And whilst this game of slaughter is going on, whilst thousands and thousands of our countrymen are being killed off, the merchants and shipowners of England are to be driving a roaring trade and coining money out of the blood of their countrymen. Is it very likely that the common sense and common feeling of the people of any country would submit to this? The principle that the neutral flag covers the merchandize enables the neutral to make a profit by the blood of the belligerents, and so divides the interests of the community of nations, which is not the least of the objections against it. But this proposal divides the nation itself into two sections, and enables one-half of it to fatten on the blood of the other half.
This "free-trade in war," this commercial peace and military war, has been denounced and repudiated by every statesman who has expressed an opinion upon it. "There is no such thing as war for armies and peace for commerce" said Lord Kenyon. In
