On the record
Indeed, there is scarce a nation in Europe, against which she has not made war on some frivolous pretext or other, and thereby imprudently accumulated a debt, that has brought her on the verge of bankruptcy.
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gutenberg.orgBenjamin Franklin: “Indeed, there is scarce a nation in Europe, against which she has not made war on some frivolous pretext or other, and…”
Editor's note · Context
Franklin points out the folly of England's wars and the resulting debt crisis.
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More from Benjamin Franklin
If the English would advance one step further, or cover themselves where they are, it must be at once, by one large step over the mountains, with a numerous and military colony.
II. p. 118.--The truth is, that the Indians considered their lands as mere hunting-manors, and not as farms.
It is upon this fact I found the propriety of the measure of settling a barrier colony in those parts of our frontiers, which are not the immediate residence or hunting-grounds of our Indians.
And as Canada is chiefly supported by that trade, if it could be drawn into the hands of the English (as it might be if the Indians were supplied on moderate terms, and by honest traders appointed by and acting for the public) that alone…
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