Let it be remembered, that
when he took this trust from the people of Norfolk, he was constantly
engaged in the highest duties of his profession; that he was not only
employed in courts, but was consulted by foreign clients--by the
merchants of London and by the Court of Rome; and that his absence from
town in the performance of his duties in the assembly would result in
the loss of thousands at a time when he was far from being a wealthy
man; and we will have some idea of the principles which guided his
conduct in respect of the public service. He sought nothing--he asked
nothing from public bodies or from the people, but he recognized the
obligation resting on every citizen to serve his country; and when an
emergent case occurred, and he was called out by the people, he never
declined office, but entered into it at every personal sacrifice,
performing its duties with such success and such ability as to leave an
impression upon the times in which he lived.[8] He practically defeated
the wild banking schemes of the session by the insertion of a specie
clause which was readily adopted by the friends of those measures, but
which, as was designed, made their schemes impracticable.
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