On the record
To found a republic on a minority is scarcely less impracticable than to stand a pyramid on its apex.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner uses a metaphor to illustrate the impracticality of a republic based on a minority.
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Out of this pernicious prejudice have proceeded that persecution and neglect which are the too frequent lot of the world's pioneers.
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The first is a heavenly sentiment, from God: the other is a device of this world.
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