operation among the masses, and so craned up to a vigilant activity by coincident forces derived from intelligence and interest, that the _principle of slavery--control by the will of another, which in this instance is the will of the majority_--is not competent, according to the theory of this government, to override and crush the liberties of the country. On the other hand, the _principle of slavery_, which is the great _practical force_ of the government, enfeebled as it is by a prevailing popular enthusiasm for the widest freedom, and deriving no _present_ aid from interest, finds this deficiency so fully supplied by the fact that its impersonation is _the will of the majority_, that it is competent to resist the most violent shocks which may come up from the misguided self-control of the masses. How often have we seen, in the history of our glorious republic, the excited passions of the masses, misdirecting their power of self-control, sweep like a hurricane over the bosom of our political sea, and lash the waters into a storm that threatened to engulf the hopes of the nation! But so _vital_ and so _active_ was that principle which constitutes the true force of the government, that that great ideal, the State--the “Ship of State!”--outrode the tempest in perfect safety; and last, as first, the flag of liberty still streamed from the mast-head. Now, this is as far as the science of free government, so called, has been carried into practical operation; and in this we cannot fail to see that the restraining and controlling _principle of slavery_ is still in vigorous operation. We call it, by way of eminence, a _free_ government; and so it is, _relatively to other forms, a very free government_. But then it is only relatively, not absolutely, so; for if it were rendered entirely free, by excluding the operation of the principle of slavery altogether, it would be reduced at once to a form of government which authorizes every man to do in all things and in all respects just as he might please to do--a guaranty which in the present state of fallen human nature it could never make good, and, therefore, virtually it would be no government at all.