The latest
casuists of public law are rather of a republican cast, and, in my mind,
by no means so averse as they ought to be to a right in the people (a
word which, ill defined, is of the most dangerous use) to make changes
at their pleasure in the fundamental laws of their country. These
writers, however, when a country is divided, leave abundant liberty for
a neighbor to support any of the parties according to his choice.[36]
This interference must, indeed, always be a right, whilst the privilege
of doing good to others, and of averting from them every sort of evil,
is a right: circumstances may render that right a duty. It depends
wholly on this, whether it be a _bona fide_ charity to a party, and a
prudent precaution with regard to yourself, or whether, under the
pretence of aiding one of the parties in a nation, you act in such a
manner as to aggravate its calamities and accomplish its final
destruction. In truth, it is not the interfering or keeping aloof, but
iniquitous intermeddling, or treacherous inaction, which is praised or
blamed by the decision of an equitable judge.
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