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¬And no ordinary cause of war — nothing, indeed, short of self protection from an invading force could have justified the launching out into such •a wasteful system of expenditure, as to have in- creased ten-fold in less than thirty years the burthen of ten centuries." " We had no choice," said Morven, interrupting me, " after the short opportunity I pointed out to you had passed ; we sought to avoid war, but it. was fastened upon us." ¬• " I am in no condition," I answered, " to dis- pute with you upon facts ; but your adversaries were in the phrenzy of a sanguinary revolution, and were more likely to destroy themselves than to injure others. — You should therefore have exerted your influence with other governments to leave them unmolested ; and if, by a firm and faithful combination, some safe direction could not be given to so inflamed and dangerous a people, all nations should have stood aloof from them as from the mouth of a volcano, attaching their own subjects by wise and indul- gent ¬
