This war,
in particular, cannot be carried on, unless they are enthusiastically in
favor of it. Acquiescence will not do. There must be zeal. Universal
zeal in such a cause, and at such a time as this is, cannot be looked
for; neither is it necessary. Zeal in the larger part carries the force
of the whole. Without this, no government, certainly not our
government, is capable of a great war. None of the ancient, regular
governments have wherewithal to fight abroad with a foreign foe, and at
home to overcome repining, reluctance, and chicane. It must be some
portentous thing, like Regicide France, that can exhibit such a prodigy.
Yet even she, the mother of monsters, more prolific than the country of
old called _ferax monstrorum_, shows symptoms of being almost effete
already; and she will be so, unless the fallow of a peace comes to
recruit her fertility. But whatever may be represented concerning the
meanness of the popular spirit, I, for one, do not think so desperately
of the British nation. Our minds, as I said, are light, but they are not
depraved. We are dreadfully open to delusion and to dejection; but we
are capable of being animated and undeceived.
It cannot be concealed: we are a divided people. But in divisions, where
a part is to be taken, we are to make a muster of our strength. I have
often endeavored to compute and to class those who, in any political
view, are to be called the people. Without doing something of this sort,
we must proceed absurdly.
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