On the record
This is a mere incident to the dispute, but no more the cause of war than the throwing overboard of the tea in Boston harbor was the cause of the North American Revolution.
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gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Quincy draws a parallel between the opium dispute and the American Revolution, suggesting deeper underlying causes for conflict.
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The pride of Britain itself must bend to the course of events.
No man can be surprised that such a cause was swept away by a moral and political whirlwind; that it carried with it all the institutions of civil society, so that its march was a wild desolation.
This error has nowhere been more frequently repeated, nowhere been of more pernicious tendency, than in America itself.
If its operation should turn out more advantageous to them, it will be more honorable for us; and I never can object to entering formally into an obligation to do that which, upon every virtuous principle, ought to be done without it.
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