There are men who
may be said to have been born to be soldiers; of which number I should
call the Earl Cornwallis, who makes such head against the rebels in the
two Carolinas; others seem to be intended by nature for divines, and
saints on earth, such as their graces of York and Canterbury; while
another class appears as if it were impossible for them to behold things
unless with discriminating, impartial, and disinterested eyes; to which
I should say, belong my Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, and my kinsman,
Mr. Christopher Dillon. I trust, gentlemen, that when the royal arms
have crushed this rebellion, his majesty's ministers will see the
propriety of extending the dignity of the peerage to the colonies, as a
means of reward to the loyal, and a measure of policy to prevent further
disaffection; in which case I hope to see my kinsman decorated with the
ermine of justice bordering the mantle of a peer."
"Your expectations, my excellent sir, are right reasonable; as I doubt
not your kinsman will become, at some future day, that which he is not
at present, unhappily for his deserts, right honorable," said
Borroughcliffe. "But be of good heart, sir; from what I have seen of his
merits, I doubt not that the law will yet have its revenge in due
season, and that we shall be properly edified and instructed how to
attain elevation in life, by the future exaltation of Mr. Christopher
Dillon; though by what title he is to be then known, I am at a loss to
say.
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