SOMEWHAT A WORSE REASONER FOR HAVING BEEN A MINISTER. A man is generally rendered somewhat a worse reasoner for having been a minister. In private, the assent of listening and obsequious friends; in public, the venal cry and prepared vote of a passive senate; confirm him in habits of begging the question with impunity, and asserting without thinking himself obliged to prove.-Obser. on Pres. State of Nation. THE VIEWS AND OBJECTS OF A POLITICIAN TO BE CONSIDERED AS WELL AS HIS PROPOSALS. In every political proposal we must not leave out of the question the political views and object of the proposer; and these we discover, not by what he says, but by the rinciples he lays down.-Speech on Ref. of Representation. No man can say how far he will go who ins with those who are avowedly going to jor the utmost extremities.-Appeal from New to Old Whigs. Doctrines limited in their present application, and wide in their general principles, are never meant to be confined to what they at first pretend.-Appeal from New to Old Whigs. DESCRIPTION OF LORD CHATHAM'S MINISTRY. He made an administration so checkered and speckled; he put together a piece of joinery so crossly indented and whimsically dovetailed; a cabinet so variously inlaid ; such a piece of diversified mosaic; such a tesselated pavement without cement; here a bit of black stone, and there a bit of white; patriots and courtiers, king's friends and republicans; whigs and tories; treacherous friends and open enemies; that it was indeed a very curious show; but utterly unsafe to touch and unsure to stand on.-Speech on Amer. Taxation. NOT MEN BUT MEASURES. It is an advantage to all narrow wisdom and narrow morals that their maxims have a plausible air; and, on a cursory view, appear equal to first principles. They are light and portable. They are as current as copper coin, and about as valuable. They serve equally the first capacities and the lowest; and they are, at least, as useful to the worst men as to the best. Of this stamp is the cant of Not men but measures; a sort of charm by which many people get loose from every honourable engagement. When I see a man acting this desultory and disconnected part, with as much detriment to his own fortune as prejudice to the cause of any party, I am not persuaded that he is right; but I am ready to believe he is in earnest. I respect virtue in all its situations; even when it is found in the unsuitable company of weakness.—Thoughts on Pres. Discontents. |