You might have humored her, even if there had been no justice in her claims, without any risk to your reputation; for Europe, fascinated by your fame, would have ascribed it to your benevolence, and America, intoxicated by the grant, would have slumbered in her fetters.
In "The American Crisis," Paine suggests Britain could have maintained control over America through appeasement, preserving its reputation and keeping the colonies subdued.
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The more it is struck the more sparks it will emit; and the fear is it will not be struck enough.
He writes neither in the character of a Frenchman nor an Englishman, but in the fawning character of that creature known in all countries, and a friend to none--a courtier.
The aristocracy has screened itself too much, and this serves to restore a part of the lost equilibrium.