The passage upon Public
Opinion, for example, is always read with delight, even by those who
can call to mind the greatest number of instances of its apparent
untruth.
"The time has been, indeed, when fleets, and armies, and
subsidies were the principal reliances, even in the best
cause. But, happily for mankind, a great change has taken
place in this respect. Moral causes come into consideration
in proportion as the progress of knowledge is advanced; and
the public opinion of the civilized world is rapidly gaining
an ascendency over mere brutal force.... It may be silenced
by military power, but it cannot be conquered. It is
elastic, irrepressible, and invulnerable to the weapons of
ordinary warfare. It is that impassible, unextinguishable
enemy of mere violence and arbitrary rule, which, like
Milton's angels,
"'Vital in every part,...
Cannot, but by annihilating, die.'
"Until this be propitiated or satisfied, it is vain for power
to talk either of triumphs or of repose. No matter what
fields are desolated, what fortresses surrendered, what
armies subdued, or what provinces overrun.
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