East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1861-09-17
q. From the Boston Courier.
A FREE PRESS AND FREE SPEECH

"." W" 10y '~'''''
The fundamental and indispensable
principle of our free Institutions Is incor.
porated in the above brief clause of one
of the amendments of the Constitution.
1t is the germ, in fact, from which every
thing Of the slightest value in those insti-
buttons springs Without the unequivo.
cal recognition of it, we could have had
no civil or religious freedom. II was By
means of public and private DISCUSSION.
by the unshackled expression iof opinions
through the press and in assemblies of the
citizens, and by unrestrained interchange
of sentiment among themselves, that the
conception was reached of that grand fab
rio of civil and religious liberty, finally
established by our fathers, after fiery
struggle of blood for its sake, and which
was by them transmitted to ourselves, and
has given US unexampled prosperity and
happiness, until now. .rt s,irr. .i,f
1t is to be guarded with a scrupulous
care, commensurate with the original esti-
mate of its value, and with our expert
ence of the inestimable blessings it has
conferred. Ii we are wise, we will not
let it be assailed or obstructed by any
irrepressible power. If we do, with it we
loose liberty, and with liberty everything
which makes our country worth fighting
for. Without it, we have no liberty. We
are slaves to that worst, because most in
considerate and INSCRIPTIONS Of all ty-
rants, a capricious and excited crowd. If
we give it up, if we allow it to be tam
pered with, or trihed with-we have no
longer constitution, a government, a
country.
The instrument which secures to us
the right of free speech and free discus
sion in the public prints, is our country,
1t is not so much expanse Of territory,
however wide-it is neither the earth be-
meath our feet, nor the covering sky above
our heads. This country is kept in exis-
tence under the broad shield of that NOR
al and intellectual freedom which make
earth and sea and sky serviceable to our
uses and purposes, as men and freemen.
We cannot have and enjoy them at all,
unless we can think, nor unless we can
express our thoughts to one another. If
we cannot, or do not, we are slaves.
This right is Indispensable to the knowl-
edge of truth and to the exclusion of err
ror. We need conference with one anoth-
err, to correct our mistakes of reasoning
and opinion, and to inform our ignorance
by learning what others, with better OPP
portunities, perhaps, have learned and
thought and felt. In civil government
we need it to check corruption, to resist
evil tendencies, whether to anarchy or
despotism. Under the ordinary provis-
ions and administration of the laws, there
are safeguards enough TO prevent this lib
erty from becoming RIGHTEOUSNESS. Be-
fore necessity arises for the Intervention
of the law, sober public opinion, as an or
binary thing, eventually meets the ext
gencies Of the case, our consciences and
thoughts the meanwhile, either excusing
or else accusing one another" Are we so
incompetent to govern ourselves, that the
general sense of the community, in the
long run, is incapable of correcting dan
gerous errors OF opinion? Are our laws
so ineficacious and imperative, that they
cInr OF reach violent offenders against the
safety of the State? Such has not been
our experience for three-quarters of a
century. For what reason, should we now
abrogate the constitution, violate the laws,
disregard the sober judgment of reason,
and give ourselves up to the loose guild
ance and indiscreticn Of mob, or of any
unauthorized power,
If our wise forefathers deemed it essen
tial to the security of themselves and of
future generations, that freedom of speech
and of the press should be guarded by
solemn constitutional sanctions-so that
even the representatives of the States and
Of the people, in the exercise of their
most deliberate judgment, should not
have power to infringe upon or to inter
fere with it-shall knot of passionate
men, under the influence of popular ex-
element, and perhaps without the exer-
else of any judgment, make of themselves
an extempore tribunal, above the constitu-
ton and the law, to take away rights so
sacredly guarded by both I? 'i
Nor did our ancestors establish this
sanction for peaccable times and quiet oc-
casions. , 1t is not needed then? They
had great experience of all the evils, as
well as of all the benefits of this. essen
tial privilege, which they endeavored to
place beyond the reach of the inconsider-
ate and the impulsive--of party and of
faction. They meant it for periods of
public disturbance and Of public danger
for just such contingency as that now
upon us,--if it were possible for them to
conceive that we should so far fall away
from the principles, the standard and the
conduct which the work of their exalted
minds and their own glorious example had
set before us. t..-....... -.-...i..
1t is now, then, and not at future
time, that We must seek remedy for the
of this great evil and great
danger to all which should be most dear
to us. There is no good cause for the
violent interference with the freedom of
speech and of the press, which has been
manifested. Such difference of
opinion as really exist in the free states
are of little comparative consequence to
the great public ends in view, and, if err
roneous, they cannot unfavorably affect
the final rosllt. SO far as they are expires.
4 Al. l. Al 4