All history, and all experience, show it to be
an immutable law of God, that whosoever injures another, injures
himself in the process. These frequent scuffles between despotism
and freedom, with despotism shielded by law, cannot otherwise than
demoralize our people. They unsettle the popular mind concerning
eternal principles of justice. They harden the heart by familiarity
with violence. They accustom people to the idea that it is right for
Capital to own Labor; and thus the reverence for Liberty, which we
inherited from our fathers, will gradually die out in the souls of
our children. We are compelled to disobey our own consciences, and
repress all our humane feelings, or else to disobey the law. It is
a grievous wrong done to the people to place them between these
alternatives. The inevitable result is to destroy the sanctity of
law. The doctrine that "might makes right," which our rulers consent
to teach the people, in order to pacify slaveholders, will come out
in unexpected forms to disturb our own peace and safety.
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