Jonathan Shipley Quotes

The idea of governing provinces and colonies by force is visionary and chimerical. The experiment has often been tried, and it has never succeeded. It ends infallibly in the ruin of one country or the other.

In the absence of justice, what is sovereignty but organized robbery?

This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

The ultimate unit, the taxpayer – whether home or colonial – looks for two groups of results as his reward. On the one hand, he hopes to see Christianity and civilization pro tanto extended; and, on the other, to see some compensating development of industry and trade. Unless he, or 'his servants the Government,' secure either or both these results, the question must be plainly asked, Has he the right, and is he right, to wage such wars?

My experience and what scant understanding of politics I possess have convinced me that our peoples will only find well-being under compulsion; but my repugnance for compulsion is so great that I am loath to employ it even to achieve their well-being.

Our armies do not come into your cities and lands as conquerors or enemies, but as liberators. … It is not the wish of our government to impose upon you alien institutions.

We are all British gentlemen engaged in the magnificent work of governing an inferior race.

What is the greatest achievement in ruling an empire? That the subjects should live continually in a state of peace, and justice be administered speedily in cases of dispute.

What I don't understand about you chaps is that you are always objecting to things that are not being done in accordance with British justice, and at the same time you keep attacking us British.

Government, in which the majority rules in all things, cannot be based on justice.

For a foreign power to take this country [the Sudan] would be most easy. The mass are far from fanatical. They would rejoice in good government, let its religion be what it might …. It is the government that needs civilizing far more than the people.

They are to choose annually from among themselves, a certain Number of Men, according to their divisions, which constitute the General Assembly with the Governour and his Council, and have the sole power of Making Laws, and Laying Taxes for the common good when need shall require

We Beate the Savages outt of the Island burned their howses Ransaked their Temple Tooke down the Corpes of their deade kings from out of their Toambes And caryed away their pearles.... The Salvages still contineweinge their mallice Ageinste us.

The purpose of the imperialists is to keep us backward, to keep us in our present miserable state so they can exploit our riches, our underground wealth, our lands and our human resources. They want us to remain afflicted and wretched, and our poor to be trapped in their misery ... they and their agents wish to go on living in huge palaces and enjoying lives of abominable luxury…. In order to assure the unity of the Islamic umma, in order to liberate the Islamic homeland from occupation and penetration by the imperialists and their puppet governments, it is imperative that we establish a government. ... we must overthrow the oppressive governments installed by the imperialists and bring into existence an Islamic government of justice ...

A government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it.

Tell the King, that whole cities are in open revolt against the prosecutions, and that it is impossible to enforce the decrees here. As for myself, I shall continue to hold by the Catholic faith; but I will never give any color to the tyrannical claim of kings to dictate to the consciences of their people, and to prescribe the form of religion that they choose to impose. Call the King’s attention to the corruption that has crept into the administration of justice. Let the Government be reformed, the Privy Council and the Council of Finance, and increase the authority of the Council of State.

When I consider the objections put forward to the grant of self-government I can hardly keep my patience. What is it that they say? They say that we are not educated enough to get self-government. My answer is: whose fault is it? For the last 150 years you have been governing this country and yet you have not succeeded in educating the people of this country to such an extent that they may be fit for governing themselves.

In no form of government is there an absolute identity of interest between the people and their rulers

The ministers and people of England might neither mean to be, nor be, the tyrants and oppressors which they were thought by the people of America, but whether they were as reasonable and prudent, or even as well justified in their measures of taxation, much less of coercion, as they supposed, is quite another question.

I hold to be of itself a lesson for all those who love liberty, and who would extend its blessings to their country. Men are not to be pedants in liberty, any more than in virtue. Though they are not to be oppressed by tyrants, they must at least be governed by their fellow-men. The great principles of independence in the heart of man are to be cherished and upheld; but order, prosperity, the purposes of society, must be accomplished. The many must delegate the government of themselves to the few. Control, executive power, must be lodged somewhere …

Wayne: I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them ..... the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves. .... I'm quite sure that the concept of a Government-run reservation .... seems to be what the socialists are working for now -- to have everyone cared for from cradle to grave ..... But you can't whine and bellyache 'cause somebody else got a break and you didn't, like those Indians are. We'll all be on a reservation soon if the socialists keep subsidizing groups like them with our tax money.

Since the business of politics is the conciliation of differing interests, justice must not merely be done, but to be seen to be done.

There is no alternative. Either the colonies are a part of the community of Great Britain, or they are in a state of nature with respect to her, and in no case can be subject to that legislative power which represents her community, which is the British Parliament…. They [the American colonists] ought to reflect, that whatever may be their condition, they cannot apply to parliament to better it. If they reject the jurisdiction of parliament, they must not in any case sue for its interposition on their behalf.

America was not annexed to the realm, and … it was not fitting that Parliament should make laws for those countries.

The thing which he proposes to buy is what cannot be sold—liberty. He proposes to you to substitute the British Parliament in your place …. Against such a body, were I expiring on the floor, I should beg to utter my last breath and record my dying testimony.