I ask of you is to enlighten them on these vital subjectssubjects that are the very marrow of our institutions. The people should know that while they are advancing the interests of their Government by a hearty co-operation, the Government at the same time is not depriving them of their personal rights; for, in the language of the great English orator and statesman, Edmund Burke, "Let it be once understood that your government may be one thing, and the people's privileges another; that these two things may exist without any mutual relation, the cement is gone-the cohesion is loosened—and everything hastens to decay and dissolution." But I have been agreeably entertained by you until a late hour. We will talk over these matters soon again, and in the mean time, my dear friend, farewell.

AUTHOR. You are always a welcome visitor - good night.

INTRODUCTION.

ERSONAL or civil liberty is that boon which man values

PERSONAL

most among the inestimable gifts of God, his Creator. In the proper enjoyment of it, he stands forth in the image of his Maker, self-reliant and strong. Take from him this inherent natural right — through the forms of government or law - by subjugation or force - by tyranny or prerogative and he is a mere machine, worked by the hand of power.

It is equally true that the prosperity and superiority of the State or Nation having the elements of personal or civil liberty or freedom incorporated in the formation of the society which constitutes it, is in proportion to the extent of the civil privileges, immunities, and franchises. When a State properly enjoys liberty, its progress is the more rapid and stable. When the liberties of the people are abused and degraded, the State retrogrades.

The proper uses of liberty, in a free government where emulation receives encouragement and support, stimulate the citizen, and produce culture, refinement, art, science, invention, learning, eloquence, oratory, statesmanship, and religion, in the highest degree. No other form of government advances the virtues and interests of the people to such supe riority and pre-eminence. It invites competition-it is the lever of progress—it is the friend of ambition. Hence, when the whole people-like the individual man-are inspired

with a pure, patriotic, and instinctive leve of liberty, the State becomes great, illustrious, and mighty.

The citizen of a free State has no superior, in point of liberty or in point of law. The humblest citizen is entitled to the same rights and privileges, and the same protection, to which the highest magistrate is entitled. The law in a free government is no respecter of persons, nor does it make any distinction, in so far as liberty is concerned.

In a free government, the Constitution throws around the citizen certain safeguards or protections to his liberty. It gives him the right to trial by jury. It secures him against unreasonable searches and seizures. It protects him against arrest, except on oath made by a responsible person. If maliciously arrested or falsely imprisoned, he has his redress or action against the informant or magistrate for trespass or false imprisonment. "Every restraint upon a man's liberty," says Kent," is, in the eye of the law, an imprisonment, wherever may be the place, or whatever may be the manner in which the restraint is effected." Even words may constitute an imprisonment, if they impose a restraint upon a person, and he submits.

He, then, who, possessing the power, robs the citizen of his liberty, even for an hour yea, for a moment- without the sanction of law, or deprives him of the right to all the im munities of the law, commits a crime against the interests of the State, which time cannot expiate. By his example, the people are made reckless of their liberties and their allegiance to the State.

Blackstone says: "Of so great importance to the public is the preservation of personal liberty, that, if once it were left in the power of any, the highest magistrate, to imprison

arbitrarily whoever he or his officers thought proper, there would soon be an end of all other rights and immunities. To bereave a man of his life, or by violence to confiscate his estate, without accusation or trial, would be so gross and notorious an act of despotism as must at once convey the alarm of tyranny throughout the whole kingdom; but confinement of the person, by secretly hurrying him to jail, where his sufferings are unknown or forgotten, is a less public, a less striking, and therefore a more dangerous engine of arbitrary power."

The highest aim of the magistrate in a free government should be to protect and defend, and not destroy, the liberty of the citizen. Even when the State is in danger, it is the province of the Legislature, and not of the magistrate, to protect it against external or internal foes.

In a free or elective system of government, as in the United States, where a written Constitution has been adopted, the different branches of government are so well marked out and defined, and the duties and offices of each are so independent and distinct, that under no possible circumstances can usurpations in any, or the encroachments of one upon the other, be excused. Any usurpation whatever, in either branch, leads to anarchy, demoralization, and finally disruption. The blow may not be aimed at, but it strikes into the very heart of liberty.

Hence the absolute necessity of keeping the liberties of the people pure and immaculate, and free from infringement, by the makers, the administrators, and the expounders of the laws.

In order to protect and increase the power and prolong the independence of the State, the liberties of the people must be fostered, guarded, and secured. "It" (liberty), says Burke,