Had his illustrious predecessor been alive, he
would have shown the same zeal on the same occasion. The preservation of
the unalienable rights of all his fellow-creatures was one of the chief
characteristics of that excellent citizen. Let every member in that house
imitate him in the purity of their conduct and in the universal rectitude
of their measures, and they would pay the same tender regard to the rights
of other countries as to those of their own; and, for his part, he should
never believe those persons to be sincere, who were loud in their
professions of love of liberty, if he saw that love confined to the narrow
circle of one community, which ought to be extended to the natural rights
of every inhabitant of the globe.
But we should be better able to bring ourselves up to this standard of
rectitude, if we were to put ourselves into the situation of those, whom we
oppressed. This was the rule of our religion. What should we think of
those, who should say, that it was their interest to injure us? But he
hoped we should not deceive ourselves so grossly as to imagine, that it was
our real interest to oppress any one. The advantages to be obtained by
tyranny were imaginary, and deceitful to the tyrant; and the evils they
caused to the oppressed were grievous, and often insupportable.
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