Question

“I once felt all that kind of anger, which a man ought to feel, against the mean principles that are held by the Tories: a noted one, who kept a tavern at Amboy, was standing at his door, with as pretty a child in his hand, about eight or nine years old, as I ever saw, and after speaking his mind as freely as he thought was prudent, finished with this unfatherly expression, ‘Well! give me peace in my day.’ Not a man lives on the continent but fully believes that a separation must some time or other finally take place, and a generous parent should have said, ‘If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;’ and this single reflection, well applied, is sufficient to awaken every man to duty.” Which is a central idea of this excerpt?

Answer 1

The narrator is critisising the mean principles held by the Tories. He things that it's not parental to wish for peace when a war is coming. The narrator thinks it's wiser, more generous, to wish for trouble if that means peace for your child. The "awaken every man to duty" could also be a call to arms against the Tories.

Answer 2

According to my understanding, he was poisoning the well.

Step-by-step explanation

This is best on the statement that the author says he does not support the England selfish.

He, therefore, suggests that because of the inevitability of the England war, everybody should preserve peace in their time.

Failure to this, they will be pushing the battles to the future.

Ultimately, Tavern believes that the baby in his arms will suffer the consequences of war when she is old enough, and he does not know what to experience it anymore.