d no
managements. He secured no retreat. He sought no apology.

I will likewise do justice--I ought to do it--to the honorable gentleman
who led us in this House.[9] Far from the duplicity wickedly charged on
him, he acted his part with alacrity and resolution. We all felt
inspired by the example he gave us, down even to myself, the weakest in
that phalanx. I declare for one, I knew well enough (it could not be
concealed from anybody) the true state of things; but, in my life, I
never came with so much spirits into this House. It was a time for a
_man_ to act in. We had powerful enemies; but we had faithful and
determined friends, and a glorious cause. We had a great battle to
fight; but we had the means of fighting: not as now, when our arms are
tied behind us. We did fight that day, and conquer.

I remember, Sir, with a melancholy pleasure, the situation of the
honorable gentleman[10] who made the motion for the repeal: in that
crisis, when the whole trading interest of this empire, crammed into
your lobbies, with a trembling and anxious expectation, waited, almost
to a winter's return of light, their fate from your resolutions. When at
length you had determined in their favor, and your doors thrown open
showed them the figure of their deliverer in the well-earned triumph of
his important victory, from the whole of that grave multitude there
arose an involuntary burst of gratitude and transport. They jumped upon
him like children on a long absent father. They clung about him as
captives about their redeemer. All England, all America, joined in his
applause. Nor did he seem insensible to the best of all earthly rewards,
the love and admiration of his fellow-citizens. _Hope elevated and joy
brightened his crest_. I stood near him; and his face, to use the
expression of the Scripture of the first martyr, "his face was as if it
had been the face of an angel." I do not know how others feel; but if I
had stood in that situation, I never would have exchanged it for all
that kings in their profusion could bestow. I did hope that that day's
danger and honor would have been a bond to hold us all together forever.
But, alas! that, with other pleasing visions, is long since vanished.

Sir, this act of supreme magnanimity has been represented as if it had
been a measure of an administration that, having no scheme of their own,
took a middle line, pilfered a bit from one side and a bit from the
other. Sir, they took _no_ middle l