William Lloyd Garrison took part in a discussion on the
means of
suppressing war in the Society for the Establishment of
Peace
among Men, which existed in 1838 in America. He came to the
conclusion that the establishment of universal peace can
only be
founded on the open profession of the doctrine of
non-resistance
to evil by violence (Matt. v. 39), in its full significance,
as
understood by the Quakers, with whom Garrison happened to be
on
friendly relations. Having come to this conclusion, Garrison
thereupon composed and laid before the society a
declaration,
which was signed at the time--in 1838--by many members.
"DECLARATION
OF SENTIMENTS ADOPTED BY PEACE CONVENTION.
"Boston, 1838.
"We the
undersigned, regard it as due to ourselves, to the
cause which we
love, to the country in which we live, to
publish a
declaration expressive of the purposes we aim to
accomplish and the
measures we shall adopt to carry forward the
work of peaceful
universal reformation.
"We do not
acknowledge allegiance to any human government.
We
recognize but one
King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of
mankind. Our country is the world, our countrymen are
all
mankind. We love the land of our nativity only as we
love all
other lands. The interests and rights of American citizens
are
not dearer to us
than those of the whole human race.
Hence we
can allow no appeal
to patriotism to revenge any national
insult or injury...
"We conceive
that a nation has no right to defend itself
against foreign
enemies or to punish its invaders, and no
individual
possesses that right in his own case, and the unit
cannot be of
greater importance than the aggregate.
If
soldiers thronging
from abroad with intent to commit rapine and
destroy life may
not be resisted by the people or the
magistracy, then
ought no resistance to be offered to domestic
troublers of the
public peace or of private security.
"The dogma
that all the governments of the world are
approvingly
ordained of God, and that the powers that be in the
United States, in
Russia, in Turkey, are in accordance with his
will, is no less
absurd than impious. It makes the
impartial
Author of our
existence unequal and tyrannical. It cannot be
affirmed that the
powers that be in any nation are actuated by
the spirit or
guided by the example of Christ in the treatment
of enemies;
therefore they cannot be agreeable to the will of
God, and therefore
their overthrow by a spiritual regeneration
of their subjects
is inevitable.
"We regard as
unchristian and unlawful not only all wars,
whether offensive
or defensive, but all preparations for war;
every naval ship,
every arsenal, every fortification, we regard
as unchristian and
unlawful; the existence of any kind of
standing army, all
military chieftains, all monuments
commemorative of
victory over a fallen foe, all trophies won in
battle, all
celebrations in honor of military exploits, all
appropriations for
defense by arms; we regard as unchristian
and unlawful every
edict of government requiring of its
subjects military
service.
"Hence we deem
it unlawful to bear arms, and we cannot hold any
office which
imposes on its incumbent the obligation to compel
men to do right on
pain of imprisonment or death. We
therefore
voluntarily exclude
ourselves from every legislative and
judicial body, and
repudiate all human politics, worldly
honors, and
stations of authority. If we cannot
occupy a seat
in the legislature
or on the bench, neither can we elect others
to act as our
substitutes in any such capacity. It
follows
that we cannot sue
any man at law to force him to return
anything he may
have wrongly taken from us; if he has seized
our coat, we shall
surrender him our cloak also rather than
subject him to
punishment.
"We believe
that the penal code of the old covenant--an eye for
an eye, and a tooth
for a tooth--has been abrogated by Jesus
Christ, and that
under the new covenant the forgiveness instead
of the punishment
of enemies has been enjoined on all his
disciples in all
cases whatsoever. To extort money from
enemies, cast them
into prison, exile or execute them, is
obviously not to
forgive but to take retribution.
"The history
of mankind is crowded with evidences proving that
physical coercion
is not adapted to moral regeneration, and
that the sinful
dispositions of men can be subdued only by
love; that evil can
be exterminated only by good; that it is
not safe to rely
upon the strength of an arm to preserve us
from harm; that
there is great security in being gentle, long-
suffering, and
abundant in mercy; that it is only the meek who
shall inherit the
earth; for those who take up the sword shall
perish by the
sword.
"Hence as a
measure of sound policy--of safety to property,
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