Nothing can excuse a general who takes advantage of the knowledge acquired in the service of his country, to NOTE.Ambitious men who, listening only to their passions, arm natives of the same land against each other (under the deceitful pretext of the public good), are still more criminal. For however arbitrary a government, the institutions which have been consolidated by time, are always preferable to civil war, and to that anarchy which the latter is obliged to create for the justification of its crimes. To be faithful to his sovereign, and to respect the established government, are the first principles which ought to distinguish a soldier and a man of honor. |