My rigor relents. I pardon something to the spirit of liberty.
I am sensible, Sir, that all which I have asserted in my detail is admitted in
the gross; but that quite a different conclusion is drawn from it. America,
gentlemen say, is a noble object. It is an object well worth fighting for.
Certainly it is, if fighting a people be the best way of gaining them. Gentlemen
in this respect will be led to their choice of means by their complexions
[Footnote: 20] and their habits. Those who understand the military art will of
course have some predilection for it. Those who wield the thunder of the state
[Footnote: 21] may have more confidence in the efficacy of arms. But I confess,
possibly for want of this knowledge, my opinion is much more in favor of prudent
management than of force; considering force not as an odious, but a feeble
instrument for preserving a people so numerous, so active, so growing, so
spirited as this, in a profitable and subordinate connection with us.
First, Sir, permit me to observe that the use of force alone is but temporary.
It may subdue for a moment, but it does not remove the necessity of subduing
again; and a nation is not governed [Footnote: 22] which is perpetually to be
conquered.
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