ould have
charged Warren with imprudence! who should have said that, bred a
physician, he was "out of place" in that battle, and "died as the fool
dieth." How would the intimation have been received, that Warren and his
associates should have merited a better time? But if success be indeed
the only criterion of prudence, _Respice finem_,--wait till the end!

_Presumptuous_ to assert the freedom of the press on American ground! Is
the assertion of such freedom before the age? So much before the age as
to leave one no right to make it because it displeases the community?
Who invents this libel on his country? It is this very thing which
entitles Lovejoy to greater praise. The disputed right which provoked
the Revolution--taxation without representation--is far beneath that
for which he died. [Here there was a general expression of strong
disapprobation.] One word, gentlemen. As much as thought is better than
money, so much is the cause in which Lovejoy died nobler than a mere
question of taxes. James Otis thundered in this hall when the King did
but touch his pocket. Imagine, if you can, his indignant eloquence had
England offered to put a gag upon his lips. The question that stirred
the Revolution touched our civil interests. This concerns us not only as
citizens, but as immortal beings. Wrapped up in its fate, saved or lost
with it, are not only the voice of the statesman, but the instructions
of the pulpit and the progress of our faith.

The clergy, "marvellously out of place" where free speech is battled
for--liberty of speech on national sins! Does the gentleman remember
that freedom to preach was first gained, dragging in its train freedom
to print? I thank the clergy here present, as I reverence their
predecessors, who did not so far forget their country in their immediate
profession as to deem it duty to separate themselves from the struggle
of '76--the Mayhews and Coopers, who remembered that they were citizens
before they were clergymen.

Mr. Chairman, from the bottom of my heart I thank that brave little band
at Alton for resisting. We must remember that Lovejoy had fled from city
to city,--suffered the destruction of three presses patiently. At length
he took counsel with friends, men of character, of tried integrity, of
wide views, of Christian principle. They thought the crisis had come; it
was full time to assert the laws. They saw around them, not a community
like our own, of fixed habits, of character m