people could never have suffered so much from any one
tariff of duties, however injudicious, as they suffered for a series of
years from sudden changes of policy, by which investments that had been
invited by the legislation of one Congress were made fruitless by the
action of the next, and manufactures stimulated into rapid growth by high
protective duties, were arrested and often ruined by their sudden repeal.
The stability of laws is obviously a higher good than their conformity to
the theoretical views of the more enlightened citizens. Except under a
despotism, laws are virtually an expression of the opinion or will of the
majority; and laws which by any combination of favoring circumstances are
enacted in advance of the general opinion, are always liable to speedy
repeal, with a double series of the injurious consequences which can
hardly fail to ensue immediately on any change.

But are there no *limits to obedience*? Undoubtedly there are. A bad law
is to be obeyed for the sake of order; an immoral law is to be disobeyed
for the sake of the individual conscience; and of the moral character of a
particular law, or of action under it, the individual conscience is the
only legitimate judge. Where the law of the land and absolute right are at
variance, the citizen is bound, not only to withhold obedience, but to
avow his belief, and to give it full expression in every legitimate form
and way, by voice and pen, by private influence and through the
ballot-box. But in the interest of the public order, it is his duty to
confine his opposition to legal and constitutional methods, to refrain
from factious and seditious resistance, to avoid, if possible, the
emergency in which disobedience would become his duty, and in case his
conscience constrains him to disobedience, still to show his respect for
the majesty of law by quietly submitting to its penalty. The still recent
history of our country furnishes a case in point. By the Fugitive-Slave
Law--which the Divine providence, indeed, repealed without waiting for the
action of Congress--the private citizen who gave shelter, sustenance, or
comfort to a fugitive slave; who, knowing his hiding-place, omitted to
divulge it, or who, when called upon to assist in arresting him, refused
his aid, was made liable to a heavy fine and a long imprisonment. Now as
to this law, it was obviously the duty of a citizen who regarded the slave
as entitled to the rights of a man, to seek its repe