返航论公民的不服从英文原版ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE

2021年1月20日发(作者：产生英文)
ON THE DUTY OF CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
I heartily accept the motto,
—

more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,
—

best which governs not at all
have.
Government
is
at
best
but
an
expedient;
but
most
governments
are
usually,
and
all
governments
are
sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and
weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is
only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen
to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the
present Mexican war
, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for
, in
the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.

This American government
—
what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired
to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for
a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves. But it is not the less necessary
for this; for the people must have some complicated machinery or other
, and hear its din, to satisfy that idea of
government which they have. Governments show thus how successfully men can be imposed on, even impose on
themselves, for their own advantage. It is excellent, we must all allow. Yet this government never of itself furthered
any enterprise, 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. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished;
and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way. For government is an
expedient by which men would fain succeed in letting one another alone; and, as has been said, when it is most
expedient, the governed are most let alone by it. Trade and commerce, if they were not made of India rubber
, would
never manage to bounce over the obstacles which legislators are continually putting in their way; and, if one were to
judge these men wholly by the effects of their actions, and not partly by their intentions, they would deserve to be
classed and punished with those mischievous persons who put obstructions on the railroads.

But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for
, not at once
no
government,
but
at
once
a
better
government.
Let
every
man
make
known
what
kind
of
government
would
command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it.

After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and
for a long period continue, to rule, is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest
to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rules in all
cases
cannot
be
based
on
justice,
even
as
far
as
men
understand
it.
Can
there
not
be
a
government
in
which
majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?
—
in which majorities decide only those questions
to which the rule of expediency is applicable? Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his
conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects
afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I
have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said that a corporation has no
conscience; but a corporation of conscientious men is a corporation with a conscience. Law never made men a whit
more just; and, by means of their respect for it, even the well-disposed are daily made the agents of injustice. A
common and natural result of an undue respect
for
law is, that
you may see
a file of soldiers, colonel, captain,
corporal,privates, powder-monkeys, and all, marching in admirable order over hill and dale to the wars, against their
wills, ay, against their common sense and consciences, which makes it very steep marching indeed, and produces a
palpitation of the heart. They have no doubt that it is a damnable business in which they are concerned; they are all
peaceably inclined. Now, what are they? Men at all? or small movable forts and magazines, at the service of some
unscrupulous man in power? Visit the
Navy Yard, and behold a marine, such a man as an American government can make, or such as it can make a man
with its black arts
—
a mere shadow and reminiscence of humanity, a man laid out alive and standing, and already, as
one may say, buried under arms with funeral accompaniments, though it may be











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 as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing
army, and the militia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the
judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men
can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw
or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly
esteemed good citizens. Others, as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders, serve the
state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil,
without intending it, as God. A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men, serve
the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they are commonly treated as
enemies by it. A wise man will only be useful as a man, and will not submit to be
wind away,
—
























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 them useless and selfish; but he who gives himself partially
to them is pronounced a benefactor and philanthropist.

How does it become a man to behave toward this American government to-day? I answer
, that he cannot without
disgrace be associated with it. I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is
the slave's government also.

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when
its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable. But almost all say that such is not the case now. But such was
the case, they think, in the Revolution of '75. If one were to tell me that this was a bad government because it taxed
certain foreign commodities brought to its ports, it is most probable that I should not make an ado about it, for I can
do without them. All machines have their friction; and possibly this does enough good to counterbalance the evil. At
any rate, it is a great evil to make a stir about it. But when the friction comes to have its machine, and oppression and
robbery are organized, I say, let us not have such a machine any longer
. In other words, when a sixth of the population
of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and
conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and
revolutionize. What makes this duty the more 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
his
chapter
on
the

of
Submission
to
Civil
Government,
whole society requires it, that is, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public
inconveniency, it is the will of God... that the established government be obeyed, and no longer
.... This principle being
admitted, the justice of every particular case of resistance is reduced to a computation of the quantity of the danger
and grievance on the one side, and of the probability and expense of redressing it on the other
.
man
shall
judge
for
himself.
But
Paley
appears
never
to
have
contemplated
those
cases
to
which
the
rule
of
expediency does not apply, in which a people, as well as an individual, must do justice, cost what it may. If I have
unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man, I must restore it to him though I drown myself. This, according to
Paley, would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life, in such a case, shall lose it. This people must cease to
hold slaves, and to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people.

In their practice, nations agree with Paley; but does any one think that Massachusetts does exactly what is right at the
present crisis?







To have her train borne up, and her soul trail in the dirt.
Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at the South,
but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than
they are in humanity, and are not prepared 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 without
whom
the
latter
would
be
harmless.
We
are
accustomed
to
say,
that
the
mass
of
men
are
unprepared;
but
improvement is slow, because the few are not materially wiser or better than the many. It is not so important that
many should be as good as you, as that there be some absolute goodness somewhere; for that will leaven the whole
lump. There are thousands who are in opinion opposed to slavery and to the war
, who yet in effect do nothing to put
an end to them; who, esteeming themselves children of Washington and Franklin, sit down with their hands in their
pockets, and say that they know not what to do, and do nothing; who even postpone the question of freedom to the
question of free-trade, and quietly read the prices-current along with the latest advices from Mexico, after dinner
, and,
it may be, fall asleep over them both. What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot to-day? They hesitate,
and they regret, and sometimes they petition; but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, well
disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote,
and a feeble countenance and Godspeed, to the right, as it goes by them. There are nine hundred and ninety-nine
patrons
of
virtue
to
one
virtuous
man;
but
it
is
easier
to
deal
with
the
real
possessor
of
a
thing
than
with
the
temporary guardian of 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. The character of the voters is not staked. I cast
my vote, perchance, as I think right; but I am not vitally concerned that that right should prevail. I am willing to leave
it to the majority. Its obligation, therefore, never exceeds that of expediency. Even voting for the right is doing
nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right
to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action
of masses of men. When the majority shall at length vote for the abolition of slavery, it will be because they are
indifferent to slavery, or because there is but little slavery left to be abolished by their vote. They will then be the only
slaves. Only his vote can hasten the abolition of slavery who asserts his own 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 chiefly of editors, and men who are politicians by profession; but I think, what is it to any independent, intelligent,
and respectable man what decision they may come to? Shall we not have the advantage of his wisdom and honesty,
nevertheless? Can we not count upon some independent votes? Are there not many individuals in the country who do
not attend conventions? But no: I find that the respectable man, so called, has immediately drifted from his position,
and despairs of his country, when his country has more reason to despair of him. He forthwith adopts one of the
candidates thus selected as the only available one, thus proving that he is himself available for any purposes of the
demagogue. His vote is of no more worth than that of any unprincipled foreigner or hireling native, who may have
been bought. Oh for a man who is a man, and, as my neighbor says, has a bone in his back which you cannot pass
your hand through! Our statistics are at fault: the population has been returned too large. How many men are there
to a square thousand miles in this country? Hardly one. Does not America offer any inducement for men to settle here?
The
American
has
dwindled
into
an
Odd
Fellow
—
one
who
may
be
known
by
the
development
of
his
organ
of
gregariousness, and a manifest lack of intellect and cheerful self- reliance; whose first and chief concern, on coming
into the world, is to see that the almshouses are in good repair; and, before yet he has lawfully donned the virile garb,
to collect a fund for the support of the widows and orphans that may be; who, in short ventures to live only by the aid
of the Mutual Insurance company, which has promised to bury him decently.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous
wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it,
and, if he gives it no thought longer
, not to give it practically his support. If I devote myself to other pursuits and
contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man's shoulders. I must get
off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too. See what gross inconsistency is tolerated. I have heard some
of my townsmen say,
march to Mexico;
—
see if I would go
at least, by their money, furnished a substitute. The soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war by
those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act
and authority he disregards and sets at naught; as if the state were penitent to that degree that it hired one to
scourge it while it sinned, but not to that degree that it left off sinning for a moment. Thus, under the name of Order
and Civil Government, we are all made at last to pay homage to and support our own meanness. After the first blush
of sin comes its indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not quite unnecessary to that life
which we have made.

The broadest and most prevalent error requires the most disinterested virtue to sustain it. The slight reproach to
which the virtue of patriotism is commonly liable, the noble are most likely to incur
. Those who, while they disapprove
of the character and measures of a government, yield to it their allegiance and support are undoubtedly its
most
conscientious supporters, and so frequently the most serious obstacles to reform. Some are petitioning the State to
dissolve the Union, to disregard the requisitions of the President. Why do they not dissolve it themselves
—
the union
between themselves and the State
—
and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury? Do not they stand in the same
relation to the State, that the State does to the Union? And have not the same reasons prevented the State from
resisting the Union, which have prevented them from resisting the State?

How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion
is that he is aggrieved? If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your neighbor
, you do not rest satisfied with
knowing that you are cheated, or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petitioning him to pay you your due;
but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the full amount, and see that you are never cheated again. Action from
principle
—
the perception and the performance of right
—
changes things and relations; it is essentially revolutionary,
and does not consist wholly with anything which was. It not only divides states and churches, it divides families; ay,
it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from the divine.

Unjust laws exist; shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend 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 the Legislature any more than it is theirs to petition me; and if they should not hear my
petition, what should I do then? But in this case the State has provided no way; its very Constitution is the evil. This
may seem to be harsh and stubborn and unconciliatory; but it is to treat with the utmost kindness and consideration
the only spirit that can appreciate or deserves it. So is an change for the better
, like birth and death which convulse
the body.

I do not hesitate to say, that those who call themselves Abolitionists 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 they suffer the right to prevail through them. I think that it is enough if they have God on their side, without
waiting for that other one. Moreover
, any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already.

I meet this American government, or its representative, the State government, directly, and face to face, once a
year
—
no more
—
in the person of its tax-gatherer; this is the only mode in which a man situated as I am necessarily
meets it; and it then says distinctly, Recognize me; and the simplest, the most effectual, and, in the present posture
of affairs, the indispensablest mode of treating with it on this head, of expressing your little satisfaction with and love
for it, is to deny it then. My civil neighbor
, 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 the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider
whether he shall treat me, his neighbor
, for whom he has respect, as a neighbor and well- disposed man, or as a
maniac and disturber of the peace, and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborliness without a ruder and
more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action? I know this well, that if one thousand, if one
hundred,
if
ten
men
whom
I
could
name
—
if
ten
honest
men
only
—
ay,
if
one
HONEST
man,
in
this
State
of
Massachusetts, ceasing to hold slaves, were actually to withdraw from this copartnership, and be locked up in the
county jail therefor
, it would be the abolition of slavery in America. For it matters not how small the beginning may
seem to be: what is once well done is done forever
. But we love better to talk about it: that we say is our mission.
Reform keeps many scores of newspapers in its service, but not one man. If my esteemed neighbor
, the State's
ambassador
, who will devote his days to the settlement of the question of human rights in the Council Chamber
,
instead of being threatened with the prisons of Carolina, were to sit down the prisoner of Massachusetts, that State
which is so anxious to foist the sin of slavery upon her sister
—
though at present she can discover only an act of
inhospitality to be the ground of a quarrel with her
—
the Legislature would not wholly waive the subject the following
winter
.

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. The proper place
to-day, the only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less desponding spirits, is in her prisons,
to be put out and locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by their principles.
It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his
race, should find them; on that separate, but more free and honorable ground, where the State places those who are
not with her
, but against her
—
the only house in a slave State in which a free man can abide with honor
. If any think
that their influence would be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they would not be
as an enemy within its walls, they do
not know by how much truth is stronger than error
,
nor
how
much more
eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced a little in his own person. Cast your whole
vote, not a strip of paper merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it conforms to the majority;