Secrecy, again, prevents the statesman from weighing or testing the forces in character, stability, persistency, of the men by whom a majority has been built up, and on whose fidelity his power of action must depend.
John Morley: “Secrecy, again, prevents the statesman from weighing or testing the forces in character, stability, persistency, of the…”
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John Morley
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Morley discusses the detrimental effects of secrecy on a statesman's ability to understand the electorate's character and stability.
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Yet he had prepared this document for the very purpose of tempting France into a declaration of war.
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A rendering less apt for this occasion finds favour with some scholars, that true virtue can never be restored to those who have once fallen away from it.
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