act of inhospitality to be the ground of a quarrel with her- the
Legislature would not wholly waive the subject the following winter.

  Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place
for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the only
place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and less
desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and locked out of
the State by her own act, as they have already put themselves out by
their principles. It is there that the fugitive slave, and the Mexican
prisoner on parole, and the Indian come to plead the wrongs of his
race should find them; on that separate, but more free and
honorable, ground, where the State places those who are not with
her, but against her- the only house in a slave State in which a
free man can abide with honor. If any think that their influence would
be lost there, and their voices no longer afflict the ear of the
State, that they would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do
not know by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more
eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has experienced
a little in his own person. Cast your whole vote, not a strip of paper
merely, but your whole influence. A minority is powerless while it
conforms to the majority; it is not even a minority then; but it is
irresistible when it clogs by its whole weight. If the alternative
is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the
State will not hesitate which to choose. If a thousand men were not to
pay their tax-bills this year, that would not be a violent and
bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to
commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the
definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible. If
the tax-gatherer, or any other public officer, asks me, as one has
done, "But what shall I do?" my answer is, "If you really wish to do
anything, resign your office." When the subject has refused
allegiance, and the officer has resigned his office, then the
revolution is accomplished. But even suppose blood should flow. Is
there not a sort of blood shed when the conscience is wounded? Through
this wound a man's real manhood and immortality flow out, and he
bleeds to an everlasting death. I see this blood flowing now.

  I have contemplated the imprisonment of the offender, rather than
the seizure of his goods- though both will serve the same purpose-
because they who assert the purest right, and consequently are most
dangerous to a corrupt State, commonly have not spent much time in
accumulating property. To such the State renders comparatively small
service, and a slight tax is wont to appear exorbitant, particularly
if they are obliged to earn it by special labor with their hands. If
there were one who lived wholly without the use of money, the State
itself would hesitate to demand it of him. But the rich man- not to
make any invidious comparison- is always sold to the institution which
makes him rich. Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less
virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains
them for him; and it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it. It
puts to rest many questions which he would otherwise be taxed to
answer; while the only new question which it puts is the hard but
superfluous one, how to spend it. Thus his moral ground is taken
from under his feet. The opportunities of living are diminished in
proportion as what are called the "means" are increased. The best
thing a man can do for his culture when he is rich is to endeavor to
carry out those schemes which he entertained when he was poor.
Christ answered the Herodians according to their condition. "Show me
the tribute-money," said he;- and one took a penny out of his pocket;-
if you use money which has the image of Caesar on it, and which he has
made current and valuable, that is, if you are men of the State, and
gladly enjoy the advantages of Caesar's government, then pay him
back some of his own when he demands it. "Render therefore to Caesar
that which is Caesar's, and to God those things which are God's"-
leaving them no wiser than before as to which was which; for they
did not wish to know.

  When I converse with the freest of my neighbors, I perceive that,
whatever they may say about the magnitude and seriousness of the
question, and their regard for the public tranquillity, the long and
the short of the matter is, that they cannot spare the protection of
the existing government, and they dread the consequences to their
property and families of disobedience to it. For my own part, I should
not like to think that I ever rely on the protection of the State.
But, if I deny the authority of the State when it presents its
tax-bill, it will soon take and waste all my property, and so harass
me and my children without end. This is hard. This makes it impossible
for a man to live honestly, and at the same time comfortably, in
outward respects. It will not be worth the while to accumulate
property; that would be sure to go again. You must hire or squat
somewhere, and raise but a small crop, and eat that soon. You must
live within yourself, and depend upon yourself always tucked up and
ready for a start, and not have many affairs. A man may grow rich in
Turkey even, if he will be in all respects a good subject of the
Turkish government. Confucius said: "If a state is governed by the
principles of reason, poverty and misery are subjects of shame; if a
state is not governed by the principles of reason, riches and honors
are the subjects of shame." No: until I want the protection of
Massachusetts to be extended to me in some distant Southern port,
where my liberty is endangered, or until I am bent solely on
building up an estate at home by peaceful enterprise, I can afford
to refuse allegiance to Massachusetts, and her right to my property
and life. It costs me less in every sense to incur the penalty of
disobedience to the State than it would to obey. I should feel as if I
were worth less in that case.

  Some years ago, the State met me in behalf of the Church, and
commanded me to pay a certain sum toward the support of a clergyman
whose preaching my father attended, but never I myself. "Pay," it
said, "or be locked up in the jail." I declined to pay. But,