I heartily accept the motto, -- "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidlyand systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, whichalso I believe, -- "That government is best which governs not atall"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind ofgovernment which they will have. Government is at best but anexpedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments aresometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been broughtagainst a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserveto prevail, may also at last be brought against a standinggovernment. The standing army is only an arm of the standinggovernment. The government itself, which is only the mode which thepeople have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to beabused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witnessthe present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individualsusing the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, thepeople would not have consented to this measure. This American government -- what is it but a tradition, though arecent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity,but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not thevitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bendit to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the peoplethemselves. But it is not the less necessary for this; for thepeople must have some complicated machinery or other, and hear itsdin, to satisfy that idea of government which they have.Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, evenimpose on themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, wemust all allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered anyenterprise, but by the alacrity with which it got out of its way.It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. Itdoes not educate. The character inherent in the American people hasdone all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhatmore, if the government had not sometimes got in its way. Forgovernment is an expedient by which men would fain succeed inletting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is mostexpedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade andcommerce, if they were not made of India rubber, would never manageto bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continuallyputting in their way; and, if one were to judge these men wholly bythe effects of their actions, and not partly by their intentions,they would deserve to be classed and punished with those mischievouspersons who put obstructions on the railroads. But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those whocall themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once nogovernment, but at once a better government. Let every man makeknown what kind of government would command his respect, and thatwill be one step toward obtaining it. After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once inthe hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a longperiod continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to bein the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, butbecause they are physically the strongest. But a government inwhich the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice,even as far as men understand it. Can there not be a government inwhich majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, butconscience? -- in which majorities decide only those questions towhich the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen everfor a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to thelegislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that weshould be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable tocultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The onlyobligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time whatI think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has noconscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporationwith a conscience. Law never made men a whit more just; and, bymeans of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily madethe agents of injustice. A common and natural result of an unduerespect for law is, that you may see a file of soldiers, colonel,captain, corporal, privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching inadmirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their wills,ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it verysteep marching indeed, and produces a palpitation of the heart.They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they areconcerned; they are all peaceably inclined. Now, what are they?Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service ofsome unscrupulous man in power? Visit the Navy Yard, and behold amarine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as itcan make a man with its black arts -- a mere shadow and reminiscenceof humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as onemay say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments, though itmay be "Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried." The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but asmachines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and themilitia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most casesthere is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moralsense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth andstones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will servethe purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of strawor a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horsesand dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed goodcitizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers,ministers, and office-holders, serve the state chiefly with theirheads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are aslikely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A veryfew, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, andmen, serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarilyresist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated asenemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and willnot submit to be "clay," and "stop a hole to keep the wind away,"but leave that office to his dust at least:-- "I am too high-born to be propertied, To be a secondary at control, Or useful serving-man and instrument To any sovereign state throughout the world." He who gives himself entirely to his fellow-men appears to themuseless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially to them ispronounced a benefactor and philanthropist. How does it become a man to behave toward this Americangovernment to-day? I answer, that he cannot without disgrace beassociated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize thatpolitical organization as my government which is the slave'sgovernment also. All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right torefuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when itstyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almostall say that such is not the case now. But such was the case, theythink, in the Revolution of '75. If one were to tell me that thiswas a bad government because it taxed certain foreign commoditiesbrought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not make anado about it, for I can do without them. All machines have theirfriction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance theevil. At any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. Butwhen the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression androbbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine anylonger. In other words, when a sixth of the population of a nationwhich has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and awhole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army,and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon forhonest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty themore urgent is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own,but ours is the invading army. Paley, a common authority with many on moral questions, in hischapter on the "Duty of Submission to Civil Government," resolvesall civil obligation into expediency; and he proceeds to say that"so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that is,so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changedwithout public inconveniency, it is the will of God... that theestablished government be obeyed, and no longer.... This principlebeing admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistanceis reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger andgrievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense ofredressing it on the other." Of this, he says, every man shalljudge for himself. But Paley appears never to have contemplatedthose cases to which the rule of expediency does not apply, in whicha people, as well as an individual, must do justice, cost what itmay. If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I mustrestore it to him though I drown myself. This, according to Paley,would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life, in such acase, shall lose it. This people must cease to hold slaves, and tomake war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people. In their practice, nations agree with Paley; but does any onethink that Massachusetts does exactly what is right at the presentcrisis? "A drab of state, a cloth-o'-silver slut, To have her train borne up, and her soul trail in the dirt." Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts arenot a hundred thousand politicians at the South, but a hundredthousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested incommerce and agriculture than they are in humanity, and are notprepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico, cost what it may.I quarrel not with far-off foes, but with those who, near at home,co-operate with, and do the bidding of those far away, and withoutwhom the latter would be harmless. We are accustomed to say, thatthe mass of men are unprepared; but improvement is slow, because thefew are not materially wiser or better than the many. It is not soimportant that many should be as good as you, as that there be someabsolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole lump.There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to thewar, who yet in effect do nothing to put an end to them; who,esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit downwith their hands in their pockets, and say that they know not whatto do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom tothe question of free-trade, and quietly read the prices-currentalong with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner, and, it maybe, fall asleep over them both. What is the price-current of anhonest man and patriot to-day? They hesitate, and they regret, andsometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and witheffect. They will wait, well disposed, for others to remedy theevil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they giveonly a cheap vote, and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to theright, as it goes by them. There are nine hundred and ninety-ninepatrons of virtue to one virtuous man; but it is easier to dealwith the real possessor of a thing than with the temporary guardianof it. All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon,with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong,with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it. Thecharacter of the voters is not staked. I cast my vote, perchance,as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that rightshould prevail. I am willing to leave it to the majority. Itsobligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Evenvoting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressingto men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man willnot leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevailthrough the power of the majority. There is but little virtue inthe action of masses of men. When the majority shall at length votefor the abolition of slavery, it will be because they areindifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery leftto be abolished by their vote. They will then be the only slaves.Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts hisown freedom by his vote. I hear of a convention to be held at Baltimore, or elsewhere,for the selection of a candidate for the Presidency, made up chieflyof editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think,what is it to any independent, intelligent, and respectable man whatdecision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of hiswisdom and honesty, nevertheless? Can we not count upon someindependent votes? Are there not many individuals in the countrywho do not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectableman, so called, has immediately drifted from his position, anddespairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despairof him. He forthwith adopts one of the candidates thus selected asthe only available one, thus proving that he is himself availablefor any purposes of the demagogue. His vote is of no more worththan that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who mayhave been bought. Oh for a man who is a man, and, as my neighborsays, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass your handthrough! Our statistics are at fault: the population has beenreturned too large. How many men are there to a square thousandmiles in this country? Hardly one. Does not America offer anyinducement for men to settle here? The American has dwindled intoan Odd Fellow -- one who may be known by the development of hisorgan of gregariousness, and a manifest lack of intellect andcheerful self-reliance; whose first and chief concern, on cominginto the world, is to see that the almshouses are in good repair;and, before yet he has lawfully donned the virile garb, to collect afund for the support of the widows and orphans that may be; who, inshort ventures to live only by the aid of the Mutual Insurancecompany, which has promised to bury him decently. It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himselfto the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong; he maystill properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is hisduty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it nothought longer, not to give it practically his support. If I devotemyself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, atleast, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man'sshoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue hiscontemplations too. See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. Ihave heard some of my townsmen say, "I should like to have themorder me out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or tomarch to Mexico; -- see if I would go"; and yet these very men haveeach, directly by their allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, bytheir money, furnished a substitute. The soldier is applauded whorefuses to serve in an unjust war by those who do not refuse tosustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded bythose whose own act and authority he disregards and sets at naught;as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one toscourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left offsinning for a moment. Thus, under the name of Order and CivilGovernment, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support ourown meanness. After the first blush of sin comes its indifference;and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quiteunnecessary to that life which we have made. The broadest and most prevalent error requires the mostdisinterested virtue to sustain it. The slight reproach to whichthe virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are mostlikely to incur. Those who, while they disapprove of the characterand measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance andsupport are undoubtedly its most conscientious supporters, and sofrequently the most serious obstacles to reform. Some arepetitioning the State to dissolve the Union, to disregard therequisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve itthemselves -- the union between themselves and the State -- andrefuse to pay their quota into its treasury? Do not they stand inthe same relation to the State, that the State does to the Union?And have not the same reasons prevented the State from resisting theUnion, which have prevented them from resisting the State? How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, andenjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that heis aggrieved? If you are cheated out of a single dollar by yourneighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing that you arecheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even withpetitioning him to pay you your due; but you take effectual steps atonce to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheatedagain. Action from principle -- the perception and the performanceof right -- changes things and relations; it is essentiallyrevolutionary, and does not consist wholly with anything which was.It not only divides states and churches, it divides families; ay, itdivides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from thedivine. Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall weendeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, orshall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such agovernment as this, think that they ought to wait until they havepersuaded the majority to alter them. They think that, if theyshould resist, the remedy would be worse than the evil. But it isthe fault of the government itself that the remedy is worse than theevil. It makes it worse. Why is it not more apt to anticipate andprovide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Whydoes it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourageits citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and dobetter than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ,and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washingtonand Franklin rebels? One would think, that a deliberate and practical denial of itsauthority was the only offence never contemplated by government;else, why has it not assigned its definite, its suitable andproportionate, penalty? If a man who has no property refuses butonce to earn nine shillings for the State, he is put in prison for aperiod unlimited by any law that I know, and determined only by thediscretion of those who placed him there; but if he should stealninety times nine shillings from the State, he is soon permitted togo at large again. If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of themachine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wearsmooth -- certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice hasa spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively foritself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not beworse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requiresyou to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break thelaw. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. WhatI have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself tothe wrong which I condemn. As for adopting the ways which the State has provided forremedying the evil, I know not of such ways. They take too muchtime, and a man's life will be gone. I have other affairs to attendto. I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good placeto live in, but to live in it, be it good or bad. A man has noteverything to do, but something; and because he cannot doeverything, it is not necessary that he should do something wrong.It is not my business to be petitioning the Governor or theLegislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if theyshould not hear my petition, what should I do then? But in thiscase the State has provided no way; its very Constitution is theevil. This may seem to be harsh and stubborn and unconciliatory;but it is to treat with the utmost kindness and consideration theonly spirit that can appreciate or deserves it. So is an change forthe better, like birth and death which convulse the body. I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselvesAbolitionists should at once effectually withdraw their support,both in person and property, from the government of Massachusetts,and not wait till they constitute a majority of one, before theysuffer the right to prevail through them. I think that it is enoughif they have God on their side, without waiting for that other one.Moreover, any man more right than his neighbors constitutes amajority of one already. I meet this American government, or its representative, theState government, directly, and face to face, once a year -- no more-- in the person of its tax-gatherer; this is the only mode in whicha man situated as I am necessarily meets it; and it then saysdistinctly, Recognize me; and the simplest, the most effectual, and,in the present posture of affairs, the indispensablest mode oftreating with it on this head, of expressing your littlesatisfaction with and love for it, is to deny it then. My civilneighbor, the tax-gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with --for it is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel-- and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government.How shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of thegovernment, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether heshall treat me, his neighbor, for whom he has respect, as a neighborand well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace,and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborlinesswithout a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech correspondingwith his action? I know this well, that if one thousand, if onehundred, if ten men whom I could name -- if ten honest men only --ay, if one HONEST man, in this State of Massachusetts, ceasing tohold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, andbe locked up in the county jail therefor, it would be the abolitionof slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginningmay seem to be: what is once well done is done forever. But we lovebetter to talk about it: that we say is our mission. Reform keepsmany scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man. If myesteemed neighbor, the State's ambassador, who will devote his daysto the settlement of the question of human rights in the CouncilChamber, instead of being threatened with the prisons of Carolina,were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that State which isso anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister -- though atpresent she can discover only an act of inhospitality to be theground of a quarrel with her -- the Legislature would not whollywaive the subject the following winter. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true placefor a just man is also a prison. The proper place to-day, the onlyplace which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and lessdesponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked outof the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves outby their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and theMexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongsof his race, should find them; on that separate, but more free andhonorable ground, where the State places those who are not withher, but against her -- the only house in a slave State in which afree man can abide with honor. If any think that their influencewould be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear ofthe State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, theydo not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how muchmore eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who hasexperienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole vote, not astrip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority ispowerless while it conforms to the majority; it is not even aminority then; but it is irresistible when it clogs by its wholeweight. If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, orgive up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which tochoose. If a thousand men were not to pay their tax-bills thisyear, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would beto pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shedinnocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceablerevolution, if any such is possible. If the tax-gatherer, or anyother public officer, asks me, as one has done, "But what shall Ido?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do anything, resign youroffice." When the subject has refused allegiance, and the officerhas resigned his office, then the revolution is accomplished. Buteven suppose blood should flow. Is there not a sort of blood shedwhen the conscience is wounded? Through this wound a man's realmanhood and immortality flow out, and he bleeds to an everlastingdeath. I see this blood flowing now. I have contemplated the imprisonment of the offender, ratherthan the seizure of his goods -- though both will serve the samepurpose -- because they who assert the purest right, andconsequently are most dangerous to a corrupt State, commonly havenot spent much time in accumulating property. To such the Staterenders comparatively small service, and a slight tax is wont toappear exorbitant, particularly if they are obliged to earn it byspecial labor with their hands. If there were one who lived whollywithout the use of money, the State itself would hesitate to demandit of him. But the rich man -- not to make any invidious comparison-- is always sold to the institution which makes him rich.Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for moneycomes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; andit was certainly no great virtue to obtain it. It puts to rest manyquestions which he would otherwise be taxed to answer; while theonly new question which it puts is the hard but superfluous one, howto spend it. Thus his moral ground is taken from under his feet.The opportunities of living are diminished in proportion as what arecalled the "means" are increased. The best thing a man can do forhis culture when he is rich is to endeavor to carry out thoseschemes which he entertained when he was poor. Christ answered theHerodians according to their condition. "Show me thetribute-money," said he; -- and one took a penny out of his pocket;-- if you use money which has the image of Caesar on it, and whichhe has made current and valuable, that is, if you are men of theState, and gladly enjoy the advantages of Caesar's government, thenpay him back some of his own when he demands it; "Render thereforeto Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God those things which areGod's" -- leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which;for they did not wish to know. When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceivethat, whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness ofthe question, and their regard for the public tranquillity, the longand the short of the matter is, that they cannot spare theprotection of the existing government, and they dread theconsequences to their property and families of disobedience to it.For my own part, I should not like to think that I ever rely on theprotection of the State. But, if I deny the authority of the Statewhen it presents its tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all myproperty, and so harass me and my children without end. This ishard. This makes it impossible for a man to live honestly, and atthe same time comfortably in outward respects. It will not be worththe while to accumulate property; that would be sure to go again.You must hire or squat somewhere, and raise but a small crop, andeat that soon. You must live within yourself, and depend uponyourself always tucked up and ready for a start, and not have manyaffairs. A man may grow rich in Turkey even, if he will be in allrespects a good subject of the Turkish government. Confucius said,"If a state is governed by the principles of reason, poverty andmisery are subjects of shame; if a state is not governed by theprinciples of reason, riches and honors are the subjects of shame."No: until I want the protection of Massachusetts to be extended tome in some distant Southern port, where my liberty is endangered, oruntil I am bent solely on building up an estate at home by peacefulenterprise, I can afford to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, andher right to my property and life. It costs me less in every senseto incur the penalty of disobedience to the State than it would toobey. I should feel as if I were worth less in that case. Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, andcommanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergymanwhose preaching my father attended, but never I myself. "Pay," itsaid, "or be locked up in the jail." I declined to pay. But,unfortunately, another man saw fit to pay it. I did not see why theschoolmaster should be taxed to support the priest, and not thepriest the schoolmaster: for I was not the State's schoolmaster, butI supported myself by voluntary subscription. I did not see why thelyceum should not present its tax-bill, and have the State to backits demand, as well as the Church. However, at the request of theselectmen, I condescended to make some such statement as this inwriting:-- "Know all men by these presents, that I, Henry Thoreau,do not wish to be regarded as a member of any incorporated societywhich I have not joined." This I gave to the town clerk; and he hasit. The State, having thus learned that I did not wish to beregarded as a member of that church, has never made a like demand onme since; though it said that it must adhere to its originalpresumption that time. If I had known how to name them, I shouldthen have signed off in detail from all the societies which I neversigned on to; but I did not know where to find a complete list. I have paid no poll-tax for six years. I was put into a jailonce on this account, for one night; and, as I stood considering thewalls of solid stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood andiron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, Icould not help being struck with the foolishness of that institutionwhich treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to belocked up. I wondered that it should have concluded at length thatthis was the best use it could put me to, and had never thought toavail itself of my services in some way. I saw that, if there was awall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still moredifficult one to climb or break through, before they could get to beas free as I was. I did not for a moment feel confined, and thewalls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar. I felt as if Ialone of all my townsmen had paid my tax. They plainly did not knowhow to treat me, but behaved like persons who are underbred. Inevery threat and in every compliment there was a blunder; for theythought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of thatstone wall. I could not but smile to see how industriously theylocked the door on my meditations, which followed them out againwithout let or hindrance, and they were really all that wasdangerous. As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punishmy body; just as boys, if they cannot come at some person againstwhom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. I saw that the Statewas half-witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silverspoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and Ilost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it. Thus the State never intentionally confronts a man's sense,intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses. It is notarmed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physicalstrength. I was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my ownfashion. Let us see who is the strongest. What force has amultitude? They only can force me who obey a higher law than I.They force me to become like themselves. I do not hear of men beingforced to have this way or that by masses of men. What sort of lifewere that to live? When I meet a government which says to me, "Yourmoney or your life," why should I be in haste to give it my money?It may be in a great strait, and not know what to do: I cannot helpthat. It must help itself; do as I do. It is not worth the whileto snivel about it. I am not responsible for the successful workingof the machinery of society. I am not the son of the engineer. Iperceive that, when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side, theone does not remain inert to make way for the other, but both obeytheir own laws, and spring and grow and flourish as best they can,till one, perchance, overshadows and destroys the other. If a plantcannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so a man. The night in prison was novel and interesting enough. Theprisoners in their shirt-sleeves were enjoying a chat and theevening air in the doorway, when I entered. But the jailer said,"Come, boys, it is time to lock up"; and so they dispersed, and Iheard the sound of their steps returning into the hollow apartments.My room-mate was introduced to me by the jailer as "a first-ratefellow and a clever man." When the door was locked, he showed mewhere to hang my hat, and how he managed matters there. The roomswere whitewashed once a month; and this one, at least, was thewhitest, most simply furnished, and probably the neatest apartmentin the town. He naturally wanted to know where I came from, andwhat brought me there; and, when I had told him, I asked him in myturn how he came there, presuming him to be an honest man, ofcourse; and, as the world goes, I believe he was. "Why," said he,"they accuse me of burning a barn; but I never did it." As near asI could discover, he had probably gone to bed in a barn when drunk,and smoked his pipe there; and so a barn was burnt. He had thereputation of being a clever man, had been there some three monthswaiting for his trial to come on, and would have to wait as muchlonger; but he was quite domesticated and contented, since he gothis board for nothing, and thought that he was well treated. He occupied one window, and I the other; and I saw that if onestayed there long, his principal business would be to look out thewindow. I had soon read all the tracts that were left there, andexamined where former prisoners had broken out, and where a gratehad been sawed off, and heard the history of the various occupantsof that room; for I found that even here there was a history and agossip which never circulated beyond the walls of the jail.Probably this is the only house in the town where verses arecomposed, which are afterward printed in a circular form, but notpublished. I was shown quite a long list of verses which werecomposed by some young men who had been detected in an attempt toescape, who avenged themselves by singing them. I pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as I could, for fear I shouldnever see him again; but at length he showed me which was my bed,and left me to blow out the lamp. It was like travelling into a far country, such as I had neverexpected to behold, to lie there for one night. It seemed to methat I never had heard the town-clock strike before, nor the eveningsounds of the village; for we slept with the windows open, whichwere inside the grating. It was to see my native village in thelight of the Middle Ages, and our Concord was turned into a Rhinestream, and visions of knights and castles passed before me. Theywere the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I wasan involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and saidin the kitchen of the adjacent village-inn -- a wholly new and rareexperience to me. It was a closer view of my native town. I wasfairly inside of it. I never had seen its institutions before.This is one of its peculiar institutions; for it is a shire town. Ibegan to comprehend what its inhabitants were about. In the morning, our breakfasts were put through the hole in thedoor, in small oblong-square tin pans, made to fit, and holding apint of chocolate, with brown bread, and an iron spoon. When theycalled for the vessels again, I was green enough to return whatbread I had left; but my comrade seized it, and said that I shouldlay that up for lunch or dinner. Soon after he was let out to workat haying in a neighboring field, whither he went every day, andwould not be back till noon; so he bade me good-day, saying that hedoubted if he should see me again. When I came out of prison -- for some one interfered, and paidthat tax -- I did not perceive that great changes had taken place onthe common, such as he observed who went in a youth and emerged atottering and gray-headed man; and yet a change had to my eyes comeover the scene -- the town, and State, and country -- greater thanany that mere time could effect. I saw yet more distinctly theState in which I lived. I saw to what extent the people among whomI lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that theirfriendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatlypropose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by theirprejudices and superstitions, as the Chinamen and Malays are; thatin their sacrifices to humanity, they ran no risks, not even totheir property; that after all they were not so noble but theytreated the thief as he had treated them, and hoped, by a certainoutward observance and a few prayers, and by walking in a particularstraight though useless path from time to time, to save their souls.This may be to judge my neighbors harshly; for I believe that manyof them are not aware that they have such an institution as the jailin their village. It was formerly the custom in our village, when a poor debtorcame out of jail, for his acquaintances to salute him, lookingthrough their fingers, which were crossed to represent the gratingof a jail window, "How do ye do?" My neighbors did not thus saluteme, but first looked at me, and then at one another, as if I hadreturned from a long journey. I was put into jail as I was going tothe shoemaker's to get a shoe which was mended. When I was let outthe next morning, I proceeded to finish my errand, and, having puton my mended shoe, joined a huckleberry party, who were impatient toput themselves under my conduct; and in half an hour -- for thehorse was soon tackled -- was in the midst of a huckleberry field,on one of our highest hills, two miles off, and then the State wasnowhere to be seen. This is the whole history of "My Prisons." I have never declined paying the highway tax, because I am asdesirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject;and as for supporting schools, I am doing my part to educate myfellow-countrymen now. It is for no particular item in the tax-billthat I refuse to pay it. I simply wish to refuse allegiance to theState, to withdraw and stand aloof from it effectually. I do notcare to trace the course of my dollar, if I could, till it buys aman or a musket to shoot one with -- the dollar is innocent -- but Iam concerned to trace the effects of my allegiance. In fact, Iquietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I willstill make what use and get what advantage of her I can, as is usualin such cases. If others pay the tax which is demanded of me, from a sympathywith the State, they do but what they have already done in their owncase, or rather they abet injustice to a greater extent than theState requires. If they pay the tax from a mistaken interest in theindividual taxed, to save his property, or prevent his going tojail, it is because they have not considered wisely how far they lettheir private feelings interfere with the public good. This, then, is my position at present. But one cannot be toomuch on his guard in such a case, lest his action be biased byobstinacy or an undue regard for the opinions of men. Let him seethat he does only what belongs to himself and to the hour. I think sometimes, Why, this people mean well; they are onlyignorant; they would do better if they knew how: why give yourneighbors this pain to treat you as they are not inclined to? But Ithink, again, This is no reason why I should do as they do, orpermit others to suffer much greater pain of a different kind.Again, I sometimes say to myself, When many millions of men, withoutheat, without ill-will, without personal feeling of any kind, demandof you a few shillings only, without the possibility, such is theirconstitution, of retracting or altering their present demand, andwithout the possibility, on your side, of appeal to any othermillions, why expose yourself to this overwhelming brute force? Youdo not resist cold and hunger, the winds and the waves, thusobstinately; you quietly submit to a thousand similar necessities.You do not put your head into the fire. But just in proportion as Iregard this as not wholly a brute force, but partly a human force,and consider that I have relations to those millions as to so manymillions of men, and not of mere brute or inanimate things, I seethat appeal is possible, first and instantaneously, from them to theMaker of them, and, secondly, from them to themselves. But, if Iput my head deliberately into the fire, there is no appeal to fireor to the Maker of fire, and I have only myself to blame. If Icould convince myself that I have any right to be satisfied with menas they are, and to treat them accordingly, and not according, insome respects, to my requisitions and expectations of what they andI ought to be, then, like a good Mussulman and fatalist, I shouldendeavor to be satisfied with things as they are, and say it is thewill of God. And, above all, there is this difference betweenresisting this and a purely brute or natural force, that I canresist this with some effect; but I cannot expect, like Orpheus, tochange the nature of the rocks and trees and beasts. I do not wish to quarrel with any man or nation. I do not wishto split hairs, to make fine distinctions, or set myself up asbetter than my neighbors. I seek rather, I may say, even an excusefor conforming to the laws of the land. I am but too ready toconform to them. Indeed, I have reason to suspect myself on thishead; and each year, as the tax-gatherer comes round, I find myselfdisposed to review the acts and position of the general and Stategovernments, and the spirit of the people, to discover a pretext forconformity. "We must affect our country as our parents, And if at any time we alienate Our love or industry from doing it honor, We must respect effects and teach the soul Matter of conscience and religion, And not desire of rule or benefit." I believe that the State will soon be able to take all my workof this sort out of my hands, and then I shall be no better apatriot than my fellow-countrymen. Seen from a lower point of view,the Constitution, with all its faults, is very good; the law and thecourts are very respectable; even this State and this Americangovernment are, in many respects, very admirable and rare things,to be thankful for, such as a great many have described them; butseen from a point of view a little higher, they are what I havedescribed them; seen from a higher still, and the highest, who shallsay what they are, or that they are worth looking at or thinking ofat all? However, the government does not concern me much, and I shallbestow the fewest possible thoughts on it. It is not many momentsthat I live under a government, even in this world. If a man isthought-free, fancy-free, imagination-free, that which is not neverfor a long time appearing to be to him, unwise rulers or reformerscannot fatally interrupt him. I know that most men think differently from myself; but thosewhose lives are by profession devoted to the study of these orkindred subjects, content me as little as any. Statesmen andlegislators, standing so completely within the institution, neverdistinctly and nakedly behold it. They speak of moving society, buthave no resting-place without it. They may be men of a certainexperience and discrimination, and have no doubt invented ingeniousand even useful systems, for which we sincerely thank them; but alltheir wit and usefulness lie within certain not very wide limits.They are wont to forget that the world is not governed by policy andexpediency. Webster never goes behind government, and so cannotspeak with authority about it. His words are wisdom to thoselegislators who contemplate no essential reform in the existinggovernment; but for thinkers, and those who legislate for all time,he never once glances at the subject. I know of those whose sereneand wise speculations on this theme would soon reveal the limits ofhis mind's range and hospitality. Yet, compared with the cheapprofessions of most reformers, and the still cheaper wisdom andeloquence of politicians in general, his are almost the onlysensible and valuable words, and we thank Heaven for him.Comparatively, he is always strong, original, and, above all,practical. Still, his quality is not wisdom, but prudence. Thelawyer's truth is not truth, but consistency or a consistentexpediency. Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is notconcerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist withwrong-doing. He well deserves to be called, as he has been called,the Defender of the Constitution. There are really no blows to begiven by him but defensive ones. He is not a leader, but afollower. His leaders are the men of '87. "I have never made aneffort," he says, "and never propose to make an effort; I have nevercountenanced an effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, todisturb the arrangement as originally made, by which the variousStates came into the Union." Still thinking of the sanction whichthe Constitution gives to slavery, he says, "Because it was a partof the original compact -- let it stand." Notwithstanding hisspecial acuteness and ability, he is unable to take a fact out ofits merely political relations, and behold it as it lies absolutelyto be disposed of by the intellect -- what, for instance, itbehooves a man to do here in America to-day with regard to slavery,but ventures, or is driven, to make some such desperate answer asthe following, while professing to speak absolutely, and as aprivate man -- from which what new and singular code of socialduties might be inferred? "The manner," says he, "in which thegovernments of those States where slavery exists are to regulate itis for their own consideration, under their responsibility to theirconstituents, to the general laws of propriety, humanity, andjustice, and to God. Associations formed elsewhere, springing froma feeling of humanity, or any other cause, have nothing whatever todo with it. They have never received any encouragement from me, andthey never will." They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced upits stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and theConstitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; butthey who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or thatpool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimagetoward its fountain-head. No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators,politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the speaker hasnot yet opened his mouth to speak who is capable of settling themuch-vexed questions of the day. We love eloquence for its ownsake, and not for any truth which it may utter, or any heroism itmay inspire. Our legislators have not yet learned the comparativevalue of free-trade and of freedom, of union, and of rectitude, to anation. They have no genius or talent for comparatively humblequestions of taxation and finance, commerce and manufacturers andagriculture. If we were left solely to the wordy wit of legislatorsin Congress for our guidance, uncorrected by the seasonableexperience and the effectual complaints of the people, America wouldnot long retain her rank among the nations. For eighteen hundredyears, though perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testamenthas been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom andpractical talent enough to avail himself of the light which it shedson the science of legislation? The authority of government, even such as I am willing to submitto -- for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do betterthan I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do sowell -- is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must havethe sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure rightover my person and property but what I concede to it. The progressfrom an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to ademocracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard theindividual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as weknow it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it notpossible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizingthe rights of man? There will never be a really free andenlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individualas a higher and independent power, from which all its own power andauthority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myselfwith imagining a State at least which can afford to be just to allmen, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; whicheven would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a fewwere to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced byit, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men. AState which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off asfast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfectand glorious State, which also I have imagined, but not yet anywhereseen.