8891. WAR, Interest and.—
Never was
so much false arithmetic employed on any
subject, as that which has been employed to
persuade nations that it is their interest to go
to war. Were the money which it has cost
to gain, at the close of a long war, a little
town, or a little territory, the right to cut
wood here, or to catch fish there, expended
in improving what they already possess, in
making roads, opening rivers, building ports,
improving the arts, and finding employment
for their idle poor, it would render them
much stronger, much wealthier and happier.
This I hope will be our wisdom.—
Notes on Virginia. Washington ed. viii, 413.
Ford ed., iii, 279.
(1782)
