The only government that I recognize,--and it matters not how few
are at the head of it, or how small its army,--is that power that
establishes justice in the land, never that which establishes
injustice. What shall we think of a government to which all the
truly brave and just men in the land are enemies, standing between
it and those whom it oppresses? A government that pretends to be
Christian and crucifies a million Christs every day!
Treason! Where does such treason take its rise? I cannot help
thinking of you as you deserve, ye governments. Can you dry up
the fountains of thought? High treason, when it is resistance to
tyranny here below, has its origin in, and is first committed by,
the power that makes and forever recreates man. When you have caught
and hung all these human rebels, you have accomplished nothing but
your own guilt, for you have not struck at the fountain-head. You
presume to contend with a foe against whom West Point cadets and
rifled cannon point not. Can all the art of the cannon-founder
tempt matter to turn against its maker? Is the form in which the
founder thinks he casts it more essential than the constitution of
it and of himself?
The United States have a coffle of four millions of slaves.
Pages:
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43