Civil freedom, gentlemen, is not, as many have endeavoured to persuade
you, a thing that lies hid in the depth of abstruse science. It is a
blessing and a benefit, not an abstract speculation; and all the just
reasoning that can be upon it is of so coarse a texture, as perfectly to
suit the ordinary capacities of those who are to enjoy, and of those
who are to defend it. Far from any resemblance to those propositions
in geometry and metaphysics, which admit no medium, but must be true or
false in all their latitude; social and civil freedom, like all other
things in common life, are variously mixed and modified, enjoyed in
very different degrees, and shaped into an infinite diversity of forms,
according to the temper and circumstances of every community. The
EXTREME of liberty (which is its abstract perfection, but its real
fault) obtains nowhere, nor ought to obtain anywhere. Because extremes,
as we all know, in every point which relates either to our duties or
satisfactions in life, are destructive both to virtue and enjoyment.