It is not difficult to imagine one of our countrymen saying, with Shakespeare’s Jew, “The villany you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction”; nor is it difficult to imagine an Englishman firm in his conceit that no apology can be made and nothing paid.
He uses a Shakespearean reference to illustrate the potential for vengeance and pride in international relations.
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More from Charles Sumner
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
At Baltimore the delegation of the most important State in the Union, known to be in favor of the Wilmot Proviso, was refused admission to the Convention.
But so long as War exists as an Institution this terrible inconsistency must appear.
More precious far at that moment the consolation that he had labored for his fellow-men, and the joyous confidence that all his cares had helped the Progress of his race!
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