The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the MoonDefoe, Daniel
Science
The Consolidator; or, Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon
Defoe, Daniel
Fantasy fiction; Interplanetary voyages -- Fiction; Moon -- Fiction; Political fiction; Satire
Had the Elector of Saxony past the Operation of this Engine, he would
never have beggar'd a Rich Electorate, to ruin a beggar'd Crown, nor
sold himself for a Kingdom hardly worth any Man's taking: He would
never have made himself less than he was, in hopes of being really no
greater; and stept down from a Protestant Duke, and Imperial Elector,
to be a Nominal Mock King with a shadow of Power, and a Name without
honour, Dignity or Strength.
Had Mons. Tallard been in our Engine, he would not only not have
attackt the Confederates when they past the Morass and Rivulet in his
Front, but not have attackt them at all, nor have suffer'd them to
have attackt him, it being his Business not to have fought at all,
but have linger'd out the War, till the Duke of Savoy having been
reduced, the Confederate Army must have been forced to have divided
themselves of course, in order to defend their own.
Some that have been very forward to have us proceed The Shortest
Way with the Scots, may be said to stand in great need of this Chair
of Reflection, to find out a just Cause for such a War, and to make
a Neighbour-Nation making themselves secure, a sufficient Reason
for another Neighbour-Nation to fall upon them: Our Engine would
presently show it them in a clear sight, by way of Paralel, that 'tis
just with the fame Right as a Man may break open a House, because the
People bar and bolt the Windows.
If some-body has chang'd Hands there from bad to worse, and open'd
instead of closing Differences in those Cases, the Cogitator migyt
have brought them, by more regular Thinking, to have known that was
not at all the Method of bringing the S---s to Reason.
Our Cogitator would be a very necessary thing to show some People,
That Poverty and Weakness is not a sufficient Ground to oppress a
Nation, and their having but little Trade, cannot be a sufficient
Ground to equip Fleets to take away what they have.
I cannot deny, that I have often thought they have had something
of this Engine in our Neighbouring Antient Kingdom, since no Man,
however we pretend to be angry, but will own they are in the right
of it, as to themselves, to Vote and procure Bills for their own
Security, and not to do as others demand without Conditions fit to
be accepted: But of that by it self.
There are abundance of People in Our World, of all sorts and
Conditions, that stand in need of our thinking Engines, and to be
screw'd into themselves a little, that they might think as directly
as they speak absurdly: But of these also in a Class by it self.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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