Year: 1864

4


On the recurrence Of day which
marks one of the great stages in the
progress of the world toward free con-
stitutional government, it cannot be
inappropriate TO consider the nature
of the liberties which are supposed to
be the birthright of free people. At
a period when those liberties are af-
fected by the prevalence of doctrines
which threaten to undermine their
foundations and to PROSTATE their
magnificent structure in the dust, 1t is
our imperative duty to do what we
can to strengthen these foundations,
and to eradicate the causes of their
disintegration i shall assume, there
fore, that the discussion which l am
now to otter to this audienceis one fit
ting to the occasion, and demanded by
the character of the times.


In entering upon such a discussion
do not wish to conceal from you my
conviction that constitutional liberty is
now in great peril in this country, or
my belief that unless great exertions
are made TO save it, it will be ire
trievably lost. You may or may not
share with me this conviction and this
fear. But even if you do not, it is
proper that / should apprise you in
advance of what lies at the bottom of
my own thoughts on this subject in
order that you may judge what i'm
portance, if any, ought to attach to the
opinions / may express.


In all such discussions, it is neces-
sary that terms should be defined. -
You will naturally ask, therefore,
what | understand by constitutional
liberty; and as it is prime pally in ref
erence to the political and social rights
of individuals that ! propose now to
consider that liberty, answer that l
understand il to imply the existence of
some fundamental law. securing to
the citizen certain personal rights,
which government can in no circum-
stances and for no purpose violate or
take away, when there is no accusa-
ton of crime; and which, when there
is an accusation of crime can be touch
cd by the power of government only
i'll certain mode and form. This L
take To be the essence of constitution
al liberty. The practice of securing
it by fundamental laws, more solemn
i'll their character and supported by
firmer sanctions than the ordinary
legislation began with our English
ancestors many centuries ago. They
were not the first inventors of citizen
ship as a condition of social existence
involving certain inv.o.able personal
rights. That condition waswell known
to the Greeks, to the Romans, to the
Jews, and to other nations of antiqui-
/ ty. But the circumstances in which
the people of England found them
selves after the Norman conquest,
made it necessary for them to devise
certain peculiar means of protection
against the power of the sovereign to
oppress or injure his individual free
born subject. They did by this means
Of special compacts with their princes,
founded on and declaring the ancient
rights of the free citizen, and binding
the sovereign and his successors for
ever to abstain from infringing them.
In this way they secured the rights OF
person and property against arbitrary
seizure, protected the home against
unlawful invasion, and provided for
the trial of offences by the institution
known as Il jury. The great charters
which effected this security, and form
ed the basis of English constitutional
liberty, were all made long before the
the discovery of the art of printing,
that, before the fifteenth century.


After that discovery, in the progress
of time, and through much tribula-
ton, the freedom of tho press also be-
came a universally received aud unal-
terable condition of English social and
political existence--a fundamental
principle which recognizes and is
founded ON the fact that without free
dom Of discus,i N there can be no 9TH
er freedom. I lis result, i'll relation
to the press, ha been reached before
the A nerican Revolution. 1t was u
result in regard to which there never
could have been heretofore any stop
backward, without destroying the en-
tire framework. ot constitutional liber-
ty, because the nature of modern So
siety and the functions of the press
are such that its freedom OF its subJu-
gatlon to arbitrary control, necessarily
marks the distinction between free
aud arbitrary governments. This is
essentially true everywhere; for while
on the Que hand, according to our
ideas, freedom of the press means the
right of printing unreStrained by any
power Of government, other than the
power after publication to punish Ju-
dicially ior violations Of law, the alb
sence uf that freedom, in other symp-
toms, implies the arbitrary power be-
tore publication to say what shall be
printed, or to prevent printing at all.


One other institution OF civil liberty
was added to the catalogue before the
occurrence of our Revolu ion, namely,
the writ Of habeas corpas--a process by
which every person imprisoned can
compel judicial inquiry into the
cause Of his Imprisonment, and under
which he is entitled to his liberty, ii
the inquiry shows that the cause or
mode OF his imprisonment was uniaw-
full.


1t is impossible to allude to these
things before cultivated American
audience, without being conscious ofa
strange kind of incongruity between
the audience and the subject. That
VIC, American citizens, living in this
latter half of the ninteenth century,
and under tho Constitution Of the
United States, should have practical
interest in considering the means Of