6575. PEOPLE, English.—[further continued].
The spirit of hostility to
us has always existed in the mind of the King,
but it has now extended itself through the whole
mass of the people, and the majority of the public
councils. In a country, where the voice of
the people influences so much the measures of
administration, and where it coincides with the
private temper of the King, there is no pronouncing
on future events. It is true they
have nothing to gain, and much to lose by a war
with us; but interest is not the strongest passion
in the human breast.—
To James Ross. Washington ed. i, 561.
Ford ed., iv, 217.
(P.
1786)
