Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
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Looking back on Franklin's life one of his
fables seems especially prophetic. This is the one of the lion cub and the mastiff.
Quote:
A lion's whelp was put on board a guinea ship bound for America
as a present to a friend in that country: It was tame, and harmless as a kitten,
and therefore not confined, but suffered to walk about the
ship at pleasure. A stately, full-grown English mastiff, belonging
to the captain, despising the weakness of the young lion, frequently
took its food by force and often turned it out of its lodging box,
when he had a mind to repose therein himself. The young lion
nevertheless grew daily in size and strength, and the voyage being
long, he became at last a more equal match for the mastiff; who,
continuing his insults, received a stunning blow from the lion's paw
that fetched his skin over his ears, and deterred him from any
further contest with such growing strength; regretting that he had
not rather secured its friendship than provoked its enmity.
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If the two could have become friends rather than enemies quite a lot of new opportunities could have been
assigned the citizens of each country and this probably also would have hindered the various coming wars and revolutions from happening which had been caused mostly by the stark discrepancies between the very rich and the very poor created by trying to finance the struggles between England, America, and France and their various allies. A lot of
mayhem could also have been prevented. Unfortunately, wars and their motivations seldom come down to something that can be put into a neat little formula provided a
ratio of costs versus benefits.