Writers The Most Learned, The

Whenever A Single Definite Object Is Made The Supreme End Of The State, Be It The Advantage Of A Class, The Safety Of The Power Of The Country, The Greatest Happiness Of The Greatest Number, Or The Support Of Any Speculative Idea, The State Becomes For The Time Inevitably Absolute. Liberty Alone Demands For Its Realization The Limitation Of The Public Authority, For Liberty Is The Only Object Which Benefits All Alike, And Provokes No Sincere Opposition.

There Is No Error So Monstrous That It Fails To Find Defenders Among The Ablest Men. Imagine A Congress Of Eminent Celebrities, Such As More, Bacon, Grotius, Pascal, Cromwell, Bossuet, Montesquieu, Jefferson, Napoleon, Pitt, Etc. The Result Would Be An Encyclopedia Of Error.

Liberty, Next To Religion Has Been The Motive Of Good Deeds And The Common Pretext Of Crime, From The Sowing Of The Seed At Athens, 2,460 Years Ago, Until The Ripened Harvest Was Gathered By Men Of Our Race. It Is The Delicate Fruit Of A Mature Civilization; And Scarcely A Century Has Passed Since Nations, That Knew The Meaning Of The Term, Resolved To Be Free. In Every Age Its Progress Has Been Beset By Its Natural Enemies, By Ignorance And Superstition, By Lust Of Conquest And By Love Of Ease, By The Strong Man's Craving For Power, And The Poor Man's Craving For Food.

Every Thing Secret Degenerates, Even The Administration Of Justice; Nothing Is Safe That Does Not Show How It Can Bear Discussion And Publicity.

The Strong Man With The Dagger Is Followed By The Weak Man With The Sponge.