Benjamin Franklin Series: Pt. 1 The Statesman Continued

“I lament with you the prospect of a horrid war, which is likely to engage so great a part of mankind. There is little good gained, and so much mischief done generally, by wars, that I wish the imprudence of undertaking them was more evident to princes; in which case I think they would be less frequent. If I were counselor of the Empress of Russia, and found that she desired to possess some part of the dominions of the Grand Seignior, I should advise her to compute the annual taxes raised from that territory, and make him an offer of buying it, at the rate of paying for it at twenty years’ purchase. And if I were his counselor, I should advise him to take the money and cede the dominion of that territory. For I am of opinion that a war to obtain it would cost her more than that sum, and the event uncertain, and that the defense of it will cost him as much, and not having embraced the offer, his loss is double. But to make and accept such an offer, these potentates should be both of them reasonable creatures, and free from the ambition of glory, which perhaps is too much to be supposed.”