Date, 9th century
(Early 1900s)
This essay on the duty of righteous dissent is as timeless as it is plain-spoken. Mark Twain had in view, as the immediate target of his criticism, American military actions in the Philippines and the reactions of the American public to those events. The Lincoln of our literature—as Howells once called Clemens—speaks with the force and vision and high resolve of a true leader—but also recognizes that the “citizens of the Great Republic” could be stampeded into an unjust war and into treating men of honor and principle as traitors by “a silly phrase.”
Bernard DeVoto implied that 1906 was the date of composition of both “Glances at History” and “Outlines of History” and published both as part of the “Papers of the Adam Family.”1 Examination of the manuscript paper, however, suggests a somewhat earlier date; Mark Twain used such paper between 1900 and early 1905. His concern over the country's involvement in a dishonorable war would be likely during the first years of the new century, when the question of American intervention in the Philippines was an important issue. The manuscript is, moreover, thematically related [begin page 390] to “Eddypus,” which also deals in part with the decline and fall of the Great Republic. The most likely time of composition may be between 1900 and 1902, when Mark Twain was attempting other historical essays on very similar topics.
Date, 9th century Ⓐalteration in the MS
x x x In a speech which he made more than 500 years ago, and which has come down to us intact,Ⓐalteration in the MS he said:
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Ⓐalteration in the MS 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.Ⓐalteration in the MS Against our traditions we are now entering upon an unjust and trivial war, a war againstⒶalteration in the MS a helpless people, and for a base object—robbery. At first our citizensⒶalteration in the MS spoke out against this thing, by an impulse natural to their training. To-day they have turned, and their voice is the other way. What caused the change? Merely aⒶemendation Ⓐalteration in the MS politician's trick—a high-sounding phrase, a blood-stirringⒶalteration in the MS [begin page 392] phrase which turned their uncritical heads: Our Country Ⓐalteration in the MS , 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 school-house in theⒶalteration in the MS 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 on 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?Ⓐalteration in the MS
For in a republicⒶemendation, who is “the country?” Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the GovernmentⒶalteration in the MS 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.Ⓐalteration in the MS 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 not command, they have only their little share in the command. They are but one in the thousand; it is 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.Ⓐalteration in the MS
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 catch-phrases of politicians. Each must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, and which courseⒶalteration in the MS is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man. To decide it against your convictions is to be an unqualified and inexcusableⒶalteration in the MS traitor, both to yourself and to your country, let menⒶalteration in the MS 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!Ⓐalteration in the MS 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.
[begin page 393]This republic'sⒶalteration in the MS 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:Ⓐalteration in the MS “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.”
You have planted a seed, and it will grow.
The manuscript is copy-text; the author's unrevised typescript is also in the Mark Twain Papers. The letter “x” follows the page numbers in both manuscript and typescript, presumably because Mark Twain once intended to integrate the piece in his sequence of biblical writings. He used a numeral plus initial formula in numbering most of the works in the sequence. For a full discussion of the work's relation to the Adam and Eve writings, see the headnote to “Passage from a Lecture.” There are no textual notes, and no ambiguous compound is hyphenated at the end of a line in the manuscript.