On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
Now , is it possible to compare these two oaths , without seeing at once , that the oath of the Whitefoot is that of a freeman binding himself only to the fulfilment of certain obligations which he believes to be for the benefit of himself and his fellows , while that of the soldier is the ignorant and unlimited submission of a bondslave , bound to cut throats for hire , at the will of his master . All present kings are of course the most praiseworthy of human beings , but even if they be
like Charles Capet , the oath of unreasoning submission is exacted just the same . There is no stipulation what the services are to be , or for what purposes exerted , save the will of 'His Majesty , his heirs and successors , and the generals and officers set over the recruit . ' Whether the orders given be good or evil—whether to put down brutal rioters or to massacre peaceable citizens—whether to carry on an atrocious civil war in his native land , or a war as atrocious in a foreign
land—the only duty of a hired soldier , according to his oath , is to obey the orders which are given him ; in short , to cease to be a man ,
and to become an animate machine , never questioning the morality of his own deeds , but if he be a willing servant , only anxious to shed blood enough . The Whitefoot may be ferocious , but he is at any rate a reasoning being , so far as his passions and his ignorance will allow him . The soldier , on the contrary , whatever may be his acquirements , whatever may be his feelings , whatever may be his intellect , must learn to forget all , and be a voiceless , passionless slave ; or , what is still worse , he must inflict cruelty , even while he loathes it , or submit
to the infliction in his own person . Is not the case of Somerville in point ? And are there not many others which have been hushed up , and never brought forth to the public gaze ? But what must be the crime of the Government , which neglects turning such high moral qualities as they display the capacity for , to no better account . How utterly debased by ignorance must a Government be , which cannot see the obvious truth , that such a people might be led by kind treatment into all the measures which wise and beneficent men would
desire , while brutal and tyrannical coercion can at best only serve to convert them into ferocious animals , such as the Greeks have been under the sway of the Turks . We can only console ourselves with the reflection , that Whig misrule was one more of the phases which it is necessary to pass through , ere human nature can get into the
prepared but untrodden track of the decided onward march of human improvement . Yet awhile , and the track will be discovered , when compound speed , engendered by certainty , will make up for our former slow progress . Junius Rjbdivivus .
Untitled Article
The Whitefoot Oath . 3 * 9
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1833, page 359, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2614/page/71/
-