Problem
On the last page of The American Crisis, Paine states,
"There are persons, too, who see not the full extent of the evil which threatens them. They solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful. It is the madness of folly to expect mercy from those who have refused to do justice; and even mercy, where conquest is the object, is only a trick of war: The cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf, and we ought to guard equally against both."
In this quote, Paine is pointing out that a number of colonists refused to see "the full extent of evil which threatens them" and thus "solace themselves with hopes that the enemy, if they succeed, will be merciful." He then goes on to say that it is a great folly to expect mercy from those who refuse to do justice.
What does he mean when he states that "the cunning of the fox is as murderous as the violence of the wolf and we ought to guard equally against both" (i.e. who is the fox and the wolf in this metaphor and what is the difference in their tactics?