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Show 80 will for that which the legitimate organs of the people have proclaimed, usurps, for a time, the sovereignty of the state, and is virtually in rebellion. In a despotism, the laws are of less moment than in a free country, because in the former there is a force above the Jaws, an irresistible will, which has at its disposal a subservient soldiery and summary punishments, to maintain something like order in the state. But in a republic, there is nothing higher than the Jaws ; and, in shaking the authority of these, the whole social edifice is shaken. Reverence for the laws, is the essential spirit, the guardian power, of a free state. Take this away, and no physical force can take its place. The force is in the excited multitude, and, in proportion as it is roused against law, it prepares the way, and constitutes a demand for a more regular, despotic power, which, bad as it is, is better than the tyranny of crowds. There is, indeed, as I have intimated, one case where popular commotion does, comparatively, little harm. I mean, that which is excited by some daring crime, which the Jaws sternly forbid, and which sends an electric thrill of horror through a virtuous conununity. In such a case, the public without law do the work of law, and enforce those natural, eternal principles of right, on which all legislation should rest. Even this violence, however, is dangerous. But, be it ever so blame~ less, who can bring under this head the outrage offered to Abolitionists, men who had broken no law, and whose distinction was, that they had planted themselves on the grounds of natural and everlasting right ? This outrage against the Abolitionists made little impression on the country at large. It was pronounced wrong, of course ; but, then, we were told, that the Abolitionists were so imprudent, so fierce, so given to denunciation, so intolerant towards all who differ from them, that they had no great claim to sympathy. Everywhere the excesses of the Abolitionists are used to palliate the persecution 81 which they suffer. But are they the only intolerant people in the country? Is there a single political party, which does not deal as freely in denunciation ? Is there a religious sect, which has not its measure of bitterness > I ask as before, if fierce denunciation is to be visi~cd with flames, where will the conflagration stop ? In thus speaking, let me not be considered as blind to the errors of the Abolitionists. My interest in their object increases my pain at their defects. When I consider them as having espoused a just and holy cause, I am peculiarly grieved by the appearances of passionate severity, in their writing, speeches, and movements. Such men ou"'ht to find in the grandeur, purity, and benevolence of thei; end, irresistible motives to self-control, to a spirit of equity and mildness, to a calm, lofty trust in God. I grieve, that, in an age, when the power of Gentleness and :IYicekncss is beginning to be understood, they have sought strength in very different weapons. I do not deny their error; but, I say, let there be some proportion between the punishment and the offence. Is nothing to be pardoned to men, who have meditated on great wrongs, until their spirits are deeply stirred ? Is vehemence, in such men, the unpardonable sin ? Must we rigidly insist, that they shall weigh every word before they speak ? When all England was on fire with the injuries of the slave, is it wonderful, that men in this country, where the evil is most towering, should echo in louder tones the cry which came to them over the ocean ? Is it wonderful, that women, thinking of more than a million of their own sex, at no great distance, exposed to degradation and prostitution, should, in their grief and indignation, repel every extenuating plea for the supporters of these abominations ? Was it possible, that none should speak on this subject, but the wise and prudent ? Does not every great cause gather round itself vehement ~piri\s ? Must no evil be to<tched till we have assurance, |