For the same reasons, the oaths of all the other pretended agents of
this secret band of robbers and murderers are, on general principles of
law and reason, equally destitute of obligation. They are given to
nobody; but only to the winds.
The oaths of the tax-gatherers and treasurers of the band, are, on
general principles of law and reason, of no validity. If any tax
gatherer, for example, should put the money he receives into his own
pocket, and refuse to part with it, the members of this band could not
say to him: You collected that money as our agent, and for our uses; and
you swore to pay it over to us, or to those we should appoint to receive
it. You have betrayed us, and broken faith with us.
It would be a sufficient answer for him to say to them:
I never knew you. You never made yourselves individually known to me. I
never gave my oath to you, as individuals. You may, or you may not, be
members of that secret band, who appoint agents to rob and murder other
people; but who are cautious not to make themselves individually known,
either to such agents, or to those whom their agents are commissioned to
rob. If you are members of that band, you have given me no proof that
you ever commissioned me to rob others for your benefit. I never knew
you, as individuals, and of course never promised you that I would pay
over to you the proceeds of my robberies. I committed my robberies on my
own account, and for my own profit. If you thought I was fool enough to
allow you to keep yourselves concealed, and use me as your tool for
robbing other persons; or that I would take all the personal risk of the
robberies, and pay over the proceeds to you, you were particularly
simple. As I took all the risk of my robberies, I propose to take all
the profits. Begone! You are fools, as well as villains. If I gave my
oath to anybody, I gave it to other persons than you. But I really gave
it to nobody. I only gave it to the winds. It answered my purposes at
the time. It enabled me to get the money I was after, and now I propose
to keep it. If you expected me to pay it over to you, you relied only
upon that honor that is said to prevail among thieves. You now
understand that that is a very poor reliance. I trust you may become
wise enough to never rely upon it again. If I have any duty in the
matter, it is to give back the money to those from whom I took it; not
to pay it over to such villains as you.