Henry Ward Beecher: “And a State that will be damaged by free speech ought to be damaged.”

For the last fifty years, upon the national platform have stood arrayed two champions in mortal antagonism--New-England and the near North--representing personal freedom, civil liberty, universal education, and a religious spirit which…

In this respect, there would be a marked contrast between the subjects which occupy us, and the grander life-themes that dignify European thought, were it not for one subject--Slavery.

I am quite aware that the subject of Slavery has been regarded, by many, as sectional; and the agitation of it in the North needless, and injurious to our peace and the country's welfare.

For fifty years the imperious spirit of the South has sought and gained power.