T. Thy words are sweeter than honey in the honey-comb, and the law, which thou wouldst recommend is the law of love, uniting the powerful and the weak, the wise and the unwise, the free and the bondman, in one great family of minds, each serving the other and doing what will promote the happiness of the whole without diminishing the enjoyment of any. But minds often act as slaves, who dread the lash of a tyrant. They are submissive, because they are afraid to be otherwise. They wish to do otherwise, but are restrained, as are slaves, through fear. They work in hope, not of doing good, but of receiving what the king has promised. The wisdom of God controls no desire of their minds. Nothing but selfishness vitalizes their minds for active employment.
W. Thou hast not said untruly. The king and his subjects are controlled by the same principle. They are of selfishness. The king loves what he wants, and loves it so well that he denies his subjects even a morsel of his control. However much they may thirst for his power, he loves himself so much better than he does them, that he is constrained to refuse them what he enjoys. This refusal is resistance of others’ wish, and when their wish is disregarded, when his subjects are denied what they need, it is no wonder that kings tremble. They know that the power of many, enlisted in a just cause, is stronger than the few, in an unjust oppression. Hence, they tremble with fear, and feel compelled, through fear, to control by force what they can not by reason. They are in a state of suspense every moment, not knowing whose head may be required, nor whose castle may be assaulted by secret works of ruin in their midst.
The mind wondered, when we surveyed the interior of the king’s palace. There were the earnings of the poor, and the industry of millions, profusely lavished in every apartment. Gold and silver were worked into almost all the furniture, and the tables were literally covered with riches of wonderful magnificence. “All for what?” said I.
“Because he is king,” responded William.
“Because he is a tyrant,” I replied.
W. Why must he be a tyrant?
T. Because he suffers the poor to go naked, and the hungry to starve.
W. Is that tyranny?
T. That is oppression, and oppression is tyranny.
W. The tyrant will answer thee, and say, thou receivest thy wages, and, when thou askest more, thou art oppressive.