The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1838-10-31
MISCELLANEOUS.
FREEDOM OF OPINION.
BY THE REV. oRvILLE DEWEY.

BY THE REV. oRvILLE DEWEY.
~ sWhat barrier is there against
the universal despotism Of public opinion in
this country, but individual ireedoml Who
Is TO stand up here, but the possessor Of that
holy independence There is no king, no
sultan, no noble, no privledged class nobody
else to stand against it. II you yield this
point, Il you are forever making compro-
misses, II all men do this, il the entire policy Of
private life here, is to escape opposition and
reproach, every thing will be swept beneath
the popular waye.-There will be no indiyi-
duality, no hardihood, no high and stern re-
solve, no self-subsistence, no fearless dignity,
no glorious manhood Of mind, left among US.
The holy heritage Of our fathers virtue, will
be trodden under foot, by their unworthy chill
dren They feared not TO stand up against
kings and mobiles, and parliament and people.
Better did they account il, that their lonely
bark should sweep the wide sea in freedom
happier were they, when their sail swelled to
the storm of winter, than to be slaves in pa
laces Of ease. Sweeter to their ear was the
music Of the gale, that shrieked in their broken
cordage, than the voice at home that said sub
init and you shall have rest.' And when they
reached this wild shore, and built their altar,
and knelt upon the frozen snow and fnty
rock to worship, they built that altar to free
dom, to individual freedom, to freedom OF
conscience 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 bequest which
their magnanimity has left u.s.
know of but one thing safe in the
universe, and that is truth. And know Of but
one way to truth to an individual mind and
that is, unfettered thought And know Of
but one path for the multitude to trl III, and
that is thought, freely expressed. Make Of
truth itself an altar of slavery, and guard il
about with mysterious shrine bind thought
as victim upon it and let the passions Of
the prejudced multitude minister fuel; and
you sacrifice upon the accused altar, the
hopes Of the world a
.Why is 1t, in fact, that the tone Of morality
in the high places Of society, is so lax and
complaisant, but for want of the independent
and indignant rebuke Of society," There is
reproach enough poured upon the drunken
ness, debauchery and dishonesty Of the poor
man. The good people who 60 to him can
speak plainly-ay, very plainly, Of his evil
ways. Why is it, then, that fashionable vice
IS able to hold up its head, and sometimes to
occupy the front ranks Of society! Ii is be-
cause respectable persons, of hesitating and
compromising virtue, keep il in countenancel
II is because timid woman stretches out hel
hand to the man whom she knows to be the
deadl'est enemy Of morality and to her sex,
while she turns a cold eye upon the victims
she has ruined. 1t is because there is nobody
to speak plainly in cases like these. And do
you think that society is ever to be regene-
rated or purified under the influence of these
unjust and pusillanimous compromises
tell you never. SO long as vice is suffered TO
be fashionable and respectable-so long as
men are bold to condemn it only when it is
in rags, there will never be any radical i'm
proyement. You may multiply Temperance
Societies, and Moral Reform Societies you
may pile up statue books Of laws against gam
bling and dishonesty; but so long as the timid
homages Of the fair and honored are paid to
splendid iniquity, ii will be all in vain. So
long will it be felt, that the voice Of the world
is not against the sinner, but against the sin
ner's garb. And so long every weapon Of as
ISOLATION, and every baton Of office, will be
but missile together against the leviathan,
that is wallowing in the low marshes and stag
nant pools of society,"