One of
the finest testimonies to the character of the late Sir Robert Peel
was that borne by the Duke of Wellington in the House of Lords, a
few days after the great statesman's death. "Your lordships," he
said, "must all feel the high and honourable character of the late
Sir Robert Peel. I was long connected with him in public life. We
were both in the councils of our Sovereign together, and I had long
the honour to enjoy his private friendship. In all the course of
my acquaintance with him I never knew a man in whose truth and
justice I had greater confidence, or in whom I saw a more
invariable desire to promote the public service. In the whole
course of my communication with him, I never knew an instance in
which he did not show the strongest attachment to truth; and I
never saw in the whole course of my life the smallest reason for
suspecting that he stated anything which he did not firmly believe
to be the fact." And this high-minded truthfulness of the
statesman was no doubt the secret of no small part of his influence
and power.
There is a truthfulness in action as well as in words, which is
essential to uprightness of character. A man must really be what
he seems or purposes to be. When an American gentleman wrote to
Granville Sharp, that from respect for his great virtues he had
named one of his sons after him, Sharp replied: "I must request
you to teach him a favourite maxim of the family whose name you
have given him--ALWAYS ENDEAVOUR TO BE REALLY WHAT YOU WOULD WISH
TO APPEAR.
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