Volume 1

Letters to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield. From Andrew Stuart, esq. [On the Douglas Peerage Cause.] / [Andrew Stuart].

  • Andrew Stuart
Date:
[1773]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield. From Andrew Stuart, esq. [On the Douglas Peerage Cause.] / [Andrew Stuart]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    197/208 (page 41)
    # [ 4i ] that llate of mind, which are befl qualified to afford real fatisfa&ion ; and of this I am certain, that in my efti - mation, neither riches, nor power, nor fplendor, attended with a bad or doubtful fame, have any allurements, comparable to that genuine fatisfa&ion which belongs to an honourable conduct, joined with an unblemifhed reputation. With thefe fentiments, it is much more eafy for me, and even with little effort, to fuflain any adverfe inci¬ dents with refpeCt to fortune or ambition, than to bear with injuflice, or to overlook an iniquitous attempt to traduce my character :—Nor could I ever reconcile my- felf to the notion of tamely fubmitting to injury or infult from any quarter, however high and powerful the perfon may be from whom the injury proceeds. Neither fhall it be in the power of any man hereafter to fay, that accufations to my prejudice, had at a certain period of my life been thrown out againfl me, in the firft affembly of the nation, without receiving from me the anfwer which they deferved.—It might juflly be inter¬ preted an acquiefcence on my part, were I either to avoid fuch anfwer altogether, or to defer it until you had quitted this flage : or even until that period, when, either by the courfe ©f nature, or by the instability of human affairs, a decline of your abilities, or of your power and influence, might happen to take place. At fuch a period, any anfwer, efpecially if it partook of the nature of an attack, would deferve to be defpifed and detefled as daftardly and ungenerous:—Such conduct, or the ac¬ quiefcence under reproach, might be proper on the part of one who was confcious of having deferved the impu¬ tations ; but, confcious, as I am of innocence, and hav¬ ing fo much reafon to complain of unmerited injury and injuflice, it is proper that the vindication of my cha¬ racter, however it may affeCt that of your Lordfhip, C c fhould