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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Common Sense by Thomas Paine: the necessity of naval protection.
Some, perhaps, will say, that after we have made it up Britain,
she will protect us. Can we be so unwise as to mean,
that she shall keep a navy in our harbours for that purpose?
Common sense will tell us, that the power which hath endeavoured
to subdue us, is of all others the most improper to defend us.
Conquest may be effected under the pretence of friendship;
and ourselves after a long and brave resistance, be at last cheated
into slavery. And if her ships are not to be admitted into our harbours,
I would ask, how is she to protect us? A navy three or four thousand miles
off can be of little use, and on sudden emergencies, none at all.
Common Sense |
