w abridging the freedom of speech
or of the press, or of the right of the people to peaceably assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

"That is the right that I exercised at Canton on the 16th day of last
June; and for the exercise of that right, I now have to answer to this
indictment. I believe in the right of free speech, in war as well as in
peace. I would not, under any circumstances, gag the lips of my
bitterest enemy. I would under no circumstances suppress free speech. It
is far more dangerous to attempt to gag the people than to allow them to
speak freely of what is in their hearts. I do not go as far as Wendell
Phillips did. Wendell Phillips said that the glory of free men is that
they trample unjust laws under their feet. That is how they repeal them.
If a human being submits to having his lips sealed, to be in silence
reduced to vassalage, he may have all else, but he is still lacking in
all that dignifies and glorifies real manhood.

"Now, notwithstanding this fundamental provision in the national law,
Socialists' meetings have been broken up all over this country.
Socialist speakers have been arrested by hundreds and flung into jail,
where many of them are lying now. In some cases not even a charge was
lodged against them--guilty of no crime except the crime of attempting
to exercise the right guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the
United States.

"I have told you that I am no lawyer, but it seems to me that I know
enough to know that if Congress enacts any law that conflicts with this
provision in the Constitution, that law is void. If the Espionage law
finally stands, then the Constitution of the United States is dead. If
that law is not the negation of every fundamental principle established
by the Constitution, then certainly I am unable to read or to understand
the English language.

"War does not come by chance. War is not the result of accident. There
is a definite cause for war, especially a modern war. The war that began
in Europe can readily be accounted for. For the last forty years, under
this international capitalist system, this exploiting system, these
various nations of Europe have been preparing for the inevitable. And
why? In all these nations the great industries are owned by a relatively
small class. They are operated for the profit of that class. And great
abundance is produced by the workers, but their wages will only buy back
a small part of t