SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
[This is an address
Thoreau delivered at the Anti-
Slavery Convention at
Framingham, Mass., July 4,
1854. It was printed in
the Liberator for July 21,
1S54. The entire address
follows.]
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
I LATELY attended a
meeting of the citizens of Concord, ex~
pecting, as one among
many, to speak On the subject of slav-
ery in Massachusetts ; but
I was surprised and disappointed
to find that what had
called my townsmen together was the
destiny of Nebraska, and
not of Massachusetts, and that what
I had to say would be
entirely out of order. I had thought
that the house was on
fire, and not the prairie; but though
several of the citizens
of Massachusetts are now in prisoiv
for attempting to rescue
a slave from her own clutches, not
one of the speakers at
that meeting expressed regret for it,
not one even referred to
it. It was only the disposition of some
wild lands a thousand
miles off which appeared to concern
them. The inhabitants of
Concord are not prepared to stand
by one of their own
bridges, but talk only of taking up a po-
sition on the highlands
beyond the Yellowstone River. Our
Buttricks and Davises
and Hosmers are retreating thither,
and I fear that they
will leave no Lexington Common between
them and the enemy.
There is not one slave in Nebraska;
there are perhaps a
million slaves in Massachusetts.
They who have been bred in
the school of politics fail now
and always to face the facts.
Their measures are half measures
and makeshifts merely.
They put off the day of settlement
indefinitely, and
meanwhile the debt accumulates. Though
the
Fugitive Slave Law had
not been the subject of discussion on
that occasion, it was at
length faintly resolved by my towns-
men, at an adjourned
meeting, as I learn, that the compromise
compact of 1820 having
been repudiated by one of the parties,
"Therefore, ... the
Fugitive Slave Law of 18SO must be re-
pealed." But this
is not the reason why an iniquitous law
663
664 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
should be repealed. The
fact which the politician faces is
merely that there is
less honor among thieves than was sup-
posed, and not the fact
that they are thieves.
As I had no opportunity
to express my thoughts at that
meeting, will you allow
me to do so here?
Again it happens that
the Boston Court-House is full of
armed men, holding
prisoner and trying a MAN, to find out
if he is not really a
SLAVE. Does any one think that justice or
God awaits Mr. Loring's
decision? For him to sit there decid-
ing still, when this
question is already decided from eternity
to eternity, and the
unlettered slave himself and the multitude
around have long since
heard and assented to the decision, is
simply to make himself
ridiculous. We may be tempted to ask
from whom he received
his commission, and who he is that re-
ceived it; what novel
statutes he obeys, and what precedents
are to him of authority.
Such an arbiter's very existence is an
impertinence. We do not
ask him to make up his mind, but
to make up his pack.
I listen to hear the
voice of a Governor, Commander-in-
Chief of the forces of
Massachusetts. I hear only the creak-
ing of crickets and the
hum of insects which now fill the sum-
mer air. The Governor's
exploit is to review the troops on
muster days. I have seen
him on horseback, with his hat off,
listening to a
chaplain's prayer. It chances that that is all I
have ever seen of a
Governor. I think that I could manage
to get along without
one. If he is not of the least use to pre-
vent my being kidnapped,
pray of what important use is he
likely to be to me? When
freedom is most endangered, he
dwells in the deepest
obscurity. A distinguished clergyman
told me that he chose the
profession of a clergyman because
it afforded the most
leisure for literary pursuits. I would
recommend to him the
profession of a Governor.
Three years ago, also,
when the Sims tragedy was acted, I
said to myself, There is
such an officer, if not such a man, as
the Governor of
Massachusetts, what has he been about the
last fortnight? Has he
had as much as he could do to keep on
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
665
the fence during this moral
earthquake? It seemed to me that
no keener satire could
have been aimed at, no more cutting
insult have been offered
to that man, than just what hap-
pened, the absence of
all inquiry after him in that crisis.
The worst and the most I
chance to know of him is that he
did not improve that
opportunity to make himself known,
and worthily known. He
could at least have resigned himself
into fame. It appeared
to be forgotten that there was such a
man or such an office.
Yet no doubt he was endeavoring to
fill the gubernatorial
chair all the while. He was no Governor
of mine. He did not
govern me.
But at last, in the
present case, the Governor was heard
from. After he and the
United States government had per-
fectly succeeded in
robbing a poor innocent black man of his
liberty for life, and,
as far as they could, of his Creator's like-
ness in his breast, he
made a speech to his accomplices, at a
congratulatory supper !
I have read a recent law
of this State, making it penal for
any officer of the
"Commonwealth" to "detain or aid in th
. . . detention,"
anywhere within its limits, "of any person,
for the reason that he
is claimed as a fugitive slave." Also, it
was a matter of
notoriety that a writ of replevin to take the
fugitive out of the
custody of the United States Marshal could
not be served for want
of sufficient force to aid the officer.
I had thought that the
Governor was, in some sense, the
executive officer of the
State; that it was his business, as a
Governor, to see that
the laws of the State were executed;
while, as a man, he took
care that he did not, by so doing,
break the laws of
humanity; but when there is any special
important use for him,
he is useless, or worse than use-
less, and permits the
laws of the State to go unexecuted.
Perhaps I do not know what
are the duties of a Governor;
but if to be a Governor
requires to subject one's self to so
much ignominy without
remedy, if it is to put a restraint upon
my manhood, I shall take
care never to be Governor of Massa-
chusetts. I have not
read far in the statutes of this Common-
666 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
wealth. It is not
profitable reading. They do not always say
what is true; and they do
not always mean what they say.
What I am concerned to
know is, that that man's influence
and authority were on
the side of the slaveholder, and not of
the slave, of the
guilty, and not of the innocent, of injus-
tice, and not of
justice. I never saw him of whom I speak;
indeed, I did not know
that he was Governor until this event
occurred. I heard of him
and Anthony Burns at the same
time, and thus,
undoubtedly, most will hear of him. So far
am I from being governed
by him. I do not mean that it was
anything to his
discredit that I had not heard of him, only
that I heard what I did.
The worst I shall say of him is, that
fie proved no better
than the majority of his constituents
would be likely to
prove. In my opinion, he was not equal to
the occasion.
The whole military force
of the State is at the service of a
Mr. Suttle, a
slaveholder from Virginia, to enable him to catch
a man whom he calls his
property; but not a soldier is offered
'to save a citizen of
Massachusetts from being kidnapped! Is
this what all these
soldiers, all this training, have been for
these seventy-nine years
past? Have they been trained merely
to rob Mexico and carry
back fugitive slaves to their masters?
These very nights I
heard the sound of a drum in our
streets. There were men
training still; and for what? I could
with an effort pardon
the cockerels of Concord for crow-
ing still, for they,
perchance, had not been beaten that morn-
ing; but I could not
excuse this rub-a-dub of the "trainers."
The slave was carried
back by exactly such as these; i.e., by
the soldier, of whom the
best you can say in this connection
is that he is a fool
made conspicuous by a painted coat.
Three years ago, also,
just a week after the authorities of
Boston assembled to
carry back a perfectly innocent man ;
and one whom they knew
to be innocent, into slavery, the
inhabitants of Concord
caused the bells to be rung and the
sajmous to be fired, to
celebrate their liberty, and the cour-
age and love of liberty
of their ancestors who fought at the
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
667
bridge. As if those
three millions had fought for the right to
be free themselves, but
to hold in slavery three million others.
Nowadays, men wear a
fool's-cap, and call it a liberty-cap. I
do not know but there
are some who, if they were tied to a
whipping-post, and could
but get one hand free, would use it
to ring the bells and
fire the cannons to celebrate their liberty.
So some of my townsmen
took the liberty to ring and fire.
That was the extent of
their freedom; and when the sound
of the bells died away,
their liberty died away also ; when the
powder was all expended,
their liberty went off with the
smoke.
The joke could be no
broader if the inmates of the prisons
were to subscribe for
all the powder to be used in such salutes,
and hire the jailers to
do the firing and ringing for them, while
they enjoyed it through
the grating.
This is what I thought
about my neighbors.
Every humane and
intelligent inhabitant of Concord, when
he or she heard those
bells and those cannons, thought not
with pride of the events
of the 19th of April, 1775, but with
shame of the events of
the 12th of April, 1851. But now we
have half buried that
old shame under a new one.
Massachusetts sat
waiting Mr. Loring's decision, as if it
could in any way affect
her own criminality. Her crime, the
most conspicuous and
fatal crime of all, was permitting him
to be the umpire in such
a case. It was really the trial of
Massachusetts. Every
moment that she hesitated to set this
man free, every moment
that she now hesitates to atone for
her crime, she is
convicted. The Commissioner on her case is
God; not Edward G. God,
but simple God.
I wish my countrymen to
consider, that whatever the*
human law may be,
neither an individual nor a nation can ever
commit the least act of
injustice against the obscurest indi-
vidual without having to
pay the penalty for it. A govern^
ment which deliberately
enacts injustice, and persists in if,
will at length even
become the laughing-stock of the world.
Much has been said about
American slavery, but I think
668 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
that we do not even yet
realize what slavery is. If I were seri-
ously to propose to
Congress to make mankind into sausages,
I have no doubt that
most of the members would smile at my
proposition, and if any
believed me to be in earnest, they
would think that I
proposed something much worse than Con-
gress had ever done. But
if any of them will tell me that to
make a man into a
sausage would be much worse, would be
any worse, than to make
him into a slave, -ihan it was to
enact the Fugitive Slave
Law, I will accuse him of foolish-
ness, of intellectual
incapacity, of making a distinction with-
out a difference. The
one is just as sensible a proposition as
the other.
I hear a good deal said
about trampling this law under foot.
Why, one need not go out
of his way to do that. This law rises
not to the level of the
head or the reason ; its natural habitat
is in the dirt. It was
born and bred, and has its life, only in
the dust and mire, on a
level with the feet ; and he who walks
with freedom, and does
not with Hindoo mercy avoid treading
on every venomous
reptile, will inevitably tread on it, and so
trample it under foot,
and Webster, its maker, with it, like
the dirt-bug and its
ball.
Recent events will be
valuable as a criticism on the admin-
istration of justice in
our midst, or, rather, as showing what
are the true resources
of justice in any community. It has
come to this, that the
friends of liberty, the friends of the
slave, have shuddered
when they have understood that his
fate was left to the
legal tribunals of the country to be de-
cided. Free men have no
faith that justice will be awarded
in such a case. The
judge may decide this way or that ; it is
a kind of accident, at
best. It is evident that he is not a com-
petent authority in so
important a case. It is no time, then, to
be judging according to
his precedents, but to establish a
precedent for the
future. I would much rather trust to the
sentiment of the people.
In their vote you would get some-
thing of some value, at
least, however small; but in the other
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
669
case, only the trammeled
judgment of an individual, of nq
significance, be it
which way it might.
It is to some extent
fatal to the courts, when the people are
compelled to go behind
them. I do not wish to believe that the
courts were made for
fair weather, and for very civil cases
merely; but think of
leaving it to any court in the land to de-
cide whether more than
three millions of people, in this case a
sixth part of a nation,
have a right to be freemen or not I But
it has been left to the
courts of justice, so called, to the
Supreme Court of the
land, and, as you all know, recog
nizing no authority but
the Constitution^ it has decided that
the three millions are
and shall continue to be slaves. Such
judges as these are
merely the inspectors of a pick-lock and
murderer's tools, to
tell him whether they are in working
order or not, and there
they think that their responsibility
ends. There was a prior
case on the docket, which they, as
judges appointed by God,
had no right to skip ; which having
been justly settled,
they would have been saved from this
humiliation. It was the
case of the murderer himself.
The law will never make
men free; it is men who have
got to make the law free.
They are the lovers of law and
order who observe the law
when the government breaks it.
Among human beings, the
judge whose words seal the fate
of a man furthest into
eternity is not he who merely pro-
nounces the verdict of
the law, but he, whoever he may be,
who, from a love of
truth, and unprejudiced by any custom
or enactment of men,
utters a true opinion or sentence con-
cerning him. He it is
that sentences him. Whoever can discern
truth has received his
commission from a higher source than
the chiefest justice in
the world who can discern only law.
He finds himself
constituted judge of the judge. Strange that
it should be necessary
to state such simple truths!
I am more and more
convinced that, with reference to
any public question, it is
more important to know what the
country thinks of it than
what the city thinks. The city does
not think much. On any
moral question, I would rather have
670 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
the opinion of Boxboro'
than of Boston and New York put
together. When the
former speaks, I feel as if somebody had
spoken, as if humanity
was yet, and a reasonable being had
asserted its rights, as
if some unprejudiced men among the
country's hills had at
length turned their attention to the sub-
ject, and by a few
sensible words redeemed the reputation
of the race. When, in
some obscure country town, the farmers
come together to a
special town-meeting, to express their
opinion on some subject
which is vexing the land, that, I think,
is the true Congress,
and the most respectable one that is ever
assembled in the United
States.
It is evident that there
are, in this Commonwealth at least,
two parties, becoming
more and more distinct, the party
of the city, and the
party of the country. I know that the
country is mean enough,
but I am glad to believe that there
is a slight difference
in her favor. But as yet she has few, if
any organs, through
which to express herself. The editorials
tfhich she reads, like
the news, come from the seaboard. Let
us, the inhabitants of
the country, cultivate self-respect. Let
us not send to the city
for aught more essential than our
broadcloths and
groceries ; or, if we read the opinions of the
city, let us entertain
opinions of our own.
Among measures to be
adopted, I would suggest to make
as earnest and vigorous
an assault on the press as has already
beeh made, and with
effect, on the church. The church has
much improved within a
few years ; but the press is, almost
without exception,
corrupt. I believe that in this country the
press exerts a greater
and a more pernicious influence than
the church did in its
worst period. We are not a religious peo-
ple, but we are a nation
of politicians. We do not care for
the Bible, but we do
care for the newspaper. At any meeting
of politicians, like
that at Concord the other evening, for
instance, how impertinent
it would be to quote from the
Bible! how pertinent to
quote from a newspaper or from the
Constitution! The
newspaper is a Bible which we read every
morning and every
afternoon.; standing and sitting, riding
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
671
and walking. It is a
Bible which every man carries in his
pocket, which lies on
every table and counter, and which the
mail, and thousands of
missionaries, are continually dispers-
ing. It is, in short,
the only book which America has printed^
and which America reads.
So wide is its influence. The editor
is a preacher whom you
voluntarily support. Your tax is com-
monly one cent daily,
and it costs nothing for pew hire. But
how many of these
preachers preach the truth? I repeat th^
testimony of many an
intelligent foreigner, as well as my own
convictions, when I say,
that probably no country was ever
ruled by so mean a class
of tyrants as, with a few noble ex-
ceptions, are the
editors of the periodical press in this coun-
try. And as they live
and rule only by their servility, and ap-
pealing to the worse,
and not the better, nature of man, the
people who read them are
in the condition of the dog that
returns to his vomit.
The Liberator and the
Commonwealth were the only papers
in Boston, as far as I
know, which made themselves heard in
condemnation of the
cowardice and meanness of the authori-
ties of that city, as
exhibited in '5 1 . The other journals, almost
without exception, by
their manner of referring to and speak-
ing of the Fugitive
Slave Law, and the carrying back of the
slave Sims, insulted the
common sense of the country, at least.
And, for the most part,
they did this, one would say, because
they thought so to
secure the approbation of their patrons,
not being aware that a
sounder sentiment prevailed to any ex-
tent in the heart of the
Commonwealth. I am told that some
of them have improved of
late; but they are still eminently
time-serving. Such is
the character they have won.
But, thank fortune, this
preacher can be even more easily
reached by the weapons
of the reformer than could the recre-
ant priest. The free men
of New England have only to refrain
from purchasing and
reading these sheets, have only to with-
hold their cents, to
kill a score of them at once. One whom
I respect told me that
he purchased Mitchell's Citizen in the
cars, and then threw it
out the window. But would not his con~
672 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
tempt have been more
fatally expressed if he had not bought
it?
Are they Americans? are
they New Englanders? are they
inhabitants of Lexington
and Concord and Framingham, who
read and support the
Boston Post, Mail, Journal, Advertiser,
Courier, and Times? Are
these the Flags of our Union? I am
not a newspaper reader,
and may omit to name the worst.
Could slavery suggest a
more complete servility than some
of these journals
exhibit? Is there any dust which their con-
duct does not lick, and
make fouler still with its slime? I do
not know whether the
Boston Herald is still in existence, but
I remember to have seen
it about the streets when Sims was
carried off. Did it not
act its part well, serve its master faith-
fully! How could it have
gone lower on its belly? How can a
man stoop lower than he
is low? do more than put his extremi-
ties in the place of the
head he has? than make his head his
ower extremity? When I
have taken up this paper with my
uffs turned up, I have
heard the gurgling of the sewer through
/ery column. I have felt
that I was handling a paper picked
ut of the public
gutters, a leaf from the gospel of the gam-
Dling-house, the
groggery, and the brothel, harmonizing with
Ae gospel of the
Merchants' Exchange.
The majority of the men
of the North, and of the South
and East and West, are
not men of principle. If they vote,
they do not send men to
Congress on errands of humanity;
but while their brothers
and sisters are being scourged and
hung for loving liberty,
while I might here insert all that
slavery implies and is
it is the mismanagement of wood and
iron and stone and gold
which concerns them. Do what you
will, O Government, with
my wife and children, my mother
and brother, my father
and sister, I will obey your commands
to the letter. It will
indeed grieve me if you hurt them, if you
deliver them to
overseers to be hunted by hounds or to be
whipped to death; but,
nevertheless, I will peaceably pursue
my chosen calling on
this fair earth, until perchance, one day,
when I have put on
mourning for their dead, I shall have per-
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
673
suaded you to relent.
Such is the attitude, such are the words
of Massachusetts.
Rather than do thus, I
need not say what match I would
touch, what system
endeavor to blow up; but as I love my
life, I would side with
the light, and let the dark earth roll
from under me, calling
my mother and my brother to follow.
I would remind my
countrymen that they are to be men
first, and Americans only
at a late and convenient hour. No
matter how valuable law
may be to protect your property,
even to keep soul and body
together, if it do not keep you
and humanity together.
I am sorry to say that I
doubt if there is a judge in Massa-
chusetts who is prepared
to resign his office, and get his living
innocently, whenever it
is required of him to pass sentence
under a law which is
merely contrary to the law of God. I am
compelled to see that
they put themselves, or rather are by
character, in this
respect, exactly on a level with the marine
who discharges his
musket in any direction he is ordered to.
They are just as much
tools, and as little men. Certainly, they
are not the more to be
respected, because their master en-
slaves their understandings
and consciences, instead of their
bodies.
The judges and lawyers,
simply as such, I mean, and
all men of expediency,
try this case by a very low and in-
competent standard. They
consider, not whether the Fugitive
Slave Law is right, but
whether it is what they call constitu-
tional. Is virtue
constitutional, or vice? Is equity constitu-
tional, or iniquity? In
important moral and vital questions,
like this, it is just as
impertinent to ask whether a law is con-
stitutional or not, as
to ask whether it is profitable or not.
They persist in being
the servants of the worst of men, and
not the servants of
humanity. The question is, not whether
you or your grandfather,
seventy years ago, did not enter
into an agreement to
serve the Devil, and that service is not
accordingly now due; but
whether you will not now, for once
and at last, serve God,
in spite of your own past recreancy,
674 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
or that of your
ancestor, by obeying that eternal and onl>
just CONSTITUTION, which
He, and not any Jefferson or
Adams, has written in
your being.
God, the minority will live and behave accordingly, and
obey the successful candidate, trusting that, some time or
other, by some Speaker's casting-vote, perhaps, they may
Reinstate God. This is the highest principle I can get out or
invent for my neighbors. These men act as if they believed
that they could safely slide down a hill a little way, or a
good way, and would surely come to a place, by and by,
where they could begin to slide up again. This is expediency,
or choosing that course which offers the slightest obstacles
to the feet, that is, a downhill one. But there is no such thing
as accomplishing a righteous reform by the use of "expedi-
ency." There is no such thing as sliding up hill. In morals the
only sliders are backsliders.
[t1] Thus we steadily worship Mammon, both school and state
f md church, and on the
seventh day curse God with a tinta-
mar from one end of the
Union to the other.
that it never secures any
moral right, but considers merely
what is expedient? chooses
the available candidate, who is
invariably the Devil, and
what right have his constituents
to be surprised, because the
Devil does not behave like an
angel of light? What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of
Probity, who recognize a higher law than the Constitution,
or the decision of the majority. The fate of the country does
not depend on how you vote at the polls,- -the worst man is
as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on
what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year,
but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into
the street every morning.
[t3] What should concern Massachusetts is not the Nebraska
Bill, nor the Fugitive
Slave Bill, but her own slaveholding
and servility. Let the
State dissolve hei union with the slave-
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
673
holder. She may wriggle
and hesitate, and ask leave to read
the Constitution once
more; but she can find no respectable
law or precedent which
sanctions the continuance of such a
union for an instant.
Let each inhabitant of
the State dissolve his union with
her, as long as she
delays to do her duty.
The events of the past
month teach me to distrust Fame.
I see that she does not
finely discriminate, but coarsely hur-
rahs. She considers not
the simple heroism of an action, but
only as it is connected
with its apparent consequences. She
praises till she is
hoarse the easy exploit of the Boston tea
party, but will be
comparatively silent about the braver and
more disinterestedly
heroic attack on the Boston Court-House,
simply because it was
unsuccessful !
Covered with disgrace,
the State has sat down coolly to
try for their lives and
liberties the men who attempted to do
its duty for it. And
this is called justke! They who have shown
that they can behave
particularly well may perchance be put
under bonds for their
good behavior. They whom truth re-
quires at present to
plead guilty are, of all the inhabitants of
the State, preeminently
innocent. While the Governor, and
the Mayor, and countless
officers of the Commonwealth are
at large, the champions
of liberty are imprisoned.
Only they are guiltless
who commit the crime of contempt
of such a court. It
behooves every man to see that his influ-
ence is on the side of
justice, and let the courts make their
own characters. My
sympathies in this case are wholly with
the accused, and wholly
against their accusers and judges.
Justice is sweet and
musical; but injustice is harsh and dis-
cordant. The judge still
sits grinding at his organ, but it
yields no music, and we
hear only the sound of the handle.
He believes that all the
music resides in the handle, and the
crowd toss him their
coppers the same as before.
Do you suppose that that
Massachusetts which is now doing
these things, which
hesitates to crown these men, some of
whose lawyers, and even
judges, perchance, may be driven
676 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
to take refuge in some
poor quibble, that they may not wholly
outrage their
instinctive sense of justice, do you suppose
that she is anything but
base and servile? that she is the
champion of liberty?
Show me a free state, and
a court truly of justice, and I
will fight for them, if
need be; but show me Massachusetts,
and I refuse her my
allegiance, and express contempt for her
courts.
The effect of a good
government is to make life more valu-
able, of a bad one, to
make it less valuable. We can afford
that railroad and all
merely material stock should lose some
of its value, for that
only compels us to live more simply
and economically; but
suppose that the value of life itself
should be diminished!
How can we make a less demand on
man and nature, how live
more economically in respect to vir-
tue and all noble
qualities, than we do? I have lived for the
last month and I think
that every man in Massachusetts
capable of the sentiment
of patriotism must have had a similar
experience with the
sense of having suffered a vast and in-
definite loss. I did noi
know at first what ailed me. At last
it occurred to me that
what I had lost was a country. I had
never respected the
government near to which I lived, but I
had foolishly thought
that I might manage to live here, mind-
ing my private affairs,
and forget it. For my part, my old and
worthiest pursuits have
lost I cannot say how much of their
attraction, and I feel
that my investment in life here is worth
many per cent, less
since Massachusetts last deliberately sent
back an innocent man,
Anthony Burns, to slavery. I dwelt
before> perhaps, in
the illusion that my life passed some-
where only between
heaven and hell, but now I cannot per-
suade myself that I do
not dwell wholly within hell. The site
of that political
organization called Massachusetts is to me
morally covered with
volcanic scoriae and cinders, such as
Milton describes in the
infernal regions. If there is any hell
more unprincipled than
our rulers, and we, the ruled) I feel
curious to see it. Life
itself being worth less, all things with
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
677
it, which minister to
it, are worth less. Suppose you have a
small library, with
pictures to adorn the walls, a garden laid
out around, and
contemplate scientifr ad literary pursuits
and discover all at once
that your villa, with all its contents,
is located in hell, and
that the justice of the peace has a clovei.
foot and a forked tail,
do not these things suddenly lose their
value in your eyes?
I feel that, to some
extent, the State has fatally interfered
with my lawful business.
It has not only interrupted me in
my passage through Court
Street on errands of trade, but it
has interrupted me and
every man on his onward and upward
path, on which he had
trusted soon to leave Court Street far
behind. What right had
it to remind me of Court Street? I
have found that hollow
which even I bad relied on for solid.
I am surprised to see
men going about their business as if
nothing had happened. I
say to myself, "Unfortunates! they
have not heard the
news." I am surprised that the
man whom
I just met on horseback
should be so earnest to overtake
his newly bought cows
running away, since all property is
insecure, and if they do
not run away again, they may be
taken away from him when
he gets them. Fool ! does he not
know that his seed-corn
is worth less this year, that all be-
neficent harvests fail
as you approach the empire of hell? No
prudent man will build a
stone house under these circum-
stances, or engage in
any peaceful enterprise which it re-
quires a long time to
accomplish. Art is as long as ever, but
life is more interrupted
and less available for a man's proper
pursuits. It is not an
era of repose. We have used up all our
inherited freedom. If we
would save our lives, we must fight
for them.
I walk toward one of our
ponds; but what signifies the
beauty of nature when men
are base? We walk to lakes to see
our serenity reflected in
them; when we are not serene, we
go not to them. Who can be
serene in a country where both
the rulers and the ruled
are without principle? The remem-
678 THE WRITINGS OF
THOREAU
brance of my country
spoils my walk. My thoughts are murder
to the State, and
involuntarily go plotting against her.
But it chanced the other
day that I scented a white water-
lily, and a season I had
waited for had arrived. It is the
emblem of purity. It
bursts up so pure and fair to the eye,
and so sweet to the
scent, as if to show us what purity and
sweetness reside in, and
can be extracted from, the slime and
muck of earth. I think I
have plucked the first one that has
opened for a mile. What
confirmation of our hopes is in the
fragrance of this flower
1 I shall not so soon despair of the
world for it,
notwithstanding slavery, and the cowardice and
want of principle of
Northern men. It suggests what kind of
laws have prevailed
longest and widest, and still prevail,
and that the time may
come when man's deeds will smell as
sweet. Such is the odor
which the plant emits. If Nature can
compound this fragrance
still annually, I shall believe her still
young and full of vigor,
her integrity and genius unimpaired,
and that there is virtue
even in man, too, who is fitted to per-
ceive and love it. It
reminds me that Nature has been partner
to no Missouri
Compromise. I scent no compromise in the
fragrance of the
water-lily. It is not a Nympkcea DOUGLASII.
In it, the sweet, and
pure, and innocent are wholly sundered
from the obscene and
baleful. I do not scent in this the time-
serving irresolution of
a Massachusetts Governor, nor cf a
Boston Mayor. So behave
that the odor of your actions may
enhance the general
sweetness of the atmosphere, that when
we behold or scent a
flower, we may not be reminded how in-
consistent your deeds
are with it ; for all odor is but one form
of advertisement of a
moral quality, and if fair actions had
not been performed, the
lily would not smell sweet. The foul
slime stands for the
sloth and vice of man, the decay of
humanity; the fragrant
flower that springs from it, for the
purity and courage which
are immortal.
Slavery and servility have
produced no sweet-scented
flower annually, to charm
the senses of men, for they have
no real life: they are
merely a decaying and a death, offensive
SLAVERY IN MASSACHUSETTS
679
to all healthy nostrils.
We do not complain that they live,
but that they do not get
buried. Let the living bury them:
even they are good for
manure.
ምንም አስተያየቶች የሉም:
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ