It cannot be affirmed, that a duration of four years, or any other
limited duration, would completely answer the end proposed; but it would
contribute towards it in a degree which would have a material influence
upon the spirit and character of the government. Between the
commencement and termination of such a period, there would always be a
considerable interval, in which the prospect of annihilation would be
sufficiently remote, not to have an improper effect upon the conduct of
a man indued with a tolerable portion of fortitude; and in which he
might reasonably promise himself, that there would be time enough before
it arrived, to make the community sensible of the propriety of the
measures he might incline to pursue. Though it be probable that, as he
approached the moment when the public were, by a new election, to
signify their sense of his conduct, his confidence, and with it his
firmness, would decline; yet both the one and the other would derive
support from the opportunities which his previous continuance in the
station had afforded him, of establishing himself in the esteem and
good-will of his constituents.
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