It is in vain for individuals to contend against an overwhelming power,
and an ineffectual resistance to violence only tends to double our
sufferings. When life is pursued, and in danger, whoever values it
should give up every thing but his honour to preserve it; and there
can be no disgrace in yielding voluntarily to our persecutors, when we
are certain that resistance is in vain: but this doctrine can seldom be
applied to the case of a whole nation, for when tyranny and rapine are
making their wicked strides over a country (as has sometimes happened
even in Europe) the people would seldom fail to rid themselves of their
oppressors, if they resolved to rise as one man, and bravely oppose
them.
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