The Constitution itself, then, being of no authority, on what authority
does our government practically rest? On what ground can those who
pretend to administer it, claim the right to seize men's property, to
restrain them of their natural liberty of action, industry, and trade,
and to kill all who deny their authority to dispose of men's properties,
liberties, and lives at their pleasure or discretion?
The most they can say, in answer to this question, is, that some half,
two-thirds, or three-fourths, of the male adults of the country have a
_tacit understanding_ that they will maintain a government under the
Constitution; that they will select, by ballot, the persons to
administer it; and that those persons who may receive a majority, or a
plurality, of their ballots, shall act as their representatives, and
administer the Constitution in their name, and by their authority.
But this tacit understanding (admitting it to exist) cannot at all
justify the conclusion drawn from it. A tacit understanding between A,
B, and C, that they will, by ballot, depute D as their agent, to deprive
me of my property, liberty, or life, cannot at all authorize D to do so.
He is none the less a robber, tyrant, and murderer, because he claims to
act as their agent, than he would be if he avowedly acted on his own
responsibility alone.
Neither am I bound to recognize him as their agent, nor can he
legitimately claim to be their agent, when he brings no _written_
authority from them accrediting him as such. I am under no obligation to
take his word as to who his principals may be, or whether he has any.
Bringing no credentials, I have a right to say he has no such authority
even as he claims to have: and that he is therefore intending to rob,
enslave, or murder me on his own account.
This tacit understanding, therefore, among the voters of the country,
amounts to nothing as an authority to their agents. Neither do the
ballots by which they select their agents, avail any more than does
their tacit understanding; for their ballots are given in secret, and
therefore in a way to avoid any personal responsibility for the acts of
their agents.
No body of men can be said to authorize a man to act as their agent, to
the injury of a third person, unless they do it in so open and authentic
a manner as to make themselves personally responsible for his acts. None
of the voters in this country appoint their political agents in any
open, authentic manner, or in any manner to make themselves responsible
for their acts. Therefore these pretended agents cannot legitimately
claim to be really agents. Somebody must be responsible for the acts of
these pretended agents; and if they cannot show any open and authentic
credentials from their principals, they cannot, in law or reason, be
said to have any principals. The maxim applies here, that what does not
appear, does not exist. If they can show no principals, they have none.
But even these pretended agents do not themselves know who their
pretended principals are. These latter act in secret; for acting by
secret ballot is acting in secret as much as if they were to meet in
secret conclave in the darkness of the night. And they are personally as
much unknown to the agents they select, as they are to others. No
pretended agent therefore can ever know by whose ballots he is selected,
or consequently who his real principals are. Not knowing who his
principals are, he has no right to say that he has any. He can, at most,
say only that he is the agent of a secret band of robbers and murderers,
who are bound by that faith which prevails among confederates in crime,
to stand by him, if his acts, done in their name, shall be resisted.
Men honestly engaged in attempting to establish justice in the world,
have no occasion thus to act in secret; or to appoint agents to do acts
for which they (the principals) are not willing to be responsible.
The secret ballot makes a secret government; and a secret government is
a secret band of robbers and murderers. Open despotism is better than
this. The single despot stands out in the face of all men, and says: I
am the State: My will is law: I am your master: I take the
responsibility of my acts: The only arbiter I acknowledge is the sword:
If any one denies my right, let him try conclusions with me.
But a secret government is little less than a government of assassins.
Under it, a man knows not who his tyrants are, until they have struck,
and perhaps not then. He may _guess_, beforehand, as to some of his
immediate neighbors. But he really knows nothing. The man to whom he
would most naturally fly for protection, may prove an enemy, when the
time of trial comes.
This is the kind of government we have; and it is the only one we are
likely to have, until men are ready to say: We will consent to no
Constitution, except such an one as we are neither ashamed nor afraid to
sign; and we will authorize no government to do anything in our name
which we are not willing to be personally responsible for.