In office he was more
constant and indefatigable, than lord Bolingbroke himself. All his
lesser pursuits seemed annihilated, and he was swallowed up in the
direction of public affairs.
He has been accused of ambition. Ambition is a very ambiguous term. In
its lowest sense, it sinks the meanest, and degrades the dirtiest of our
race. In its highest, I cannot agree with those who stile it the defect
of noble minds. I esteem it worthy of the loudest commendation, and the
most assiduous culture. Mr. Fox's is certainly not an ambition of
emolument. Nobody dreams it. It is not an ambition, that can be
gratified by the distribution of places and pensions. This is a passion,
that can only dwell in the weakest and most imbecil minds. Its necessary
concomitants, are official inattention and oscitancy. No. The ambition
of this hero is a generous thirst of fame, and a desire of possessing
the opportunity of conferring the most lasting benefits upon his
country. It is an instinct, that carries a man forward into the field of
fitness, and of God.
The vulgar, incapable of comprehending these exalted passions, are apt
upon the slightest occasions to suspect, that this heroical language is
only held out to them for a lure, and that the most illustrious
characters among us are really governed by passions, equally incident to
the meanest of mankind.
Pages:
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31