Chapter 250 "Freedom" And "Law"

Joan lacks sufficient understanding of law, and is not good at moral and philosophical speculation. Just looking at the actions of "Son of Liberty" from the perspective of an outsider, he instinctively feels disgusted.

In fact, Joan wasn't the only one who disliked the behavior of the "Son of Liberty", and Rebecca even showed her disgust on her face.

When Joseph Adams revealed his identity and took the initiative to invite her to join the "Sons of Liberty", this shy and timid girl unexpectedly refused without hesitation.

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Adams, but I don't intend to get involved with your organization. By the way, I would like to say one more thing—in any case, smuggling is a shameful crime!"

"Shameful?" Adams shook his head and laughed, "Miss Custis, you are too young to understand that black and white things do not exist in this world."

"You said that smuggling is a crime, but have you ever thought about who makes the law?"

"Those who made the law, why should you and I be required to obey the laws they made?"

"Law makers are also human beings, and their intelligence and morality are not necessarily better than you and me. How can we guarantee that the laws we make are absolutely fair and unquestionable?"

Rebecca was overwhelmed by his series of questions, and she was stunned for a long time before angrily yelling: "You said these are pure sophistry! It's meaningless to talk about it!"

"Okay, then let's get back to business."

Adams smiled kindly, neither anxious nor angry.

"You accuse us of tax evasion, I admit it, but we also have difficulties. If the imperial authorities hadn't monopolized the import and export trade and forced us to pay heavy taxes, why would we take the risk of being hanged for smuggling? "

Adams sighed, and went on:

"What is even more intolerable to us is that the imperial authorities and the colonial government failed to fulfill their obligations to protect the colonial residents, and sat by and watched the law-abiding businessmen suffer from pirates and robbed them without doing anything. Who will abide by the law in the long run?

"It's not that we like to commit crimes, it's this unfair world that forces us to commit crimes! A young lady like you who was born in an aristocratic family and has never been tortured before will not understand these truths."

"Mr. Adams, I'm so sorry! I'm not a 'greenhouse flower'! I've suffered more, both mentally and physically, than you can imagine, and that's not something to brag about!"

Rebecca's face was flushed, and her eyes were firm and burning. It was the first time that Joan saw such a persistent look on her face.

"Let's get back to the point, Mr. Adams, what you complained just now may be true, but I don't think all of this should be attributed to the imperial authorities or Your Excellency the Governor. Don't you have any responsibility?"

"In fact, the tax rate originally set by the colonial authorities was lower than that of the empire, but no matter how low the tax rate is, it cannot satisfy the insatiable profiteers!"

"It is precisely because you refuse to pay taxes in accordance with the law that the government cannot obtain sufficient fiscal revenue through existing taxes, so it has to increase tax rates again and again to make up for the shortfall."

"This means that you greedy and selfish tax evaders have passed on the tax burden that you should have borne yourself to us law-abiding citizens who pay taxes according to the law-why should I sympathize with you, why should I collude with you?"

"It is precisely because of your unscrupulous smuggling that the tariffs have dropped sharply. The colonial government has lost the important revenue of tariffs. The financial budget is stretched. Of course, there is no money to build warships and recruit troops. If you have no money to improve armaments, what will you use to protect the people under your rule? ?”

"You smuggle and evade taxes, and you put all the money you earn unscrupulously into your own pockets, but we innocent people have to bear the consequences. Have you ever felt even a little guilty? Have you ever considered donating even a single gold coin for the children of the slums? We provide a free lunch, have you contributed even a single brick to the repair of the city wall!"

Adams' face was slightly stiff, and he was about to refute, but he couldn't find a chance to interrupt Rebecca's words, so he shook his head with a wry smile, and listened patiently to her.

Joan listened fascinated and fell into thought.

He has neither knowledge nor interest in matters such as politics and economics.

But only from the perspective of language logic, he found that the debate between Rebecca and Adams fell into a vicious circle of "which came first, the egg or the chicken".

It is really hard to tell, who is worse than the other, the smuggling tax evaders and the government agencies that make exorbitant taxes.

But taking a step back, Rebecca's argument can achieve at least one secondary goal:

Since both parties are not good birds, whoever tries to pretend to be a victim and seize the moral high ground will only show his brazenness even more!

Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief, tried her best to calm down her excitement, stared at Adams, and stated her final decision solemnly.

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Adams, I don't care who is right or wrong between you and Mr. Snow, I just don't like your behavior."

"I don't want to join an organization that ... makes me ashamed."

"What happened here today, I will keep my mouth shut. I sincerely hope that we will not have any intersections in the future. I wish you good luck! Joan, let's go!"

Rebecca took Joan's hand and turned to leave.

Joan has been watching the actions of the two opposite people with cold eyes.

When Rebecca expressed his position, he found that Joseph Adams sighed with his hands on his forehead, and the "Wolf Lady" suddenly straightened her waist, as if she really turned into a female wolf about to attack. The pair of cold eyes behind the mask revealed Serious killing intent.

Joan's heart trembled, and without hesitation, he blocked Rebecca behind him, and pulled out a piece of the dagger that was tightly held in his hand, which was reflected by the cold light of the magic candlestick.

"Everyone! Don't be impulsive, you have something to say!"

Adams raised his hand to stop the conflict between the two sides, and looked at "Ms. Wolf" with displeasure in his eyes.

"My friend, you'd better calm down. We are all grown-ups, and we don't have to make trouble with children."

"I don't want to bully the children, but they know too much. If you let them go like this, don't you worry about future troubles?"

"Ms. Wolf" asked coldly.

"Anyway, we will have a showdown with Andrew Snow sooner or later. There is nothing to hide. As for my personal privacy, I believe they are not interested in pursuing it. After all, there are countless people named 'Joseph Adams' in the world, and I am nothing. A big name with a big name."

Adams smiled lazily, turned to Rebecca and said:

"Miss Custis, you can leave at ease. I guarantee that the Sons of Liberty will not trouble you."

————

The prototype of "Sons of Liberty" in the book is the "Sons of Liberty Association" that made a big splash on the eve of the North American War of Independence.

In history textbooks, the description of this organization is a positive image.

However, this is not entirely the case.

The Sons of Liberty is essentially a gang.

Their main actions include but are not limited to tax evasion, smuggling and sale of stolen goods, insulting, kidnapping, beating, and insulting royalists and even neutrals by any means.

The various actions of the Sons of Liberty on the eve of independence, including their performance in the so-called Boston Massacre and the Tea Party incident, are simply rogues.

There is still a little bit of gentlemanly decency in the British Empire.

Gentleman, you can't beat a hooligan who has no lower limit.

It's just that at a certain historical stage, the hooligans happened to be on the side of political correctness, and later they were successfully cleaned up, but instead they became "revolutionaries" by smearing paint.

From the perspective of the history of the Sons of Liberty, I personally think that it may be extreme to say that the United States is a rogue country born of injustice, but it is generally not wrong.

This kind of hooliganism and the arrogance of the so-called "city on a hill", which claims to be the chosen people of God, have run through all aspects of American history, and there has been no fundamental change so far.

(continued)

Among the "Fathers of the Nation" in the United States, I don't like the hypocrite Jefferson, the two Adams, the smuggler Hancock and the sons of liberty they supported.

But as a writer, I try not to bring personal likes and dislikes into my novels.

I'll tell the reader what the Sons of Liberty are, but I won't stop the protagonist from associating with the organization just because I hate it.

In that case, it is actually destroying the internal logic of the story and harming the interests of the protagonist, and I have no right to do so.

It's a little bit of creative insight, and I want to share it with you.