What is this rupture but a mere defection,
What might be called rebellion, insurrection
Against the laws, which I must overthrow,
As others did before me from the first?
No word writ in the charter of the nation
Has made provision for its termination.
Second Phantom
But not to argue this—you have reversed
Your mind upon the right of revolution.
First Phantom
Not for a righteous or a holy cause.
Second Phantom
You test it in your own soul’s resolution.
But tell me when there are no writs or laws
For you to execute in the Southern land
How are you acting?
First Phantom
But I still command
The property and forts, and other places
Belonging to the Nation.
Second Phantom