By lessening the power of an enemy, whom, at the same time, she sought neither to destroy nor distress, she gained an advantage without doing an evil, and created to herself a new friend by associating with a country in misfortune.
This quote illustrates how France strategically gained an ally without causing harm to its enemy.
Share
More from Thomas Paine
It was Government dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chasm.
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.
To possess ourselves of a clear idea of what government is, or ought to be, we must trace it to its origin.
But from such opposition the French Revolution, instead of suffering, receives an homage.