So much for the law. It is as plain as a
pikestaff. It is printed in the books in words of one
syllable. So far as the law is concerned we have done our
best to perpetuate the theories of those who, fearing that
they might be arrested without a hearing, transported for
trial, and convicted in a king's court before a king's judge
for a crime they knew nothing of, insisted on "liberty or
death." They had had enough of kings and their ways.
Hereafter they were to have "a government of laws and not of
men."
But the unfortunate fact remains that all laws, however
perfect, must in the end be administered by imperfect men.
There is, alas! no such thing as a government of laws and not
of men. You may have a government more of laws and less of
men, or vice versa, but you cannot have an autoadministration
of the Golden Rule. Sooner or later you come to a man--in the
White House, or on a wool sack, or at a desk in an office, or
in a blue coat and brass buttons--and then, to a very
considerable extent, the question of how far ours is to be a
government of laws or of men depends upon him.
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