What, gentlemen, was I not to foresee, or, foreseeing, was I not to
endeavor to save you from all these multiplied mischiefs and
disgraces? Would the little, silly, canvass prattle of obeying
instructions, and having no opinions but yours, and such idle,
senseless tales which amuse the vacant ears of unthinking men, have
saved you from the “pelting of that pitiless storm” to which the loose
improvidence, the cowardly rashness of those who dare not look danger
in the face, so as to provide against it in time have exposed this
degraded nation?