CONCLUSION. [Chap. 



nation nothing ; and nothing did I ever, or will 

 I ever, receive from it. 



197. Not one man out of a hundred thousand, 

 possessing the talents and all the resources con- 

 tained in my healthy frame and sound mind ; 

 there is not one such man in a hundred thou- 

 sand, who would not, having the opportunities 

 that I have had, have abandoned his country long 

 ago; left it to its fate, and even, while he was 

 enjoying honour and wealth elsewhere, been glad 

 to hear of its misery and disgrace; and, if occa- 

 sion offered, employ his talents in the service of 

 its enemies ; to justify all which I have received 

 a hundred times more than sufficient provocation. 

 I, on the contrary, have foregone the greatest of 

 pecuniary advantages, and regarded wealth as no- 

 thing when put in competition with my duty to 

 my country. While I saw around me, even dur- 

 ing my last residence In America, scores of most 

 ^' loyaV Englishmen, swallowing, without the 

 least remorse, an oath, abjuring their allegiance; 

 I remained firm to mine ; and so scrupulous was 

 I upon this point, that I declined being intro- 

 duced to the then president, Mr. Monro, when 

 he visited New York in 1817; and I even de- 

 clined making one of a party at the house of an 

 excellent neighbour in Long Island, because 

 the Governor of the State, Mr. Clinton, was to 

 be of that party. I had a very great respect for 



