Political Sovereignty Quotes
This quotation is often misunderstood. At the time there were a number of siege machines that were used to batter or breach the walls of towns, forts or castles. However, really good architects (actually military engineers and architects were the same at the time) were able to design countermeasures to thwart the machines by analyzing the principles of the siege machines and creating counter machines, structures and tactics. This point was that the clever architects were necessary and able to save nations. Most of these have got unheralded at the time or in history except for a few like Leonardo Da Vinci who is today known as a great artist and futurist but was mainly known his his own time as a military engineer.
This principle was at odds with the European scramble for Africa and other colonies which followed. When the colonial empires fell apart, Mill’s principle was considered valid by most. However, when Hawaii and Alaska became States of the United States, the counterexample to the principle was born. With modern communications and transportation distance becomes a less important factor. What are now contiguous trade blocks and federations may well develop into noncontiguous sets of land affiliated as a single state.
In the particular case, the issue was whether the businessmen of our French allies should suffer from a devaluation of American currency that was then contemplated. American merchants would pay for goods in devalued currency and pay back loans with the same. Americans, and most other trading nations, have been on both sides of this issue ever since as a function of the specifics of the issues and the times.
