But Mr. Morris was possessed of greater qualities than those necessary
to make him shine in the vapid, corrupt society of the fashionable
world. He was a brilliant, yet sound, thinker, and his earnest
convictions, his practical statesmanship, and his shrewd business
abilities were quickly appreciated. Indeed, it was difficult to tell
whether ladies of fashion or troubled statesmen found him most
satisfactory. He could rhyme a delicate compliment for the one or draw
up a plan to aid France's crippled revenues for the other, with equal
dexterity. His opinion was sought upon the weightiest matters, and,
being unfettered by official obligations, as was Mr. Jefferson, he was
free to give it, and soon became associated with some of the greatest
gentlemen in the kingdom and intimately identified with many schemes for
the strengthening of the monarchy. For Mr. Morris, while a most ardent
republican in his own country, was a royalist in France, convinced that
a people, used from time immemorial to an almost despotic government,
extremely licentious, and by nature volatile, were utterly unfitted for
a republic.
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