The Writings of Cassius Marcellus Clay: Including Speeches and Addresses

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Harper & Brothers, 1848 - 535 pages
 

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Page 203 - And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever...
Page 463 - Could I embody and unbosom now That which is most within me, — could I wreak My thoughts upon expression, and thus throw Soul, heart, mind, passions, feelings, strong or weak, All that I would have sought, and all I seek, Bear, know, feel, and yet breathe— into one word, And that one word were Lightning, I would speak ; But as it is, I live and die unheard, With a most voiceless thought, sheathing it as a sword.
Page 67 - That, by virtue of this, it is not only the right, but the bounden and solemn duty, of a State to advance the safety, happiness, and prosperity of its people, and to provide for its general welfare, by any and every act of legislation which it may deem to be conducive to these ends ; where the power over the particular subject, or the manner of its exercise is not surrendered or restrained, in the manner just stated.
Page 319 - The General Assembly shall have no power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves, without the consent of their owners, or without paying their owners, previous to such emancipation, a full equivalent in money, for the slaves so emancipated.
Page 64 - They shall have no power to prevent emigrants to this state from bringing with them such persons as are deemed slaves by the laws of any one of the United States, so long as any person of the same age or description shall be continued in slavery by (a) Art.
Page 325 - That the printing presses shall be free to every person who undertakes to examine the proceedings of the legislature or any branch of government : and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts .and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man ; and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty.
Page 220 - The slaves are ours.' So do I answer you: The pound of flesh which I demand of him Is dearly bought; 'tis mine, and I will have it.
Page 244 - This natural liberty consists properly in a power of acting as one thinks fit, without any restraint or control, unless by the law of nature; being a right inherent in us by birth, and one of the gifts of God to man at his creation, when he endued him with the faculty of free will.
Page 325 - In that awful moment of a nation's travail, of the last gasp of tyranny, and the first breath of freedom, how pregnant is the example ? The press extinguished, the people enslaved, and the prince undone. As the advocate of society, therefore, of peace, of domestic liberty, and the lasting union of the two countries, I conjure you to guard the liberty of the press, that great sentinel of the state, that grand detector of public imposture ; guard it, because when it sinks, there sinks with it, in one...

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