This spectre haunts the conscience of England to
incite her not to a deed of blood but to a deed of justice; every wind
is favourable and every omen. It is, indeed, true that if she is to
succeed, England must do violence to certain prejudices which now
afflict her like a blindness; she must deal with us as a man with men.
But is not the Kingdom of Heaven taken by violence?
CHAPTER II
HISTORY
_(a) Coloured_
Mendacity follows the flag. There never yet was an invader who did not,
in obedience to a kindly human instinct, lie abundantly respecting the
people whose country he had invaded. The reason is very plain. In all
ages men delight to acquire property by expedients other than that of
honest labour. In the period of private war the most obvious alternative
to working is fighting, or hiring servants to fight; the sword is
mightier than the spade. If we add that an expedition into a foreign
country offers the additional advantages of escape from your exacting
creditors, and your still more exacting king, we have something very
like the economics of the Invasion of Anywhere in early feudal times.
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