Peace, above all things, is to be desired, but blood must sometimes be spilled to obtain it on equable and lasting terms.

The sentence frames peace as the highest political good while insisting it may require coercion or war to secure it “on equable and lasting terms.” The key tension is between peace as an end and violence as a means: the speaker rejects peace at any price and instead argues that durable, fair settlement sometimes depends on demonstrating force or accepting bloodshed. In Jackson’s idiom, this aligns with a hard-edged view of statecraft—order and stability are preserved not only by negotiation but by readiness to fight when necessary. The moral claim is consequentialist: temporary violence is justified if it prevents greater or longer conflict and yields a more stable peace.