Page:The World's Famous Orations Volume 9.djvu/96

 THE WORLD'S FAMOUS ORATIONS er whose intercession we expect to save us. Nor is there anything in the Catholic religion un- favorable to freedom. AU religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty. All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty. If the people of Spanish Amer- ica have not already gone as far in religious tol- eration as we have, the difference in their con- dition from ours should not be forgotten. Every- thing is progressive; and, in time, I hope to see them imitating in this respect our example. But grant that the people of Spanish America are ignorant and incompetent for free government, to whom is that ignorance to be ascribed? Is it not to the execrable system of Spain, which she seeks again to establish and to perpetuate? So far from chilling our hearts, it ought to in- crease our solicitude for unfortunate brethren. It ought to animate us to desire the redemption of the minds and bodies of unborn millions from the brutifying effects of a system whose tend- ency is to stifle the faculties of the soul and to degrade man to the level of beasts. I would invoke the spirits of our departed fathers. Was it for yourselves only that you nobly fought? No, no! It was the chains that were forgiag for your posterity that made you fly to arms, and, scattering the elements of these chains to the winds, you transmitted to us the rich inherit- ance of liberty.