It may, in the next place, be asked, perhaps, Supposing all this to be
true, what can _we_ do? Are we to go to war? Are we to interfere in the
Greek cause, or any other European cause? Are we to endanger our pacific
relations? No, certainly not. What, then, the question recurs, remains
for us? If we will not endanger our own peace, if we will neither
furnish armies nor navies to the cause which we think the just one, what
is there within our power?
Sir, this reasoning mistakes the age. The time has been, indeed, when
fleets, and armies, and subsidies, were the principal reliances even in
the best cause. But, happily for mankind, a great change has taken place
in this respect. Moral causes come into consideration, in proportion as
the progress of knowledge is advanced; and the public opinion of the
civilized world is rapidly gaining an ascendency over mere brutal force.
It is already able to oppose the most formidable obstruction to the
progress of injustice and oppression; and as it grows more intelligent
and more intense, it will be more and more formidable. It may be
silenced by military power, but it cannot be conquered. It is elastic,
irrepressible, and invulnerable to the weapons of ordinary warfare. It
is that impassible, inextinguishable enemy of mere violence and
arbitrary rule, which, like Milton's angels,
"Vital in every part, ...
Cannot, but by annihilating, die."
Until this be propitiated or satisfied, it is vain for power to talk
either of triumphs or of repose.
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