ood it "may be suppressed." Nay, it must be suppressed, if, without
such suppression, the public order may not be sustained; for, as we have
abundantly seen, it is only in the bosom of an enlightened public order
that liberty can live, or move, or have its being. Thus, as Montesquieu
advises, we deduce an inequality from the very principle of equality
itself; since, if such inequality be not deduced and established by law,
a still more terrific inequality would be forced upon us. Blind passion
would dictate the laws, and brute force would reign, while innocence and
virtue would be trampled in the dust. Such is the inequality to which
the honorable senators would invite us; and that, too, by an appeal to
our love of equality! If we decline the invitation, this is not because
we are the enemies, but because we are the friends, of human freedom. It
is not because we love equality less, but liberty more.

The legislators of the North may, if they please, choose the principle
of equality as the very "element and guarantee" of their liberty; and,
to make that liberty perfect, they may apply it to every possible
"subject of legislation," and to "every question" under the sun. But, if
we may be permitted to choose for ourselves, we should beg to be
delivered from such an extreme equality. We should reject it as the very
worst "element," and the very surest "guarantee" of an unbounded
licentiousness and an intolerable oppression. As the "element and
guarantee" of freedom for ourselves, and for our posterity, we should
decidedly prefer the principle of an enlightened public order.

FOOTNOTES:

[142] Channing's Works, vol. ii. p. 126.

[143] Elements of Moral Science, Part ii. chap. i. sec. 11.

[144] Moral Science, Part ii. chap. i. sec. 2.

[145] Letters on Slavery, p. 89.

[146] Ibid, p. 92.

[147] Letters, p. 50.

[148] Letters, p. 50.

[149] Letters, p. 50.

[150] Letters, p. 113.

[151] Moral Science, Part ii. chap. i. sec. 2.

[152] Letters, p. 119, 120.

[153] Moral Science Part ii. chap. i. sec. 2.

[154] Moral Science, Part ii. chap. i. sec. 2.

[155] Ibid.

[156] The _Italics_ are our own.

[157] Lev. chap. xxv.

[158] Exod. chap. xxi.

[159] In the first chapter.

[160] Mr. Chase, of Ohio.

[161] "By nature," in the Original Bill of Rights.

[162] Mr. Seward, of New York.

CHAPTER III.

THE ARGUMENT FROM THE SCRIPTURES.

The Argument from the Old Testament.--The Argument from t