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trigger when he is told, and stand to be shot at, it matters not whether his mental powers are those of an ignorant peasant, or those of a Newton.
As with the sham philanthropy among individuals, so would it be with the sham philanthropy of nations.
A State that covets a slice of the territory of another, hardly ever has the hardihood to avow it. An excuse is found, such as, that some section of its population is oppressed, and war must be made in order to relieve it. The usual result of such a war being to leave this particular section, quite as much oppressed as before, with the addition of the general oppression of the rest of the nation, and this state of things continues, until the conqueror is bought off by the cession of the coveted territory, the true object for which the war was initiated.
Any excuse will suffice; liberty itself may be invoked as the excuse for inflicting bondage; we know that at the end of the last century, nations were invaded and despoiled in order to confer on them the blessings of (the so-called) Liberty, Equality, Fraternity; thus anticipating on a wholesale scale the conduct suggested by some wags among our American friends, who say, when speaking of themselves, "Our country is the freest country in the world; every man does as he likes, and if he does'nt, we make him."
We know that if this, our England, were to disarm to-day, not a year would elapse, before we should find ourselves under the rule of some kind neighbour, who would assure us that the occupation of our country, was not by any means due to the coveting of our possessions, but arose from the warmest interest in our welfare, and that it was done entirely for our good.
It is a remarkable thing, however, that nations do not like the good that is thus done to them; moreover, it is a duty to keep temptation out of the way of those who are too susceptible to its influence; on these grounds we arm—to protect ourselves, and to keep covetous thoughts out of the minds of others.
In these days we "arm" with so many weapons of offence, and means of defence, that a more enumeration of them, would
