Sir, if a government is to "do equal and exact justice to all men," _it
must do simply that, and nothing more_. If it does more than that to
any,--that is, if it gives monopolies, privileges, exemptions, bounties,
or favors to any,--it can do so only by doing injustice to more or less
others. _It can give to one only what it takes from others; for it has
nothing of its own to give to any one._ The best that it can do for all,
and the only honest thing it can do for any, is simply to secure to each
and every one his own rights,--the rights that nature gave him,--his
rights of person, and his rights of property; leaving him, then, to
pursue his own interests, and secure his own welfare, by the free and
full exercise of his own powers of body and mind; so long as he
trespasses upon the equal rights of no other person.
If he desires any favors from any body, he must, I repeat, depend upon
the voluntary kindness of such of his fellow men as may be willing to
grant them. No government can have any right to grant them; because no
government can have a right to take from one man any thing that is his,
and give it to another.
If this be the only true idea of an honest government, it is plain that
it can have nothing to do with men's "interests," "welfare," or
"prosperity," _as distinguished from their "rights."_ Being secured in
their rights, each and all must take the sole charge of, and have the
sole responsibility for, their own "interests," "welfare," and
"prosperity."
By simply protecting every man in his rights, a government necessarily
keeps open to every one the widest possible field, that he honestly can
have, for such industry as he may choose to follow. It also insures him
the widest possible field for obtaining such capital as he needs for his
industry, and the widest possible markets for the products of his labor.
With the possession of these rights, he must be content.
No honest government can go into business with any individuals, be they
many, or few. It cannot furnish capital to any, nor prohibit the loaning
of capital to any. It can give to no one any special aid to competition;
nor protect any one from competition. It must adhere inflexibly to the
principle of entire freedom for all honest industry, and all honest
traffic. It can do to no one any favor, nor render to any one any
assistance, which it withholds from another. It must hold the scales
impartially between them; taking no cognizance of any man's "interests,"
"welfare," or "prosperity," otherwise than by simply protecting him in
his "_rights_."
In opposition to this view, lawmakers profess to have weighty duties
laid upon them, to promote men's "interests," "welfare," and
"prosperity," _as distinguished from their "rights."_ They seldom have
any thing to say about men's "_rights_." On the contrary, they take it
for granted that they are charged with the duty of promoting,
superintending, directing, and controlling the "business" of the
country. In the performance of this supposed duty, all ideas of
individual "_rights_" are cast aside. Not knowing any way--because
there is no way--in which they can impartially promote all men's
"interests," "welfare," and "prosperity," _otherwise than by protecting
impartially all men's rights_, they boldly proclaim that "_individual
rights must not be permitted to stand in the way of the public good,
the public welfare, and the business interests of the country_."
Substantially all their lawmaking proceeds upon this theory; for there
is no other theory, on which they can find any justification whatever
for any lawmaking at all. So they proceed to give monopolies,
privileges, bounties, grants, loans, etc., etc., to particular persons,
or classes of persons; justifying themselves by saying that these
privileged persons will "give employment" to the unprivileged; and that
this employment, given by the privileged to the unprivileged, will
compensate the latter for the loss of their "_rights_." And they carry
on their lawmaking of this kind to the greatest extent they think is
possible, without causing rebellion and revolution, on the part of the
injured classes.
Sir, I am sorry to see that you adopt this lawmaking theory to its
fullest extent; that although, for once only, and in a dozen words
only,--and then merely incidentally,--you describe the government as "a
government pledged to do equal and exact justice to all men," you show,
throughout the rest of your address, that you have no thought of abiding
by that principle; that you are either utterly ignorant, or utterly
regardless, of what that principle requires of you; that the government,
so far as your influence goes, is to be given up to the business of
lawmaking,--that is, to the business of abolishing justice, and
establishing injustice in its place; that you hold it to be the proper
duty and function of the government to be constantly looking after men's
"interests," "welfare," "prosperity," etc., etc., _as distinguished from
their rights_; that it must consider men's "rights" as no guide to the
promotion of their "interests"; that it must give favors to some, and
withhold the same favors from others; that in order to give these favors
to some, it must take from others their _rights_; that, in reality, it
must traffic in both men's interests and their rights; that it must keep
open shop, and sell men's interests and rights to the highest bidders;
and that this is your only plan for promoting "the general welfare,"
"the common interest," etc., etc.
That such is your idea of the constitutional duties and functions of the
government, is shown by different parts of your address: but more fully,
perhaps, by this:
The large variety of diverse and _competing interests_ subject
to _federal control, persistently seeking recognition of their
claims_, need give us no fear that the greatest good of the
greatest number will fail to be accomplished, if, _in the
halls of national legislation_, that spirit of amity and mutual
concession shall prevail, in which the constitution had its
birth. If this involves the _surrender_ or _postponement_ of
_private interests_, and the _abandonment_ of _local
advantages_, compensation will be found in the assurance that
thus the _common interest_ is subserved, and _the general
welfare_ advanced.
What is all this but saying that the government is not at all an
institution for "doing equal and exact justice to all men," or for the
impartial protection of all men's _rights_; but that it is its proper
business to take sides, for and against, a "large variety of diverse and
_competing interests_"; that it has this "large variety of diverse and
_competing interests_" under its arbitrary "_control_"; that it can, at
its pleasure, make such laws as will give success to some of them, and
insure the defeat of others; that these "various, diverse, and
_competing interests_" will be "_persistently seeking recognition of
their claims_ ... in _the halls of national legislation_,"--that is,
will be "persistently" clamoring for laws to be made in their favor;
that, in fact, "the halls of national legislation" are to be mere
arenas, into which the government actually invites the advocates and
representatives of all the selfish schemes of avarice and ambition that
unprincipled men can devise; that these schemes will there be free to
"_compete_" with each other in their corrupt offers for government favor
and support; and that it is to be the proper and ordinary business of
the lawmakers to listen to all these schemes; to adopt some of them, and
sustain them with all the money and power of the government; and to
"postpone," "abandon," oppose, and defeat all others; it being well
known, all the while, that the lawmakers will, _individually_, favor, or
oppose, these various schemes, according to their own irresponsible
will, pleasure, and discretion,--that is, according as they can better
serve their own personal interests and ambitions by doing the one or the
other.
Was a more thorough scheme of national villainy ever invented?
Sir, do you not know that in this conflict, between these "various,
diverse, and _competing interests_," all ideas of individual
"_rights_"--all ideas of "equal and exact justice to all men"--will be
cast to the winds; that the boldest, the strongest, the most fraudulent,
the most rapacious, and the most corrupt, men will have control of the
government, and make it a mere instrument for plundering the great body
of the people?
Your idea of the real character of the government is plainly this: The
lawmakers are to assume absolute and irresponsible "_control_" of all
the financial resources, all the legislative, judicial, and executive
powers, of the government, and employ them all for the promotion of such
schemes of plunder and ambition as they may select from all those that
may be submitted to them for their approval; that they are to keep "the
halls of national legislation" wide open for the admission of all
persons having such schemes to offer; and that they are to grant
monopolies, privileges, loans, and bounties to all such of these schemes
as they can make subserve their own individual interests and ambitions,
and reject or "postpone" all others. And that there is to be no limit to
their operations of this kind, except their fear of exciting rebellion
and resistance on the part of the plundered classes.
And you are just fool enough to tell us that such a government as this
may be relied on to "accomplish the greatest good to the greatest
number," "to subserve the common interest," and "advance the general
welfare," "if," only, "in the halls of national legislation, that spirit
of amity and mutual concession shall prevail, in which the constitution
had its birth."
You here assume that "the general welfare" is to depend, not upon the
free and untrammelled enterprise and industry of the whole people,
acting individually, and each enjoying and exercising all his natural
rights; but wholly or principally upon the success of such particular
schemes as the government may take under its special "control." And this
means that "the general welfare" is to depend, wholly or principally,
upon such privileges, monopolies, loans, and bounties as the government
may grant to more or less of that "large variety of diverse and
competing _interests_"--that is, schemes--that may be "persistently"
pressed upon its attention.
But as you impliedly acknowledge that the government cannot take all
these "interests" (schemes) under its "control," and bestow its favors
upon all alike, you concede that some of them must be "surrendered,"
"postponed," or "abandoned"; and that, consequently, the government
cannot get on at all, unless, "in the halls of national legislation,
that spirit of amity and mutual concession shall prevail, in which the
constitution had its birth."
This "spirit of amity and mutual concession in the halls of
legislation," you explain to mean this: a disposition, on the part of
the lawmakers respectively--whose various schemes of plunder cannot all
be accomplished, by reason of their being beyond the financial resources
of the government, or the endurance of the people--to "surrender" some
of them, "postpone" others, and "abandon" others, in order that the
general business of robbery may go on to the greatest extent possible,
and that each one of the lawmakers may succeed with as many of the
schemes he is specially intrusted with, as he can carry through by means
of such bargains, for mutual help, as he may be able to make with his
fellow lawmakers.
Such is the plan of government, to which you say that you "consecrate"
yourself, and "engage your every faculty and effort."
Was a more shameless avowal ever made?
You cannot claim to be ignorant of what crimes such a government will
commit. You have had abundant opportunity to know--and if you have kept
your eyes open, you do know--what these schemes of robbery have been in
the past; and from these you can judge what they will be in the future.
You know that under such a system, every senator and
representative--probably without an exception--will come to the congress
as the champion of the dominant scoundrelisms of his own State or
district; that he will be elected solely to serve those "interests," as
you call them; that in offering himself as a candidate, he will announce
the robbery, or robberies, to which all his efforts will be directed;
that he will call these robberies his "policy"; or if he be lost to all
decency, he will call them his "principles"; that they will always be
such as he thinks will best subserve his own interests, or ambitions;
that he will go to "the halls of national legislation" with his head
full of plans for making bargains with other lawmakers--as corrupt as
himself--for mutual help in carrying their respective schemes.
Such has been the character of our congresses nearly, or quite, from the
beginning. It can scarcely be said that there has ever been an honest
man in one of them. A man has sometimes gained a reputation for honesty,
in his own State or district, by opposing some one or more of the
robberies that were proposed by members from other portions of the
country. But such a man has seldom, or never, deserved his reputation;
for he has, generally, if not always, been the advocate of some one or
more schemes of robbery, by which more or less of his own constituents
were to profit, and which he knew it would be indispensable that he
should advocate, in order to give him votes at home.
If there have ever been any members, who were consistently honest
throughout,--who were really in favor of "doing equal and exact justice
to all men,"--and, of course, nothing more than that to any,--their
numbers have been few; so few as to have left no mark upon the general
legislation. They have but constituted the exceptions that proved the
rule. If you were now required to name such a lawmaker, I think you
would search our history in vain to find him.
That this is no exaggerated description of our national lawmaking, the
following facts will prove.
For the first seventy years of the government, one portion of the
lawmakers would be satisfied with nothing less than permission to rob
one-sixth, or one-seventh, of the whole population, not only of their
labor, but even of their right to their own persons. In 1860, this class
of lawmakers comprised all the senators and representatives from
fifteen, of the then thirty-three, States.[3]
[3] In the Senate they stood thirty to thirty-six, in the house
ninety to one hundred and forty-seven, in the two branches
united one hundred and twenty to one hundred and eighty-three,
relatively to the non-slaveholding members.
From the foundation of the government--without a single
interval, I think--the lawmakers from the slaveholding States
had been, _relatively_, as strong, or stronger, than in 1860.
This body of lawmakers, standing always firmly together, and capable of
turning the scale for, or against, any scheme of robbery, in which
northern men were interested, but on which northern men were
divided,--such as navigation acts, tariffs, bounties, grants, war,
peace, etc.,--could purchase immunity for their own crime, by supporting
such, and so many, northern crimes--second only to their own in
atrocity--as could be mutually agreed on.
In this way the slaveholders bargained for, and secured, protection for
slavery and the slave trade, by consenting to such navigation acts as
some of the northern States desired, and to such tariffs on
imports--such as iron, coal, wool, woollen goods, etc.,--as should
enable the home producers of similar articles to make fortunes by
robbing everybody else in the prices of their goods.
Another class of lawmakers have been satisfied with nothing less than
such a monopoly of money, as should enable the holders of it to
suppress, as far as possible, all industry and traffic, except such as
they themselves should control; such a monopoly of money as would put
it wholly out of the power of the great body of wealth-producers to
hire the capital needed for their industries; and thus compel
them--especially the mechanical portions of them--by the alternative of
starvation--to sell their labor to the monopolists of money, for just
such prices as these latter should choose to pay. This monopoly of money
has also given, to the holders of it, a control, so nearly absolute, of
all industry--agricultural as well as mechanical--and all traffic, as
has enabled them to plunder all the producing classes in the prices of
their labor, or the products of their labor.
Have you been blind, all these years, to the existence, or the effects,
of this monopoly of money?
Still another class of lawmakers have demanded unequal taxation on the
various kinds of home property, that are subject to taxation; such
unequal taxation as would throw heavy burdens upon some kinds of
property, and very light burdens, or no burdens at all, upon other
kinds.
And yet another class of lawmakers have demanded great appropriations,
or loans, of money, or grants of lands, to enterprises intended to give
great wealth to a few, at the expense of everybody else.
These are some of the schemes of downright and outright robbery, which
you mildly describe as "the large variety of diverse and competing
interests, _subject to federal control_, persistently seeking
recognition of their claims ... in the halls of national legislation";
and each having its champions and representatives among the lawmakers.
You know that all, or very nearly all, the legislation of congress is
devoted to these various schemes of robbery; and that little, or no,
legislation goes through, except by means of such bargains as these
lawmakers may enter into with each other, for mutual support of their
respective robberies. And yet you have the mendacity, or the stupidity,
to tell us that so much of this legislation as does go through, may be
relied on to "accomplish the greatest good to the greatest number," to
"subserve the common interest," and "advance the general welfare."
And when these schemes of robbery become so numerous, atrocious, and
unendurable that they can no longer be reconciled "in the halls of
national legislation," by "surrendering" some of them, "postponing"
others, and "abandoning" others, you assume--for such has been the
prevailing opinion, and you say nothing to the contrary--that it is the
right of the strongest party, or parties, to murder a half million of
men, if that be necessary,--and as we once did,--not to secure liberty
or justice to any body,--but to compel the weaker of these would-be
robbers to submit to all such robberies as the stronger ones may choose
to practise upon them.