Government and Rebellion
I. _What is good government?_ II. _What constitutes rebellion against such government?_ III. _What is the duty of each citizen when rebellion exists?_ I. _What is a good government_? No citizen looks for an absolutely perfect form of nationality--of law. But we have a right to ask for good government. We have been accustomed to think that it depends more on administration than on principle; and the line of the poet, "That which is best administered, is best," is a proverb, to the sentiment of which we too freely yield. No doubt a government with bad statutes and wrong laws, may be so administered as to produce a tolerable degree of national comfort and development for a season; while a Constitution perfect in its theories and principles, may be so maladministered as to corrupt and distract, impoverish and demoralize, a people. And yet, I agree with an old patriot of the past
ALLMERS. Our love has been like a consuming fire. Now it must be
quenched--
RITA. [With a movement towards him.] Quenched!
ALLMERS. [Hardly.] It is quenched--in one of us.
RITA. [As if petrified.] And you dare say that to me!
ALLMERS. [More gently.] It is dead, Rita. But in what I now feel
for you--in our common guilt and need of atonement--I seem to
foresee a sort of resurrection--
RITA. [Vehemently.] I don't care a bit about any resurrection!
ALLMERS. Rita!
RITA. I am a warm-blooded being! I don't go drowsing about--with
fishes' blood in my veins. [Wringing her hands.] And now to be
imprisoned for life--in anguish and remorse! Imprisoned with one
who is no longer mine, mine, mine!
ALLMERS. It must have ended so, sometime, Rita.
RITA. Must have ended so! The love that in the beginning rushed
I. _What is good government?_ II. _What constitutes rebellion against such government?_ III. _What is the duty of each citizen when rebellion exists?_ I. _What is a good government_? No citizen looks for an absolutely perfect form of nationality--of law. But we have a right to ask for good government. We have been accustomed to think that it depends more on administration than on principle; and the line of the poet, "That which is best administered, is best," is a proverb, to the sentiment of which we too freely yield. No doubt a government with bad statutes and wrong laws, may be so administered as to produce a tolerable degree of national comfort and development for a season; while a Constitution perfect in its theories and principles, may be so maladministered as to corrupt and distract, impoverish and demoralize, a people. And yet, I agree with an old patriot of the past