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Civil Disobedience-Part5_HENRY DAVID THOREAU(1817-1862)_English Literature(文学名著)

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His words are wisdom to those legislators who contemplate no

essential reform in the existing government; but for thinkers,
and those who legislate for all tim, he never once glances

at the subject. I know of those whose serene and wise
speculations on this theme would soon reveal the limits

of his mind's range and hospitality. Yet, compared with
the cheap professions of most reformers, and the still

cheaper wisdom an eloquence of politicians in general,
his are almost the only sensible and valuable words,

and we thank Heaven for him. Comparatively, he is always
strong, original, and, above all, practical. Still, his

quality is not wisdom, but prudence. The lawyer's truth
is not Truth, but consistency or a consistent expediency.

Truth is always in harmony with herself, and is not
concerned chiefly to reveal the justice that may consist

with wrong-doing. He well deserves to be called, as he has
been called, the Defender of the Constitution. There are

really no blows to be given him but defensive ones. He is
not a leader, but a follower. His leaders are the men of

'87. "I have never made an effort," he says, "and never
propose to make an effort; I have never countenanced an

effort, and never mean to countenance an effort, to disturb
the arrangement as originally made, by which various States

came into the Union." Still thinking of the sanction which
the Constitution gives to slavery, he says, "Because it was

part of the original compact--let it stand."
Notwithstanding his special acuteness and ability, he is

unable to take a fact out of its merely political relations,
and behold it as it lies absolutely to be disposed of by the

intellect--what, for instance, it behooves a man to do here
in American today with regard to slavery--but ventures, or

is driven, to make some such desperate answer to the
following, while professing to speak absolutely, and as a

private man--from which what new and singular of social
duties might be inferred? "The manner," says he, "in which

the governments of the States where slavery exists are to
regulate it is for their own consideration, under the

responsibility to their constituents, to the general laws of
propriety, humanity, and justice, and to God. Associations

formed elsewhere, springing from a feeling of humanity, or
any other cause, have nothing whatever to do with it. They

have never received any encouragement from me and they never
will. [These extracts have been inserted since the lecture

was read -HDT]
They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have

traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by
the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with

reverence and humanity; but they who behold where it comes
trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins

once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its
fountainhead.

No man with a genius for legislation has appeared in America.
They are rare in the history of the world. There are orators,

politicians, and eloquent men, by the thousand; but the
speaker has not yet opened his mouth to speak who is

capable of settling the much-vexed questions of the day.
We love eloquence for its own sake, and not for any truth

which t may utter, or any heroism it may inspire. Our
legislators have not yet learned the comparative value of

free trade and of freed, of union, and of rectitude, to a
nation. They have no genius or talent for comparatively" target="_blank" title="ad.比较地；比较上">comparatively

humble questions of taxation and finance, commerce and
manufactures and agriculture. If we were left solely to the

wordy wit of legislators in Congress for our guidance,
uncorrected by the seasonable experience and the effectual

complaints of the people, America would not long retain her
rank among the nations. For eighteen hundred years, though

perchance I have no right to say it, the New Testament has
been written; yet where is the legislator who has wisdom and

practical talent enough to avail himself of the light which
it sheds on the science of legislation.

The authority of government, even such as I am willing
to submit to--for I will cheerfully obey those who know and

can do better than I, and in many things even those who
neither know nor can do so well--is still an impure one: to

be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of
the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and

property but what I concede to it. The progress from an
absolute to a limitedmonarchy, from a limitedmonarchy to a

democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the
individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to

regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a
democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible

in government? Is it not possible to take a step further
towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There

will never be a really free and enlightened State until the
State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and

independent power, from which all its own power and
authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please

myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be
just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as

a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with
its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not

meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the
duties of neighbors and fellow men. A State which bore this

kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it
ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and

glorious State, which I have also imagined, but not yet
anywhere seen.

End


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