No man was more warmly attached to parliamentary
government than Sir Timothy Beeswax; but I do not think that he
ever cared much for legislation.
Parliamentary management was his forte. There have been various
rocks on which men have shattered their barks in their attempts to
sail successfully into the harbours of parliamentary management.
There is the great Senator who declared to himself that personally
he will have neither friend or foe. There is his country before
him and its welfare. Within his bosom is the fire of patriotism,
and within his mind the examples of all past time. He knows that
he can be just, he teaches himself to be eloquent, and he strives
to be wise. But he will not bend;--and at last, in some great
solitude, though closely surrounded by those whose love he has
neglected to acquire,--he breaks his heart.
Then there is he who is seeing the misfortune of that great one,
tells himself that patriotism, judgement, industry, and eloquence
will not suffice for him unless he himself can be loved. To do
great things a man must have a great following, and to achieve
that he must be popular.
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