for it would be a vice; he would be a banished man in his native land.
I see no exception to the respect that is paid among nations to the law
of good faith. If there are cases in this enlightened period when it
is violated, then are none when it is decried. It is the philosophy of
politics, the religion of governments. It is observed by barbarians; a
whiff of tobacco smoke, or a string of beads, gives not merely binding
force, but sanctity, to treaties. Even in Algiers, a truce may be bought
for money; but when ratified, even Algiers is too wise or too just, to
disown and annul its obligation. Thus we see, neither the ignorance of
savages, nor the principles of an association for piracy and rapine,
permit a nation to despise its engagements. If, sir, there could be a
resurrection from the foot of the gallows, if the victims of justice
could live again, collect together, and form a society, they would,
however loath, soon find themselves obliged to make justice, that
justice under which they fell, the fundamental law of their state. They
would perceive it was their interest to make others respect, and they
would, therefore, soon pay some respect themselves, to the obligations
of good faith.
* * * * *
=_Gouverneur Morris, 1752-1816.
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