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Untitled Article
ed , that it is a vain attempt to shackle any of them while the rest are at liberty . Restrictive measures sometimes defeat their own object . € i The mere attempt to suppress a doctrine has often been found to disseminate
it more widely . There is a charm in secrecy , which often attracts the public mind to proscribed opinions . The curiosity , roused by their being prohibited , a repugnance to oppression , an undefined suspicion , or tacit inference , that what
requires the arm of power to suppress it . \ pist have some strong claims to credence , and various other circumstances , draw the attention of numbers , in whose eyes the matter in controversy , had it been freely discussed , would have been
totally destitute of interest . , Whatever is the severity of tne law , some bold spirit every now and then sets it at defiance , aud by so doing spreads the obnoxious doctrine far more rapidly than it would have diffused itself had it been left
unmolested . "—Pp . 157 , 158 . But though restraints on the publication of opinions may be ineffectual , they still beget positive evils by disturbing the natural course of improvement . In the regular course of things ,
truth makes slow advances ; but where hindrances to truth are set up by authority , suspicion and resentment are awakened ; sudden revolutions take place in the public mind ; passions mix with opinions ; and a violent zeal is enkindled for their propagation .
" Such ebullitions are to be feared only where the natural operation of inquiry has been obstructed . As in the physical so in the moral world , it is repression which produces violence . Public opinion
resembles the vapour , which in the open air is as harmless as the breeze , but which may be compressed into an element of tremendous power . When novel doctrines are kept down by force , they naturally resort to force to free themselves from
restraint . Their advocates would seldom pursue violent measures , if such measures had not been first directed against them What partly contributes to this violence is , the effect produced by restraint on the moral qualities of men ' s minds . Compulsory silence , the necessity of confining
to his own breast ardently cherished opinions , can never have a good influence on the character of any one . It has a tendency to make men morose and hypocritical , discontented and designiug , and ready to risk much in order to rid themselves of their trammels ; while the liberty ot uttering opinions , without obloquy and
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punishment , promotes satisfaction of mind and \ sincerity of conduct . "—Pp . 160 , 161 . The course of enlightened policy id therefore plain . Let investigation be unrestrained - y that if established
opinions be true , their truth may be rendered conspicuous to all ; that if false , they may be discarded . The terrors of the law are wretched replies to argument ; disgraceful to a good cause , and feeble auxiliaries to a bad one .
Employ reason and learning - , call to your aid elegance and taste y but , in the name of humanity , resort not to the pillory and the dungeon . " Whoever has attentively meditated on the progress of the human race cannot fail to discern , that there is now a spirit
of inquiry amongst men , which nothing can stop , or even materially controul . Reproach and obloquy , threats and persecution , will be vain . They may embitter opposition and engender violence , but they cannot abate the keenness of research . There is a silent march of
thought , which no power can arrest , and which it is not difficult to foresee will be marked by important events . Mankind were never before in the situation in which they now stand . The press has been operating upon them for several
centuries , with an influence scarcely perceptible at its commencement , but daily becoming more palpable , and acquiring accelerated force . It is rousing the intellect of nations , and happy will it be for them if there be no rash interference with
the natural progress of knowledge ; and if , by a judicious and gradual adaptation of their institutions to the inevitable changes of opiuion , they are saved from those convulsions which the pride , prejudices and obstinacy of a few may occasion to the whole . " —Pp . 163 , 164 .
Such is the author ' s animated and eloquent conclusion , worthy of a Christian philosopher of the present enlightened era . How slow are rulers to keep pace in their measures with the improvement of the public mind Z
Without them , and in opposition to them , the moral and intellectual system is going on . They may employ brute force , but they cannot imprison or chain the intellectual power . That , as Galileo said of the earth , strikingit with his foot as he came out of his
dungeon , still moves ; and moves with accelerating force , and in a perpetually extending orbit . The great ones of the world a / e carried along with it irresistibly ; but it depends upon them-
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Review . < —Essays on the Formation and Publication of Opinions . 529
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1822, page 629, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2517/page/45/
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