them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall
we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government
as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the
majority to alter them. They think that, if they should resist,
the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it is the fault of the
government itself that the remedy is worse than the evil. It makes it
worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why
does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before
it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to
point out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does
it always crucify Christ, and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and
pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?
One would think, that a deliberate and practical denial of its authority
was the only offence never contemplated by government; else, why has it
not assigned its definite, its suitable and proportionate, penalty? If a
man who has no property refuses but once to earn nine shillings for
the State, he is put in prison for a period unlimited by any law that
I know, and determined only by the discretion of those who placed him
there; but if he should steal ninety times nine shillings from the
State, he is soon permitted to go at large again.
If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine
of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear
smooth--certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a
spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then
perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the
evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent
of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be
a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at
any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
As for adopting the ways which the State has provided for remedying the
evil, I know not of such ways. They take too much time, and a man's life
will be gone. I have other affairs to attend to. I came into this world,
not chiefly to make this a good place to live in, but to live in it,
be it good or bad. A man has not everything to do, but something; and
because he cannot do everything, it is not necessary that he should do
something wrong. It is not my business to be petitioning the Governor or
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