In
what I did, I should follow the example of our ancestors. I would make
the reparation as nearly as possible in the style of the building. A
politic caution, a guarded circumspection, a moral rather than a
complexional timidity, were among the ruling principles of our
forefathers in their most decided conduct. Not being illuminated with
the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so
abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance
and fallibility of mankind. He that had made them thus fallible,
rewarded them for having in their conduct attended to their nature. Let
us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune, or to
retain their bequests. Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve
what they have left; and, standing on the firm ground of the British
constitution, let us be satisfied to admire, rather than attempt to
follow in their desperate flights the aeronauts of France.
I have told you candidly my sentiments. I think they are not likely to
alter yours. I do not know that they ought. You are young; you cannot
guide, but must follow the fortune of your country. But hereafter they
may be of some use to you, in some future form which your commonwealth
may take. In the present it can hardly remain; but before its final
settlement it may be obliged to pass, as one of our poets says, "through
great varieties of untried being," and in all its transmigrations to be
purified by fire and blood.
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