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Article LETTER II. ← Page 2 of 2
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Letter Ii.
and reli . ion , and the principles in which it was founded can alone preserve it . They did notdazxie the imagination with a false glare ; they did not trick the people at large out with the garb of ^ state , not * befool their understanding with confusi- 'ii of titles . These are little arts unworthy of a statesman . They call for reform—Can there be then no time but this , or is England so poorly stored with wisdom aud integrity—is the majority
of men of property , and worth , and knowledge , so little capable of seeing wherein the public- good consists , that these mountebank inceiidi . nies , despairing to impose on those who are capable of judging , displa " their schemes to the well-meaning , who can form no judgment of their success , but by their confidence in the risque , and , when they have once given up the reliance on plain integrity , are
easily made the dupes of every pretender ? Is France even inclined to peace ? Does she not already declare her determination to ruin and p lunder Britain ? If she has already chosen to divide and partition the lion ' s skin , his strength is still unimpaired , his habitation unforced , his spirit entire , and she has still a contest to fear which she has learned to yield to . They would have you court France—and for which of her viitues , whose first principle is assassination , * and whose embrace is death even to her own sons ? f and to other nations she dictates ,
and they crouch ; she requires , and they give ; till shorn bare , they are turned adrift to prey upon each other , and then insulted with the name of freedom . Even thou , whom she has not yet attacked , she dares to infringe her pleasure , while she breaks through the laws of nations , and they stand , good souls , shoved easily aside , capping to her footstool . One nation has indeed known its own dignity , and maintained it in Europe ; and our brethren of Americawith a spirit
, worth ofour common ancestors , will not bow to fraud , to faction , or to force . To be betrayed by words , where actions speak , is folly . What the French intend , they have declared ; what their friends here intend , their actions , their endeavours to divide , when ail should be united , tell too clearly . But Britain has alread y received many marks of a superintending po . ver . This islewhere reliion has been
, g most pure , and most fkichfull- followed , though nearest to the danger , has been the most signally exempted from intestine evil . At sea , we have commemorated our success ; and where all power of our own was restrained , the elements fought for us . Let us then each bear our pioportion of the trial ; let us seek and cultivate good faith and unanimity : let our manners reformand the state will flourishand
, ; desin . usas we have been of peace , and forced as we have been , involved as we ate , in war , with God and our ri ght , we shall still prevail . CLARENDON .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Letter Ii.
and reli . ion , and the principles in which it was founded can alone preserve it . They did notdazxie the imagination with a false glare ; they did not trick the people at large out with the garb of ^ state , not * befool their understanding with confusi- 'ii of titles . These are little arts unworthy of a statesman . They call for reform—Can there be then no time but this , or is England so poorly stored with wisdom aud integrity—is the majority
of men of property , and worth , and knowledge , so little capable of seeing wherein the public- good consists , that these mountebank inceiidi . nies , despairing to impose on those who are capable of judging , displa " their schemes to the well-meaning , who can form no judgment of their success , but by their confidence in the risque , and , when they have once given up the reliance on plain integrity , are
easily made the dupes of every pretender ? Is France even inclined to peace ? Does she not already declare her determination to ruin and p lunder Britain ? If she has already chosen to divide and partition the lion ' s skin , his strength is still unimpaired , his habitation unforced , his spirit entire , and she has still a contest to fear which she has learned to yield to . They would have you court France—and for which of her viitues , whose first principle is assassination , * and whose embrace is death even to her own sons ? f and to other nations she dictates ,
and they crouch ; she requires , and they give ; till shorn bare , they are turned adrift to prey upon each other , and then insulted with the name of freedom . Even thou , whom she has not yet attacked , she dares to infringe her pleasure , while she breaks through the laws of nations , and they stand , good souls , shoved easily aside , capping to her footstool . One nation has indeed known its own dignity , and maintained it in Europe ; and our brethren of Americawith a spirit
, worth ofour common ancestors , will not bow to fraud , to faction , or to force . To be betrayed by words , where actions speak , is folly . What the French intend , they have declared ; what their friends here intend , their actions , their endeavours to divide , when ail should be united , tell too clearly . But Britain has alread y received many marks of a superintending po . ver . This islewhere reliion has been
, g most pure , and most fkichfull- followed , though nearest to the danger , has been the most signally exempted from intestine evil . At sea , we have commemorated our success ; and where all power of our own was restrained , the elements fought for us . Let us then each bear our pioportion of the trial ; let us seek and cultivate good faith and unanimity : let our manners reformand the state will flourishand
, ; desin . usas we have been of peace , and forced as we have been , involved as we ate , in war , with God and our ri ght , we shall still prevail . CLARENDON .