As to the great majority of the nation,
they have done whatever, in their several ranks and conditions and
descriptions, was required of them by their relative situations in
society: and from those the great mass of mankind cannot depart, without
the subversion of all public order. They look up to that government
which they obey that they may be protected. They ask to be led and
directed by those rulers whom Providence and the laws of their country
have set over them, and under their guidance to walk in the ways of
safety and honor. They have again delegated the greatest trust which
they have to bestow to those faithful representatives who made their
true voice heard against the disturbers and destroyers of Europe. They
suffered, with unapproving acquiescence, solicitations, which they had
in no shape desired, to an unjust and usurping power, whom they had
never provoked, and whose hostile menaces they did not dread. When the
exigencies of the public service could only be met by their voluntary
zeal, they started forth with an ardor which outstripped the wishes of
those who had injured them by doubting whether it might not be necessary
to have recourse to compulsion. They have in all things reposed an
enduring, but not an unreflecting confidence. That confidence demands a
full return, and fixes a responsibility on the ministers entire and
undivided. The people stands acquitted, if the war is not carried on in
a manner suited to its objects.
Pages:
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535