NON-RESISTANCE       AS A    POLICE   FORCE.
THEi object of this tract is to show the practical application
of Non-Resistance principles to the treatment of criminals:
to show that those laws upon which the good order and welfare of the community depend might be more efficiently
enforced by the hands of Non-iResistants, and in conformity
with their ideas, than as now administered: and to show that,
under such a system, a constant and progressive diminution
of all sorts of crime may reasonably be expected.
Non-Resistance is as yet unknown to the community, except by its negative side. By saying this, I do not mean to
imply that even its negative side is clearly understood by the
mass of those who criticise it. Their judgment of it is usually formed by hearing the bare statement (commonly passing
through the minds and mouths of its enemies) that NonResistance is a mere renunciation of all the means at present
used for protection against evil-doers, without the attempt to
substitute any thing in their place; that it is the discharge
of constables, judges and juries, the pulling down of jails,
the dismantling of forts and frigates, and the disbanding of
army and navy; that it is disregard of law, and contempt
of authority; that it is a license to ruffians to work their will
upon the persons and property of the community; that it is
a man's standing still to see the butchery of his wife *and
children; that it implies passive submission to all sorts of injury, without the attempt either to repel it or to preserve
one's self from it; that it involves the entire surrender of all




4
rights, public and private, to whomsoever is pleased to invade
them; that it is a "n no-government system "; that it would
leave virtue and industry defenceless, and offer perfect success and perfect impunity to the enterprises of ambition, avarice and lust.  This is the portrait of Non-Resistance given
to the public by the periodical press; the "'religious " portion of it usually adding the statement that Non-Resistance
is identified with, or nearly allied to, Infidelity.
It is not strange, then, that practical, business men, that
sensible women, receiving this account from  those whom
they suppose to speak intelligently and truly, should assume
the Non-Resistants to be fanatics, and their scheme an absurdity, and turn from both with indifference, or contempt, or
abhorrence, according to the point of view from  which each
person regards them.
The object of these pages is, while giving some aid towards the formation of a correct public opinion upon these
points, to show that Non-Resistance may be efficiently applied to the defence of a community against internal dangers;
that it may operate successfully as a police force.
NTon-lResistance objects, not to government, but to an antiChristian mode of governing; not to physical force, but to
injurious force; not to the restraint of malefactors, but to a
system which contents itself with punishing, without attempting, or wishing, to reform them.  It objects, in short, only
to violations of the Golden Rule.
War is a combination of many evils.   It confounds the
innocent with the guilty, and practises robbery and murder
alike upon both. It wastes humian life, depraves morals, destroys the products of industry, and discourages all the labors
of peaceful life; but its great, its radical vice is, that it seems
to give the sanction of legitimate authority to the practice of
overcoming evil with evil. It publishes to the world, as a
right and just mode of procedure, that, because our neighbor
has done us a wrong, we may and will do him   one, and if
possible, a greater.  It does not, in the least, recognize the
Christian principle of overcoming evil with good.
The practice of judicial murder, commonly called capital
punishment, that formal elaboration of lynch law which gives
it an outward conformity to the manners and customs of civilized life, is a combination of many evils.  By it, the State




5
gives an example to the individual of violating the sacredness
of human life; by it the anti-Christian doctrine of retaliation
is officially and effectually taught; and by it a human being,
often a grossly vicious one, is violently thrust out of the position in which his Maker placed him, has his course of reformatory discipline (as far as this world is concerned)
prematurely cut short by unauthorized hands, and is prevented from making that reparation for his offences which
subsequent reformation might have disposed him to make.
But the radical vice of this custom also is, that it seems to
give the sanction of legitimate authority to the practice of
overcoming evil with evil.
The penalty of imprisonment for crime, as now practised,
involves many evils.  It places the criminal in a position,
and under influences, which, if he is not already hardened to
the utmost extent, are likely to make him worse instead of
better. It deprives his wife and children of such care and
support as he gave them, without attempting, or caring, to
make for their bodies and souls such provision as their welfare, and the Welfare of the State, alike demand; and it entirely disregards the fact that a large proportion of discharged
convicts are worse men, more likely to repeat their crimes,
and more dangerous to the well-being of society when they
come out, than when they went in. But the radical vice of
this, as of the other customs I have instanced, is that it seems
to give the sanction of legitimate authority to the practice
of overcoming evil with evil. It neither recognizes the brotherhood of individual men, nor provides, by other than the
coarsest temporary make-shifts, for the welfare of the community.
The Non-Resistants, as I have said, are not no-government
men. But they are not satisfied with a government which
attempts to fulfil only half, and the poorer half, of its proper
function, and accomplishes that half by unchristian means.
They wish to see a higher purpose pursued, and better means
used to effect it.
It is, then, a natural, and a not altogether unreasonable re.
quest, for those who have listened patiently to the complaints of the Non-Resistants to reply, " Give us your plan.
Our present system has been formed by the accumulation of




6
the thoughts and labor of our wisest men, devoted for centun
ries to this object.  Our legislators have done what they
could, and, as we think, not without a good measure of success, to embody wisdom and justice in our code of laws; but
if you are dissatisfied with their labors, give us your better
system; show us the plan that shall protect the community
from its vicious members as thoroughly as ours does, and
shall at the same time accomplish what you think necessary
for the welfare and reformation of the malefactors and their
families. Prove to us that your system is really better, and
you need not fear but it will be adopted."
This demand, I say, is not altogether unreasonable; but it
is not altogether reasonable.
When a great system has been for centuries in steady operation, recognized and accepted by a whole nation as their
chief rule of action, and really contributing very much to
their comfort and convenience in some particulars, it cannot
be superseded, even by a better, without some temporary inconvenience and discomfort. However plain it may be that
I need a better house, and how much better soever may be
the new one, the process of removal is always a sacrifice of
comfort and convenience, for the time; and even some of the
improvements of the new house will seem unsatisfactory, until use has habituated us to them. To be turned out of our
accustomed course, even into a better, is at first an annoyance.
But the difficulty of accepting any plan which the NonResistants may offer is still further enhanced by the fact
that the external convenience of the community is not its
chief object, and that it may not at first, perhaps, secure that
end so thoroughly as the present system does.
Welfare is sometimes a very different thing from  convenience, and is then to be attained by very different means.
To give a troublesome child a box on the ear may be the
speediest way of relieving yourself from present annoyance;
but it is not therefore the best way, either of accomplishing
this purpose, or fulfilling your duty to the child.
In commencing any undertaking, our purpose and effort
should be twofold; to do the right thing, and to do it in the
right manner. But in the matter of criminal jurisprudence, we




7
have not yet even attempted either of these, if the Christianl
system is admitted to be our proper guide.      The object of
our penal system    is to protect the community by inflicting
such vengeance on the transgressor as shall tend to deter him
and others from   doing the like again, and in effecting this,
we not only directly violate the Christian rule of forgiveness
of enemies, but we put the bad man into a position whose
tendency is to make him worse. The whole proceeding is as
selfish as that of the baker who puts up the price of bread
when the people are starving; and like all selfishness, it creates more harm than it cures; it palliates the symptoms, but
confirms the disease.
The purpose of a well-ordered community will be the welfare of ALL; of the minority as well as of the majority; and
none the less when the minority is a minority of one, and that
one the worst person in the community.        The greater the
need, material or spiritual, the greater the obligation resting
upon those who can supply that need; and if there be a poverty so extensive, a wickedness so desperate, as to be invincible save by the efforts and resources of the whole community,
the removal of that poverty or wickedness should be considered as the very purpose for which God gave to the community strength and wealth, mind and conscience.
* The words Christian and Christianity have been so extensively and so
variously misused by sectarians, and are so generally misapplied in common speech and writing -the word Christian being used as if it meant
merely church-member, and Christianity being held to include those
things (and no more) which cause a man to be admitted to church-membership - that I must define the sense in which I use them.
By Christianity, I mean the rule of living which Jesus of Nazareth
summed up in these two provisions-To LOVE GOD WITH THE WHOLE
HEART, AND OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES; defining our neighbor to be
any one who is in need that we can relieve, without regard to color, creed,
country or condition -illustrating the nature of love by showing that it
should be practical in its operation, and should include even our enemiesfurther explaining that this love must have a constant and active energy
in reforming the world, overcoming its evil, and overcoming it with goodand emphatically enjoining that all good shall be cherished and all evil
overcome in each man's own heart and life, as well as in the world around
him.
This rule of living is what I mean by Christianity; I hold it to be the
right rule; and I so decide because it is the best I can find, or conceive of.
It seems to me perfect, adapted in the most thorough manner to secure the
progressive improvement, the welfare, and thus the happiness, of the human race. And the life which constantly strives for conformity to it, I
call a Christian life,




8
The Christian idea of government includes this, that it
shall be administered equally for the benefit of ALL; that it
shall regard and promote the welfare of the weakest, the
poorest, and the worst man in the community, equally with
that of the strongest, richest and best. The weakest most
needs help, and should therefore receive it from the combined
strength, prompted by the combined goodness, and directed
by the combined wisdom, of the community, not doing for
him, but helping him to do for himself, all that is needful.
In like manner, the poorest should be assisted by the combined wealth, goodness and wisdom of the community, not to
make him rich by giving, but to explore for him the causes
of poverty, and give him instruction and help to overcome
them. Thus also the most depraved and perverse should be
assisted by the combined patience, wisdom and goodness of
the community, in the point where his necessity is greatest,
namely, in attaining the power of self-control, and the disposition to exert it, with what else remains of a true mental,
moral and religious culture.
But here an obvious difficulty arises. You can help the
weak who wishes for strength, and the poor man who is struggling to rise above poverty, but how are you to help the
vicious man who rejoices in his depravity and rejects with
scorn your offer of the means of improvement? Is he to be
helped against his will, and by infringement of his natural
liberty?
I answer, if his violations of the rights of others prove too
great for patience to bear, and too obstinate for love and the
return of good for evil to overcome, after these methods have
been fairly and fully tried, he is to be helped against his
will, and deprived of that liberty which experience has
shown him determined to abuse. But this course must not
be the abandonment of patience and love, but a prolongation
of them under a new form. The offender's own welfare is no
more to be lost sight of in restraining him from the opportunity of theft, or drunkenness, or murder, than the welfare of
a child is lost sight of by the wise parent who separates him
from the brothers with whom he persists in quarrelling. The
remedy should be not less suited to the real needs of the offending than of the suffering party; and it should be so obviously dictated by real benevolence, so plainly designed as




9
well as suited, and suited as well as designed, to promote the
offeider's welfare, that he himself shall see this and be grateful for it, whenever he returns to his right mind.
Here, then, is the problem before us: how to combine an
adequate amount of protection to the community (an amount
ultimately as great or greater than is attained by our present
penal system) with a Christian regard to the rights, the
necessities, in one word, to the welfare of our fellow-sinner
whose vices call for restraint and correction.  Is it possible
to do this; and, if possible, how is it to be done? This is
the question asked by the community of the Non-FResistants,
in answer to their criticisms on the existing method.
The Non-Resistants reply -We claim neither a monopoly
of wisdom, nor a peculiar fitness for the legislative function.
We are aware that the formation of a wise code of laws, and
of the apparatus needful for the administration thereof, far
from being a simple or an easy thing, requires a long and
careful exercise of the best theoretical and practical wisdom
of the nation.  Our first contribution (no slight or unimportant one,) to the amendment of American legislation has
already been made; namely, the pointing out, in the lectures, discussions, and tracts of our Society, that the fundamental dogma, and many of the special provisions of American legislation, are at variance with the Christian system.
We have shown that not the will of the majority, but the
will of God, is the supreme law of the land; that when human laws contradict the obvious rules of right and justice,
they can impose no obligation upon the citizen, but are null
and void from the beginning, and should be treated as such by
all who would obey God rather than men; and that we need
a legislative and executive system which shall recognize, and
be founded on, and be thoroughly conformed to, these ideas of
right and justice, as they are interpreted by the Christian
system.
Many persons who agree with Carlyle in nothing else, join
him in sneering at the modern efforts of philanthropy as
" sickly humanity and rose-pink sentimentalism."  But however they may ridicule the motive, all must agree, that if the
ends proposed by the Non-Resistants are feasible, their accomplishment is very much to be desired. If society can
really be better protected from the depredations of the vicious
1 *




10
without hanging and severe imprisonment than with them, if
malefactors can really be changed from bad men to good by
a discipline different from the present during their period of
restraint, all will agree that these changes are desirable.
Butt the question still recurs -How are they to be effected?
How are other great objects of public interest effected?
WThen an abundant supply of pure water is needed in Boston - when increased facilities for the education of children
and of teachers are required - when an improved postal system is thought desirable - when the necessities of mankind
demand a speedier mode of travelling, and a lightning-like
rapidity in the transmission of intelligence to distant placeshow do men act?   Do they assume that the yet nnattained
good is an impossibility, and that any plan for its attainment
must be chimerical?  Not at all! They set the most hearty
enthusiasm, the largest experience, the best theoretical and
practical wisdom of the city or the State at work upon the
problem, and persevere through all sorts of discouragement
and dificulty to its accomplishment; and through such means
we have seen these very improvements made within the past
twenty-five years.
We ask only that the same methods may be used to effect
the improvement of our penal legislation, which have been
successfully applied to so many other subjects.  Our present
treatment of criminals is at variance with that Christianity
by which we have named ourselves, and which we assume to
be the perfect rule of life. Let the best wisdom and the
highest skill of the State be put in requisition, to place our
laws, and the administration of them, in accordance with
our religion.  Let it be given in charge to men combining
the loftiest intellectual powers with a just estimate of the predominant claims of morality and religion, to make a deliberate and thorough examination of the subject, and report a
plan whereby this purpose may be effected. And let the people, by public and private discussion of the various rights,
duties and interests combined in the great subject above mentioned, prepare themselves for intelligent action upon this
plan, when it shall be matured.
We need not discard an iota of the true wisdom which has
been incorporated into our Constitution and laws; but wherever right has been postponed to a supposed expediency,




11
wherever justice has been so construed as to conflict with
love, wherever the claim of the magistrate has sought to invalidate the supremacy of the Creator, reform is demanded,
and demanded by our interest not less than by our duty.
Much of the sagacity which has exerted itself in legislation has been misapplied and wasted by acting on the false
principle above named, that the will of the people is the supreme law of the land. But the same skill, building on a
firmer foundation, the supremacy of right and justice, can of
course erect a more useful and durable structure.  We only
ask that the efforts of the State may be put forth in this direction, and that our Constitution and laws may be so re6rganized that our duty as Christians shall no longer conflict
with the claim made upon us as citizens; that it may become
possible for us to honor and obey the civil ruler, without forfeiting our allegiance to the King of Kings.
The Christian system  accomplishes the welfare of man
more thoroughly than any other; but it attains this end only
through an extended process of self-discipline, which first
prompts its subjects to strive to do right because it is their
duty, and as fast as they reduce this duty to practice, shows
them that their truest interest, their highest welfare and happiness, are secured by this very allegiance to duty.  But
before this self-discipline has been attained, while men are
seeking happiness with eyes unenlightened by a sense of the
supremacy of duty, the requisitions of Christianity sometimes
seem directly opposed to their happiness, and hence are disregarded. The miser, who knows no higher pleasure than
hoarding his money, shrinks from the precept, " Give to him
that asketh thee," and feels a pang for every penny that he
bestows; it is not until he has discerned and begun to practise the duty of liberality, that he finds the enjoyment of giving to be far greater than that of hoarding. The Turk, who
thinks three wives better than one, and the civilized voluptuary
who prefers a concubine to a wife, reject the divine law of
marriage as a restriction on their pleasures; ignorant that the
blessed sacrament by which two well-adapted souls and bodies
are mingled in one, and pledged permanently and solely to each
other, confers a lasting and constantly increasing delight, far
above their highest momentary enjoyments. In like manner
the men and the nations which have hitherto contented them



12
selves with applying to malefactors the system of judicial retaliation commonly and erroneously called "justice," are alarmed
at the very idea of no longer taking an eye for an eye, a tooth
for a tooth, and life for life, and cry out that the very foundations of society are subverted when it is proposed to treat
these malefactors by the Christian method of returning good
for evil. They do not see that patiently to suffer curses and
buffetings, violence and robbery, and return them with blessings and benefactions, suited to soften the heart of the evildoer,.are as honorable in a merchant as in a missionary, in a
meclanid of the present day as in a saint or martyr of apostolic timies; and that this course is far better fitted than their
present one, not only to honor Christ and benefit the souls of
men, but to rear a secure and perfect social structure! They
do not see that the adoption of the Christian method of overcoming evil with good, and a voluntary acceptance of the
temporary evils of a change of system, would ultimately insure to them not only a far higher measure of security than
they now enjoy, but a decrease, in geometrical ratio, in every
department'of' crime.
The purposes to be accomplished are these —
I.
To have, as the basis of legislative, judicial and executive
action, a Constitution founded upon justice and righteousness.
II.
To have a code of laws so strictly in conformity with the
Divine law of love that, while aiming equally to secure the
welfare of all, they shall take special care not to overlook
the necessities of the poorest, or the weakest, or the worst
member of the community.
III.
To have not only the laws, but the apparatus for executing
them, and every stage and process in the system by which
they are enforced, in perfect conformity with the law of love;
namely: to have all those persons, from the highest to the
lowest, who are charged with the maintenance of good order
in the community, namely, police officers, sheriffs, constables,




13
and jailers, as well as judges, chosen from among those most
highly gifted with intelligence, integrity, humanity, acuteness
in the discernment of character, and tact and skill to conduct
the various relations which they are to hold with criminals in
the manner best suited to promote their permanent welfare,
which will of course also, as far as they are concerned, be the
best means of promoting the welfare of the community.
IV.
To have the penal laws always contemplate, as one of their
chief objects, the reformation of the criminal, and to have all
their provisions designed and suited to promote his true welfare, and prepare him for a return to society whenever the
improvement of his character shall seem to authorize it.
I take it for granted that most persons will admit the objects sketched above to be desirable, and the majority of them
to be feasible. Thus it is obvious, that if the people cared for
such things, and were disposed to take the trouble, they could
frame a Constitution which should recognize Right and Justice as the supreme law, to which, not less indispensably than
to the " will of the people," all specific statutes should be
conformed; that they could assume and establish the natural
right of the whole people to liberty, instead of merely fivesixths of them; that they could establish " Reform Schools"
for men and women convicted of crime, as well as for boys
and girls commencing the course which tends in that direction; that they could use the public resources as thoroughly
in subjecting such persons to a reformatory discipline, and
persevere in that work as assiduously as they now do in the
inferior one of merely punishing malefactors; and that by
suitably honoring and recompensing those who take charge of
this most important branch of the public welfare, they could
attract to it the needed qualifications, namely, the very highest learning, wisdom, experience, intellect and moral power
which the nation affords.
But to those whose thoughts have not previously taken this
particular direction, it is not so obvious how the penal department of the government can be administered without disregarding, temporarily, at least, the welfare of the malefactor.




He is assumed to have forfeited all his rights by crime, and
is disposed of solely as the welfare of the community is supposed to require.  When the warrant for his apprehension is
issued, it is to be executed at all hazards, even though his life
should be sacrificed in the attempt, and his effort to escape
while under restraint is resisted to the same extremity.  If
the safety of the community is assumed to require the sacrifice of his life, he is deliberately killed by officers of the law,
with solemn judicial Ind clerical formalities, regardless not
only of his "inalienable" right to life, but of the claims
which, wife, children, relatives or fiiends may have upon him.
Eyen those who allow that he still has rights do not see how
these can be practically conceded to him without a sacrifice of
the rights, and welfare, and safety of the community; and
the doubter who has been compelled to admit that a criminal,
once secured in the possession of the community, may be kept
subjected to solely beneficent influences until it shall appear
safe to release him, will still insist that the act of' arresting
an armed anid yiolent man must necessarily be performed with
arms and violence, regardless of any injuries that he may
suffer in the attempt.  I shall try to show that this idea
is unfounded, that justice may be executed upon a criminal
without the infliction of injury, that the community may be
protected without disregarding the rights even of an offender,
and that the policeman and the constable may overcome evil,
not with evil, but with good.
To test the correctness of these ideas, let us apply them at
once to the-strongest possible individual case.  Let us take
the case of a murderer - the perpetrator of a crime needing
the longest and strictest restraint; a profligate man, to whom
the discipline needful for his improvement will seem most undesirable; a passionate and violent person, who will not shrink
from committing a second murder to escape the consequences
ot the first; and one skilled by long practice in evasion of the
law and its offcers.  Supposing that we had in readiness a
place of secure restraint, physicians as eminently qualified to
undertake the cure of depravity as the best to whom we now
entrust friends otherwise diseased in mind or body, and all the
appliances which the wealth of a nation can obtain, to carry
on the course of treatment which these practitioners may indicate; the question still remains- HOW   is such a man,




15
against his will, to be arrested and subjected to this course of
curative treatment, without injury to him, or the use of any
means other than good and kind to overcome his evil?
How is his arrest effected, by the exercise of what qualities
and instrumentalities, under our present system?  Is it by
any other than the use of courage, skill, and physical strength,
backed by the use of deadly weapons? These are all! And
all these are easily obtained, at a very moderate expense, and
to whatever amount is thought needful by the government of
any town or city.  A skill, sufficient to circumvent' the'low
cunning of the vicious classes, and a courage, ready io meet
without flinching whatever peril to life or limb may be involved in conflict with the dangerous classes - these are common enough, and cheap enough; ready in the market at all
times, in quantity more than sufficient to supply any demand
that has yet arisen. True, as far as our experience has now
gone, these qualities must be backed by the dirk and the revolver.  To these men, this ultimate resort is indispensable.
It is a very curious fact, that though the use of "' -se "means
of defence" (so they are termed) does not pro  their bearers from being shot, stabbed, killed on the spot  does not at
all release them from the operation of the great law of God,
that "Those who take the sword shall perish by the sword"these men are ready, thus armed and accoutred, to risk their
lives every day, and a dozen times a day, against superior
force, similarly armed. The courage needful for this function,
then, the readiness to encounter danger and de`t+is.n the business of protecting society from malefactors, is. -lnmon and
easily obtained.
What qualities are needed to perform this indispensable
work of arresting malefactors in a manner accordant with
Non-Resistance principles, that is to say, accordant with the
Christian law of love? Precisely those which we have already rehearsed, with a single exception.  Courage, skill, and
physical strength, without the use of deadly weapons.  If
these can be obtained, the greatest difficulty popularly supposed to interfere with the practical working of Non-lesistance (as far as the defence of a community from inter'nal foes
is concerned) is disposed of, and Non-Resistants may perfectly well, and with as great efficiency as is at present secured,
perform the functions of a Police.




16
It is plain that animal courage, physical strength, and that
acuteness of mind in meeting difficulties which, trained by
practice, will produce skill, may be as certainly found among
men of fixed good principle, as among men of no principle.
These qualities are always in the market, alwcays to be had
where a sufficient price is offered for them, and they are to be
had, conjoined with integrity, whenever this conjunction is demanded, and appropriate inducements offered for it. If the
community really wished for such men as Isaac T. Hopper in
the Police department, instead of such men as " Old Hays,"
it could have them. As yet, the demand has never existed.
A'. very great advantage (one which the prejudices of the
community have thus far prevented them not only from realizing but from thinking of) might be gained from the employment of women with men, both in the care and instruction of
criminals under restraint, and in the maintenance of public
order as a police force. Women, with the grade of qualifications, natural and acquired, which I have assumed to be needed
in men for these stations - women (such as we know) whose
aspect shows at once the majesty of a noble character, the
tenderness of a feeling heart, and the readiness to apply both
to the relief of necessity or suffering - these would give immense assistance towards the great object of making authority
persuasive, of refining, without weakening, the intercourse between the representative of law and the refractory subject of
law. To give only one specification, what an immense difference would it make, both to the present and future of the
poor vagrants of both sexes who go to the police stationhouses for a night's lodging, if they could be received there
by such a woman as Mrs. Garnaut was, and, after having
their night made comfortable by her refined tenderness, have
their morning brightened and their course directed by her
judicious counsel and aid!
A few years ago, the inmates of a charitable institution in
Boston found in one of their out-buildings, early in the morning, after a night of severe cold and deep snow, a woman, so
benumbed as to be helpless, who had taken shelter there the
preceding evening. The man nearest at hand to give help in
carrying her into the house chanced to be an ex-policeman;
and he said to the Matron -  I have often thought, Ma'am,
that there ought to be women in the station-houses, where




17
they often have to take care, for the night, not only of helpless women like this, but of drunken ones. Men ought not
to have the handling of'em. Women that are drunk are
more violent and disorderly than men, and perhaps this
wouldn't be so if they had their own sex to take care of'em.
It's bad now, in many ways; and if there were respectable
women there to see to things, they'd make it much better, for
all parties."
Nothing invigorates and fortifies a person in trying and
dangerous circumstances so thoroughly as the consciousness of
right. The consciousness of wrong, on the other handexlercises a discouraging and depressing influence.  This it is
which gives to a police force their well known superiority
over a gang of malefactors equal in number and strength to
themselves, and armed with the same weapons. While their
hearts are armed with this confidence, and their hands with
deadly weapons, they do not hesitate at the habitual encounter
with great risks, imminent dangers; neither are they deterred
from these encounters by the fact that all their preparations
do not insure them against bodily harm; the fact that from
time to time they suffer wounds and bruises, and occasionally
see their associates meeting a sudden and violent death, to
which they know that they themselves are always exposed.
It appears, then, that the voluntary and customary exposure
of himself to danger and death is part of the regular business
of a police officer, and that the actual realization of these
possibilities, from time to time, does not deter men from assuming and executing this function. Let it be noted, that the
Non-Resistant, who should undertake the preservation of order as a police officer, would have no greater and no other
danger to encounter than this.
Those who have read the life of Isaac T. Hopper know
that, in the numerous cases of aid which he rendered to fugitive slaves, he exposed himself to serious danger of bodily
harm from slaveholders and kidnappers. He was not only
not deterred by this danger from doing his intended work, but
it seemed to be utterly disregarded by him. Of course, if
his duty had required such action, he would no more have
been prevented by danger from apprehending the kidnapper
than from helping the slave.
Isaac T. Hopper was successful in a very great proportion




18
of the cases in which he interfered with slaveholders and kidnappers for the benefit of slaves; on these occasions, he met,
and foiled, not only the class of persons just mentioned, but
officers of the law; he foiled them by the use of their own
weapons, strength, courage, confidence, stratagem, without the
use of their auxiliary weapons of death; and he did all this
at the disadvantage of acting in opposition to the law, bereft
of that divinity which doth hedge an official personage, and
of the great influence upon one's antagonist produced by acting with the law, and by express commission from the government.
Suppose we add to all the other high qualifications of such
a man the advantage of a commission under the government,
placing him openly on the side of the civil authorities, armed
with the majesty of law, and authorized to call upon all welldisposed citizens for help in executing his function! Suppose
we have Isaac T. Hopper enrolled among the police force,
authorized to preserve order, quell disturbances, and arrest violators of the law! He understands this work, is competent to
it, and thinks he can do it better without the use of sword or
pistol, or even cane! Is there any thing to prevent his effective exercise of this function?  Has he not the same inward
consciousness of right that led him to face similar dangers for
the deliverance of slaves?  Has he not, in the legal commission, that same mighty moral power which now turns the scale
in favor of the police force, when the malefactors are equal
to them in numbers and weapons?   Will his district of the
city be more disorderly, will drunkards and brawlers bear
sway there more than where a common policeman uses his accustomed methods of operation?   Who believes it?    We
hazard nothing in saying that his function would be more
effectively performed than that of others, in proportion to his
mental and moral superiority.
Suppose, further, that this eminent man, so admirably qualified, both by his personal characteristics and by the respect of
the whole population, to exercise the function of repressing
disorder in the community, should have associates of similar
character and qualities in this work. Suppose that a sense
of the importance of cutting off, as far as possible, the sources
of crime, should induce the community to select its very
best, ablest, and noblest men to take charge of the execution




19v
of its penal laws -that is to say, of its reformatory system.
Suppose that the whole police force (as well as the master
and keepers of the reformatory establishments which would
then have superseded our present jails) should be composed
of men like Isaac T. H-opper; men without fear of injury to
themselves -ready to encounter any danger in the discharge
of the important function committed to them - determined to
accomplish the work they have undertaken - determined
to keep in mind the welfare of the criminal not less than of
the community - and sustained in all this by the countenance,
the thorough respect, (and the cooperation, in case of need,)
of every well-disposed citizen.  We are now prepared, I
think, to undertake the solution of this hardest problem - to
meet this extremest case, the fear of which now arms our
police force with deadly weapons -namely, the arrest of an
armed and desperate man.
It has not been sufficiently considered, in this matter, that
the law and its officers are now often in the wrong, in some
parts of their relation to the criminal, and that the criminal,
in some respects, is wrongfully treated by them, and thus is,
so far, on the right side in the controversy between them.
For instance: all sorts of falsehood and treachery are freely
used, by our present executive officers, to enable them to get
possession of an alleged criminal; so that, when the final
struggle comes, it is embittered by a keen desire for revenge,
the criminal having been actually wronged, cheated and betrayed by the officer. This state of things very seriously
interferes with the natural and proper relation of the two
parties, and with the moral power that a representative of
the law should have over a violator of the law. In the relation which I propose to establish between these parties, the
criminal is to be in the wrong in every point, and the officer
to be in the right in every point. No personal feeling against
the executor of the law is to enforce the wish of the criminal
to keep out of the hands of the law.  On the contrary, the
very aspect of our police officer is to display humanity not
less than authority; the presence of love not less than the
absence of fear; a genial, hearty good-will, which shall suggest the idea of trusting to him as a friend rather than of
repelling him as an enemy; and an earnest uprightness, which
shall agree with his well-known character, and assure the




20
malefactor that he may thoroughly believe whatever that man
says to him.
My own belief is that when a man like this, under circumstances like these, puts his hand on the shoulder of a criminal and says- " 3My friend, you must come with me!"the criminal will find an unwonted difficulty in using his pistol or his bludgeon. In the first place, they are not needed!
He has no personal violence, no bodily harm to fear, and no
injury to avenge. He is talking with an unarmed man, a
good and friendly man, a resolute and fearless man, a keen,
acute and intelligent man, perfectly competent to the situation, and one who'will be driven neither by threats nor violence from the performance of his duty. When this man thus
accosts the criminal, one in the right in every particular of
the relation between them, and speaking with the authority
which that consciousness is fitted to impart, and at the same
time arousing that consciousness in the breast of the criminal
himself, I think the latter will not only feel himself more
than ever before at disadvantage, but will, in the great majority of cases, feel himself defeated; I think there would be
a quiet surrender in the majority of those cases which now are
met by violent resistance.
But my business at present is to provide for the worst possible case; to suppose a man so resolute in his hardihood as
to withstand all these influences, to refuse to surrender, and
to undertake to escape capture by shooting dead on the spot
even such a man as Isaac T. Hopper!
Does he escape capture by this means? Not at all! Our
perfect police officer, who knows his man, and the situation,
and the contingencies, has provided for this. He is ready to
die in the discharge of his duty, but he has taken care that
the work shall be performed, whether he dies or lives. At
the sound of this murderous shot, two more men seize the
criminal! two more of the same sort, and whom he knows to
be of the same sort! Suppose the worst again, and that a
second barrel of his revolver kills one of these! The third
has him! The criminal has at once diminished his power and
fearfully increased his guilt; and such of the community as
are within sight or sound of the transaction, instead of giving
unwilling and imperfect aid to an officer little better than the
criminal, heartily and enthusiastically help the worthy repre



21
sentative of the majesty of the law. The criminal is seized,
secured, and transported without injury to a place of safe restraint; and, from that time forward, whatever amount of
uninjurious strength is needed to restrain him is ready for
that purpose, and ready to meet whatever danger may be involved therein.
We have now the worst and most dangerous man in the
community securely placed in the hands of the law. What
is to be done with him?
Of course, this law, the execution of which, in its most perillous department, has been intrusted to Non-ilesistants, will
be in all respects, from beginning to end, of a Non-Resistance
character. Being a law founded at once upon justice and upon
love, it will be mindful of all the parties, and all the interests,
committed to its charge.
The murderer has his trial, and is. found guilty. What is
to be done with him?  -He lies bound in the hands of the
government, and they are to deal with him according to their
best judgment, seeking to learn first, what is right, and then,
among right things, which is best!
Let us turn aside a moment from this inquiry to look at
the customary operation of our present penal laws, and see
how near they come to what is right and what is best.
Our present law, assuming the intentional killing of a human being to be the greatest of crimes, allots to it this punishment- that the perpetrator be himself killed by a third
person, in cold blood, at a specified time. It hopes thereby
to accomplish these three purposes; to punish the criminal,
to deter other criminals from murder, and to impress on the
community a sense of " the sacredness of human life."
This community considers itself enlightened, civilized and
Christian! Yet, in executing this important function of disposing of the murderer, it follows an old and barbarous Jewish law, which was explicitly revoked by the teacher whom
the community pretends to follow; it disregards and violates
the commands of that teacher, and the most characteristic
feature of his system - the Christian system - namely, to
forgive enemies, and *to overcome evil with good; and it commits the unspeakable absurdity of deliberately destroying
human life, "to show the sacredness of human life "! of deliberately killing a man, " to show the wickedness of killing
men " 




22
The killing, thus ordered, is not, however, to be immediate. A certain interval of weeks or months is allowed the
prisoner " to prepare for death," a work towards which numerous clergymen volunteer their aid. Before the end of this
interval, it is usually announced that the criminal has been
converted, and has become a Christian. His sins are forgiven!
He is now " a child of God and an heir of heaven "! He has
sincerely repented of his past offences, he is earnestly desirous
to make reparation for them, as far as that is possible, and
he shows so thoroughly the marks of a regenerate heart and.
a reformed character, that the Reverend clergy give him
their highest certificate to this effect, admitting him to the
communion of the Lord's Supper! He who was a profligate
and a murderer is now a Christian! He has attained the
grade to which his clerical advisers are vainly striving to
bring the great mass of their congregations! He now belongs
to the church, and is, like it, " the salt of the earth," " the
light of the world."
What now, in these altered circumstances, is to be done
with him? Just the same as before! He is to be killed in
cold blood,  to vindicate the majesty of the law," and " to
show the sacredness of human life"! Could any thing be
more absurd - less Christian- more monstrous?
It is plain that here some improvement is possible! When
the man whom we arrested and imprisoned because he was
wicked and dangerous has become a good man, feeling in his
own heart an utter unwillingness to do wrong, and a love of
goodness for its own sake, we need his good influence in the
community; we need his heart and hand in the work of applying Christianity to every-day life. We will restore him
to society, both that he may repair, as far as possible,. the
particular injury of his former vicious course, and that he
may help to Christianize the rest of the community, building
again that which once he destroyed.   This brings us to
another particular of the ill working of the present system.
If, in the trial of the murderer, mitigating circumstances
appear, or if the crime proved against him be of less enormity than murder, he is condemned, not to be killed, but to
be imprisoned -as before, "to vindicate the majesty of the
law."  Of these cases, however, it is not found that the majority become Christianized, or otherwise reformed, during




23
their incarceration.  Some grow obviously worse, under the
influences of the prison. Many, as obviously, receive no improvement from these influences. Both these classes, however, are discharged, " turned loose on the community,"
though with every prospect that they will commit new depredations upon it, when the term of their imprisonment arrives.
So that it has become common for the keeper of a prison to
expect that certain individuals of those whom he releases will
shortly be returned to him, and to have that expectation realized. And hence, legislators as well as jailers have to
make special provision for the cases of "second comers,"
" third comers," and " fourth comers."  Here, at least, it is
possible to make the improvement of not setting at large, to
prey upon the community, persons more surely known to be
wicked and dangerous than those who are newly arrested.
If the community are right in keeping men under restraint
at all, it would seem to be their duty and their interest to do
these three things; to keep them under restraint as long as
the reasons for doing so remain in equal force, to apply all
the means in their power to the removal of those reasons,
and to release the prisoners when there is good reason to
suppose that they will be good instead of evil members of
society.
Let us glance at another great defect and evil of our present system. The arrest of a malefactor in many cases takes
away the means of sustenance of his family. His wife and
children, who are likely already to have become contaminated
by evil company, and to have fallen under the power of
vicious habits, are left entirely unregarded by the community.
They may be in extreme want, or in the very worst conditions for their social, mental, moral and religious welfare! Is
this right? Ought not the children at least to receive a care,
supplying the place of that which their father was accustomed
to give, and which the State has prevented him from giving?
And, in so far as his care was insufficient, or positively detrimental to them, should not the State seize eagerly the opportunity of supplying a better?  The children of the incarcerated criminal should of course be taken from  influences
tending to make them criminal, and should have the benefit
of proper sustenance and good instruction. Would not Isaac
T. Hopper and his associates rejoice to perform this function?




24
Would not the government which had selected such men for
its officers of course authorize and require them to do this?
A Non-Resistant government would never leave, a large class
of children to grow up criminals for want of proper instruction and care!
The wife of the imprisoned criminal may be unable to support herself at all, or may have experienced great difficulties
in finding an honest support. A good government should
provide that its citizens be not driven by want into crime.
A Non-Resistant government would take special care that its
justice to the husband did not operate cruelly and unjustly
upon the wife.   And the administration which was wise
enough to choose Isaac T. Hopper among its police would already have commissioned John Augustus or Mirs. Garnaut to
look after the necessities of the wife, and Charles F. Barnard
to provide for the children, while it committed the dangerous
husband and father to a house of reformation directed by Dr.
Follen, Horace Mtann, or Dr. Howe.
Those who have the care of lunatic Asylums have to contend against the very utmost exertions of bodily strength,
often directed by a craft which seems preternatural in its
acuteness. They are not vanquished by these difficulties; on
the contrary, they overcome them, and by the use of judicious
and humane, not brutal, instrumentalities.  They not only
obtain a systematic control over these most unpromising of
subjects, but they restore to reason such of them as are susceptible of cure, simply by unwearied persistence in the right
method; and this in spite of the fact that we have not, in
the management of insane Asylums, men so lofty in genius
or so replete with intelligence and skill as the persons whom
we have supposed to be placed in charge of the reformation
of criminals. The same amount of skill and perseverance
would accomplish at least as much with men diseased in the
moral department. We need, for this most refractory class
of pupils, the very highest capacity, intellectual, morall, religious, administrative, that exists in the community. The
greatness of the end in view not only justifies, but demands,
that the very highest wisdom, excellence and skill that the
community affords shall be sought for this purpose, and obtained for it, at whatever expense may be needful.  For the
ultimate object is the extirpation of crime from the commu



25
nity, and the immediate object is the rapid progressive diminution of crime, as far as these can be accomplished by municipal and educational arrangements.
It is an enormous blunder to assume that those things catnnot be done which have never yet been attemptedb  Yet the
community are constantly making this blunder.
A Non-Resistance government would do these three things,
which no existing government has ever even undertaken:
It would take care, and most vigilant and judicious care,
of all children and youth who were neglected by their natural
guardians. This alone would diminish by nine-tenths the
next generation of criminals. It is an unspeakable disgrace
to the States, cities and towns of New England, that no such
thing is even attempted by them.
It would apply itself vigorously to the suppression and removal of the most obvious public nurseries and stimulants of
crime. The police of every city know perfectly well the
grog-shops, the gambling-rooms, the houses of assignation and
prostitution, and the customary frequenters of all these, as well
as the pickpockets and burglars. Yet they let them pursue
their course of devastation, merely tything, as it were, the
harvest of criminals which they produce. If the courage,
the skill, the energy and the perseverance of Isaac T. Hopper
were commissioned by the government to suppress these, and
put an end to them, would not a progress, in geometrical ratio, be annually made towards this end? Now, it is not even
attempted.
Thirdly, a Non-Resistance government, having put under
restraint a man who was dangerous to the community, would
apply all the means in its power to the work of transforming
him into a good man and a useful citizen, and would keep him
under restraint until he had ceased to be dangerous. In their
reformatory institution, the " second comers " (if there were
any such) would diminish, from year to year, in a geometrical
ratio. As a general rule, from the moment a criminal came
into the hands of the police, he might be considered as a reformed man, as far as any further depredations on the community were concerned.
Is this a very great, a very difficult undertaking? It is
on account of my conviction that it is so that I demand the
very highest ability and excellence in the community, not only
2




26
to superintend this work, but to perform all its details. When
these are secured, the work will necessarily go on, with no
more obstruction to its successful progress than the occasional
unruliness of a horse gives to the movements of a mail coach.
But the laws must be altered, to allow either the detention
of a prisoner until he is reformed, or his discharge as soon as
he is reformed!
No doubt.  Our laws need many changes to bring them in
correspondence with justice, and with public and private welfare. But let us have those changes.
Many prisons, many lunatic Asylums, are now conducted
not only with humanity, but with a fair measure of success, in
proportion to their moderate aspirations and their moderate
instrumentalities. When, instead of prisons, we have Houses
of Reformation, all the regulations, arrangements, implements
and functionaries of which are adapted, with special care and
skill, to promote the real welfare of the prisoner, and to prove,
to his apprehension, that such is their meaning and purpose,
it is not too much to say that we may confidently expect success, in no long period, in the great majority of instances.
If criminals have hitherto shown themselves stubborn in regard to the two sorts of influence commonly brought to bear
upon them, a hard, worldly keenness, backed by physical force,
in which they find no human sympathy, or a pious verdancy
which every smart rogue feels that he can wind round his
finger, this is no reason why they should not yield to the system devised and administered by Dr. Follen or Horace Mann,
Bring forward your extreme case, your "tough subject,"
your " fourth comer" to the State Prison, the man who has
run the gauntlet of all the penal institutions, and who is at
once recognized as irreclaimable by them all, in short, the
man who, having been arrested for murder by Isaac T. Hopper, has shot him dead on the spot, has also killed on the spot
his first assistant, and then has been secured, without injury
to himself, and brought within the walls of our true House
of Reformation.
He escaped from the persuasive magnetism of Isaac T.
Hopper's face, eye and voice, by killing him. He has now
no weapon. He is disarmed and securely bound. He must
see, he must hear, he nmust feel the controlling influence of
those with whom he has now to do.




He finds these characteristics in the Governor of the establishment, and also in the particular person to whose charge he
is committed, namely: -
1. An overwhelming superiority in character, intelligence,
skill, tact, insight, energy, moral power. He feels that these
men are "masters of the situation "! That they understand
him, even comprehend him-, while he can neither comprehend
nor understand them. He feels, at once, the thorough hopelessness of any hypocritical pretence with them; feels himself
transparent before their gaze, and incapable of any plan which
shall deceive them. IHe is compelled to admire and respect
their knowledge and skill.
2. He sees with this, and just as obviously, in the faces of
these men, a genial, friendly nature; a sympathy, human and
humane, so abiding and controlling, so broad and so deep, that
he feels even himself, the murderer, the baffled, convicted and
subdued criminal, to be comprehended in it. These are men
whom he would be glad to have, if he could, for friends.
3. When the purpose and method of the establishment, and
the particular details of his position in it are made known to
him, he must see, because it shines conspicuously through all
the arrangements, that these are not an apparatus of vengeance, but of benefit, and that his real welfare is contemplated and provided for in it, not less than the welfare of the
community.
4. When he comes to receive instruction, - not the Sunday-school lesson, given by some well-meaning sectarian whose
shallowness is displayed in every question and every exhortation, but real food for the mind and soul, given by a person
as distinguished in character and attainments as we have endeavored to describe - when he comes to receive suggestions
and ideas from one who thoroughly understands him, under
stands his capacities, his deficiencies, his possibilities, the right
way to approach him, the things he may be led to desire, the
desires he is competent to achieve-and when (sooner or
later) he clearly recognizes this union of competence and
friendliness in his teacher, who shall say that even this man,
hardened and desperate as he seemed, may not be brought to
recognize his own manhood, with its inseparable duties aiid
responsibilities! his duties to God, with the fact, resulting
from God's very nature, that He helps those who help them



28
selves! and his duties to his injured fellow-men, with the assurance that it is never too late to repent, and to bring forth
fruits meet for repentance! Who shall say that even this
man, thus situated and thus influenced, every where encouraged by the friendly aid of superior beings, every where assisted to aspire and to attain, having nothing to hope but from
a right course, having every thing to hope from  earnest
amendment and strenuous endeavor, will not heartily co6perate with these beneficent influences, work out through them
his enfranchisement, and become a blessing to.that community
from which he was taken as a curse?
If this man shall first yield to, and then spontaneously and
heartily unite in, means of correction and development such
as we have described, who shall withstand them?
If, on the other hand, he, with the most hardened of his
fellow-criminals, shall remain unconverted and unreformed,
still, will not this class probably be a very small one - much
smaller than the proportion of unreclaimed offenders in our
present civilization?
At all events, the system I propose will have these very
great advantages over the present one. It will tend, constantly, and strongly, towards the real reformation of every
criminal under its jurisdiction; and the convicts who remain
unreformed will remain in custody, with no power any further,
or in any manner, to injure the community.
Let me briefly rehearse the things which I have attempted
to show in the foregoing pages:1. The system called (for shortness) "Non-Resistance," is
not an inert and merely harmless thing, but it proposes to
execute the two duties expressed in the Christian precept-' Overcome evil with good."  It purposes constant aggression
against evil and sin, and also to conduct this aggression invariably by right means. It purposes to overcome evil; it is
equally resolute to overcome it with good.
2. As an individual may lead a life of thorough conformity to Non-Resistance principles, avoiding injury to others,
forgiving injury done to himself, and overcoming evil with
good, however circumstances may involve him with criminals
and ruffians, so a community may do these things, conduct its
affairs on these same principles, and require its official ser



29
vants, from the highest to the lowest, to act in accordance
with them.
3. As insane people, including both the most crafty and
the most violent, are put under restraint, kept under restraint,
and subjected to whatever beneficial discipline is thought desirable for their welfare, without wounding or killing them, so
can the violators of law be apprehended, and subjected to
needful restraint and discipline, without wounding or killing
them. The superintendent, physician and functionaries of an
insane Asylum are expected to do their work without injuring
their patients, and they do it. Those who have charge of the
arrest and the discipline of criminals can do the same thing,
if it is required of them.
4. The moral power which officers of government possess
in being on the side of law, and commissioned by the community to preserve order, already great, may be indefinitely
increased by giving the discharge of the executive functions
to men already respected for eminent ability and distinguished
excellence of character.
5. The moral power of the law, already great, may be immensely increased by bringing all its methods of administration into conformity with justice, with the rights of all, even
of the criminal, and with the welfare of all, even of the
criminal.
6. Duty and interest alike require that the community
should use all possible means for the reformation and improvement of those whom they hold under restraint, as dangerous;
that the restraint begun for this reason should be continued as
long as needed; and that it should cease when it ceases to be
needed.
7. Duty and interest alike require that the State should
take under its charge children and youth who are deprived of
or neglected by their natural guardians; especially those children whose guardians have been removed from them by the
State.
8. The great advantages which may reasonably be expected
from  a system  like the above —namely, the increase of
efficiency in the administration of law resulting from the increased moral power of its ministers ild modes of operation,
and the progressive diminution of crime certain to result from
a substitution of reformatory discipline for vindictive punish



30
ment- not only justify and recommend, but most strongly
encourage, the employment of the very best and ablest men
and women in the community in these departments.
In showing how the arrest of the criminal may be effected
by the use of means uninjurious to him, I have shown how
all those departments of a just government which deal with
criminals may be carried on by Non-Resistants, upon NonResistance principles.  For, of course, the same methods
would be used to suppress a popular tumult or riot, namely, a
fearless and prompt interposition of the physical strength and
the moral power of the police (who would, if necessary, call
the community to their aid) between the rioters and their unlawful purpose. If, at first, fear were entertained in regard
to the efficiency of officers acting without deadly weapons,
either in dealing with individual criminals or with a mob,
their number could be increased; could be doubled, trebled
or quadrupled, at the commencement of a trial of the new
method; or could receive a partial trial, (with the precaution
last named, if that were thought needful,) in certain specified
districts of a town or city. But it is obvious that, after the
establishment and the general recognition of the system proposed, the character of the officers of justice would insure the
giving of whatever personal aid might be required, by the
community around, far more generally and more heartily
than at present.