ts
innocence."

"There is little novelty in the expedient of seeking to justify the
delinquency of individuals, by the failings of society."

"I confess it is rather just than original. Triteness and Truth appear to
be sisters! And yet do we find ourselves driven to this apology, since the
refinement of us of the brigantine has not yet attained to the point of
understanding all the excellence of novelty in morals."

"I believe there is a mandate of sufficient antiquity, which bids us to
render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's."

"A mandate which our modern Caesars have most liberally construed! I am a
poor casuist, Sir; nor do I think the loyal commander of the Coquette
would wish to uphold all that sophistry can invent on such a subject. If
we begin with potentates, for instance, we shall find the Most Christian
King bent on appropriating as many of his neighbors' goods to his own use,
as ambition, under the name of glory, can covet; the Most Catholic,
covering with the mantle of his Catholicity, a greater multitude of
enormities on this very continent, than even charity itself could conceal;
and our own gracious Sovereign, whose virtues and whose mildness are
celebrated in verse and prose, causing rivers of blood to run, in order
that the little island over which she rules may swell out, like the frog
in the fable, to dimensions that nature has denied, and which will one day
inflict the unfortunate death that befell the ambitious inhabitant of the
pool. The gallows awaits the pickpocket; but your robber under a pennant
is dubbed a knight! The man who amasses wealth by gainful industry is
ashamed of his origin; while he who has stolen from churches, laid
villages under contribution, and cut throats by thousands, to divide the
spoils of a galleon or a military chest, has gained gold on the highway of
glory! Europe has reached an exceeding pass of civilization, it may not be
denied; but before society inflicts so severe censure on the acts of
individuals, notwithstanding the triteness of the opinion, I must say it
is bound to look more closely to the example it sets, in its collective
character."

"These are points on which our difference of opinion is likely to be
lasting;" said Ludlow, assuming the severe air of one who had the world
on his side "We will defer the discussion to a moment of greater leisure,
Sir. Am I to learn more of Mr. Van Staats, or is the question of his fate
to become the subject of a