"What are your opinions, Mrs. Packard, which have caused all this rupture
in your once happy family?"
My first impulse prompts we to answer, pertly, it is no one's business
what I _think_ but my own, since it is to God alone I am accountable for
my thoughts. Whether my thoughts are right or wrong, true or false, is no
one's business but my own. It is my own God given right to superintend my
own thoughts, and this right I shall never guarantee to any other human
being--for God himself has authorized me to "judge ye not of your own
selves what is right?" Yes, I do, and shall judge for myself what is right
for me to think, what is right for me to speak, and what is right for me
to do--and if I do wrong, I stand amenable to the laws of society and my
country; for to human tribunals I submit all my actions, as just and
proper matter for criticism and control. But my thoughts, I shall never
yield to any human tribunal or oligarchy, as a just and proper matter for
arbitration or discipline. It is my opinion that the time has gone by for
thoughts to be chained to any creeds or oligarchys; but on the contrary,
these chains and restraints which have so long bound the human reason to
human dictation, must be broken, for the reign of individual, spiritual
freedom is about dawning upon our progressive world.
Yes, I insist upon it, that it is my own individual right to superintend
my own thoughts; and I say farther, it is not my right to superintend the
thoughts or conscience of any other developed being. It is none of my
business what Mr. Packard, my father, or any other developed man or woman
believe or think, for I do not hold myself responsible for their views. I
believe they are as honest and sincere as myself in the views they
cherish, although so antagonistic to my own; and I have no wish or desire
to harass or disturb them, by urging my views upon their notice. Yea,
further, I _prefer_ to have them left entirely free and unshackled to
believe just as their own developed reason dictates. And all I ask of them
is, that they allow me the same privilege. My own dear father does kindly
allow me this right of a developed moral agent, although we differ as
essentially and materially in our views as Mr. Packard and I do. We, like
two accountable moral agents, simply agree to differ, and all is peace and
harmony.
My individuality has been naturally developed by a life of practical
godliness, so that I now know what I do believe, as is not the case with
that class in society who dare not individualize themselves. This class
are mere echoes or parasites, instead of individuals. They just flow on
with the tide of public sentiment, whether right or wrong; whereas the
individualized ones can and do stem or resist this tide, when they think
it is wrong, and in this way they meet with persecution. It is my
misfortune to belong to this unfortunate class. Therefore I am not ashamed
or afraid to avow my honest opinions even in the face of a frowning world.
Therefore, when duty to myself or others, or the cause of truth requires
it, I willingly avow my own honest convictions. On this ground, I feel not
only justified, but authorized, to give the question under consideration,
a plain and candid answer, knowing that this narrative of the case would
be incomplete without it.
Another thing is necessary as an introduction, and that is, I do not
present my views for others to adopt or endorse as their own. They are
simply my individual opinions, and it is a matter of indifference to me,
whether they find an echo in any other individual's heart or not. I do not
arrogate to myself any popish right or power to enforce my opinions upon
the notice of any human being but myself. While at the same time I claim
that I have just as good a right to my opinions as Scott, Clark, Edwards,
Barnes, or Beecher, or any other human being has to theirs. And
furthermore, these theologians have no more right to dictate to me what I
must think and believe, than I have to dictate to them what they must
think and believe. All have an equal right to their own thoughts.
And I know of no more compact form in which to give utterance to my
opinions, than by inserting the following letter, I wrote from my prison,
to a lady friend in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and sent out on my "under ground
railroad." The only tidings I ever got from this letter, was a sight of it
in one of the Chicago papers, following a long and minute report of my
jury trial at Kankakee. I never knew how it found its way there; I only
knew it was my own identical letter, since I still retain a true copy of
the original among my Asylum papers. The following is a copy of the
original letter, as it now stands in my own hand-writing. The friend to
whom it was written has requested me to omit those portions of the letter
which refer directly to herself. In compliance with her wishes, I leave a
blank for such omissions. In other respects it is a true copy. The candid
reader can judge for himself, whether the cherishing of such radical
opinions is not a _crime_ of sufficient magnitude, to justify all my
wrongs and imprisonment! Is not my persecutor guiltless in this matter?