The preoccupations of both are purely with matters of style. The only
distinction is that the Conservatives make off with a great deal at
once, while the Liberals take less, but do it often.
This is in harmony with the law of mechanics according to which what is
gained in force is lost in velocity and what is gained in intensity is
lost in expansion. After all, no doubt morality in politics should be a
negligible quantity. Honest, upright men who hearken only to the voice
of conscience, never get on in politics, neither are they ever
practical, nor good for anything.
To succeed in politics, a certain facility is necessary, to which must
be added ambition and a thirst for glory. The last is the most innocent
of the three.
ON OBEYING THE LAW
It is safe, it seems to me, to assume the following axioms: First, to
obey the law is in no sense to attain justice; second, it is not
possible to obey the law strictly, thoroughly, in any country in the
world.
That obeying the law has nothing to do with justice is indisputable, and
this is especially true in the political sphere, in which it is easy to
point to a rebel, such as Martinez Campos, who has been elevated to the
plane of a great man and who has been immortalized by a statue upon his
death, and then to a rebel such as Sanchez Moya, who Was merely shot.
Pages:
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179