John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[102] Douglass, the eloquent negro speaker, was frequently prohibited from speaking, and in many parts of the North, where the Democratic party prevailed, it was positively dangerous for him to make his appearance. While Dana freely admitted that some of these persons, especially Garrison, “might not be all that he ought to be,” he vehemently contended that “there must be no interference with his rights as a man,” and, above all, “no infringement of the right of free speech, no matter what might be the pretext.” He regarded this as one of the inalienable rights of American citizenship, and stood for it to the day of his death, strenuously and without flinching, not only for himself and every other man as a man, but for himself and every other editor as an editor. In later years he was forced to appeal to the courts for personal protection against the violation of this fundamental principle, and, as I shall relate in its proper place, fortunately won one of the most important legal victories that has ever been accorded to an American citizen. But Dana was not only in favor of free speech at this early date, as well as throughout his life, but in favor of free education for every child in the land, without reference to “his parents' providence or means, as a broad foundation for the training of the great mass of the generations to come after us in the ways of knowledge and virtue.” And from this liberal and generous principle he never departed. Fortunately, it was at home in America from the earliest days of the colonies. It had some enemies among the slave-holders, but as the years passed on and slavery was abolished, it received general approval in the Southern as well as in the Northern States.

The Tribune from its foundation had been a sturdy advocate of a protective tariff as the best stimulant for diversified home industries. It never faltered in its support of this policy, and in this it had Dana's best help,