The Press., 1892-06-09

north, south, east and west, were ready for the conflict; and, with united pur- pose, with heart beating in unison with heart, the shout of victory went up on the What, ask, led the Puritan fathers to prefer the perils of the deep, become ex- iles from all that was dear in home and kindred, and dwelling among the sav- ages of the wilderness, to departure from their convictions of right? They were men of noble souls their ideas and creeds in many respects I would be slow to endorse. But that Puritan prayer that went up from the May Flowers deck, as the cold December winds sighed through her frozen shrouds on the rock bound coast of New England, and as they lifted their cold, shivering hands yet fervent hearts to heaven from Plymouth's snow- clad ck,-these proclaim that there was in them 8 high and holy liberty.
 The question is often asked, What am to understand by liberty? Civil or po- litical liberty may be defined in general sense. a state of freedom, in contradis- tinction to slavery or restraint. It is either natural or civil; the former con- sists properly in the power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless such as the law of nature imposes, being right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endowed him with the faculty of free will. But every man when he enters into society necessar- fly gives up part of his natural liberty, and, in consideration of receiving the ad- vantages of protection, commerce, &c., he is obliged to conform himself to those laws which the community has thought fit to establish. Civil liberty, therefore, is no other than natural liberty, restrain ed by human laws, as far as is necessary and expedient for the common veal Hence, the law which restrains a man from doing mischief to his fellow citizens though it diminishes the natulal, increases the civil liberty of mankind; but every wanton and causeless restraint of the will of the subject, whether by a monarch sel popular assembly, is degree of tyranny Even laws which regulate or restrain oul conduct in matters of indifference, with out any good end in view, are destructive of liberty. Laws, when prudently framed l are by no means subversive, but rather conducive to liberty; for where there is no law there is no freedom.
 Civil liberty, rightly understood, con sists in the power of doing whatever tht laws permit. The rights and liberties en ljoyed by this country are in the law books divided into three classes: First-Tht right of personal security which accord' to each individual legal and uninterruptet enjoyment of his life, his limbs, his body his health, and his reputation. Secondl, The right of personal liberty, or thu power of moving one's person to what ever place his own inclinations may di rect, without imprisonment or restrain unless by due course of law. Thirdly The right of private property, which con sists in the full use, enjoyment, and dis posal of all his acquisitions, without an, control or diminution save only by thu
 laws of the land.
 | Now, what has this liberty cost tn
 world? Here I may indulge my in agina tion without fear. Rivers of blood hav
 flowed over the earth for this liberty.
 All doubtless will agree, who are in an,
 way acquainted with the history of pas
 ages, that it was simply system of civl
 and religious tyranny. From the days o
 Nimrod to the present hour, this is rank
 ed among the heaviest burdens or curse
 to which humanity has been subjected
 They have' always been the unrelentin
 foes to human happiness, under who's
 blighting influence knowledge and virtu
 have withered and died, or have survive
 with feeble and sickly life, only to b
 the more keenly conscious of their ow
 degl ladation and ruin. And, hence, tn
 history of the world is little else but tn
 history of human nature, trying to dis
 burden itself of the intolerable load whic
 tyrants and tyrannical governments hay
 laid upon it.
 Man was made fol freedom. It is hi
 birthright, deprived of wAich, he lose
 the noble bearing, the dignity, of a mar
 It is this which he desires and loves o
 tentimes more than life itself. The orig
 inal dominion given to man on the cart
 is limited. It extends over the fowls (
 the air, the fish of the sea, and over ever living thing that moveth upon the eartf But it does not extend over his fello'
 man. God gave no such dominion. H , , did not say have dominion over you ; fellow man and subdue him, but he sai subdue the earth and have dominion owe 1. it.
 Now true liberty recognizes no prt eminence of one man above his fellow and neither grants, nor allows, one ma tage. On the contrary, hei mandate il , serve God and obey him, and call no ma master upon the earth. We'll had it bee F for the world had man remembered tn , limit to his dominion, and been contel to reign over the earth, leaving his fello ] man to the enjoyment of that libert which God has given him. But the diff culty has been that, instead of contendir with his enemies, instead of striving ft 5 control of the elements, and every thir that flinders free exercise of legit mate dominion over the earth, man h.
 been seeking to obtain dominion over h } fellow man. Thus he has been wagir . war with himself, fighting his brothe 3 wasting his energies in vain and fruitle. : attempts to suhdue humanity, the imat 3 upon which God has stamped his ow t and whose liberty he proclaimed from h r throne in heaven. For this reason u 1 armed host in long and deadly array ha,