Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/22

 given in publick Distress; the Relief afforded in general Calamity; the Protection granted in emergent Danger; the mutual Return of Kindness and Civility, would afford a very ample and very pleasing Subject for History. But alas! all the History of all Times, concerning all Nations, does not afford Matter enough to fill ten Pages, though it should be spun out by the Wire-drawing Amplification of a Guicciardini himself. The glaring Side is that of Enmity. War is the Matter which fills all History, and consequently the only, or almost the only View in which we can see the external of political Society, is in a hostile Shape; and the only Actions, to which we have always seen, and still see all of them intent, are such, as tend to the Destruction of one another. War, says Machiavell, ought to be the only Study of a Prince; and by a Prince,