text:  Past votes may not absolutely pledge a man to a future course of action; warned in time such a man may stand neutral in practice; but thus far they poison the fountains of wholesome unanimity--that if a man can evade the necessity of squaring particular _actions_ to his past opinions at least he must find himself tempted to square his opinions themselves or his counsels to such past opinions as he may too notoriously have placed on record by his votes