The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-08-10
lay, Hindooston or the Chinese coast, or from isl
ands on the Indian ocean.
From Meals Grafton.
The Supremacy of Law.

From Meals Grafton.
The Supremacy ofLaw.
"Would they" Jour fathers) "sufer the law to
be trampled to death under the hoofs OF the null
ttude? Would they suffer the reign of terror to
be established every where throughout our bor-
ders.-nay in the very heart of New-England-
within the inner buwark Of our strength Would
men and women be forbiddenn to gather them
selves together for consultation or discussion
whether of political or religious nature! Would
the rights of the few be outraged, because they
were the rights of the few ?-Would the rights of
the n,amy-the sacr d rights of all indeed, be open
Iy derided ?-the high places of the land wasted
with fire, or polluted with blood-the best regula-
led communities among us-he descendants oil
the Pilgrims, the inhabitants of city consecated
TO brothery love-the chief sanctuaries heretofore
of Law and Order-woud Boston, and Charles
town, aud Baltimore, and Philadelphia, be ADAM
doned without remorse, shame, or conjunction,
to the blind and brutal passions of the multi
tude TO
The torch, the torrent of the mob J
Would such things be-coud they ever be--in
country like ours, if we had not forgotten both
our history and ourselves Was it for this that
the battles of the Revolution were fought for
this that our immediate fathers and grandfathers
poured out their blood like torrent, and offered
up whole armies and cities in sacrifice Believe
We that theirs was the struggle for party thirst
for dominion? a toiling and battling after earthly
power?
And what if they did, in the earlier outbreak
of their tempestuous Indignation, which burst upon
the world
Like sheets of fire in their descent
Through midnights parting armament
what if they did under the evaporation of long
continued outrage upon their constitutional rights
rights which they were born with as English
men rights which they were entitled to as the
children of Englishmen-wh if they did so lar
forget themselves and their allegiance to law, as
to set aside the law for once and for a single
hour-while they did execuon-not upon men,
women and childlen,-uot upon churches and
observation-disclosures and halls-but upon ship
in Boston harbor; empying her treasures into the
sea-treasures to them like the spices and myrrh
Of the East more needed and more enjoyed than
a" barbarc pearl and gold, What if they did so
forget themselves for once, and for single hour
Is that to excuse or Justify nay to sanctiiy-any
Of the doings of the mobs, whether Of the we'll
dressed or well educated, or Of the ragged and
filthy, which owing to the neglect Of the sober
minded, have held dominion over the sober mind
ed, orderly citizens of this Republic Ii so better
had ii been for us and our posterity-better for
our character and theirs-b, tter for our serespect
and our usefulness our hopes and our happiness
and better for the world ten thousand times over,
had those ships been left unmoested in Boston
harbor, as they were at Philadelphia Newly ork,
and Charleston freighted with pestilence though
they were, ready to find its way through every
channel of life and over the whole length and
breadth the land
If Lynch-law is to find lavor-if religious asy-
lums full of women and children, are to be sacked
and piaged at midnight, and wasted with fire,
like citadel carried by storm-if whole cities are
to be given up TO the dominion Of the mob-if alb
clifton riots are 10 be excused-how know that
these very things are not Judgment upon us for
for that single ransgression of our fathers, when
forgetting that " Order is Natures first law" they
rorupIcd order under foot, and offered question
able sacrifice to the God whom they desire to pre-
pitate.-Order is of itself Law, and the perlec
ton of Law; including all the consequences and
attributes of Law-obedience and Conscientious
ness, and a trusting and patient faith.