Section 12 For the same reasons, the oaths of all other
pretended agents of this secret band of robbers and murderers are, on general principles of
law and reason, equally destitute of obligation.
They are given to nobody, but only to the winds.
The oaths of the tax-gatherers and treasurers of the band are, on general principles of
law and reason, of no validity.
If any tax-gatherer, for example, should put the money he receives into his own pocket
and refuse to part with it, the members of this band could not say to him, You collected
that money as our agent and for our uses, and you swore to pay it over to us or to those
we should appoint to receive it.
You have betrayed us and broken faith with us.
It would be a sufficient answer for him to say to them, I never knew you.
You never made yourselves individually known to me.
I never gave my oath to you as individuals. You may or you may not be members of that secret band
who appoint agents to rob and murder other people, but who are cautious not to make themselves
individually known, either to such agents or to those whom their agents are commissioned to rob.
If you are members of that band, you have given me no proof that you ever commissioned me to rob
others for your benefit. I never knew you as individuals, and of course never promised you
The Theory of Money and Credit
If I gave it to anybody, I gave it to other persons than you. But I really gave it to nobody. I only gave it to the winds. It answered my purposes at the time. It enabled me to get the money I was after, and now I propose to keep it. If you expect me to pay it over to you, you relied only upon that honor that is said to prevail among thieves. You now understand that that is a very poor reliance. I trust you may become wise enough to never rely upon it again.
It is to give back the money to those from whom I took it, not to pay it over to such villains as you.