The native American., 1838-11-17
FREEDOM OF OPINION.
Ry THE REV. oRvsLLE LEwEY.


: .'What barrier is there against the
universal despotism Of public opinion in this
country, bu individual freedoms! Who is 10 stand
up here, but the possessor of that holy indcpen-
dence! There is no king, no sultan, no noble,
no privilcgcd class nobody else TO stand against
1t. If you yield this point, if YOU are for ever
making compromises, if al men do this, il the Ell.
lire policy oil private life here, is 10 escape oppo
sition and rcproach, every thing will be swept be
meath the popular wave. There will be no indi
vihlalv. 10 harlhood. no high and stern re
solve, no selt-subsistencc, no fearless dignity, NJ
glorious manhood of mind. left among us. Tht
holy heritage of our fathers virtue will be trod
den under foot, by their unworthy children. Ihc5
feared not to stand up against kings and mobiles
and parliament and people. Better did they ac'
count it, that their lonely bark should sweep the
wide sea III freedom-happier were they, when
their sail swelled to the storm of winter, than to
be slaves in palaces of ease. Sweeter 10 their ear
was the music of the gale, that shrieked in their
broken cordage, than the voice at home that said
submit and YOU shall have rest And when they
reached this wild shore, and built their altar, and
knclt upon the frozen snow and fnty rock to
worship, they built that altar to freedom OF con-
sccnce and opinion; and their noble prayer was,
that their children might be thus free. Let their
sons remember the PRAYER of their extremity and
the great bcqucst which their magnanimity has
left us. | know of but one thing safe
in the universe, and that is truth. And know of
but one way to truth to individual mind, and
that is, unfccrcd thought. And know of but
one path for the multitude to truth, and that Is
thought freely expressed. Make of truth itself
an altar of slavery, and guard it about with myS
terous shrine; bind thought as a victim upon it;
and let the passions of the prejudiced multitude
minister fuel; and you sacrifice upon the accurscd
altar, the hopes Of the world!
''Whv is it, i'll fact, that the tone Of morality
in e h places of society, is so lax and com
pialsant, but for want of the independent and in
dignant rcbuke of society. There is reproach
enough poured upon the drunkenness, debauche-
ry and dishonesty of the poor man. The good
people who 90 to him can speak plainlv-ave,
very plainly. Of his evil WAYS. Why is it, then,
that fashionable vice is able to hold up its head,
aad sometimes TO occupy the front ranks of socie-
tv? Ii is because respectable persons, of hesita-
ting and compromising virtue, keep it in counte-
nance! 1t is because timd woman stretches out
her hand to the man v.hom she knows to be the
deadest enemy Of morality and to her sex, while
she turns a cold eye upon the victims she has ru-
led. Its because there is nobody to speak plain
ly in cases like these. And do YOU think that
society is ever to be regenerated or purified un-
der the influence of these unjust and pusillanimous
compromises! tell You never. So long as vice
i suffered to be fashionable and respectable-so
long as men are bold to condemn it only when it
us in rags. there will never Re any radical improve
ment. on may multiply temperance societies,
and mora reform Societies; YOU may pile up sta
'tute books of laws against gambling and dshone-
ty; but SO long as the timit homages Of the fair and
honored are paid to splendid iniquity, it will be
asl in vain. SO long will it be felt, that the voice
OF the world is not against the sinner, but against
the sinners garb. And SO long every weapon of
association, and every baton Of office, will be but
missile together against the leviathan, that is
wallowing in the low marshes and stagnant pools
of society,""