As I understood the matter, we were at war, not with its conduct, but with its existence,--convinced that its existence and its hostility were the same.
Edmund Burke: “As I understood the matter, we were at war, not with its conduct, but with its existence,--convinced that its existence…”
Editor's note · Context
Burke clarifies that the conflict is fundamentally about the faction's existence and its inherent hostility.
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By adhering in this manner and on those principles to our forefathers, we are guided, not by the superstition of antiquarians, but by the spirit of philosophic analogy.
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