stained on account of their appearing like
preconceptions from saying much to you yet, for I want to see more of
this country, and to be certain, that I am quite right before I speak.

"When you return, I will give you my views on some of the great
questions of the day. Don't adopt them, hear them and compare them with
your own. I would have you think for yourself, for I am an old man now
and sometimes I distrust my powers of mind.

"The state of this country you, in your situation, ought to be
thoroughly acquainted with. It is a very perilous one. Its prosperity,
its integrity, nay its existence as a first-rate power, hangs by a
thread, and that thread but little better and stronger than a cotton
one. _Quem Deus vult perdere prius dementat_. I look in vain for that
constitutional vigour, and intellectual power, which once ruled the
destinies of this great nation.

"There is an aberration of intellect, and a want of self-possession here
that alarms me. I say, alarms me, for American as I am by birth, and
republican as I am from the force of circumstances, I cannot but regard
England with great interest, and with great affection. What a beautiful
country! What a noble constitution! What a high minded, intelligent, and
generous people! When the Whigs came into office, the Tories were not
a party, they were the people of England. Where and what are they now?
Will they ever have a lucid interval, or again recognise the sound of
their own name? And yet, Sam, doubtful as the prospect of their recovery
is, and fearful as the consequences of a continuance of their malady
appear to be, one thing is most certain, _a Tory government is the
proper government for a monarchy, a suitable one for any country, but
it is the only one for England_. I do not mean an ultra one, for I am
a moderate man, and all extremes are equally to be avoided. I mean a
temperate, but firm one: steady to its friends, just to its enemies, and
inflexible to all. "When compelled to yield, it should be by the force
of reason, and never by the power of agitation. Its measures should be
actuated by a sense of what is right, and not what is expedient, for
to concede is to recede--to recede is to evince weakness--and to betray
weakness is to invite attack.

"I am a stranger here. I do not understand this new word, Conservatism.
I comprehend the other two, Toryism and Liberalism. The one is a
monarchical, and the other a republican word. The term, Conservatism,