You are sensible that I do not differ from you in many things; and most
certainly I do not dissent from the main of your doctrine concerning the
heresy of depending upon contingencies. You must recollect how uniform
my sentiments have been on that subject. I have ever wished a settled
plan of our own, founded in the very essence of the American business,
wholly unconnected with the events of the war, and framed in such a
manner as to keep up our credit and maintain our system at home, in
spite of anything which may happen abroad. I am now convinced, by a long
and somewhat vexatious experience, that such a plan is absolutely
impracticable. I think with you, that some faults in the constitution
of those whom we must love and trust are among the causes of this
impracticability; they are faults, too, that one can hardly wish them
perfectly cured of, as I am afraid they are intimately connected with
honest, disinterested intentions, plentiful fortunes, assured rank, and
quiet homes. A great deal of activity and enterprise can scarcely ever
be expected from such men, unless some horrible calamity is just over
their heads, or unless they suffer some gross personal insults from
power, the resentment of which may be as unquiet and stimulating a
principle in their minds as ambition is in those of a different
complexion.
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