Family-histories and genealogies : containing a series of ...

mmin=WioltoU
as apothegms of personal virtue and of political honor and sagacity. We
give these without farther introduction, only adding to each a date :
Any considerable degree of affluence is not attainable in public service, consis-
my prospects on that head are therefore very limited "— ' 1789.
tent with integrity ;
" ' The
favours I have received I am very happy to mention to you [his father], as
I am certain that they have been bestowed upon me under the auspices of your repu-
tation '
" ' We
"— 1790.
must have a government, and this is the last that can be settled in the
United States, by the general consent of the present members' "— 1794.
" ' The
people here [in New York] are driving at their private occupations, and
seem plunged in the mire of commercial avarice. They attend to nothing else; they
seem to consider themselves as having no kind of connection with the affairs of the
nation, and no interest in it !' "— 1798.
" ' I know what vexations you will experience while in your present place ; you
can't hold it with any satisfaction, and no other man could on the terms you must,
"—Chauncey Goodrich, 1800.
without at least being entangled in some ugly snare '
" ' At
the same time I request that, if the liberty I have now taken to invite their
attention to a matter of personal concern should be deemed in any degree unsuitable,
the errour may be attributed to a just and reasonable desire that my conduct and
"
character may, on proper evidence, appear to have deserved their approbation '
" ' A
government which cannot tolerate the virtues which have been exhibited in
ours, cannot long enjoy the confidence of the wise and good. It cannot long be pre-
"— 1800.
served pure, and will soon be thought not worth preserving '
" 'The success of governments depends on the selection of the men who admin-
ister them. It seems as if the ruling system would rob the country of all chance, by
"— Fisher Ames, 1800.
excluding the only classes proper to make the selection from '
" ' You,
Gentlemen, are all witnesses that the publick suffrages have not been
influenced by my solicitations or exertions ; neither ought I to attribute the invalu-
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