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 ¬mony with the introductory parts; bis Majesty being advised to finish by declaring, ' that the ¬' WAR BEING THEN BEGUN, h'lS good offlCCS COuld ¬' be of no use unless they should be desired by all ' parties interested.' Now according to this doc- trine, it must be taken to be always too late to mediate after a quarrel has begun, which I had always before considered to be the very cause, in all concerns, both public and private, for pro- posing a mediation; and if, according to this answer, mediation can be of no use unless de- sired by all parties, then not only no mediation could ever be useful, but few if any could pos- sibly exist, because the desire of settling differ- ences between contending parties, can rarely be to a moment simultaneous; and all that was asked of Armata was only that she should be the first proposer of this pacific umpirage, and that she should strengthen her proposal by the justly commanding influence of her w r ise and liberal counsels. ¬" If indeed she had accepted this god-like ¬office. ¬