84.)

From a "Report to Congress in 1780."

=_69._= QUALIFICATIONS OF A MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS.

A minister of foreign affairs should have a genius quick, lively,
penetrating; should write on all occasions with clearness and
perspicuity; be capable of expressing his sentiments with dignity, and
conveying strong sense and argument in easy and agreeable diction; his
temper mild, cool, and placid; festive, insinuating, and pliant, yet
obstinate; communicative, and yet reserved. He should know the human
face and heart, and the connections between them; should be versed
in the laws of nature and nations, and not ignorant of the civil and
municipal law; should be acquainted with the history of Europe, and with
the interests, views, commerce, and productions of the commercial and
maritime powers; should know the interests and commerce of America,
understand the French and Spanish languages, at least the former, and be
skilled in the modes and forms of public business; a man educated more
in the world than in the closet, that by use, as well as by nature, he
may give proper attention to great objects, and have proper contempt for
small ones. He should be attached to the independence of America, and
the alliance with France, as the great pillars of our politics; and this
attachment should not be slight and accidental, but regular, consistent,
and founded in strong conviction. His manners, gentle and polite;
above all things, honest, and least of all things, avaricious. His
circumstances and connections should be such as to give solid pledges
for his fidelity; and he should by no means be disagreeable to the
prince with whom we are in alliance, his ministers, or subjects.

* * * * *

=_William Pinkney,[21] 1764-1820._=

From "Speech in the Maryland Legislature." 1798.

=_70._= RESPONSIBILITY FOR SLAVERY.

For my own part, I would willingly draw the veil of oblivion over this
disgusting scene of iniquity, but that the present abject state of those
who are descended from these kidnapped sufferers, perpetually brings it
forward to the memory.

But wherefore should we confine the edge of censure to our ancestors,
or those from whom they purchased? Are not we equally guilty? _They_
strewed around the seeds of slavery; _we_ cherish and sustain the
growth. _They_ introduce the system; _we_ enlarge, invigorate, and
confirm it. Yes, let it be handed down to posterity, that the people of
Mar