You, John Swinton, say that we must have the government relieve us from oppression. Why not relieve the government of its power to oppress? That it will oppress, if it has the power, we may count on. That has been the history of government from the earliest day of recorded time down to this.
Donn Piatt to Swinton was written by Donn Piatt, and appeared in The Alarm, Series 2. Vol. I. No. 2 (November 19, 1887).
It is now available in the Public Domain, according to the information available to the Fair Use Repository.