laws, if they exist, should be repealed as soon as possible, still
they continue in force, for the sake of example they should be
religiously observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, let
proper legal provisions be made for them with the least possible delay,
but, till then, let them, if not too intolerable, be borne with.

There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law. In
any case that may arise, as, for instance, the promulgation of
abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true--that is, the
thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of
all law and all good citizens, or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to
be prohibited by legal enactments; and in neither case is the
interposition of mob law either necessary, justifiable, or excusable.

But it may be asked, why suppose danger to our political institutions?
Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we
not for fifty times as long?

We hope there is _no sufficient_ reason. We hope all dangers may be
overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be
extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many
causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore,
and which are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our
government should have been maintained in its original form, from its
establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many
props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and
crumbled away. Through that period it was felt by all to be an
undecided experiment; now it is understood to be a successful
one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame and distinction expected
to find them in the success of that experiment. Their _all_ was staked
upon it; their destiny was _inseparably_ linked with it. Their
ambition aspired to display before an admiring world a practical
demonstration of the truth of a proposition which had hitherto been
considered at best no better than problematical--namely, _the
capability of a people to govern themselves_. If they succeeded they
were to be immortalized; their names were to be transferred to
counties, and cities, and rivers, and mountains; and to be revered and
sung, toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called
knaves, and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour; then to sink and
be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment