cripture texts; but you may
not talk, nor preach, nor print abolition doctrines, though you
believe them with the intensity of inspiration!

The reason given is, that it will stir up insurrection. And so it
will. It is said that free speech is inflammatory. So it is. That it
would bring every man's life in the South into jeopardy; that, in
self-defence, they most limit and regulate the expression of opinion.
But what is that theory of Government, and what is the state of
society under it, in which free speech and free discussion are
dangerous? It is the boast of the North, not alone that speech and
discussion are free, but that we have a society constructed in every
part so rarely, wisely, and justly, that they can _endure_ free
speech; no file can part, but only polish. We turn out any law, and
say, _Discuss_ it! that it may be the stronger! We challenge scrutiny
for our industry, for our commerce, for our social customs, for our
municipal affairs, for our State questions, for all that we believe,
and all that we do, and everything that we build. We are not in haste
to be born in respect to any feature of life. We say--probe it,
question it, put fire to it. We ask the _experience of the past_ to
sit and try it. We ask the ripest _wisdom of the present_ to test and
analyze it. We ask enemies to plead all they know against it. We
challenge the whole world of ideas, and the great deep of human
interests to come up upon anything that belongs, or is _to_ belong, to
public affairs. And then, when a truth, a policy, or a procedure comes
to birth, from out of the womb of such discussion, we know that it
will stand. And when our whole public interests are rounded out and
built up, we are glad to see men going around and about, marking well
our towers, and counting our bulwarks. May it do them good to see such
architecture and engineering! And it is just this difference that
distinguishes the North and the South. We have institutions that will
stand public and private discussion--they have not. We will not _have_
a law, or custom, or economy, which cannot be defended against the
freest inquiry. Such a rule would cut them level as a mowed meadow!
They live in a crater, forever dreading the signs of activity. They
live in a powder magazine. No wonder they fear light and fire. It is
the plea of Wrong since the world began. Discussion would unseat the
Czar; a free press would dethrone the ignoble Napoleon; free speech
would revolut