erned.

These are the _parties_. I have said, and said truly, that I know of no
neutrals. But, as a general observation on this general principle of
choosing neutrals on such occasions as the present, I have this to say,
that it amounts to neither more nor less than this shocking
proposition,--that we ought to exclude men of honor and ability from
serving theirs and our cause, and to put the dearest interests of
ourselves and our posterity into the hands of men of no decided
character, without judgment to choose and without courage to profess any
principle whatsoever.

Such men can serve no cause, for this plain reason,--they have no cause
at heart. They can, at best, work only as mere mercenaries. They have
not been guilty of great crimes; but it is only because they have not
energy of mind to rise to any height of wickedness. They are not hawks
or kites: they are only miserable fowls whose flight is not above their
dunghill or hen-roost. But they tremble before the authors of these
horrors. They admire them at a safe and respectful distance. There never
was a mean and abject mind that did not admire an intrepid and dexterous
villain. In the bottom of their hearts they believe such hardy
miscreants to be the only men qualified for great affairs. If you set
them to transact with such persons, they are instantly subdued. They
dare not so much as look their antagonist in the face. They are made to
be their subjects, not to be their arbiters or controllers.

These men, to be sure, can look at atrocious acts without indignation,
and can behold suffering virtue without sympathy. Therefore they are
considered as sober, dispassionate men. But they have their passions,
though of another kind, and which are infinitely more likely to carry
them out of the path of their duty. They are of a tame, timid, languid,
inert temper, wherever the welfare of _others_ is concerned. In such
causes, as they have no motives to action, they never possess any real
ability, and are totally destitute of all resource.

Believe a man who has seen much and observed something. I have seen, in
the course of my life, a great many of that family of men. They are
generally chosen because they have no opinion of their own; and as far
as they can be got in good earnest to embrace any opinion, it is that of
whoever happens to employ them, (neither longer nor shorter, narrower
nor broader,) with whom they have no discussion or consultation. The
only thing