shall I condemn those who have fled from the actual sight and hearing of
all these horrors? No, no! mankind has no title to demand that we should
be slaves to their guilt and insolence, or that we should serve them in
spite of themselves. Minds sore with the poignant sense of insulted
virtue, filled with high disdain against the pride of triumphant
baseness, often have it not in their choice to stand their ground. Their
complexion (which might defy the rack) cannot go through such a trial.
Something very high must fortify men to that proof. But when I am driven
to comparison, surely I cannot hesitate for a moment to prefer to such
men as are common those heroes who in the midst of despair perform all
the tasks of hope,--who subdue their feelings to their duties,--who, in
the cause of humanity, liberty, and honor, abandon all the satisfactions
of life, and every day incur a fresh risk of life itself. Do me the
justice to believe that I never can prefer any fastidious virtue (virtue
still) to the unconquered perseverance, to the affectionate patience, of
those who watch day and night by the bedside of their delirious
country,--who, for their love to that dear and venerable name, bear all
the disgusts and all the buffets they receive from their frantic mother.
Sir, I do look on you as true martyrs; I regard you as soldiers who act
far more in the spirit of our Commander-in-Chief and the Captain of our
Salvation than those who have left you: though I must first bolt myself
very thoroughly, and know that I could do better, before I can censure
them. I assure you, Sir, that, when I consider your unconquerable
fidelity to your sovereign and to your country,--the courage, fortitude,
magnanimity, and long-suffering of yourself, and the Abbe Maury, and of
M. Cazales, and of many worthy persons of all orders in your
Assembly,--I forget, in the lustre of these great qualities, that on
your side has been displayed an eloquence so rational, manly, and
convincing, that no time or country, perhaps, has ever excelled. But
your talents disappear in my admiration of your virtues.

As to M. Mounier and M. Lally, I have always wished to do justice to
their parts, and their eloquence, and the general purity of their
motives. Indeed, I saw very well, from the beginning, the mischiefs
which, with all these talents and good intentions, they would do their
country, through their confidence in systems. But their distemper was an
epidemic malady. T