WE MUST TAKE SIDES;
Or, the Principle of Action
INTRODUCTION
It is not a question of taking sides between Russia and Turkey; for these States will, sooner of later, come to an understanding without my intervention.
It is not a question of declaring oneself in favour of one English faction and against another; for they will soon have disappeared, to make room for others.
I am not endeavouring to choose between Greek and Armenian Christians, Eutychians and Jacobites, Christians who are called Papists and Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, the primitive folk called Quakers, Anabaptists, Jansenists, Molinists, Socinians, Pietists, and so many other 'ists. I wish to live in peace with all these gentlemen, whenever I may meet them, and never dispute with them; because there is not a single one of them who, when he has a crown to share with me, will not know his business perfectly, or who would spend a single penny for the salvation of my soul or his own.
I am not going to take sides between the old and the new French Parliaments; because in a few years there will be no question of either of them.
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