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Show I I I 11· 13G LIBERTY AND SLAVERY. lOr, as we haYc abundantly seen, it is only in tho bosom of an enlightened public order that liberty can live, or move, or have its being. Thus, as Uontcsquieu advises, we deduce an inequality ft·om the very principle of equality itself; since, if such inequality be not deduced and established by law, a still more terrific inequality would be forced upon us. Blind passion would dictate the laws, and brute force would reign, while innocence and virtue would be tl'ampled in the dust. Such is the inequality to which the honorable senators would invite us; and that, too, by an appeal to our love of equality! If we decline the invitation, this is not because we are the enemies, but because we are the friends, of human freedom. It is not because we love equality less, but liberty more. The legislators of the North may, if they please, choose the principle of equality as the very "element and guarantee" of their liberty; and, to make that liberty perfect, they may apply it to every possible "subject of legislation," and to "every question" under the sun. But, if we may be permitted to choose for ourselves we should beg to be delivered from such at; extreme equality. We should reject it as the AROUlfENTS OF ADOLITIONISTS. 137 very worst "element," and the very surest .. "guarantee," of an unbounded 1iccntiousncss and an intolerable opprcAsion. As the "element and guarantee" of freedom for ourselves and for our posterity, we should decidedly pre: fer the principle of an enlightened public order. |