Therefore, as far as concerns ourselves and our security, I do not think that so wide a space of conquered country is desirable; and, as a patriot, I have no wish for it.

If I desire it, it is not for our sakes directly, but for the benefit of those unhappy nations whom we should rescue, and whose prosperity would be reflected back upon ourselves.

Holding these notions, it is natural, highly as I rate the importance of military power, and deeply as I feel its necessity for the protection of every excellence and virtue, that I should rest my hopes with respect to the emancipation of Europe more upon moral influence, and the wishes and opinions of the people of the respective nations, than you appear to do.
As I have written in my pamphlet, 'on the moral qualities of a people must its salvation ultimately depend.

Something higher than military excellence must be taught _as_ higher; something more fundamental, _as_ more fundamental.' Adopting the opinion of the writers upon the laws of Nations, you treat of _conquest_ as if _conquest_ could in itself, nakedly and abstractedly considered, confer rights.

If we once admit this proposition, all morality is driven out of the world.