"Liberty first--peace afterwards."

"My excellent friend from Boylston, (Mr. Whitney,) has uttered, in the speech he has just made, many noble sentiments of love among men and peace on earth. I love peace not less ardently than my friend from Boylston. The bloodless victories of peace are as dear to me as to him. But I am not one of those men who cry peace, when there is no peace without slavery, injustice and wrong. My friend from North Brookfield, (Mr Walker,) and others, have spoken of the peace movements in England and on the continent, and of Richard Cobden and others of its leading spirits. I may be in error, but I have sometimes thought that the song which the peace movement has hymned into the ear of Europe during the past five years has made far easier the march of the legions Russia and Austria upon Hungary and Italy, and the march of the legions of France--of apostate republican France--upon Rome. While the people have listened with softened hearts to the songs of peace, their masters have disarmed them, and sent forth their increasing standing armies to crush every manifestation of freedom, progress, and popular rights. When tyranny is overthrown and freedom established; when standing armies are disbanded and the people armed for their own protection against arbitrary power; then I would write "peace" on the banners of the people and send them forth to make the tour of the world. My motto is "Liberty first--peace afterwards."

- Mr. Henry Wilson, June 21, 1853, [OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS IN The State Convention ASSEMBLED MAY 4TH, 1853, TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VOLUME SECOND. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS TO THE CONVENTION, 1853.] (Mr. Wilson, (Feb. 16, 1812 – Nov. 22, 1875), was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1853. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1855. He was reelected as a Republican in 1859, 1865 and 1871, and served from Jan. 31, 1855 to March 4, 1873, when he resigned to become Vice President. He was the 18th Vice President of the United States (1873–1875). During the Civil War, he was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and the Committee on Military Affairs).

"Permit me, Sir, to trace in the briefest manner, the rise, progress, and termination of liberty in two or three of the great nations have enjoyed somewhat of liberty, but lost the precious jewel. First, then, they throw off the oppressive power and make themselves free; then, inflated by success, they make war upon their neighbors, conquer the weaker among them, and finally perish in a vain attempt at universal dominion. Thus Carthage rose, lived its day, and fell. Greece and Rome began much in the same way; they expelled their tyrants by the sword, they made wars upon their neighbors, they found none enough to stand before their arms; on they went, conquering all before them, till each in its fell by its own sword. This is the end of all. In establishing their liberty they took sword, and by the sword their liberty perished. It remains yet to be seen whether this land of ours, this land now extending from ocean to ocean, shall find its final exit in this same way...."--Mr. WHITNEY of Boylston, June 21, 1853. [OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS IN The State Convention ASSEMBLED MAY 4TH, 1853, TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VOLUME SECOND. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS TO THE CONVENTION, 1853.]

"The presence of arms and of armed men is often the presence of peace. . . . Which will you have, for you must in the end, take your choice--a standing army or armed citizen soldiery? The one is a blessing in its place, and may prove a blessing to the country, while the other is but a curse, and no other name."--Mr. Oliver of Lawrence, June 20, 1853.[OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS IN The State Convention ASSEMBLED MAY 4TH, 1853, TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VOLUME SECOND. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS TO THE CONVENTION, 1853.]