ch Revolutionists,
the English Puritans and Whigs--did not hesitate to acknowledge the
nature of their acts, and were not unprepared to face their
consequences. They did not deceive themselves, or attempt to deceive
others, by false professions of loyalty. The Greeks proclaimed their
undying hostility to the Turks, fought them, shook off their yoke, and
erected a national kingdom on the ruins of Turkish tyranny. The French
Revolutionists openly declared war upon the old regime, eradicated it
by means of the guillotine, and established a republic where it had
been. Similarly the English Puritans repudiated allegiance to Charles I,
brought him to the block, and instituted the Commonwealth in his place;
while the Whigs drove out James II and set up the constitutional
monarchy of William and Mary. One can respect heroic rebels of these
types. They were honest and open; they attacked great abuses; they took
great risks, and they achieved notable results. Very different are our
modern rebels. They profess with nauseating unction loyalty to the State
whose dominion they are undermining; they claim to be exceptionally
virtuous members of the Society whose unity they are destroying; above
all they continue to demand with insolent effrontery the protection of
the very law and the very courts whose authority they are denying and
defying. They can be freed from the charge of the most revolting
hypocrisy only on the plea that "they know not what they do."

IV. REBELLION AGAINST A DEMOCRACY

It is granted, then, that rebellion may sometimes be not only a
justifiable act, but also a bounden public duty. Three examples have
been given which perhaps may be allowed to have illustrated and
confirmed this view. It will be noted, however, that in each of the
cases cited the revolt was that of an oppressed community against a
government in which it had no part or lot, and over which it had no
constitutional control. Rebellion against a democracy on the part of
members of that democracy stands on a widely different footing. It is
treachery as well as insurrection. One can, indeed, conceive
circumstances which would justify it; but they would be rare and
exceptional, and that for two reasons. First, in a democracy
constitutional means are provided for the alteration of law and even for
the remodelling of the form of government. Secondly, if a democratic
government is undermined by disobedience, discredited by successful
defiance, des