642             JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS              [Mar. 4,

As to the propriety of persons entering such Institutions, your
Committee are not called upon to inquire, nor is it made their du-
ty to determine whether such Institutions are consistent with the
spirit of the age, with the "well established" and dearly cherish-
ed principles of our Government, or with the expressed senti-
ments of the American People.

The question to be determined is, whether, in reality, there are
within the limits of this State Religious Houses in which persons
are unlawfully deprived of their natural, civil or religious rights,
and whether any case has been presented to this House properly
supported, which justifies an examination or inspection of such
places, or demands additional legislative protection.

Mere complaints that there are religious institutions where such'
persons are said to be detained against their will, are not sufficient
to justify legislative interference, for it is possible that unlawful re-
straints have been exercised in private houses, and many individ-
uals deprived of their liberty and right, in the place recognized by
the law to be their castle. Yet no one had thought, because of such
abuses, that the Legislature ought to authorize Grand Juries or
Committees, to forcibly enter and inspect private houses on suspi-
cion that these abuses did exist. Such a proceeding would not
be tolerated in any free government.

Nor was it intended that Grand Juries or Orphans' Courts
should act the part of Grand Inquisitors. That function has been
established in other countries by ecclesiastical and civil laws, and
the result has been such as to prevent your Committee from re-
commending any such course in this State.                               

Nor is it submitted to this Committee to inquire whether any
further legislation should be had as to the property of persons who
may choose to enter those Institutions. The single matter re-
ferred to them is the personal protection of those entering Con-
vents, and whether there be, under the existing laws, sufficient
remedy for illegal restraint upon such persons.

Your Committee would, therefore, respectfully suggest, in the
first place, that no allegation has been substantiated, nor has proof
been exhibited that any person is now unlawfully confined in any
religious house or Convent within the limits of the State.         

There is a general charge that Such a state of things does ex-
ist, and the statement is also made that unsuspecting females are
decoyed into such places and there detained against their will;
but it is necessary to justify the interference of this Body that the
petitioners should state some particular case, and the facts in the
case wherein a wrong is committed, or a right violated, so that
the House could, as the Grand Inquest of State, act as all