PATRIOTISM AND GOVERNMENT 253
does fall, into the hands of the worst men ; it is a dis- graceful feeling, because it turns man not merely into a slave, but into a lighting cock, a bull, or a gladiator, who wastes his strength and his life for objects which are not his own but his Governments' ; and it is an immoral feeling, because, instead of confessing one's self a son of God (as Christianity teaches us) or even a free man guided by his own reason, each man under the influence of patriotism confesses himself the son of his fatherland and the slave of his Government, and com- mits actions contrary to his reason and his conscience.
It is only necessary that people should understand this, and the terrible bond, called Government, by which we are chained together, will fall to pieces of itself without struggle ; and with it will cease the terrible and useless evils it produces.
And people are already beginning to understand this. This, for instance, is what a citizen of the United States writes :
' ^Ve are farmers, mechanics, merchants, manufac- turers, teachers, and all we ask is the privilege of attending to our own business. A'e own our homes, love our friends, are devoted to our families, and do not interfere with our neighbours — we have work to do, and wish to work.
' Leave us alone !
'But they will not — these politicians. They insist on governing us and living off our labour. They tax us, eat our substance, conscript us, draft our boys into their wars. All the myriads of men who live off the Government depend upon the Government to tax us, and, in order to tax us successfully, standing armies are maintained. The plea that the army is needed for the protection of the country is pure fraud and pretence. The French Government affrights the people by telling them that the Germans are ready and anxious to fall upon them ; the Russians fear the British ; the British fear everybody ; and now in America we are told we must increase our navy and add to our army because Europe may at any moment combine against us.
