There’s No Contracting of Alliances with Those that are out of Distance
of Assisting in a Time of Need, in all Contracts, whether of Publique
Alliance, and Commerce, or Particular Friendship, there must a Regard be
had to Reciprocal Aid and Assistance, in case of any Distress; So that
All the Circumstances of Ability, Disposition, Situation, Interest, &c.
must be taken into Thought, and Rightly Understood, before the Bargain be
Struck: for ’tis a Scandalous Oversight to Err in any of the Essentials
to a Prudential, and a Beneficial Agreement: By which is Intended, any
sort of Defect, or Incapacity that may Obstruct, or Frustrate the End
of the League. Those Contracts are Ridiculous, and Void in Themselves,
that shall pretend to Oblige us against Nature. For ’tis a _Banter_, not
a _Confederacy_, _to talk of Fishes Marching by Land, and Living out of
their Element_.