Faith & Spirit Quote by Julia Ward Howe

A razor-edged compliment disguised as moral panic, Howe's line turns imperial power into a kind of providential villain: Britain behaves badly so the rest of humanity can learn, unite, or progress in response. The trick is its double register. "I sometimes think" gives her just enough tentativeness to sound reflective rather than accusatory, then she drops "God allows" like a verdict. This is not casual piety; it's a rhetorical tool that yanks geopolitics into the moral universe, where empires can be judged as characters in a drama of sin and consequence.

The subtext is Protestant-era American confidence colliding with 19th-century British dominance. Howe, an activist steeped in reform movements and transatlantic debates over slavery, war, and empire, is channeling a familiar abolitionist logic: evil isn't random; it's permitted so it can be confronted, exposed, and eventually abolished. Casting Great Britain as "unprincipled" lets her critique realpolitik without sounding merely partisan. If Britain is unprincipled by design, then reformers are not just arguing policy - they're resisting a sanctioned temptation to cynicism.

It also smuggles in a self-justifying story for smaller or newer powers. If Britain is the agent of harsh lessons, others get to play the role of conscience. Howe's intent isn't to absolve Britain; it's to frame its actions as historically useful failures - the kind that clarify what "principle" should mean when money, territory, and national pride are on the table.