If it have need of him, for the maintenance of its power, it takes him, against his will (conscripts him), and puts him before the cannon's mouth, to be blown in pieces, as if he were a mere senseless thing, having no more rights than if he were a shell, a canister, or a torpedo.
Spooner critiques the government's conscription practices, equating soldiers to mere tools of war.
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It would be a solecism and absurdity in government to allow such consequences as these.
From the sale of that justice which every citizen has a right to demand, it was an easy transition to withhold or deny it.
Therefore all their laws, as they call them,--that is, all the laws of their own making,--have no color of authority or obligation.
It is also sheer impudence, on their part, to assume that their commands are at all necessary to teach other men what is, and what is not, justice.