Is it your implication that no good will come of this expedition?Oh it will, sir; theres no denying that. Captain Chillingworths words emerged very slowly, as if they had been pulled up from a deep well of bitterness. I am sure it will do a great deal of good for some of us. But I doubt Ill be of that number, or that many Chinamen will. The truth is, sir, that men do what their power permits them to do. We are no different from the Pharaohs or the Mongols: the difference is only that when we kill people we feel compelled to pretend that it is for some higher cause. It is this pretence of virtue, I promise you, that will never be forgiven by history.
