Should the contingency you suggest take place, and (for argument sake alone, let me say) should my unfeigned reluctance to accept the office be overcome by a deference for the reasons and opinions of my friends; might I not, after the declarations I have made, (and heaven knows they were made in the sincerity of my heart,) in the judgment of the impartial world, and of posterity, be chargeable with levity and inconsistency, if not with rashness and ambition?
Nay, farther, would there not even be some apparent foundation for the two former charges?
Now, justice to myself, and tranquillity of conscience require that I should act a part, if not above imputation, at least capable of vindication.

Nor will you conceive me to be too solicitous for reputation.

Though I prize as I ought the good opinion of my fellow citizens, yet, if I know myself, I would not seek or retain popularity at the expense of one social duty, or moral virtue.

While doing what my conscience informed me was right, as it respected my God, my country, and myself, I could despise all the party clamour and unjust censure which must be expected from some, whose personal enmity might be occasioned by their hostility to the government.

I am conscious, that I fear alone to give any real occasion for obloquy, and that I do not dread to meet with unmerited reproach.