6947. PRINCIPLE, Departure from.—
A
departure from principle in one instance becomes
a precedent for a second; that second
for a third; and so on, till the bulk of the society
is reduced to be mere automatons of
misery, to have no sensibilities left but for sin
and suffering. Then begins, indeed, the
bellum omnium in omnia, which some philosophers
observing to be so general in this
world, have mistaken it for the natural, instead
of the abusive state of man. And the
forehorse of this frightful team is public
debt. Taxation follows that, and in its train
wretchedness and oppression.—
To Samuel Kerchival. Washington ed. vii, 14.
Ford ed., x, 42.
(M.
1816)
