All my ancestors and relatives for many generations have been Protestants. I was brought up under the auspices of the Old School Presbyterian Church, of which my parents were members from my early childhood until their deaths at advanced ages. I have never been a member of any church, but my feelings and sympathies have always been that of a Protestant. I respect all true sects and denominations of the great Christian Church. I respect the religion of the Jews, of Buddha, and of Confucius, for the good that is in them. I respect every man's religious faith, as long as it is truly a religious faith. I uphold the right of every man to worship God according to his liking. I respect, I admire, the man who against opposition and against his material and business interests follows the dictates of his conscience in religious and other matters of principle. While I may not agree with him, I defend his right. It is immaterial to me whether Dr. McLoughlin was a Protestant or a Roman Catholic. It is sufficient to me that he honestly acted according to his reason, his judgment, and what he considered was right. I condemn any persecution of him for being true to his conscience. I have great admiration for the Methodist missionaries who were true to their principles, who tried to lead blameless lives and to convert the Indians, and respected the rights of others. It is immaterial to me whether the missionaries were Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, or Roman Catholics, so long as they were really missionaries and true to their God, according to their lights, true to their professions, to themselves, and to their fellow men. I have no attack to make on religion, nor on the Methodist Episcopal Church, nor on its true missionaries, clerical or lay. The Methodist Episcopal Church has been one of the great civilizing agencies in the United States, particularly in the newer parts of the country. In its earlier days, and until the great growth of the country in the past forty or fifty years, it reached a class of people, which no other denomination could reach or influence, and made better people of them. All churches and denominations are subject to conditions and to evolution. And the Methodist Episcopal Church is today one of the great and influential churches in the United States.