ive, will no more constitute statesmanship
than fireworks suffice to light up the streets of a city.
Like all men of quick intelligence, you undervalue those who
advance more slowly, forgetting that their gleaning is more
cleanly made, and that, while you come sooner, they come
more heavily laden. Again, this waiting for conviction--this
habit of listening to the arguments on each side, however
excellent in general life, is inapplicable in politics. You
must have opinions previously formed--you must have your
mind made up, on principles very different and much wider
than those a debate embraces. If I find the person who
guides me through the streets of a strange city stop to
inquire here, to ask this, to investigate that, and so on, I
at once conceive--and very reasonably--a doubt of his skill
and intelligence; but if he advance with a certain air of
assured knowledge, I yield myself to his guidance with
implicit trust: nor does it matter so much, when we have
reached the desired goal, that we made a slight divergence
from the shortest road.

"Now, if a constituency concede much to your judgment,
remember that you owe a similar debt to the leader of your
party, who certainly--all consideration of ability apart--
sees further, because from a higher eminence, than other
men.

"Again, you take no pleasure in any pursuit wherein no
obstacle presents itself; and yet, if the difficulty be one
involving a really strong effort, you abandon it. You
require as many conditions to your liking as did the
commander at Walcheren--the wind must not only blow from a
particular quarter, but with a certain degree of violence.
This will never do! The favouring gale that leads to
fortune is as often a hurricane as a zephyr; some are blown
into the haven half shipwrecked, but still safe.

"Lastly, you have a failing, for which neither ability, nor
address, nor labour, nor even good luck, can compensate. You
trust every one--not from any implicit reliance on the
goodness of human nature--not that you think well of this
man, or highly of that, but simply from indolence.
'Believing,' is so very easy--such a rare self-indulgence!
Think of all the deception this has cost you--think of the
fallacies, which you knew to be fallacies, that found th