for that prevailing and increasing distrust of public engagements, and alarm for private rights, which are echoed from one end of the continent to th… - Alexander Hamilton

Has it not, on the contrary, invariably been found that momentary passions, and immediate interest, have a more active and imperious control over human conduct than general or remote considerations of policy, utility or justice?

You sh⟨ould⟩ not have taken advantage of my sensibility to ste⟨al⟩ into my affections without my consent. But as you have done it and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on condition that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to merit the partiality, which you have so artfully instilled into ⟨me⟩.

I am aware that a man of real merit is never seen in so favorable a light as seen through the medium of adversity.