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Show 430 INAUGURAL AND FAREWELL ADDRESSES. bigotry. They, too, have their anti-ph ilosophists, who find an interest in k<·cping things in th ·ir present Rtate, who dread reformation, and exert all their faculties to maintain the n. · ndcncy of habit over· the duty of improving our I'Cfl.'On anrl obeying its mandat 'S. In giving the e outlineR, I dn not mean, ~·llow-citizcns, 1 o nrrogate to myself the merit of lhe measures: t.hn.t is 011(', in the first place, to the renceting ehnractcr of our citiz<•ns at large, wlw, by the weight of public opinion, infJuence and .·trcr1gthen the pullli · rn casurcs. It i.s duo to the ound discretion with whi ·h they ·elect from urnonrr b th erns<•lv s those to whom th 'Y confide tlte legi. lative duties. It is due to tire zeul nnd wisdom of tlte clmmctcrs thns selected, who lay the foundations of public happiness in wholesome law~-<, the execution of wlti ·h alone rcrnains fol' others. And it is due to ll1c nble and faithful auxiliaries whose patrioti m hu.s n.ssociaLcd them with me in tile executive functions. Duri11g this course of rulministrntion, nod in order to disturb it, the artillery of tile press has been leveled against us, charged with what. ocvet· its liecnLiousnc~s could deviso or dare. 'rhcsc abuses of nn institution , o important to freedom nnd science nrc d<'eply to b' regr ttcd, inasmuch n they t nd to lc sen its usefulness nnd to snp its Hnfety. 'rh y might, indeed, have been corrected by the wholcson1e punishmeuts reserved to and provided by the laws of Lhc several States again t falsehood and defamation ; but pnhlic duties, more urgent, prc.·s on the time of public servants, and the o!f<~nders have therefore been left to find their pnnishruent in the pul>lit irl(lignation. Nnr· wus it uninteresting to the \vorlcl, that an experiment should be fuirly and fully mn(le, whether· fr·ce<lom of disrussian, unaided by power·, is not I nm ·icnt for th(' propagation and protection of truth? \Vhcther a governruent, condncting it:-:clf in the fnte Rpil'it of its equ:-;fitllfinll, with INAUGURAL AND l•,AREWJ~LL ADDRESSES. 43J i'-enl nnd pnrit.y, nnd doing no net which it would be unwilling the whole world ·houlcl witness, can Lo written down by f':tl chood and defamation ? 'rho experiment has been tried. You have witncRsc<l the ~o;ccne. Our fciJow-ciLizcns looked on cool nnd collcetccl. ~'hey saw tho latent source from which these outrages procoedcu. They gathered ttround their public functionaries; nncl, when the Constitution called them to the <Jcci.sion by StrfT'rage, they pronounced their v ·rdict honoraule to those who had Hcrvcd them, and con,oln.tory to the fri end of man, who believes that he may be trustc<l with the control of his own affairs. No inference is hero in tend eel that the laws provided by the SLates against ful. c and defamatory publications should not be enforced. lie who has time, renders a service to public morals und public tranquillity in reforming these abuses by tho salutary coercions of tho Jaw. B11t tho expcrirurnt is uolccl to provo that, si11ce truth :wd ren.·on have muintainc<l thcit· grouud against false opin ions, in league wit.h false fu cts, the press, confined to trnth, needs no other Icgo.l rc. traint. Tbc public judgment will coned fulsc reason ings and opinions, on n l'ull hearing of nil purties; and no other definite line can b drawn uctw 'n the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness. If tltct·e be still improprieties which thiR rule would 110t restrain, its supplement must be sought in the censorship of public opinion. Contemplating the uuion of se ntim ent now manifested so generally, as auguring harm ony and llappincss to onr future conr·sc, I offer to onr country si ncere congratulatiorlH. \Vith those, too, not yet rallied to the same point, the disposition to do so is O'nining strength. Vacts nrc piercing thrc11r:d1 the veil drawn over thcrn; a11d our doubting brethren will nt length sec thaL the maRs of their f'cllow-eitizenH, with whom they eauuot yet resolve to uct, us to principles ur11l measures, think as they think, and desire what they desire |