American government. I am fully convinced that you are in dead earnest in this work of obtaining a recognition of God in the fundamental instrument of our Government. You are persevering, too, as you are earnest; hence I can see that the ‘Re-form’—as you term it—is destined to spread, assume gigantic proportions, and grow in favor with the mass of Christian people. Your conventions, I notice, are securing this result. Gentlemen, Beware! Overthrow this human government, (founded by the wisdom of such men as Jefferson, Adams, and Paine,) and religious liberty will be trampled under foot in this new world as it was, and is, in the old. The people of the old world are throwing off the shackles of a union of Church and State, while you (I say it with all due courtesy) are striving to unite Church and State in the new world.” In this connection it may be of interest to state that meetings in behalf of the proposed amendment, have been held in different parts of the country, as follows:— In Deer Creek church, New Bedford, Pa., Dec. 27, 1870. Three speakers addressed the meeting. Permanent organization formed. Washingtonville, N. Y., Dec. 30. McIndoes and Johnsbury, Vt., Jan. 13 and 16, 1871. Barton and Topsham, Vt., the 11th and 16th. Society organized for Orange County. Duffield St. Presbyterian church, Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 16. Chambersburg, Shippensburg, Carlisle, and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on the 15th, 16th, and 17th inst. The meeting in Harrisburg was held in the hall of the House of Representatives, and was presided over by Gov. Geary. On Jan. 3, another Sunday Convention was held in New Concord, Ohio. Meanwhile, zealous agents are beginning to travel from town to town, and city to city, visiting clergymen and laymen, to arouse the churches to take hold of this movement. And thus the work goes on.