C. When thou askest for rain and sunshine, as a condition of thy prosperity and peace, is it dishonorable for thy Friend, who controlest the seasons, to give thee what thou askest? S. Nay; because he is not impoverished by his gifts. C. Thou wilt not say, it is dishonorable for thy friends to offer thee weapons of war, when they have no others? S. It is not, when we are not thy enemies. C. Thou wilt say, “when we are thy friends.” S. Yea. C. How wouldst thou make thy enemies thy friends? S. By doing, as I would that they should do to me. C. Wouldst thou be refused, when thou askest what thou desirest? S. Nay. C. When thou desirest peace, wouldst thou refuse it, because thy enemy wanted what was thine, as a condition? S. I would not submit to unreasonable demands. C. What wouldst thou do? S. I would refuse the condition. C. Wouldst thou refuse the condition, if the condition was better for thee and thy friends, than to fight? S. I would not submit to any unjust demands. C. Wouldst thou not submit to an unjust demand, rather than to demand what is unjust? S. I would not demand what is unjust. C. Dost thou not demand peace, and is not that just? S. Yea. C. Then, when thou refusest what thy enemy asks, as a condition of peace, dost thou not refuse peace, and demand war. The condition is what makes peace, and when thou refusest that, thou desirest what is worse. Is it honorable to choose the greatest evil? S. The greatest evil is not war. C. What is greater? S. The evil of injustice. C. It is even so. But is not war unjust? S. Not when waged in a righteous cause. C. What cause is righteous, which is unjust? S. That which maintains rights. Rights are just, and measures, which will secure and perpetuate those rights, are just. C. Is war a right? S. War is not right, when rights are not sought by it. C. How can rights be sought and obtained by wrongs? S. War is not wrong, when rights are secured by it. C. When rights are secured by wrongs, when war secures peace, when nature is concordant with discord, thy rights will disappear. No mind will then have any rights, because rights will be valueless. When war becomes right, and right becomes war, the rights of nature will be disregarded. Confusion will be right, and peace become wrong. Such is the character of thy rights, when judged by the harmonious law of nature. Thou sayest, war is right to secure rights. What right wilt thou secure by war? S. Those rights which are the inherent property of every mind. C. And what is the inherent property of every mind? S. The right to say and to do, as my own conscience approves. C. Will thy conscience do evil, that good may come? S. Nay. C. Is war an evil? S. It is. C. Wouldst thou go to war, which thou sayest is an evil, that good may come? S. It will not be evil, when good comes from it. C. Wilt thou show us what good can come from evil? Doth war do those engaged in it good?