. Civil War echoes: character sketches and state secrets . it happen, as the Constitution supposes it may happen,that either of these branches of the government may not have dulydischarged its trust, it is natural and proper that, according to thecause and degree of their faults, they should be brought into con-tempt or disrepute, and incur the hatred of the people. 3. Whether it has, in any case, happened that the proceedingsof either or all of those branches evince such a violation of dutyas to justify a contempt, a disrepute, or hatred among the people,can only be determined by a free exami
. Civil War echoes: character sketches and state secrets . it happen, as the Constitution supposes it may happen,that either of these branches of the government may not have dulydischarged its trust, it is natural and proper that, according to thecause and degree of their faults, they should be brought into con-tempt or disrepute, and incur the hatred of the people. 3. Whether it has, in any case, happened that the proceedingsof either or all of those branches evince such a violation of dutyas to justify a contempt, a disrepute, or hatred among the people,can only be determined by a free examination thereof, and a freecommunication among the people thereon. 4. Whenever it may have actually happened that proceedings ofthis sort are chargeable on all or either of the branches of thegovernment, it is the duty, as well as right, of intelligent and faithfulcitizens to discuss and promulgate them freely, as well as to controlthem by the censorship of the public opinion as to promote aremedy according to the rules of the Constitution. And it can 170. WILLIAM M. EVARTS, OF NEW YORKLATER, U. S. SENATOR AND SECRETARY OF STATE Civil-war Echoes — Character not be avoided that those who are to apply the remedy must feel,in some degree, a contempt or hatred against the transgressingparty. These observations of Mr. Madison were made in respect to thefreedom of the press. There were two views entertained at the timewhen the sedition law was passed concerning the power of Con-gress over this subject. The one view was that when the Con-stitution spoke of freedom of the press it referred to the commonlaw definition of that freedom. That was the view which was controverting in one of the passages which I haveread to you. The other view was that the common law definitioncould not be deemed applicable, and that the freedom provided forby the Constitution, so far as the action of Congress was con-cerned, was an absolute freedom of the press. But no one everimagined that freed
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