Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 03.pdf/38

19 believe I may safely say, have considered the Na ture of it more closely than any Man besides in this Province; as I have also from my Infancy been educated in the Way that I have ever since walked in, and I hope without Blemish to the Pro fession; I conceive and hope you will think I have a Right to lay before you, the heavy Pres sure of Mind that some late Transactions in this small Government of ours have given me, through an Apprehension, that not only the Reputation of

Friends, as a People, but our Liberties and Privi leges in general may be deeply affected by them. But on this Head I think fit to mention, in the first Place, That when, above Forty two Years since, our late Proprietor proposed to me at Bris tol, to come ov er with him as his Secretary; after I had, agreeably to his Ad vice, taken Time to con sider of it ... I had no Scruple to accept of that, or of any other Post I have since held : Being sensible, that as Govern ment is absolutely neces sary amongst Mankind, so, tho' all Government ... is founded on Force, there must be some proper Persons to admin ister it; I was therefore WILLIAM the more surprised, when I found my Master, on a particular Occasion in our Voyage hither, tho' coming over to exercise the Powers of it here in his own Person, shew'd his Sentiments were other wise. [Forty-two years gone, and he had never got over the pirates and Penn's retiring below!] But as I have ever endeavoured to think and act consistently myself, observing Friends had laid it down as their Principle, That Bearing of Arms, even for Self-Defence, is unlawful; being of a dif ferent Opinion in this Respect, tho' I ever con demned offensive War, I therefore, in a great Measure, declined that due Attendance on their Meetings of Business, which I might otherwise have given. [Now he begins his argument,

which no Quaker has as yet answered in Meeting or out of it.] I must nevertheless add further, that I propose, not in offering this, to advance Arguments in Support of the Lawfulness of SelfDefence; which, amongst those, who, for Con science Sake, continue in a Condition to put strictly in Practice the Precepts of our Saviour, would be altogether needless; but wherever there is private Property, and Measures taken to in crease it, by amassing Wealth, according to our Practice, to a Degree that may tempt others to in vade it, it has always ap peared to me, to be full as justifiable to use Means to defend it when got, as to acquire it. Notwith standing which ... 1 shall consider this ... to be their . . . Principle [that is, non-resistance] and only offer to your Consideration, what I conceive to be a clear Demonstration, that all Civil Government, as well as Military, is founded on Force; and there fore, that Friends . . . in the Strictness of their Principles, ought in no manner to engage in it." This letter ought to be given at length, for the sake of its great ALLEN. ability and admirable power of statement. But it is too long, and a brief analysis of what next follows is given here instead. This Province (says Logan) is subordinate to a superior government, which therefore expects it to do its share in defence against a foreign enemy. It is evident that all gov ernment is founded on force, because by the law, when peace is commanded even by a constable, all obedience to that com mand manifestly arises from a sense in the person who is commanded that his resistance would be punished. And in civil cases the sheriff executes the judgments of the courts,