Tea at Trianon: Peace, Commerce and Friendship

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Peace, Commerce and Friendship

With North Korea? Joshua Snyder explains:

With the southern half of that tragically divided country, America finds herself tied up in an "entangling alliance," and with the northern half, rather than "peace, commerce and honest friendship," we find war, sanctions, and animosity. Didn't George Washington warn us against "the mischiefs of foreign intrigue" resulting from "excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another" in his farewell address?

Ending the permanent and entangling alliance with South Korea is a no-brainer. If the alliance ever made sense, it clearly no longer does. Americans find themselves expending treasure and potentially blood defending one of the richest countries in the world against one of the poorest. Lest one point to China, South Korea has been enjoying decades of friendly political and commercial relations with the regional power. (Do they read Jefferson in South Korea?) The South Koreans have even been attempting the same with the North, with some degree of success, and with much opposition from Washington (the misnamed imperial capital, not the Founder of the Country).

Iosue Andreas Sartorius said...: Thank you very much for the link. I usually get hate mail when I write about North Korea.; April 30, 2011 at 6:36:00 AM EDT
Nancy Reyes said...: America has few troops left in the south. Or hadn't you noticed?

The problem is not America,except for those who see everything America does as evil and anyone who opposes America as "good".

The real problem is the plutocrats who are looting the country in North Korea...and when that country finally collapses, half a million starving refugees will flood China, which is why China is building fences and arming their border, to stop them...; April 30, 2011 at 9:45:00 PM EDT
elena maria vidal said...: "America has few troops left in the south. Or hadn't you noticed?"

Are you addressing me or Mr. Snyder, whose article I am quoting? Joshua Snyder lives in South Korea and has a Korean family so I guess he knows what is there and what is not there......; April 30, 2011 at 9:58:00 PM EDT