Turgot was of other calibre, holding it to be only a degree less unprincipled than the avowed selfishness of the adventurer, to contract so serious an engagement on the strength of common hearsay and current usage, without deliberate personal reflection and inquiry.
Morley critiques the lack of personal reflection in serious commitments based on hearsay.
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What I endeavoured to show was that King George III., without changing his opinion of the justice of his war against the colonies, was obliged to give it up on account of a change of public opinion, and was not open to blame for so doing.
The omnipotent though not omniscient divinity called public opinion intervened.
It would be a happy day for the Peace Society that should give the colonies a veto on imperial war.
To stint Ireland in power which might be necessary or desirable for the management of matters purely Irish, would be a great error; and if she was so stinted, the end that any such measure might contemplate could not be attained.
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