The result of the contest in the
restoration of the Union, so far from establishing force as the basis of
political authority, on the contrary, will certainly destroy it, and
give a far wider scope to the voluntary principle of consent, which is
the only solid foundation of freedom. In the normal condition of the
larger number of the loyal States, that is to say, in times of peace,
liberty prevails in its broadest and most universal sense. Force nowhere
holds a place in society, except for the protection of individual rights
and of public order. Every man is permitted to pursue happiness in his
own way, and to enjoy perfect freedom of thought, of speech, and of
action, except when his published words or his overt acts are calculated
to interfere with the acknowledged rights or interests of others. This
is, theoretically, the consummation of the greatest possible human
liberty. It provides only for order and justice, and leaves everything
else to the control of individual will and social cooeperation. In the
present war for the Union, the loyal States are by no means contending
for the abrogation of this principle of liberty, but for its extension.
They desire neither to abolish it with reference to the Union, when
exercised through the forms provided in the Constitution, nor to prevent
its operations within the limits of the Southern States themselves.
It is not possible that the great civil conflict now pending could take
place without causing, in the end, an important extension of liberal
principles.
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