University of Virginia Library

Then And Now

The following fragment is reprinted from
an editorial in the Duke Chronicle, student
newspaper of Duke University. It is taken
from a suppressed book by Mark Twain
entitled "Glances at History" or "Outlines of
History." The fragment refers to the U.S.
occupation of the Philippines during the late
19th century, but a parallel with our present
involvement in Vietnam is apparent.

We, free citizens of the Great Republic,
feel an honest pride in her greatness, her
strength, her just and gentle government, her
wide liberties, her honored name, her stainless
history, her unsmirched flag, her hands clean
from oppression of the weak and from
malicious conquest, her hospitable door that
stands open to the hunted and the persecuted
of all nations; we are proud of the judicious
respect in which she is held by the monarchies
which hem her in on every side, and proudest
of all of that lofty patriotism which we
inherited from our fathers, which we have
kept pure, and which won our liberties in the
beginning and has preserved them unto this
day. While that patriotism endures the
Republic is safe, her greatness is secure, and
against them the powers of the earth cannot
prevail.

I pray you to pause and consider. Against
our traditions we are now entering upon an
unjust and trivial war, a war against a helpless
people, and for a base object - robbery. At
first our citizens spoke out against this thing,
by an impulse natural to their training. Today
they have turned, and their voice is the other
way. What caused the change? Merely a
politician's trick - a high-sounding phrase
which turned their uncritical heads: Our
country, right or wrong! An empty phrase, a
silly phrase. It was shouted by every
newspaper, it was thundered from the pulpit,
the Superintendent of Public Instruction
placarded it in every schoolhouse in the land,
the War Department inscribed it upon the
flag. And every man who failed to shout it or
who was silent, was proclaimed a traitor -
none but those others were patriots. To be a
patriot, one had to say, and keep saying, "Our
Country, right or wrong," and urge on the
little war. Have you not perceived that that
phrase is an insult to the nation?

For in a republic, who is "the Country"? Is
it the Government which is for the moment in
the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a
servant - merely a temporary servant; it
cannot be its prerogative to determine what is
right and what is wrong, and decide who is a
patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey
orders, not originate them. Who, then, is "the
Country"? Is it the newspaper? Is it the
pulpit? Is it the school superintendent? Why,
these are mere parts of the country, not the
whole of it; they have their little share in the
command. They are but one in the thousand
that command is lodged; they must determine
what is right and what is wrong; they must
decide who is a patriot and who isn't.

Who are the thousand - that is to say, who
are "the Country"? In a monarchy, the king
and his family are the country; in a republic it
is the common voice of the people. Each of
you, for himself, by himself and on his own
responsibility, must speak. And it is a solemn
and weighty responsibility, and not lightly to
be flung aside at the bullying of pulpit, press,
government, or the empty catchphrases of
politicians. Each must for himself alone
decide what is right and what is wrong, and
which convictions is to be an unqualified and
inexcusable traitor, both to yourself and to
your country, let men label you as they may.
If you alone of all the nation shall decide one
way, and that way be the right way according
to your convictions of the right, you have
done your duty by yourself and by your
country - hold up your head! You have
nothing to be ashamed of.

Only when a republic's life is in danger
should a man uphold his government when it
is in the wrong. There is no other time.

This Republic's life is not in peril. The
nation has sold its honor for a phrase. It has
swung itself loose from its safe anchorage and
is drifting, its helm is in pirate hands. The
stupid phrase needed help and it got another
one: "Even if the war be wrong we are in it
and must fight it out: we cannot retire from it
without dishonor." Why, not even a burglar
could have said it better. We cannot withdraw
from this sordid raid because to grant peace to
those little people upon their terms -
independence - would dishonor us. You have
flung away Adam's phrase - you should take
it up and examine it again. He said, "An
inglorious peace is better than a dishonorable
war."