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Show ' <' ·- - - :.,~ 146 it must be heresy to question. A newspape•·, which openly or by inuendoes ex cites a mob, should be regarded as soundi1•g the tocsin of insurrection. On this subject the public mind slumbers, and needs to be awakened, lest it sleep the sleep of death. How obvious is it, that pretexts for mobs will never be wanting, if this disorganizing mode of redressing e vils be in any case allowed! We all recollect, that when a recent allempt was made on the life of the President of tl1e United States, the cry broke forth from his fi·iends, " that the assassin was instigated by the continual abuse poured forth on this distinguished man, and especially by the violent speeches uttered daily in the Senate of the United States." Suppose, now, that his adherents, to save the Chief Magistrate from murder, and to guard his constitutional advisers, had formed themselves into mobs, to scatter the meetings of his opponents. And suppose that they had resolved to put to silence the legislators, who, it was said, had abused their freedom of speech to blacken the character and put in peril tbe life of the Cbief Magistrate. Would they not bave had a better pretext than mobs against abolition l "Vas not assassination attempted ? Had not tbe President received letters threateniug bis life unless be would chanfre his measures ? Can a year or a month pass,0which will not afford equally grave reasons lor 147 insurrections of the populace ? A system of mobs and a free government cannot stand together. The men who incite the former, and especially those who organize them, are among the worst enemies of the state. Of their motives I do not speak: They may think themselves doing service to then· country, for there is no limit to the delusions of the times. l speak only of the nature and tendency of their actions. T hey should be suppressed at once by law, and by the moral sentiment of an insulted people. In addition to all other reasons, the honor of our nation, and the cause of free institutions shou:d plead with us to defend the laws from insult, and social order from subversion. The moral influence and reputation of our country are fast declining abroad. A letter, recently received from one of the most distinguished men of the continent of Europe, expresses the universal feeling on the other side of the ocean. After speaking of the late encroachments on liberty in France, he says, " On your side of the Atlantic, you contrilmte, also, to put in peril the cause of liberty. "Ve did take pleasure in thinking that there was at least in the New World a country, where liberty was well understood, where all rights were guarantied, where the people was proving itself wise and virtuous. Fo1· some time past, the news we receive from America is discouraging. ln all |