Understand
Their territory all such forts embraces
And sovereignty thereover is resumed.
You cannot have a war on that account,
When they would pay you for the places lost.
First Phantom
First the rebellious spirit must surmount
The barriers that keep them home with us.
They cannot leave us, cannot take and hold
What is not theirs, or what if they had sold
They could not grant.
Second Phantom
That is but bloody gold.
And what you say if acted on will bring
A million deaths.
First Phantom
They are responsible
For all the consequences if they cling
To this rebellious purpose.
Second Phantom
To compel
This fortress’s provisioning
Will be a blow first struck. It is the law:
The first blow of a war is struck by him
Who makes the first blow needful to be struck.
First Phantom