The Grecians and Romans were strongly possessed of the spirit of liberty but not the principle, for at the time that they were determined not to be slaves themselves, they employed their power to enslave the rest of mankind.
Paine, in "The American Crisis," critiques ancient civilizations for their selective application of liberty, enslaving others while demanding freedom for themselves.
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The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.
They form a common policy throughout Europe, detached and separate from the interest of Nations: and while they appear to quarrel, they agree to plunder.
The meaning, then, good people, of all this, is: That government is governed by no principle whatever; that it can make evil good, or good evil, just as it pleases.
But from such opposition the French Revolution, instead of suffering, receives an homage.