Page:Dr Stiggins, His Views and Principles.pdf/25

 have had. I may surprise you by saying that I wish it had been found possible to suppress or at least to minimize the whole affair. I may perhaps surprise you still more by saying that I wish with still greater fervour that a body of representative Free Churchmen could be appointed to regulate in some measure the publication of news and comment that is likely to be harmful to the best interests of the people. The Freedom of the Press! My dear friend, do not let us be slaves either to a phrase or to a false appearance of consistency; do not let us be the slaves of anything or anybody, but "Liberals," Free Men, in deed and word. I agree with you with all my heart in reprobating any system which remotely resembles the censorship of the press and of that free speech which is every Englishman's birthright. Remember that every Free Churchman is a descendant of Milton; I rejoice in it, I make my boast of it all the day long, but remember also that the great Milton, that "mighty-mouthed inventor of harmonies," that prophet who saw the