By what accident it matters not, nor upon what desert, but just then,
and in the midst of that hunt of obloquy which ever has pursued me with
a full cry through life, I had obtained a very considerable degree of
public confidence. I know well enough how equivocal a test this kind of
popular opinion forms of the merit that obtained it. I am no stranger to
the insecurity of its tenure. I do not boast of it. It is mentioned to
show, not how highly I prize the thing, but my right to value the use I
made of it. I endeavored to turn that short-lived advantage to myself
into a permanent benefit to my country. Far am I from detracting from
the merit of some gentlemen, out of office or in it, on that occasion.
No! It is not my way to refuse a full and heaped measure of justice to
the aids that I receive. I have through life been willing to give
everything to others,--and to reserve nothing for myself, but the inward
conscience that I had omitted no pains to discover, to animate, to
discipline, to direct the abilities of the country for its service, and
to place them in the best light to improve their age, or to adorn it.
This conscience I have. I have never suppressed any man, never checked
him for a moment in his course, by any jealousy, or by any policy. I was
always ready, to the height of my means, (and they wore always
infinitely below my desires,) to forward those abilities which
overpowered my own. He is an ill-furnished undertaker who has no
machinery but his own hands to work with.
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