Only, then, when the advantage to be gained falls to the lot of a
few oppressors, but the disadvantages, the trouble, the cost fall upon
a countless army of slaves--only then is a war of plunder possible or
conceivable. Accordingly, these States have no war to fear from States
like themselves, but only from savages or barbarians, tempted to prey
by want of skill to enrich themselves by industry; or from nations of
slaves, who are driven by their masters to procure plunder, of which
they are to enjoy no part themselves. As to the former, each single
State is undoubtedly superior to them in strength, by virtue of the
arts of culture. As to the latter, the common advantage of all the
States will lead them to strengthen themselves by union with one
another. No free State can reasonably tolerate, in its immediate
vicinity, polities whose rulers find their advantage in subjecting
neighboring nations, and which, therefore, by their mere existence,
perpetually threaten their neighbors' peace. Care for their own
security will oblige all free States to convert all around them into
free States like themselves, and thus, for the sake of their own
safety, to extend the dominion of culture to the savages, and that of
liberty to the slave nations round about them. And so, when once a few
free States have been formed, the empire of culture, of liberty, and,
with that, of universal peace, will gradually embrace the globe.
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