And,
to a certain extent, these crazy governments recognize and accept this
relation. They say, virtually, "We'll be glad to work for you on these
terms, only don't make a noise about it." And thus the government, its
salary being insured, withdraws into the back shop, taking the
Constitution with it, and bestows most of its labor on repairing that.
When I hear it at work sometimes, as I go by, it reminds me, at
best, of those farmers who in winter contrive to turn a penny by
following the coopering business. And what kind of spirit is their
barrel made to hold? They speculate in stocks, and bore holes in
mountains, but they are not competent to lay out even a decent
highway. The only free road, the Underground Railroad, is owned and
managed by the Vigilant Committee. They have tunnelled under the whole
breadth of the land. Such a government is losing its power and
respectability as surely as water runs out of a leaky vessel, and is
held by one that can contain it.
I hear many condemn these men because they were so few. When were
the good and the brave ever in a majority? Would you have had him wait
till that time came?- till you and I came over to him? The very fact
that he had no rabble or troop of hirelings about him would alone
distinguish him from ordinary heroes.
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