THE CONSERVATIVE REFORMER 159 



realized that there was no hope of carrying through the 

 legislature any measures to that end. He did, how- 

 ever, in 1778 bring in a bill prohibiting the further 

 importation of slaves into Virginia, and carried it with- 

 out serious opposition. 



The relations between Church and State also claimed 

 his attention. The Episcopal Church was then estab- 

 lished by law in Virginia, and dissenters were taxed to 

 support it. Besides there were many heavy penalties 

 attached to nonconformity ; a man convicted of heresy 

 might be deprived of the custody of his children. 

 Jefferson's own views of the relations between govern- 

 ment and religion are expressed in the following 

 remarkable passage from his " Notes on Virginia." 

 Opinion, he says, is something with which govern- 

 ment has no business to meddle ; it is quite beyond 

 its legitimate province. " It does me no injury for my 

 neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It 

 neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. ... It 

 is error alone which needs the support of government. 

 Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to coer- 

 cion, and whom will you make your inquisitors ? 

 Fallible men, governed by bad passions, by private as 

 well as public reasons. And why subject it to coer- 

 cion ? Difference of opinion is advantageous to reli- 

 gion. The several sects perform the office of censor 

 morum over each other. Is uniformity attainable ? 

 Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since 

 the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, 

 tortured, fined, imprisoned ; yet we have not advanced 

 one inch toward uniformity. Let us reflect that the 

 earth is inhabited by thousands of millions of people ; 

 that these profess probably a thousand different sys- 



