I have little to recommend my opinions but long observation and much
impartiality. They come from one who has been no tool of power, no
flatterer of greatness; and who in his last acts does not wish to belie
the tenor of his life. They come from one, almost the whole of whose
public exertions has been a struggle for the liberty of others; from one
in whose breast no anger durable or vehement has ever been kindled, but
by what he considered as tyranny; and who snatches from his share in the
endeavours which are used by good men to discredit opulent oppression,
the hours he has employed on your affairs; and who in so doing persuades
himself he has not departed from his usual office: they come from one
who desires honours, distinctions, and emoluments, but little, and who
expects them not at all; who has no contempt for fame, and no fear of
obloquy; who shuns contention, though he will hazard an opinion; who
would preserve consistency by varying his means to secure the unity of
his end; and, when the equipoise of the vessel in which he sails may be
endangered by overloading it upon one side, is desirous of carrying the
small weight of his reasons to that which may preserve its equipoise.