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 A PICTURE 
 
 REPUBLICAN MAGISTRATE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NEW SCHOOL ; 
 
 BEING 
 
 A FULL LENGTH LIKENESS Oi^ 
 HIS EXCELLENCY THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 A SHORT CRITICISM 
 
 ON THE CHARACTERS AND PRETENSIONS OP 
 
 MR. MADISON; MR. CLINTON, AND MR,PINCKME¥., 
 By Jno. ThierrirDanverSi of Virginia, 
 
 Obniat jUud male partem, male retentum, male gestum iraperium.— fcveTa. 
 
 Mel in ore, verba laetis, 
 Fel ia core,Xraus in faetis. 
 
 ^ Monkish Rhvnir. 
 
 NEW-YORK 
 
 PRINTED FOR E. SARGEANT 
 NO. 39 WALL-STREET. 
 
 1808- 
 
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 Digitized by the Internet Arciiive 
 in 2010 witii funding from ' 
 Tine Library of Congress 
 
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— .^^^ 
 
 DEDICATION, 
 
 TO HIS EXCELLENCY 
 
 THOMAS JEFFERSON, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 THOUGH I am aware that it is usual for 
 an author, when about to dedicate his work to a 
 personage of such high rank as your Excellency, 
 to appl y for his gracious permission to do himself 
 that honour, yet as a citizen of the ancient dominion, 
 and a sincere wonderer at your very singular cha- 
 racter, I hope you will pardon the presumption 
 of addressing you without leave. 
 
 I have long indeed been in the habit of contem- 
 plating your Excellency as one of the completest 
 examples of political cunning that ever fell under 
 my observation, and I seized with avidity the first 
 opportunity of expressing my admiration. Ma- 
 ny rulers, it is true, by the help of bribery, de- 
 ception, falsehood, and the thousand other arts of 
 low ambition, have been able to delude a credulous 
 and ignorant people into a temporary belief of 
 their wisdom and virtue; but that your Excellen- 
 cy, by the mere force o^ native talent, should have 
 managed to deceive^ a majority of the enlightened 
 citizens of America, is a triumph which in the en- 
 suing pages I have attempted to celebrate. 
 
 Alitur vitium, vivitque tegendo — says Virgil — 
 but virtue so far from dreading the splendour of 
 day, grows up and flourishes in the genial breath 
 of honest praise. It would be therefore little less 
 than treason to nip the opening bud of your Ex- 
 cellency's talents and patriotism, by a cold denial 
 
of well-merited commendation. I know, indeed, 
 that modest worth always puts aside with reject- 
 ing hand the offering of fulsome adulation, or in- 
 terested flattery; but disinterested praise is the 
 sweetest reward that the patriot, the sage, and the 
 philosopher can covet from the world. 
 
 If I am not mistaken there is little of adulation 
 or flattery in the following pages, and I trust that 
 your Excellency will do me the justice to believe, 
 that whatever praises I have bestowed on your ad- 
 ministration, w ere given from the most disinteres- 
 ted motives of attachment to your person and cha- 
 racter. Receive therefore. Excellent Sir, the lit- 
 tle wreath of laurel I have woven for your brow, 
 and believe that nothing but my attachment to 
 truth, and the welfare of my country, prevented 
 me from saying infinitely more in your praise. 
 
 I am, with great consideration, 
 1 Your Excellency's most h'ble serv't, 
 
 J. T. DANVERS, 
 
A PICTURE. 
 
 His Excellency the President of the United 
 States having declined a re-election to the first 
 magistracy, and with the help of his Congress ap- 
 pointed a successor , may now be considered as a 
 saint in the calendar of patriots. Having finish- 
 ed his great work, he is about to retire into the en- 
 joyment of that gratitude which ever follows the 
 seclusion of the people's benefactors. 
 
 It is only after the career of a great man is fin-, 
 ished that his merits and his talents can be proper- 
 ly estimated. The envy of his power or splendor, 
 the spirit of political division, and the jealousy of 
 rivalship, have then other objects for the exercise 
 of their malignity, and look with cool indifference 
 on the man who is no longer an object of hope or 
 fear. The voice of adulation too will then be si- 
 lent, and the sychophant adulators who have din- 
 ned in our ears the praises of His Excellency's 
 wonderful talents and patriotisnij will soon be heard 
 in a different direction. The echoing voice of the 
 hound on the distant hills points out to the hunts- 
 man the place where his game is to be found, and 
 an experienced observer may always discover the 
 successful candidate for power by the yelping of 
 his hungry followers. 
 
 Now then is the proper period to inquire wheth- 
 er His Excellency really deserves the censures that 
 have been poured forth against him by his ene- 
 mies, or the praises so lavishly bestowed on hirn 
 
6 
 
 by bis friends, and whether as a man or a magis- 
 trate he ought to be held up as an example to im- 
 itate or avoid. This inquiry will not be without 
 its use, for the sentiment of any impartial man, on 
 any question of politics, is of some little impor- 
 tance to his country, more especially if that coun- 
 try is in danger. That our country is in an alar- 
 ming situation, and that owing to the weakness and 
 hypocrisy of the President, has so often been set 
 forth in high sounding phrase, by the oracles of 
 the people, the newspapers, and has been so often 
 repeated of late, that observing men who have 
 been accustomed to see the habitual falsehood of 
 these inspired vehicles of information actually be- 
 gin to doubt the evidenceof iheir own senses, and 
 believe the country to be in a state of safety. But 
 however alarming may be the situation to which 
 we are approaching, that country can never be lost 
 which has General Wilkinson for a commander in 
 chief, and Colonel Duane for one of its defenders. 
 In the course of this work, I shall have ample occa- 
 sion to compliment this noble pair, together with 
 some few other malefactors, whom it is my inten- 
 tion to string up, as rogues and assassins are gib- 
 beted on the highways, a warning to their fel- 
 lows, and an assurance of future safety to the 
 traveller. 
 
 The rank and talents of His Excellency however 
 demand my first devoirs, and to him I shall devote 
 the first fruits of my pen. 
 
 TotraceHisExcellency through all his doublings 
 and windings, to unmask his Jesuitical policy, and 
 throw light into the devious paths of his political 
 career, I am aware will be a task of mortal diffi- 
 culty. The hypocrite like the pestilence " walks in 
 darkness," and his paths are unknown except to 
 him who keeps a steady eye upon him, and watches 
 all his motions with an attention that never sleeps. 
 But though the task I have undertaken is difficult. 
 
it is necessary, and therefore shall be performed ; 
 and if in the course of the investigation, it is found 
 reasonable to lash any recreant back without mea- 
 sure or mercy, let not the blame be imputed to me. 
 When the delinquency of man provokes its punish- 
 ment, it is impeaching the divinity of justice to 
 censure the executioner. 
 
 I shall pass lightly over the conduct of His Ex~ 
 cellency, during the American War, merely prem- 
 ising that he was not only one of the foremost in 
 opposing the encroachments of the British gov- 
 ernment over her colonies, hut also one of the first 
 to fly the consequences of this opposition. Of his 
 far-famed excursion to the strong hold of Carter's 
 mountain no man is ignorant, and all men admired 
 the wonderful prudence with which he conducted 
 that famous expedition, an achievement unparral- 
 leled in the present age, except by the late admi- 
 rable retj^eaf of the gallant General Ray* 
 
 I regret that this is the only military service 
 performed by His Excellency during the struggle 
 for independence, but in proportion as his feats in 
 the military line are sparing his civil life will be 
 found to abound in the most brilliant exploits, not 
 against our enemies but our friends, not against 
 the oppression of foreign tyranny, but the consti- 
 tution and the laws of our country. 
 
 In the detail of this patriotic gentleman's civil 
 services, the first object which naturally claims 
 our attention, is *'the declaration of independence" 
 said to be written by His Excellency. I am wil- 
 ling to allow him all due credit for this produc= 
 tion which breathes a spirit of manly courage and 
 dignity, worthy the occasion which inspired it 3 
 and I should be inclined to allow him still greater 
 
 * This gallant officer was consul to the great Emperor at 
 New-York. He took what is called French ieave^ that is, he 
 ran away under suspicion of debt. 
 
had he not, as I shall hereafter prove, laid the peo- 
 ple of the United States under some of the most 
 enormous grievances complained ofin that very 
 declaration. 
 
 His Excellency was afterwards appointed em- 
 bassador to France, and whatever services he might 
 have performed there, the people of this country I 
 fear will long have reason to regret his appoint- 
 ment to that dignity; for it is supposed that he 
 there imbibed those prejudices in favour of that 
 country which have since been displayed so much 
 to the injury a\id dishonour of the United States, 
 as will be demonstrated in a subsequent part of 
 this inquiry. 
 
 While on his return from France on a temporary 
 visit to this country, he was appointed secretary 
 of state by Gen. Washington. We are told on the au- 
 thority of the excellent and impartial biographer* 
 of that great man, that Mr. Jefferson accepted this 
 appointment with evident regret. So strong was 
 his attachment to France that he preferred an ap- 
 pointment (which from its very nature is tempora- 
 ry) in his beloved country, before a high and per- 
 manent establishment in his native land ! That 
 while in this high station, enjoying the friendship 
 of Gen. Washington, and admitted into the coun- 
 cils of his country, he betrayed the confidence of 
 his benefactor, and employed a certain renegado 
 libeller, a vile alias wretchf to caluminate him, 
 * Judge Marshall. 
 
 t I allude to the gentleman^ lately for this and I suppose simi- 
 lar services, appointed a Colonel in the army of theUnited States! 
 —-Heavens ! is there no other way to reward villany, than by 
 the disgrace of a whole people ! — Probably the first service of 
 this paltry retailer of calumny, will be to pull down the ju- 
 diciary, to which both His Excellency and his Colonel seem to 
 have a mortal antipathy. It would perhaps be treason to say that 
 this antipathy is nothing more than that instinctive horror which 
 all criminals feel for the instruments of their punishment. 
 " A rogue the gallows as his fate foresees'*— 
 And hates the sight of justices and trees. 
 
are charges so often repeated, as to be at length 
 received with all that calm indifFerence with which 
 the human mind contemplates the most acknow- 
 ledged and familiar truths. I shall therefore pass 
 by, contented with merely recalling to the mind 
 of the reader what he has long known, for the pur- 
 pose of cominc; sooner to the conduct of His Excel- 
 
 so 
 
 lency, when at the head of affairs, a situation 
 where his virtues have had a fair chance of exer- 
 cise, and his talents an extensiue and splendid the- 
 atre for action. 
 
 When the "sun of federalism" set, as was tri- 
 umphantly observed *'for ever,'' RndtUe igjiis fa/ iius 
 of democracy rose amid congenial fogs, to bewil- 
 der and mislead the people, it was my lot among 
 many others to be for a while deluded by this va- 
 porish sprite. There was a speciousness about 
 His Excellency, an apparent candour and modera- 
 tion calculated to deceive those who were unac- 
 quainted with his real character, and to lead them 
 into a belief that he possessed the pore and genu- 
 ine simplicity of an ancient republican. His in- 
 augural speech to Congress strengthened this de- 
 lusion, and when with a moderation which, had it 
 been real, would have won the confidence of all 
 ranks, he declared that in his eye 'Mve Vv^ere all 
 republicans all federalists," it was hoped and be- 
 lieved that His Excellency was the man destined 
 to break down the deadly spirit of party which had 
 so long raged in this country, to the ruin of its 
 strength and the dishonour of its name. Many 
 honest men were even so credulous as to suppose 
 that His Excellency might possibly be influenced 
 by the wise maxims, and glorious example of that 
 illustrious manj whose name I will not mention, 
 because I am told it is forbidden to be uttered in 
 the hearing of His Excellency, whom I would not 
 wish to offend by any indecorum. 
 ' B 
 
10 
 
 But these sanguine expectations, the otispring 
 of that elastic credulity with which novelty is al- 
 ways contemplated bv the inexperienced, have 
 been miserably disappointed ; and nothing uow 
 remains, but a desperate hope that the approaching 
 resignation of His Excellency M'ill open a way for 
 some more worthy successor, and that by retn^ing 
 from the world he will make some amends for the 
 evils he occasioned while in it — thus in reality be- 
 coming what his fla'eterers have called him fliefafh 
 er of his countrij. His Excellency is undoubtedly 
 fairly entitled to this honourable appellation, since 
 it is only by his political demise, that we can suc- 
 ceed to our inheritance. 
 
 I pass over some little experiments, which were 
 made by way of soundings on a new coast, or to try 
 the ground as a blind man feels with liis stick, in 
 order to come to the first grand experiment — the 
 attack on the judiciary ; a measure which has sha- 
 red the common fate of a first crime — that of being 
 lost in the splendour of subsequent achievements. 
 No man thinks or speaks of it now, and it is only of 
 importance as marking the commencement of a 
 system of experiments on the vital spark of our 
 constitution. 
 
 Although this measure as well as most of the 
 others that I shall mention hereafter, were ostensi- 
 bly the measures of Congress, and as such only 
 ^^ approved" by his Excellency, yet I believe no 
 one is so stupid as not to have observed, that since 
 the election of Mr. Jefferson the legislative branch 
 of government has degenerated into a mere organ 
 of His Excellency's will. Like the inspired pries- 
 tess of Apollo it delivers only the oracles of this 
 mysterious pythick divinity, and that without her 
 inspiration. So docile an assembly Ihaveseldom 
 read of, and it has few parallels in history, except 
 the servile parliament of Henry the Eighth and the 
 *^enate of Rome in the days of Tiberius, or Call- 
 
11 
 
 gula. It is therefore no unwarrantable assnraptioii 
 to say, that his Excellency is solely responsible for 
 the measures of his most obedient and very hianble 
 senate and house of representatives.. Tliat the 
 master is accountable for the conduct of his slave, 
 is a principle of law, even in the enlightened State 
 of Virginia, whose dynasty seems destined long to 
 govern this country, under the auspices of the 
 great Emperor. 
 
 I think I am therefore warranted in considering 
 the acts of Congress, as those of his Excellency, 
 and as such will 1 examine them with all the deli- 
 cacy due to so distinguished a personage. It i 
 should unwittingly (notwithstanding my earnest 
 wish to the contrary) otfend his Excellency, the well 
 known good nature of that gentleman will I hope 
 ensure my pardon. Colonel Duane can bear testi- 
 mony to his clemency, and so might Callender, had 
 he not drowned him.^elf wilfully, on purpose to be- 
 lie his fate, and prove the old proverb, not without 
 an exception. 
 
 When the bill for putting aside the additional 
 judges which were established by an act of Congress 
 passed under the administration of Mr. Adams, 
 was agitated, it was argued, by the minority, that 
 it was an infringement of the constitution to en- 
 croach on the judiciary which was an independent 
 branch of the government, and therefore beyond 
 the control of the legislature, except in the way of 
 impeachment for mal-conduct. This principle, so 
 important to the rights of the people, was at that 
 time supported by some of the ablest men this 
 country could boast, and it was then the very res- 
 pectable-democratic majority adopted that deco- 
 rous and admirable policy, they have since so stea- 
 dily and successfully pursued — of paying no kind 
 of attention to arguments they were not able to 
 answer. Even in the monarchical government of 
 Great-Britain, the minister thinks it incumbent on 
 
12 
 
 him to answer all objections to his measures; and 
 even their venal parliament would be ashamed to 
 vote for a principle which he had not talents to 
 defend. 
 
 So far as I remember, the only argument brought 
 forward in favour of the motion for violating the 
 constitution, was that it would save about sixteen 
 thousand dollars a vear ! The speedy administra- 
 tion of justice and ?he sanctity of the constitution 
 were trifling objects, when compared with this pal- 
 try sum ; and the people who had heard a vast deal 
 about economy, were gulled into an approbation 
 of a measure which broke down one of their stron- 
 gest: bulvvarks against executive and legislative 
 oppression. 
 
 Though I might reasonably account for this at- 
 tack on the constitotion, from the circumstance of 
 Mr. Jefferson having uniformly opposed its adop- 
 tion, yet there are other reasons why His Excel- 
 lency bears a decided enmity to the judiciary. 
 
 On his advancement to the chief magistracy, he 
 directly proceeded to the exercise of his great pre- 
 rogative of fdling all the offices under the general 
 government, and it will long be remembered, with 
 what a sweeping arm he displaced all the former 
 incumbents, aod with what romantic generosity he 
 rewarded his followers and supporters. Even 
 William the Conqueror was hardly more generous 
 to his adherents, though he had a whole kingdom 
 to bestow. But in this pious crusade against the 
 officers of the former administrations, his Excel- 
 lency was checked by the judiciary. Appointed 
 to their offices during good behaviour, or until a 
 certain age, they were in a great measure removed 
 beyond his control. He could neither make them 
 his tools or his victims, and I am fully persuaded 
 that this disappointment was the cause of that 
 steady enmity which his Excellency has displayed 
 against this most important branch of our govern- 
 
IS 
 
 ment. I say most important, because tbat'coun- 
 try never can be oppressed which has an upright 
 judiciary to administer the laws, and no country 
 can be free from oppression, where the judges are 
 the creatures of executive power. 
 
 That the saving of sixteen thousand dollars, was 
 a mere pretext for the repeal of the judiciary bilL 
 I assert without fear of contradiction, and I ground 
 myself on the subsequent conduct of the executive, 
 which has been hostile in the highest degree. With- 
 out dwelling on the impotent cavils of the Aurora 
 and other respectable organs of administration, that 
 are daily spouting their venom against the most 
 respectable judges of the land, nay against the ve- 
 ry institutions of justice, I shall content myself 
 vvith noticing the various acts of His Excellency, 
 in which he has manifested a determination to pull 
 down the judiciary, or make it subservient to his 
 views. 
 
 The second experiment was unsuccessful, and 
 happily was it for the people that Judge Chace 
 found a refuge in the uprightness of the senate, 
 who were not at that time quite so thoroughly 
 drilled as they seem to be at present. Had he 
 been sacrificed to the President, another and ano- 
 ther victim would have perished on the altar of im- 
 peachment; and in a very little time the people 
 would have been surrendered to the discretion of 
 upstart tools, who like a " most righteous judge' 
 zvkom we all knozv, would not hesitate to set aside 
 the laws, in order to compliment Mr. Jefferson, or 
 the French, or even the Spaniards^ with the sacri 
 tice of Colonel Smith, or any other gentleman whco 
 was peculiarly obnoxious. The acquittal of Judge 
 Chace ought to have been celebrated as a jubilee 
 by the people, for it damped the ardour of impeach- 
 ment, and ensured at least safety, to a most learn- 
 ed, respectable and independent judiciary, which 
 yet remains to us, a bulwark against executive op- 
 pression, and legislative encroachment. 
 
14 
 
 Baffled in this attempt. His Excellency cautious- 
 ly retired into his shell, and there waited with the 
 patience of a spider watching his prey, for an op- 
 portunity of renewing his attack in a different form. 
 His caution had however taken the alarm, and it 
 was necessary to change the mode of w^arfare, 
 from open force to covert stratagem. An instru- 
 ment being necessary to the perfection of his plan, 
 he cast about for one whom no sense of honour or 
 conscience would bind, and who would be content 
 to receive the smiles of executive favour, as an ad- 
 equate compensation for universal contempt. He 
 found him wdiere such men are often found, bask- 
 ing in the sunshine of power, and gilded with the 
 trappings of honour. In short he found him in 
 the person of the renowned General, who swears 
 by the honour of a soldier which he never had aright 
 to pledge, and pollutes the Evangelists by making 
 them sanction a falsehood. 
 
 Of this far-famed hero, this conqueror of the Sa- 
 bine, this terror of the Spaniards, who has degrad- 
 ed hs soldiers into catchpoles, and his officers into 
 bum-bailiffs — v\ho has " swore all sorts of oaths," 
 and betrayed both friends and enemies, I shall 
 speaif directly more at large, and with adue regard 
 for his manifold merits Though not an ilhnatu- 
 red man, or inclined to severity, I do confess 1 love 
 to handle a recreant, a hypocrite, or an oppressor 
 who looks down from his high station, and fancies 
 he is beyond the reach of retribution. I am proud 
 of the fl^eling of honest indignation which posses- 
 ses me, whenever I think or speak, or hear, of this 
 powdered reptile, this motley composition of cox- 
 comb, bravo,* miser and coward. To despise 
 
 * Those who have ever heard the name of Truman, will under- 
 stand what I mean by bravo. This unhappy gentleman was 
 murdered while convoying provisions, by a party disguised as 
 Indians. It was said he had discovered some of the General's 
 cecrets ! " Dead men tell no tales." 
 
15 
 
 baseness is one step towards virtue, and to hate a 
 hypocrite an approach to wards honest open dealing, 
 
 I perceive it will be necessary to the task I have 
 undertaken, to speak of an unfortunate gentle- 
 man, once the delight of his friends, the late Vice 
 President of the United States. Fallen as he is, 
 and lost to his country, I shall speak of him with 
 that candour and moderation, which becomes us 
 when we talk of those who are no more. With- 
 out being led astray by the yelping curs of faction, 
 or influenced by the spirit of party, I shall appeal 
 to my own understanding as the criterion of my 
 belief, and to my own heart for his condemnation 
 or acquittal. My object is not to defend Col. 
 Bnrr, but to expose the encroachments made on 
 the constitution and laws; and the usurpations of 
 His Excellency and his minions, on the rights of 
 the judges, in the course of what mjiebile ludibrhim 
 was called a prosecution for high treason. 
 
 In order to let my readers into the secret of Mr. 
 JefFerson's enmity to Col. Burr, and to develop 
 the reason why he selected that gentleman as the 
 victim of his illegal proceeding's, it will be proper 
 to turn to the period when His Excellency be- 
 came a candidate for the presidential chair. 
 
 Every body knows the struggles which took 
 place at Washington, and the difficulties which 
 attended the election of Mr. Jefferson. Notwith- 
 standing all that was urged by the renowned au- 
 thor of the '* seven letters," which hke the seven. 
 champions of Christendom carried all before them, 
 it is certain that but for the policy, or prudence, 
 or self-denial, call it what you will, of Col. Burrj 
 His Excellency would not have been President at- 
 all. It is capable of demonstration that Mr, Jef= 
 ferson was indebted to that gentleman for his suc- 
 cess. It was known that the federalists at that 
 time could have turned the scale in favour of ei- 
 ther Col, Burr or Mr. Jefferson, They offered on 
 
16 
 
 certain conditions to support the former gentle- 
 man, which conditions had he accepted, he might 
 have been President of the United States. That 
 he was not President is a proof that he did not ac- 
 cept them, sufficiently strong, one would suppose, 
 to counterbalance even the unbiassed testimony of 
 the irnparfial and independent author of the "seven 
 letters." I cannot help attributing all Col. Burr's 
 subsequent misfortunes to this one crime. That 
 he suffered such a man as His Excellency to be- 
 come master of the fate of his country was a fault 
 which all his sufferings cannot expiate. 
 
 Some minds are impatient under the weight of 
 obligations, and like an ass when too heavily laden, 
 will kick and plunge with wonderful vigour until 
 fairly rid of the burden. 1 have studied His Ex- 
 cellency's mind, with all the attention so great a 
 curiosity merited, and can venture to assert that 
 gratitude is not his foible. Besides, the man who 
 gave the gift might have it in his power to resume 
 it ; it was therefore necessary to the security of 
 His Excellency, and the honour of Virginia, that 
 Col. Burr should be dispossessed of the confidence 
 of the people. How this was accomplished is well 
 known. I disclaim all intention of becoming the 
 advocate or apologist of Col. Burr, but this I 
 will say, that the wretched instruments and dis- 
 honourable means used to blacken his name were 
 such as ought to have made every man of feeling 
 his partisan, and such too as never were employed 
 in a good cause. 
 
 It is a maxim in politics, as well as in morality, 
 that iheend to be obtained is best judged by the 
 means v^h\ch are used for its attainment. When 
 we see men pursuing honourable means, we may 
 conclude without the possibility of mistake that 
 their object is equally honourable. But when on 
 the contrary we behold fraud, violence, falshood 
 and hypocricy, employed as means ^ and wretches 
 
of mean intellects, violent passions anc3 low educa- 
 tion, witliont honour or honesty to guide tlieni, se- 
 lected as the chosen instrumeius — reason, con- 
 cionsness, every power and principle hi' the mind 
 will bear testin^ony that something evil lurks at 
 the bottom, and that "this cannot come to good." 
 The imnmtaiile laws of nature, the tremendous au- 
 thority of the Deity are against it. 
 
 When by these successful stratagems of fraud. 
 Col. Burr bad been driven from his proud sUition 
 in the public mind, he became a candidate for the 
 first-magistracy of the State of New-jork, I'he 
 election for that office terminated in his failure, 
 and this disappointment was soon followed by a 
 duel, which ended in the death of one of the first 
 men that ever adorned this country. Of that event 
 no honourable man ever spoke but with tlie most 
 piercing regret. "But happy in miy mind was 
 him that died," for the days of tlie survivor have 
 been days of persecn'iion, banishment and regret. 
 Chased from his country, the one is a fugitive in 
 strange lands, while the memory of the other is 
 cherished in the hearts of his coMntrymen. Yet 
 the torrent of sorrow which flowed on that occa- 
 sion, was polluted by the tears of many a secret 
 enemy, who rejoiced in the termination of the 
 General's illustrious career, and cloaked his hatred. 
 of Col. Burr under the amiable garb of sympathy 
 for the fate of his rival. But hypocrisy is the 
 homage which vice pays to virtue, and the hypo- 
 crite only fulfds his destiny, when he affects an 
 honest sorrow at the moment his heart is throb- 
 bing with guilty transport. 
 
 The spirit of party, I fear, rather than the spirit 
 of justice, obliged Colonel Burr to become afugi- 
 tive, and the odium which was spoliied upon hmi 
 by all parties, who seemed for a while to forget 
 their antipathies in the delight of hunting a de- 
 fenceless mdividiial, nmst be fresh in the memory 
 
 C 
 
of every man, who paid any attention to the poli- 
 tics of that day. They will remember how this 
 gentleman was hunted from place to place, how ev- 
 ery man, however degraded and infamous joined 
 in the hue and cry — how wretches with conscious 
 guilt revelling in the inmost recesses of their hearts 
 looked down upon him, and whitewashed their 
 spotted consciences by the comparison. He was 
 the river Jordan which cleansed even lepers. One 
 would have thought that the world had rolled back 
 to the days of primeval innocence, and that this 
 was the first time the earth had ever been polluted 
 with blood. 
 
 I have been told by those who had access to Col. 
 Burr at that time, that his conduct under these 
 dreadful visitations of popular fury, was manly, 
 temperate, and every way worthy of one who from 
 long experience of the hurricanes that so often 
 lash the troubled ocean of democracy, had nerved 
 himself to endure the violence of the tempest. But 
 on this I will not enlarge. I may be branded with 
 the ignominious epithet of an advocate for treason, 
 a disbeliever in the infallibility of His Excellency, 
 and the soldier-like honour of General Wilkinson j 
 a heresy which even His Excellency would scarce- 
 ly pardon, though his toleration extends to blas- 
 phemy. If however he should be offended with 
 my disbelief, Thomas Paine shall be my advocate, 
 and His Excellency who applauded the pious war- 
 fare which he waged against the oracles of the di- 
 vinity, will I hope pardon me for that which I wage 
 against his own infallibility. 
 
 I have considered it necessary to enter into these 
 detads in order to show that Colonel Burr being 
 the object of His Excellency's most philosophical 
 hatred, and also an object of persecution to all par- 
 ties, was a proper subject on which to try the grand 
 experiment, how far the constitution might be vi- 
 olated with impunity, and how far the jurisdiction 
 
19 
 
 of the judges and the laws might be infringed with- 
 out alarming the people. 
 
 The object to be acted upon, and the time of ac- 
 tion were both equally well chosen, and the whole 
 plan of oppression passed through triumphantly, 
 without opposition, and almost without notice. 
 The guardians of the people, the newspapers, gave 
 it no attention, or mentioned it only to applaud: 
 The patriotic demagogues who spend their days 
 and mghts in watching with untiring perseverance 
 over the rights of their constituents stood by un- 
 moved, and saw the altar of justice proplianed : 
 while the advocates of liberty and the common 
 rights of the citizen, applauded to the skies, those 
 measures which, if erected into a precedent, will 
 sweep that liberty and those rights beyond the reach 
 of recovery. Had these oppressions been practi- 
 sed by a federal administration, the whole country 
 would have been made to ring with thetyranny and 
 oppression of government ; but because they were 
 put in practice by the object of their idolatry, these 
 honest patriots could do no less than bow down 
 their heads in submission. The pagans abhorred 
 adultery, and yet adored Jupiter, who was the most 
 notorious cuckold-maker of all the heathen deities! 
 
 But to the proof. The follovv^ing is the oath ta- 
 ken by the President of the United S^-ates, previous 
 to his entering on the administration of his office. 
 " I DO SOLEMNLY SWEAR TEIAT I WILL FAIi H- 
 FULLY EXECUTE THEJOFFICE OF PrESIDEN r OF 
 
 THE Umied States, and will ro the rest 
 
 OF MY ABILITY, PRESERVE, PROTECT, AND DE- 
 FEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED 
 
 Sta TES." This is the oath prescribed by the con- 
 stitution in its own defence; and when its honest 
 framers had thus guarded the sacred deposit, they 
 probably thought it secure from invasion. But 
 times are sadly changed since the days of these 
 grey-beard politicians; " wrens make prey where 
 
OQ 
 
 eagles dare not perch," and what in those times of 
 siosple honesty was coD.sidered sacred, is now the 
 sport of" successful experiment/' 
 
 If his Excellency however has, as I presume to 
 suspect, infringed the constitution, and the laws^ 
 I am not so unreasonable as to ihink him altogeth- 
 er inexcusable. I make every reasonable allow- 
 ance for his having been born and educated io. 
 V^irginia, where the people have a mortal dislike 
 to iiny regular administraiion of laws. This an- 
 tipathy I suppose they inherit from their ances- 
 tor|, who were, for the most part, victims to the 
 severe administration of justice in Great Britain. 
 History records thai m consequence of some /ifflc 
 irijlmg peccadilloes, the lav proposed to them the 
 folloving disagreeable dilemma, to wit, either to 
 transport ihemselves to Virginia, or stay at home 
 au'i be hanged. Who can Idame these lofty de- 
 scended patriots for thus resenting on the laws the 
 indignities of their forefathers? 
 
 But let, us see what is said in that constitution, 
 which His Excellency has swos n to "^'preserve, pro- 
 tect, and defend"? It says '^ the judicial power 
 sh^il extend to all cases in law or eqaiiy arising 
 under the constitution" — "That no person shall 
 he held to answer for a capital or infamous crime, 
 except on \\\e presentment of a grand jurif — "That 
 no person shall bedeprived of life, liberty or prop- 
 erty, except by process of laiv'' — And "that in all 
 CRIMINAL PROSkCUilONS the accused shall enjoy 
 the 1 ight of speady trial by an impartial jury of 
 the state and district where the crime shall have 
 been committed, which district shall have beea 
 previously ascertained by law." 
 
 Let us now compare these principles with the 
 measures pursued by the noble persecutors in the 
 case of Col. Burr, and see how they harmonize 
 with each other. For this purpose it will be prop- 
 per to introduce theSABiMii HERO and his famous 
 
^^popi^h plot" to the reader's notice. My readers 
 doubtl^s recollect this celebrated plot, neither are 
 they stranorers to the great TiTUS Oa ! ES, who like 
 Atlas bore this mighty fabric on his shoulders^ 
 They will remember how that PERJURED INFOR- 
 MER said and unsaid ; one dav accusing men as 
 accomplices, and the next, declaring them inno- 
 cent on his oath, how he prevaricated and shuffled, 
 until eventhe mostcorrupt judges, would hardly re- ^ 
 ceive his testimony — How when the delusion had 
 vanished, and men began to resume their senses, 
 he was solemnly tried for perjury, and convicted 
 on the evidence of forty witneses of undoubted ve- 
 racity ! And how finally, he was condemned to be 
 whipped on two succeeding days from Aldgate to 
 Newgate. Were I like honest Plutarch in the hab- 
 it oicomparing the lives of heroes, I would take this 
 opportunity of drawing a comparison between Ti- 
 tus2a\A the Sabine hero, whom in the course of tliis 
 work 1 shall take . the liberty of calling after his 
 great predecessor in the manufacturing of plots. 
 There are undoubtedly many strong points of re- 
 .semblance in their characters, and though the /^^y^o 
 has hitherto escaped his zvhipping, I trust that the 
 denouement of his history will render the resem- 
 blance still more complete. 
 
 This conspiracy, like every thing else relating 
 to the government, is enveloped in obscurity. Af- 
 ter all the patriotic exertions of the Sabine hero, 
 ihe American Titus Oqtes — after all the labours of 
 Mr. Hay and his compeers—after ransacking the 
 continent, and diving into the dens of profligacy 
 and ignorance for witnesses, and after expending 
 about two hundred thousand dollars, in order to 
 bring this terrible business to light, all we know 
 for certainty is, that the deadly conspiracy which 
 was to split this great empire, and separate the in- 
 land and maritime States from each other, was 
 raised by an alTidavit, and suppressed by a proc- 
 lamation ! 
 
From this tremendous mass of obscurity, I shall 
 endeavour to select some circumstances which may 
 perhaps throw light into the regions of its utter 
 darkness. In this I shall be as brief as the nature 
 of the subject will admit. I do not mean to enter 
 into a vindication of Colonel Burr, because his in- 
 nocence or guile is entirely immaterial to the sub- 
 ject; for the constitution may be violated in the 
 person of a traitor, as well as in that of an innocent 
 person. 
 
 It will be remembered that about the time this 
 plot was first said to be agitated, that this country 
 was considered on thethresholdof awar withSpain, 
 and even His Excellency so tar forgot his usual 
 caution, as to set forth in a proclamation that hos- 
 tilities had already commenced on the part of that 
 nation. 
 
 The idea of a war with Spain has always been 
 popular in this country, because the people have 
 ever cherished the idea that her provinces in South- 
 America were entirely defenceless, and would fur- 
 nish a plentiful harvest to the invader. Sanctioned 
 therefore by so respectable an authority it is no 
 wonder that interprising individuals began to look 
 with eager eyes towards the rich and fertile fields 
 of Mexico. At this period the armament of Gen- 
 eral Miranda was fitted out under the very nose of 
 administration, and though, after it had sailed, the 
 most peremptory orders were dispatched for its de- 
 tention, still it was the general opinion that this 
 was merely a blind to hoodwink the Marquis Yru- 
 jo, who at that time made some spirited remon- 
 strances. This opinion was sanctioned by a jury 
 on oath, when sometime after a prosecution was 
 commenced against Colonel Smith and Mr. Ogden^ 
 who, notwithstanding the disadvantages under 
 which individuals always labour when opposed to 
 the State, were honourably acquitted, to the great 
 mortification of the honourable prosecuter. 
 
23 
 
 Long before this period, however, there is little 
 douln that the invasion of Mexico wds a favourite 
 object of the enterprising Sabine hero, who notwith- 
 standing the liberal alloivance made him bj the 
 Spaniards, was anxious to have a full sweep of the 
 country which supplied such an unexhauslible 
 quantity of tht'se treason-making dollars. Like the 
 honest proprietor of the golden goose, he vvas not 
 content with an e^g every day, but waited an op- 
 portunity of rifling the rich hoard itself. 
 
 The valiant General, it appears, is eminently 
 qualified for carrying on an intrigue. At first sight 
 he might be mistaken for a mere military coxcomb^, 
 a species of animal more contemptible than dan- 
 gerous. But to the observer of keener eye, who 
 looks through the powder and pomatum, and tin- 
 selled foppery with which he is disguised, the form 
 of cold, calculating, selfish villany, is seen crouch- 
 ing for its prey. Every wrinkle of hiscountenauce 
 is the lurking place of mischief, and every glance 
 of his eye warns the observer to beware of treach- 
 ery. 
 
 With this man Colonel Burr met occasionally in 
 his journeys to New-Orleans, and as the General 
 was in want of able men to second his plans, it ap- 
 pears that he opened to his visiter his design upon 
 Mexico. He stated to him that the two nations 
 were on such terms that a war must inevitably take 
 place; that from the communication made by the 
 President to Congress, it was expected by all par- 
 ties; that the people weTe thoroughly enraged with 
 Spain; and that at all events he himself could bring 
 on hostditiesat anytime, by sending out a detach- 
 ment which would certainly be attacked by the 
 Spaniards. To Colonel Burr, a fugitive from his 
 native soil, and bankrupt in fortune and iu fame, 
 such a plan offered temptations which at once deci- 
 ded him. There was certainly no treason in it, for 
 there is little doubt that the cabinet were apprised 
 
df the design of setting on foot an expedition td 
 Mexico, and intended to plume themselves on its 
 success. 
 
 Thus stood matters when one of those strange 
 revolutions, that make wise men laugh and the 
 viilger stare, took place in the cabinet, and chan- 
 ged altogether the face of our political atlairs. 
 All at once it was understood that our differences 
 were on the eve of being accommodated ; that- the 
 "'speck of war" which His Excellency had seen "ri- 
 sing above the horizon" had vani-hedj that the re- 
 presentative of his most catholic majesty had sjiveu 
 assurances of ample satisfaction for every affront; 
 and that finally there was to be no war. Whether 
 policy, or intrigue, or the Marquis Yrujo's elo- 
 quence, or Gen. Turreau's whiskers, or the inter- 
 position of the Great Emperor wrought this mira- 
 cle, remains a state secret, and will so remain un- 
 til our new order of Jesuits shall be abolished, and 
 the people restored to the privilege of using their 
 understandings. Certain it is, that His Excellen- 
 cy after having, like an honest mastiff, barked and 
 snarled and showed his teeth for a while, was all 
 at once metamorphosed into a little drivelling 
 xvhiffit, and with tad betwen his legs did most in- 
 continently scamper away from the seat of govern- 
 ment, with as much speed as if his Persian ram had 
 attacked him with his multifarious horns. It is 
 said that when the noble Marquis heard of this 
 second inimitable retreat of His Excellency, he 
 was hugely tickled, and burst into a fit of laugh- 
 ter altogether unworthy the superb gravity of ao, 
 ancient Castilian. 
 
 This sudden change in our relations with Spain, 
 it will readily be supposed, altered the views of 
 administration towards Mexico, and it became ne- 
 cessary to disclaim the plan of the Sabine hero^ 
 as well as that of Miranda. This might have been 
 easily done ; but as His Excellency the"President 
 
25 
 
 is universally allowed to be a man of spirit, be did 
 not like to knuckle to the Dons, by making this 
 disavowal, and trying again the experiment of 
 a peace offering, as in the case of Col. Smith. Be- 
 sides it would have been extremely difficult per- 
 haps impossible to offer up Col Burr, without im- 
 plicatmg the great Titus Oates. who was too use- 
 ful a man to be sacrificed, and whose dying speech 
 might have disclosed too many state secrets. 
 Here was a better method, which whether hatched 
 in the fertile brain of the philosophic statesman or 
 the renowned General I am at a loss to decide. 
 Could I with certainty point out the author he 
 should most assuredly receive his full measure of 
 praise for the wonderful discovery, or invention; 
 as it is, they must divide the prodigious honour 
 between them j there is enough for both. 
 
 The plan was this. Col. Burr was assured by 
 Titus Oates, ih^t notwithstanding present appear- 
 ances to the contrary, government still retained its 
 hostile views towards Spain ; that though it was 
 necessary to temporize for a while, still in all prob- 
 ability the President would sanction their plan, 
 and assist them in its execution. Jt was insisted 
 that the most profound secrecy was absolutely ne- 
 cessary in conducting the preparations for this un- 
 dertaking, and that its real object was not to be 
 disclosed to any but their most confidential asso- 
 ciates under the solemnity of an oath. 
 
 When every thing was ripe for execution, whis- 
 pers of a plot to dismelnber the United States be- 
 gan to float about. Nobody knew from whence 
 they came, and the uncertainty which accompanied 
 them created the greater alarm. There is no 
 danger so appalling to the imagination as that 
 which approaches unseen, and like ghosts and 
 spectres cannot be guarded against by any human 
 precaution. After these ideal terrors had brought 
 the nerves of the people to a proper state'ofweak- 
 
 D 
 
-26 
 
 itess, the great trumpeter of his party, Colonei 
 Duane, sounded his trumpet, which like the famous 
 horn of Astolplio, was able to appal the stoutest 
 heart, and discomfit whole hosts of warriors. He 
 was followed up by His Excellency, who forthwith 
 called for his sharp pointed pe??, and wrote a pro- 
 clamation, beginning with a most alarming 
 " WHEREAS," and ending w\th fire, murder and 
 "flat rebellion." The members of Congress not 
 to be behind hand, began to chatter like so many 
 inspired apes 3 and had it not been for the spirited 
 remonstrances of Mr. Randolph, the most sacred 
 security of personal liberty, the Habeas Corpus 
 act, would have been suspended, merely on the 
 rumour of an insurrection ! The constitution it is 
 true declares that the Habeas Corpus act shall not 
 be suspended but in times of rebellion, or great 
 public danger. It appeared on the trial of Colonel 
 Burr that he never had more than thirhj men with 
 him, during his expedition down the Ohio, and that 
 he never proceeded to any act of rebellion. Yet 
 with these thirty valiant heroes, armed vi^ith clubs 
 and pitchforks, did he put the public in " great 
 danger' and frighten Congress into an attempt on 
 one of the dearest rights of the citizen. — Nay with 
 these thirty m.en, did he, according to the affidavit 
 of *'the hero of Derne," intend to drive Congres.'> 
 neck and heels out of the capitol, and cut off the 
 head of His Excellency himself ! — Terrible ! — Had 
 these men been peers of Charlemagne, or even 
 knights of the round table, each of them able to 
 kill a giant or dragon, one might have expected, 
 from them such mighty deeds of arms; but that 
 thirty mere peasants and batteauxmen should have 
 created such a panic, is a proof of such weakness 
 and folly, as I cannot suspect even our administra- 
 tion of possessing. 
 
 It is true that few if any doubt the existence of 
 this plot, and that Col. Burr has fallen a victim to 
 
^7 
 
 that belief. True he has escaped with life; but he 
 has forfeited for ever what remained to him of the 
 people's confidence, and above all he has lost the 
 place which during all his trials he had till then 
 retained in the hearts of his friends. So success- 
 ful indeed have been the arts of Titus Gates and 
 his noble coadjutor that there is now scarcely a 
 man who doubts that Col. Burj' was guilty of con- 
 spiring the dismemberment of the United States ; 
 although after all the unparrelleled exertions of 
 Mr. Jefferson, certainly dictated by the purest 
 love of justice — after all the testimony which could 
 be procured by ransacking the country from one 
 end to the other — and after all the perjuries and 
 misrepresentations of ignorant and corrupted wit- 
 nesses — a jury certainly not partial to the priso- 
 ner pronounced him innocent. That no proof of 
 a plot so near maturity, and comprehending so 
 many individuals, could be procured by the most 
 arduous industry spurred on by the most inveterate 
 malignity, is a phenomenon unparalleled in the 
 history of the world, and might mdwce very scepti- 
 cal men to doubt its existence, even though veri- 
 fied by the testimony of the immaculate Oates 
 himself 
 
 But although this chosen witness, and his fellow 
 labourer, succeeded in destroying an obnoxious 
 individual, yet they failed in another very impor- 
 tant part of their plan, that of escaping uncensu- 
 red themselves. His Excellency is indeed still 
 posssssed of the conlidence of a large portion of 
 the people ; but even the people cannot be for ev- 
 er deceived by the most consummate artifice, and 
 he is now treading the downhill path to oblivion. 
 Or if his memory survive his cotemporaries,he will 
 only be quoted as the hypocrite who under the 
 semblance of patriotism cheated the people of 
 their rights — as the miserable minion of foreign io- 
 Huenccj who governed his country without glory 
 
28 
 
 or advantage, and who having in the "full tide of 
 successful experiment" conducted her to the verge 
 of destruction, abandoned the poor victim of his 
 arts as a wretched qnack deserts his patient after 
 having drugged him to the gates of death. As for 
 the famous affidavit-monger and catchpole Gene- 
 ral, notvi'ithstanding his most honourable acquittal, 
 I believe there is no honest man, who for the wealth 
 of worlds would bear that torrent of contempt and 
 detestation which gathers about his name, as it 
 rolls from one end of the continent to the other, 
 threatening to sweep away the recollection of all 
 former malefactors and their crimes, 
 
 1 have thought it necessary to premise thus much 
 in order to throw some little light on a dark and al- 
 most inscrutable affair, and if possible interest the 
 reader in favour of these two renowned conspira- 
 tors against Colonel Burr and the constitution. I 
 will now proceed in my principal design, which 
 was to substantiate the charge against His Excel- 
 Jency that he has infringed the constitution by de- 
 priving a citizen of the United States of his liberty 
 witiiout due course of law, and by invading the 
 rights of the judicial branch of the government, the 
 only security against executive oppression and 
 legislative folly. 
 
 That government only can be pronounced free, 
 in which the life, liberty and property of the citi- 
 zen, are subject to those laws, to which the majori- 
 ty havegiven their consent by their representativeSo 
 Accordingly in all free constitutions care has been 
 taken to guard against oppression, by securing 
 these rights to the citizen by the most positive de- 
 claiations. Thus the constitution of the United 
 States declares that " no individual shall be impris- 
 oned but by due course of law, or held to answer for 
 a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, except in a 
 presentment or indictment of a grand jury. ^\ 
 
 Let us compare the conduct of His Excellency 
 
^9 
 
 and his minions in the case of Colonel Burr, and see 
 how it agrees vvith these solemn declarations of the 
 constitution. 
 
 We have seen how, for the purpose of putting^ the 
 finishing stroke to Colonel Burr's ruin, it was found 
 necessary to frighten the women and children of 
 the United States, with horrible tales of deep con= 
 spiracles, and approaching " iron wars." Accor- 
 dingly the peaceable inhabitants of the country 
 were kept in perpetual apprehension of the terri- 
 ble traitor, who one day was coming down with an 
 army often thousand bloody-minded men, armed 
 cap-a-pee, to take possession of New -Orleans, 
 plunder the bank, murder the men, and ravish all 
 the innocent women— at another time his boats 
 covered the Ohio and Missisippi as thick as hopSj 
 and the whole country was on the point of being 
 overrun, burnt, sunk and destroyed by a vast 
 body of freebooters, who it appears by undeniable 
 testimony never amounted to more than thirty 
 men ! — The creation of this terrible phantom of 
 rebellion was indespensable to the success of the 
 plan ; for His Excellency is philosopher enough to 
 know that men are never more cruel than when, 
 under the influence of imaginary fears j and that 
 the people are never so likely to pardon oppression 
 as when it is practised under the specious pretence 
 of securing their safaty. 
 
 AVhen Gates had thus blown the bladder of his 
 conspiracy to its proper size, he proceeded with 
 great diligence to save his country, by apprehen- 
 ding this terrible traitor, who with four or five 
 boats and thirty men was going to undertake the 
 dismemberment of a great empire, united in itself 
 and at peace with the whole world ! Accordingly 
 without any legal authority whatever, without 
 even the formality of a justice's warrant, the prop- 
 erty of a citizen of the United States, who was 
 peaceably, and in defiance of no law^ proceeding 
 
30 
 
 down the Ohio, was seized by a rabble of miiitia 
 It is true the constitution provides that ^' the inglii 
 of the people to be secure in their persons, papers and 
 effects shall not he violated J' But what of that ? His 
 Excellency has only, with the assistance of Titus 
 Oates and Col. Duane, to invent a conspiracy, and 
 he may destroy the property of all his enemies 
 without exciting a single murmur. The people 
 of the United States are very easily satisfied, and 
 so you but allow them the name of liberty, are 
 content without the substance. His Excellency 
 has only to bid them beware of tyranny and he 
 may practice it without a murmur— like the pick- 
 pocket — who after having stolen his neighbour's 
 watch, warns him to take care of his pocket. 
 
 But though under the false pretence of public 
 danger Colonel Burr's property was thus illegally 
 seized, yet his person still remained at large; and 
 never I believe did hungry giant cry *' fee, faw, 
 fum" and thirst for " blood of Englishman" with 
 a more craving appetite than His Excellency did 
 for that of Colonel Burr, The first experiment 
 having succeeded so admirably, (for no one whis- 
 pered a breath against the seizure of the boats) 
 thenceforth encouraged so mightily the noble 
 Titus and his friends, that they from that moment 
 proceeded in their work without any fear of future 
 retribution. In the breast of the villain conscience 
 is nothing more than the fear of consequences — 
 promise him impunity, and you take away the on- 
 ly obstacle to his crimes. 
 
 Tliejudges, those everlasting stumbling blocks 
 in the way of oppression, not being found sufficient 
 ly docile, to grant blank warrants against they 
 knew not who ; and being troubled with certain 
 ridiculous scruples about the violation of the 
 laws, and such " stuff of the conscience," it 
 was found necessary to set their authority, as well 
 as that of the constitutions aside, and to declare 
 
martial law. The Habeas Corpus act was in effect 
 suspended, and the citizens of Louisiana surren- 
 dered to the discretion of a military commander ! 
 In any despotic government, England for instance, 
 auch a tyranical usurpation of civil right would 
 have raised a sentiment of indignation that would 
 have endangered the safety of the King himself. 
 But Mr. Jefferson is such a patron of the rights of 
 man, and such afriendof the people, that he may do 
 any thing in their violation with perfect impunity. 
 
 It was one of the strongest complaints in His 
 Excellency's celebrated declaration of Indepen- 
 dence, that the King of England " affected to ren- 
 der the military independent and superior to the 
 civil power." 
 
 If the mere affectation of this was such a griev- 
 ance, what shall we say to the reality? What shall 
 we say to the man who, being the very high priest 
 of liberty, sanctions the usurped authority of a mil- 
 itary despot, while he tramples on the most impor- 
 tant privilege ever accorded to afreeman — that of 
 being subject only to the legal authorities of his 
 country-? Why was it that we seperated from the 
 parent country? — -That we might be governed by 
 such laws only as we had assented to by our rep- 
 resentatives. In this consists the very essence of 
 freedom, and without this a nation, however it may 
 please itself with the name of liberty, is nothing 
 but a community of slav^es. 
 
 Now I would ask, is there any thing in our con- 
 stitution or laws which'authorizes a military com- 
 mander to seize the person of a citizen, and trans- 
 port him from one endof the continent to the oth- 
 er, without a warrant from the civil power ? And 
 if, as I maintain, there is not — under what author- 
 ity was it that General Wilkinson apprehended 
 Colonel Burr, and his associates, and shipped them 
 to Washington ? — By what authority did he pre- 
 sume to shut them up in forts, and prison ships. 
 
52 
 
 rolbl)ing them of their clothes, and denying them 
 the privilege of bail ? Not by the authority of the 
 civil power, for such was the contempt in which 
 his arts were held by the judges that not a single 
 warrant was issued on his ap{)lication. These facts 
 are serious; and they become more so when we 
 find the man who has been guilty of such things^ 
 basking at this moment in His Excellency's 
 smiles, and admitted to all his councils. 
 
 Having thus, by virtue of His Excellency's sov- 
 reign will and pleasure, become a most learned 
 and u\)ng\\t judge, the catchpole General procee- 
 ded to exercise his new functions with all that mo- 
 deration which is the characteristic of a mean and 
 pigmy mind when elevated beyond its usual sphere 
 ©faction. Colonel Burr was hunted like a con- 
 demned malefactor from one jurisdiction to anoth- 
 er — and this after a grand jury had refused to in- 
 dict him ! The sword was exchanged for the con= 
 stable's staff — officers were degraded into canch- 
 poles, and vessels of war into prison ships— and 
 from one end of the country to the other there was 
 a general prostration of law. 
 
 In this crusade against the common rights of the 
 citizen our Titus Gates distinguished himself by 
 superior activity, and performed all sorts of things. 
 At one time he was a General fighting most val- 
 iantly against armies invisible to all but such as, 
 like the quick-sighted native of the Hebrides, could 
 see them in the air — at another time he was a 
 ** most righteous judge" breaking ail restraint of 
 law and decency, and committing men to prison 
 by virtue of his own discretion: again he was like 
 Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, snuffing 
 the wind with the keen scent of a blood-hound^, 
 and running down men, as if they had been trans- 
 muted into wolves by sentence of outlawry : Then 
 he was a right learned clerk, decyphering letters 
 with most wonderful fidelity, and the next instant 
 
33 
 
 a most faithful witnes<;, swearing all sorts of oaths, 
 Proteus, it is said in ancient story, could assume a 
 thousand shapes of villany, but he was a mere type 
 of our hero. 
 
 It might reasonabl}^ have been supposed that his 
 Excellency being such a stanch supporter of the 
 rights of the citizen, would have punished this pre- 
 sumptuous commander, who had so palpably infrin- 
 ged them. But no such thing took place. After 
 a trial which in the opinion of all unprejudicedmeii 
 was a mere sham, this man has been most honoura- 
 bly acquitted, and instead of losing the confidence 
 of the President is received into more than ordina- 
 ry favour. Together with the Vendean hero Gen, 
 Turreau he is consulted on every question of na- 
 tional importance, and together with him presides 
 over the destiny of our country. To receive mo- 
 ney from a foreign power-- to usurp the civil au- 
 thority — and to forfeit the confidence of the people, 
 shall henceforward be considered as giving a man 
 the strongest claim to honours, and rewards, under 
 our glorious administration. 
 
 My subject would naturally lead me to inquire 
 into the constitutionality of "^transporting" Colonel 
 Burr and his associates from New- Orleans to Wash- 
 ington and Richmond for trial. This transportation 
 for trial, is made one of the articles of complaint 
 against the King of England in Flis Excellency's 
 declaration of independence, which I am sorry to 
 have occasion to quote against its author so very 
 frequently. The constitution it is true provides 
 against this species of oppression, by directing that 
 *' the criminal shall be tried by an impartial jury of 
 the state and district wherein the crime shall have 
 beencommitted;'^h\]iit\\eco\\si\t\xi\ou, when not sup- 
 ported by the sentiment of the people, is a feeble bar- 
 rier against the power and will of the executive. 
 AnotherPresident of the Virginia dynasty, and our 
 constitution as well as our commerce will be annihi- 
 lated, E 
 
34 
 
 The importance of this right to be tried in the 
 district where the crime is committed, is not so 
 well understood by the people as it ought to be. I 
 consider it as one of our strongest securities against 
 the oppression of power ; for were it not for this 
 salutary restraint any individual, however innocent, 
 might be seized by a military despot, and dragged 
 from one end of the continent to another, there to 
 be tried, where it is utterly impossible to procure 
 a single witness to attest his innocence. Although 
 the article quoted iibove does not expressly say it, 
 yet the intention certainly was that the criminal 
 should not only be tried by a jury of, but that he 
 should be tried in the district where the crime was 
 committed. And such is the importance which I 
 attach to the due administration of the laws protec- 
 ting personal libertjj, that from the bottom of m}^ 
 heart, I do believe it would have been better, that 
 the unioji of the states had been violated, than that 
 the laws had been so violated under pretence of 
 preventing the evil.— If such things are to become 
 common in this country, we shall ere long have 
 occasion to regret the blood which was shed in de- 
 fence of our rights, during the revolutionary war. 
 Open oppression the people of this country will I 
 hope always have spirit enough to resist; and it 
 is only by undermi7iing and hypocrisy that they 
 can be subdued. 
 
 It is not necessary to my purpose that I should 
 enter on the detail of Col. Burr's trial at Richmond 
 The event is well known. Owing to the exalted 
 firmness of Judge Marshall, who disdained to 
 wrest the laws, or sutler them to be wrested to 
 the purposes of oppression ; and to the impartial- 
 ity of the jury, who disdained to be influenced by 
 newspaper clamours, and who treated the testimony 
 of Oates with merited contempt. Col. Burr was 
 acquitted of the crimes laid to his charge. Col. 
 Duane was also a witness on the trial, but on his 
 
35' 
 
 examination cut a most ridiculous tlgure, and was 
 obliged to acknowledge himself totally ignorant 
 of any thing appertaining to this famous conspira- 
 cy. The only reasonable conclu-iion to be drawn 
 from this circumstance is that the Col. was brought 
 there to overawe the jury ; and I cannot help ad- 
 miring the ingenious contrivance by which he was 
 enabled to travel at the expense of the United 
 States. 
 
 There were two or three other witnesses on this 
 trial, whose names 1 present to the reader's notice, 
 for the purpose of shewing what truly honourable 
 instrunjents, and means, were resorted to in ch'der 
 to secure the condemnation of Col. Burr. 
 
 Jacob All bright and Peter Taylor were, togeth- 
 er with Titus Gates, the great pillars of the prose- 
 cution. My readers have been made acquainted 
 with the character of the latter, but they proba- 
 bly do not know that Allbright and Taylor, were 
 the very minions of ignorance, and so totally illit- 
 erate as to be incapable of reading or writing. 
 They were however choice instruments in the 
 hands of the prosecutors, and were accordingly 
 selected to prove the only overt act set forth 
 in the indictment, namely, resistence to the civil 
 authority in the person of Gen. Tupper, who com- 
 manded the party of militia which was sent to ap- 
 prehend Col. Burr's boats. Their testimony was 
 however contradicted by at least thirty witnesses, 
 and even Gen. Tupper himself declared, what 
 was known to be a fact,— that he never in his life 
 was in the commission of the peace ! 
 
 There was also another witness whose fate ex- 
 cited much sympathy. A Mr. M. a respectable 
 young man from the State of Tennesee, by arti- 
 fice or bribery, orthreats, was seduced into making 
 an affidavit which went to establish the guilt of 
 Col. Burr, for the purpose of justifying Wilkin- 
 son's illegal apprehension of that gentleman. On 
 
36 
 
 his examination before Judge Marshall he how- 
 ever contradicted this affidavit in every material 
 point. The Chief Justice, shocked at such dread- 
 ful prevarications, bade hioi be sdent ; " and ne- 
 ver open his mouth again in a court of justice," 
 The miserable victim of artifice retired from court 
 overwhelmed with remorse andshame— took laud- 
 anum, and died. 
 
 I might go on to detail some other anecdotes of 
 the witnesses on this celebrated trial ; but those I 
 have already given will be amply sufficient to de- 
 monstrate the pious regard for justice which actu- 
 ated "His Excellency and his ministers on that oc- 
 casion. So very extraorduiary was the zeal of 
 His Excellency in particular, that he wrote a let- 
 ter to Mr. Giles, after that gentleman had been 
 summoned as a juror on the trial, to assure him 
 that there was no doubt of Col. Burr's guilt ! 
 Mr. Giles incautiously, on his way to Richmond, 
 mentioned this circumstance, addins: he was con- 
 vinced from that letter, that the charge against 
 Col. Burr was true. When his name was called 
 in court, he was challenged by the prisoner, who 
 offered to prove the facts above stated. Even the 
 fluent Mr. Giles was struck dumb on the occasion ; 
 and the orator who had displayed his eloquence 
 in the face of the representative dignity of the 
 United States, shrunk into silence before the very 
 man he had pronounced a traitor. Who can won- 
 der that a gentleman who had gone the lengths 
 of His Excellency, should show his contempt of 
 the judicial authority in this instance, and refuse 
 to answer a suhpccna, directed to him by the Chief 
 Justice of the United States r — I have heard that 
 Kings and Emperors are exempted from givingtesti- 
 mony in courts of justice ; but I should be glad to 
 know, unless His Excellency is a Kingor an Empe- 
 ror, in what part of the constitution he is authorized 
 to demur to 2l subpoena f Suppose, for instance. His 
 
37 
 
 Excellency was privy to a murder, or any other 
 atrocious crime — suppose, no matter how impro- 
 bable, that he should have in his possession the 
 most undeniable proofs of Gen. Wilkinson's ha- 
 ving been a traitor to his country in receiving a 
 pension from the Spanish government. Is His 
 Excellency obliged to give up these proofs when 
 called upon by the highest judicial authority in the 
 State, and when they are absolutely necessary to 
 the due administration of justice? Undoubtedly 
 not — neither Napoleon or any other tyrant would 
 submit to it — and why should His Excellency? 
 
 I shall wave any further consideration of this 
 subject, not only because I have (unless I deceive 
 myself) said sufficient to convince any man acquain- 
 ted with the subject that the constitution was vio- 
 lated in the person and property of Colonel Burr; 
 but because there are more recent delinquencies 
 that demand my attention. 
 
 The constitution is like the decalogue, and he 
 who infringes one single article transgresses the 
 whole. I might therefore consider my principal 
 object as accomplished, had 1 not undertaken to 
 prove that there has been a decided hostdity in the 
 present executive towards that constitution which, 
 however he might have opposed, he had sworn to 
 maintain. 
 
 Far be from me the indecorum of charging His 
 Excellency with having broken that oath. He may 
 for ought that appears to the contrary, have chan- 
 ged h'lsfaith, and became a convert to the religion 
 as well as the politics of France; in which case the 
 holy father of the roman church would willingly 
 absolve him from the performance of a vow, so in- 
 convenient to the illustrious convert. 
 
 In the list of His Excellency's experiments on 
 the constitution, the embargo claims a most con- 
 spicuous place, especially when one considers that 
 it lias been emphatically called his ^' strong meas- 
 
38 
 
 MreT and moreover that it is the only one of the 
 kind of which he has ever been accused. 
 
 For the more thorough examination, it will be 
 necessary to consider the constitutionality, as well 
 as the policy of that measure, and for this 
 purpose, let us go as far back as the declaration of 
 independence. 
 
 To all the complaints urged in this celebrated 
 instrument, the constitution certainly intended to 
 apply a remedy. We may therefore assume it as 
 an undeniable position, that whatever is contrary 
 to the letter of the declaration, is also contrary to 
 the spirit of the constitution, which grew out of the 
 principles laid down in that able manifesto. 
 
 What say the representatives of the people, as- 
 sembled in congress the 4ih of July 1776, an era 
 memorable in the history of this country ? This 
 patriotic assembly, equal in virtue and talents to 
 any ever convened in any country, and composed 
 of men who I fear will have few successors in their 
 posterity — declare that one of their principal 
 grounds for withdrawing their allegiance from 
 the King of Great Britain was that "Hii HAD CUT 
 
 OFF OUR TRADE WITH ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD." 
 
 Until lately this might indeed have been consider- 
 ed a very reasonable ground of complaint in the 
 second commercial nation in the world. His Ex- 
 cellency the President has however done precisely 
 what is here complained of; and by a permanent 
 embargo, not only " cut off our trade with all the 
 world" but clogged our intercourse with each oth- 
 er with so many vexatious and illegal obstacles 
 that we may now almost be said to be cut oif from 
 all trade even with each other. This pocket-pick- 
 ing measure is exactly what the representatives of 
 the people in 1776 considered as a flagrant outrage 
 upon the privileges of British subjects, and I would 
 ask if we are not now entitled to demand equal 
 freedom ? If a citizen of the United States cannot 
 
59 
 
 -?i'ow claim the privileges which he demanded as a 
 subject of Britain, for what did we undertake a se- 
 ven years war ? — If the constitution does not ex- 
 pressly provide against such a devouring measures 
 it is doubtless because it never entered into the 
 imagination of its framers, that such an experiment 
 woidd ever be repeated, while the example of the 
 revolution remained as a warning to oppression. 
 
 But an infringement of the rights of the people 
 can never be justified by the poor argument that 
 it is not forbidden by any written law. Murder 
 would be a crime, even though not pronounced so 
 by the canon and civil laws ; — and oppression 
 ought to be exposed even though it may not be 
 expressly illegal. The only passage in the consti- 
 tution, which applies to the present question, is 
 that which declares that Congress shall have power 
 to " regulate commerce.''' To put an end to the 
 very existence of our commerce is to " regulate''^ 
 it with a vengeance ! It is like a watch-maker who 
 under pretence of regulating your watch stops 
 her for ever from going. 
 
 But I have still another proof which I think 
 will nearly demonstrate that the right of laying a 
 permanent embargo, and more esjiccially of em- 
 barassing the intercourse of one state with another^ 
 by official shackles, and vexatious obstructionSp 
 does not exist in the general government, but is 
 nothing more than a downright usurpation. 
 
 The second article of the confederation of the 
 states, which is the basts of the union, and the on- 
 ly security against the encroachments of the exec= 
 utive, solemidy stipulates, that " each State retains 
 its sovereignty, freedom and independence, and every 
 power of jurisdiction and right which is not by this 
 confederation expressly delegated to the United States 
 in congress assembled.'' 
 
 Now I challenge any Virginian casuist to quote 
 me a single sentence in the articles of cunfedera- 
 
tioii which delegates this right of destroying com- 
 merce to the United States. And if not so dele- 
 gated, by what authority have Congress thus in- 
 vaded the '■'■ sovereignty, freedom and independence'' 
 of every state in the Union ? Not certainly by the 
 authority of the constitution, for that recognizes 
 no power, but that of " regulating commerce ;" 
 and if it did, not being sanctioned by the articles of 
 confederation, it would not be valid. 
 
 If I do not deceive myself it will be quite un- 
 nessary to bring forward any more authorities 
 to prove the unconstitutionality of the embargo. 
 Perhaps I might have saved myself the trouble 
 of producing any at all. In this liberal and en~ 
 lightened age, the divinity of the laws is a mere 
 Chinese wooden god, who if he answers our pur- 
 poses, is most devoutly cherished and adored ; but 
 if not, is kicked, despised and broken. The laws 
 oftheCreator,of society, and of nations, have yiel- 
 ded to the new discoveries in religion and moral- 
 ity. Thomas Paine has become the high priest of 
 religion; and Grotius, Puffendorf and Vattel, have 
 yielded to the irresistible reasonings of those 
 great civilians Napolean, George the third, and 
 Thomas Jefferson ; the latter of whom is doubtless 
 vir bonus dicendi peritus — a good kind of a man 
 skilled in talking. 
 
 But what shall we say to the policy of the em- 
 bargo, which is next to be considered. That must 
 "be indeed a most melancholy measure, which can 
 neither plead right or expediency in its excuse. 
 Butsliould it happen, as in the present case, to be 
 a measure o^ darkness, hviu'i^A through Congress, 
 without deliberation or debate, and predicated on 
 reasons which the framers are ashamed to avow, 
 surely there is room for the strongest suspicions 
 that the good of the country was not its sole object. 
 
 A little consideration will serve to show tiiat 
 this darling measure of His Excellency, which his 
 
followers dignify with the imposing title of hig 
 ^' strong- ?}ieasu7T,'' is nothing more than the ricket- 
 ty otFspring of his weakness and his fears combi- 
 ned ; and that in every point of view it isdislion- 
 ourableand injurious to the country ; dishonour- 
 able as it amounts to an acknowledgment that 
 our irovernment has neither the will nor the now- 
 er to protect our commerce; and injurious, as it 
 cuts off our prime source of national prosperity. 
 
 It is not meant to assert that the embargo was 
 solely the offspring of the weakness and fears of 
 His Excellency. No — there is no dour)t but his 
 policy came in for a large share. I mean his fa- 
 vourite Virginia policy, vihich is borrowed bom the 
 maxims of ihe great Chinese philosopher Coniu- 
 cius, and the practice of the illustrious Kieii 
 Lung. 
 
 This policy, with which His Excellency and 
 sundry other political pedants have been so com- 
 pletely smitten, has it is true, zvitli the assistence 
 of the great zvall, enabled the Chinese empire to 
 subsist peaceably for upwards of two thousand 
 years, vvith the exception of a single revolution: 
 but a system which would preserve an absolute 
 patriarchal government like that of Chinia, might 
 not exactly comport with the genius of a repub- 
 lic. The beautiful fancy of a country at peace 
 with the whole world, pursuing her domestic hap- 
 piness undisturbed by the convulsions which agi- 
 tate the rest of the world, and dependant solely 
 on its agriculture and arts for support, has there 
 been put to the test of experiment. And what 
 has been the consecjuence ? "O" answers the 
 philosophic adorer of theory — -without doubt the 
 happy period of the golden age has there been 
 realized for ages — content, simplicity, cheerful uess 
 and plenty there walk hand hi hand -, and all the 
 rural virtues, the ethereal sisters, are seen to sport 
 in the fields and hover round the fire sides of this 
 
 F 
 
4g 
 
 happy coimtfy." Bat what says the enlightened 
 tiaveller, who has had an opportunity of" view^- 
 ing: these truths with closer eyes ?" Alas ! he be- 
 holds nothing but a mighty system of towering 
 oppression on one hand and abject submission on 
 the other — an Emperor with the tiile of Great Fa- 
 ther of China, exercising the functions of a tyrantj 
 and a people, who with the name of his children, 
 are abject slaves. The *' cankers of a calm world 
 arid a long peace," have eaten away every high 
 heroic feeling of honour, and the sole motives of 
 their actions are the fear of punishment and the 
 love of gain. Instead of the rural virtues, nothing 
 is to be seen in the fields but labour and oppres- 
 sion, and nothing at the fire side but poverty and 
 gloom. The Emperor bamboos the great Manda- 
 rine, who revenges his pains (he has no sense of 
 disgrace) on him next below him, and he on the 
 next; until at length th\s imperial legacy descends 
 with interest to the lowest of the emperor's chil- 
 dren, who crouching at the feet of some miserable 
 minion of authority, most devoutly lick the dust, 
 and thank the petty tyrant for the salutary discip- 
 line they have undergone. 
 
 PutTed up with ignoble conceit these people have 
 been led to believe that, because the Europeans 
 come so far for their commodities, they must be 
 a set of inferior beings. Happy in this notable 
 idea they hug themselves in fancied superiority, 
 and look down wish all the lofty contempt of ele- 
 vated Ignorance upon nations incapable of mak- 
 ing nankeens, cultivatmg the teaplant, and con- 
 juring snakes into a man's breeches pocket. This 
 home-bred arrogance, which always springs up in 
 nations which do not maintain a liberal inter- 
 course with the rest of the civilized world, has 
 been the great cause that this rich empire, which 
 has flourished inviolate for so many ages at peace 
 with all mankind, is sunk into the most deplorable 
 

 ignorance and superstition. While the rest of the 
 civilized world has been regularly advancing in 
 learning and refinement, this empire of cabbage 
 plants, engendered, nourished and rotting in the 
 same spot, has lost what little science it once pos- 
 sessed, and neglected all its liberal arts, in the 
 zeal for manufacturing toys for grown chddren, 
 and hoarding up money, which the tyranny of 
 their little reptile officers will never suffer them 
 to enjoy. 
 
 There are other evils growing out of this per- 
 petual embargo, which it is triumphantly boasted 
 has ensured ihe empire of China a perpetual peace. 
 The people have multiplied to such a degree that 
 the country is unable to support them. Every 
 year, according to the most respectable authornies, 
 thousands of these wretched sufferers perish by 
 famine, in different provinces, — Nor is this the 
 worst — night after night, and every night, thous- 
 ands of children are exposed to perish in the 
 streets of the great cities by desperate parents who 
 cannot support them ; and such is the acknow- 
 ledged necessity for this inhuman practice, that 
 no punishment is inflicted for this unnatural crime 
 by the laws, from a conviction that there are alrea- 
 dy too many people in the empire. Sometimes, 
 indeed, humanity may snatch one of these poor in- 
 fants from its fate ; but for the most part they are 
 mangled by the dogs before morning, and their re- 
 mains collected in carts that go about for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Thrice blessed policy !™What a happy country 
 must that be, where the bomboo is the great min- 
 ister of justice — where every body comes to buy 
 tea — where a perpetual embargo maintains a per- 
 petual peace^ — and where bloody war is exchan- 
 ged for the more triflmg evils of famine and child 
 murder ! — What a pity it would be if Hi> Excellent 
 cy should be disappomted in the introduction of 
 
such invaluable blessings. Still it is to be hoped 
 thai. Mr. Madison, the second bright star in the 
 constellation of Virginia, will live to finish vv hat 
 his great predecessor has begun, and that his native 
 state at least will one day be permitted to realize all 
 the unspeakable delights of a perpetual embargo, 
 and its consequences! 
 
 Bat however the motives I have mentioned might 
 and did influence His Excellency in the adoption 
 of his famous '■'■strong measure^ he was too much of 
 a politician to put them forward to the people, who 
 notvvithstanding all the attempts of oiir Chinese 
 administration to extinguish it, still retain, and I 
 trust will ever retain, some vital spark of that sacred 
 fire which once burned in the hearts, and sparkled 
 in the eyes of Washmgton's illustrious followers. 
 
 His Excellency, I repeat, was too much of a pol- 
 itician to acknowledge the real motives which 
 dictated the em!)argo, and cloaked his fears and his 
 Chinese policy under the specious pretence of kee- 
 pitiu our property safe at home and protecting our 
 seamen. 
 
 Among the people of America, who resemble 
 the Chinese in their veneration for money, the idea 
 of preserving their property was extremely popu- 
 lar; and however I may be induced to censure 
 His Excellency's general conduct, I cannot here 
 refrain from expressing my admiration of the pro- 
 found skdl with which on this and many other oc- 
 casions he has piac'tised his deceptions. Hypoc- 
 risy is one of the great qualifications of a popular 
 leader, whose zvisdom consists in deceiving the 
 people — It is a dark lanthorn, which while it hides 
 the bearer in obscurity, enables him, to see every 
 obstacle in his way. 
 
 When the backs of the people had become a 
 little accustomed to the embargo and they began 
 to amble along with a considerable degree of ass- 
 like docilityjout crept a little broodof supplements, 
 
45 
 
 which Congress vomited forth with as much rapi- 
 dity as a snake does lier precious progeny of in- 
 fant reptiles. The people were dosed with sup- 
 plement after supplement, until their- stomachs 
 fairly turned, and they exhibited a face almost as 
 rueful as that of Sancho Panza, after swallowing 
 a potion of the balsam ofFerabras. At lengihthe 
 learned college of political doctors, having finish- 
 ed their prescriptions, and holden a last consulta- 
 tion over their exhausted and consumptive patient, 
 adjourned with great decency, and were all sent 
 home with a strict charge to intrigue for Mr. 
 Madison. 
 
 These supplements at length seemed to rouse 
 the people, who though not remarkably quick- 
 sighted are sometimes like Balaam's ass inspired to 
 see what is right before their eyes. They began 
 to distinguish through the almost impenetrable 
 mist of His Excellency's policy, the real intent of 
 this "strong measure" and the extent of its ope- 
 ration. Mmds of the most obtuse faculties be- 
 gan to perceive that if the preservation of '^^ our 
 property'' had been the real motive for laying the 
 embargo, the prohibiting our trade with for- 
 eign nations was alone sutTicient to answer that 
 purpose. They saw that there was no necessity 
 to interdict the intercourse betwen one state and 
 another, to withhold our citizens from an exchange 
 of their own productions, or to give to every little 
 contemptible officer of the customs a discretion- 
 ary power to permit ofily such vessels as //<? pleas- 
 ed to clear out for any foreign or domestic port. 
 In short, they saw at length the dawnings of that 
 fatal Virginia policij, which aims at no less an ob- 
 ject than the total destruction of our foreign com- 
 merce. 
 
 That the reader may the better comprehend 
 what is meant by Virginia policy, about which 
 much has been said of late; I will here digress 
 
46 
 
 for a moment in order to detail some of the cir- 
 cumstances of their character and situation which 
 have given rise to their antipathy to commerce and 
 the rei^iilar administration of the laws. In doing 
 this I disdain all prejudice against that ancient com- 
 monwealfh^ whicli I dare say is at least fifty years 
 older than any other in the United States. 
 
 Virginia was so called in compliment to the vir- 
 ginitij of Queen Elizabeth, athmg so very ques- 
 tionable, that the gallant Henry the 4th, of France^ 
 declared it puzzled him more than any question 
 he ever encountered. In its colonization many 
 difliculties occurred — the early adventures were 
 all cut off by famine or the Indians, and it is a re- 
 markable fact that the first permament settlement 
 was achieved by a gallant association of genile- 
 man, who, having conmjitted some trifling mis- 
 takes as to meum and tiitim, were charitably per- 
 mitted, as I have before observed, to chuse one of 
 twoalrernatives — to ship themselves for the ancient 
 dominion^ or stay at home and be hanged. This 
 was an excellent beginning — Rome was for the 
 most part peopled by robbers, and Botany "Bay 
 is a most respectal)le colony, though first settled 
 hy pickpockets. Being so respectably descended, 
 the lads of the ancient dominion pride themselves 
 on their ancestry, (as well they may) and look 
 down with contempt on the plebeians of the 
 north and the east ; whose forefathers were so ri- 
 diculous as to leave their native country from mere 
 motives of conscience ! 
 
 In virtue of this high descent the Virginians are 
 all gentlemen, and to be a merchant is considered 
 degrading in the most abject degree. 4 
 
 ..;., Having acquired, the Lord knows how, great 
 landed estates, which are out of the reach of the 
 laws, and livmg on the incomes derived from them, 
 they are decided enemies to commerce, which en- 
 ables a citizen of the east or the north, who never 
 
inherited a single acre, in a few years to viejii 
 riches with one of the most potent Lortls of the 
 ancient dominion. Truly it was high time to 
 bring down these aspiring upstarts, by an em- 
 bargo. 
 
 Their attachment to the laws is supposed to be 
 considerably weakened by the recollection of the 
 fate of iheir ancestors; but their attachment to 
 liberty is truly astonishing. Such indeed is their 
 devotion to the goddess, that they cannot endure 
 thai any body but themselves should possess her, 
 and therefore make slaves of all the negroes they 
 kidnap, or purchase — nay tiiey have even b,eeii 
 known to shoot one of these unhappy wretches, 
 merely to put him out of a state of servitude! 
 
 From these characteristics results that policy 
 by v\h)ch the state of Virginia is distinguished 
 from any other state in the union. And though 
 I cannot say positively whether His Excellency is 
 a descendant of the illustrious band of adventu- 
 rers perforce ; yet it plainly appears he is a warm 
 supporter of the opinions of the Virginian oli- 
 gafctiy. 
 
 1 hat he is a systematic and decided enemy to 
 commerce appears by his neglecting its protection 
 throughout the whole course of his memorable 
 administration — by his utter contempt of the pe- 
 titions of the whole commercial body — by the 
 blow which he has laid at the 7^oot of the commer- 
 cial system, by a permanent embargo — and lastly 
 by his having delegate"d to the different Collectors 
 the power of granting permits to such vessels only 
 as came well recommended, as belonging to the 
 genuwae supporters of the embargo. This last I 
 consider as not the least serious evil attendant on 
 the late measures of the administration, for to in- 
 trust any man with a discretionary power over 
 trade, is to subject it to the influence of caprice, 
 party spirit, interest and oppression. 
 
48 
 
 Wiieii it was discovered at Washington that 
 the numerous supplements to the embargo had 
 opened the eyes of the people as to the falla- 
 cy of the reasons which had been put forward to 
 justify that measure, it became necessary to re- 
 sort to some other expedient in order to continue 
 the delusion, llie farmer could no longer be 
 brought to believe that a law which, under pre- 
 tence of preserving his property, obliged him in 
 the end to sell it at half its value, or suffer it to 
 perish on his hands, could possibly be intended 
 for his benefit. Neither could a law which has 
 baiiished every seaman from this country, be in- 
 tended for the " protection" of our sailors. This 
 ■was almost too much even for the faith of the most 
 orthodox democrat to swallow. 
 
 His Excellency hereupon set himself to work, 
 in order to manufacture what is emphatically de- 
 nominated a humbug, and succeeded to admiration. 
 From the prolific region of his brain came forth iri 
 full maturity, like the goddess Minerva, a most 
 rare and admirable invention, which the indefati- 
 gable jackalls of this expedient-monger were des- 
 patched to trumpet forth to the people. 
 
 The embargo was no longer a measure of de- 
 fence but of offence. The object was no longer to 
 protect our property and seamen, but to annoy 
 the two great belligerent powers, to starve the 
 West-Indies, and bring Britain and France to an 
 atonement for the insults and injuries which they 
 had heaped upon this peaceful, unoffending, sub- 
 missive and degraded country. Starvation was 
 the word. We were to be regaled with the musiq 
 of universal misery. The chorusses of starving 
 negroes begging for bread — the dying groans of 
 vvrretches giiped by the hard hand of famine, were 
 to atone for our wrongs; and the crimes of Britain 
 and His Excellency's beloved France revenged on 
 the unoffending descendants of oppressed Africa ' 
 
49 
 
 Admirable system of retributive justice! Who 
 does not recognize in it the hand of a pupil of im-. 
 perial France, who boasted that she revenged the 
 crimes of ancient Rome on the heads of her de- 
 scendants, and offered up to the manes of Vercen- 
 getorix, a Gallic chief slain by Julius Caesar, some 
 of the best blood of modern Italy, 
 
 But in sober candour I acquit His Excellency 
 of this humane intention of starving the West-In- 
 dies, Such a project of cold-blooded and delibe- 
 rate crueUy I am sure never entered his heart. 
 My imagination cannot conceive that any mindj 
 however exasperated by injuries, could in a phren- 
 sied exertion of vengeance adopt such a cruel and 
 brutal plan. It is fike a bull who, being baited 
 into madness, atones for the tortures inflicted by 
 a few, by the indiscriminate destruction of all he 
 meets. Far be it from me to accuse His Excel- 
 lency of such inhumanity. Every body knows he 
 is mildness itself. His patience under injuries — 
 his universal philanthropy^ — his philosophical en- 
 durance of public contempt — his pious submission 
 under all the visitations of insults from abroad, 
 are so notorious, that were I really to accuse him 
 of this nefarious design of starving the world into 
 reason, it would no more be credited than if 1 were 
 to compliment him for his wisdom, his candour, 
 his justice, or even his magnanimity. 
 
 No man who is acquainted with His Excellen- 
 cy's philanthropy can possibly suspect him of this 
 whimsical intention of i^/^sting away the poor ne- 
 groes by famine. It answered very well to gull 
 the people, who, so they are revenged, do not 
 much care on whom ; and it served as a kind of 
 Chinese wall, behind which he imagined he might 
 securely dig the mine which was intended to an- 
 nihilate our commerce, and prostrate at the same 
 time the famdy of the Union, at the feet of his na- 
 
 G 
 
50 
 
 tive State — the darling Joseph to whose sheaf of 
 wheat all the others are to do homage. 
 
 But even admittino^ a moment, merely for the 
 sake of aro^ument, that His Excellency did contem- 
 plate the starving of his enemies into a reparation 
 of his injuries by this famous " strong measurer 
 Let us then inquire how tliis humane experiment 
 has answered the expectations of its notable con- 
 triver. 
 
 Have the West Indies materially suffered by the 
 embargo ? — Certainly not. It is notorious to ev- 
 "ery one that the islands are but little affected by 
 this abortive attempt, and that no country has been 
 marerially injured by it but our own. It is thus 
 that it always fares with a nation, whose power is 
 wielded by a weak and irresolute arm. Like the 
 fabled bow of romance, which when drawn by a 
 strong and nervous arm, carried death and dismay 
 into the adverse camp; but when usurped by 
 weakness recoiled, and did itself the work of the 
 enemy. 
 
 If the West Indies have endured an embargo of 
 nearly a twelvemonth, they can endure one of a 
 hundred years, for according to the most undoubt- 
 ed information, all the planters have, in conse- 
 quence of that measure, set apart portions of their 
 estates and slaves, for the purpose of cultivating 
 the necessaries of life, which with proper care may 
 be raised in ^so^'^y island. In a year or two, they 
 will have reason to bless the name of His Excel- 
 lency, who on this occasion seems to have been a 
 blind instrument to point out to them their true 
 interests. Instead of overstocking the markets of 
 the world with their sugars and rum, and paying 
 an enormous price lor provisions, the planters will 
 supply their own wants, and by diminishing the 
 quantity of their exports enhance their price in 
 proportion. It is thus that Providence sometimes 
 deigns to sanctify the schemes of folly, and to turn 
 
61 
 
 the blunders of one into the advanta!>e of a whole 
 community. Afjain — has this prodigious measure 
 answered any one of the ends for which it was os- 
 tensihly designed r — Have the decrees of France 
 or the orders of the English Council been aban- 
 doned, or have the offending nations discovered 
 any symptoms of repentance or amendment? 
 Alas ! No — It seems that these desperate delin- 
 quents are determined to provoke their final des- 
 truction, by persevering in wickedness, until His 
 Excellency shall at length rise in all the irresista- 
 ble strength of cowardly desperation, and with the 
 aid of his catchpole Genera! Tit us Oaies, his val- 
 iant bully Colouel Alias Duane, his invincible 
 Gun- Boats, his Bum- Bailiff' army, and his terrible 
 proclamations, astonish the whole universe with 
 the measureless measure, of his immeasurable 
 revenge! 
 
 I could not resist the inclination to treat the sub- 
 ject of His Excellency's warlike preparations with 
 a degree of contemptuous levity, which contrasted 
 with the gravity of my subject may perhaps ap- 
 pear misplaced. But in reality there is something 
 so exceedingly ridiculous in the figure His Excel- 
 lency makes at present, and his situation is so lu- 
 dicrously distressing, that even at the very crisis 
 when his poor temporizing ricketty policy has 
 brought the barque of the commonwealth into 
 imminent danger, 1 cannot help looking back at 
 the dismayed and unskilful pdot, who staijds 
 aghast, at the prospect before him, and laughing 
 in his face most indecorously. I thank Heaven it 
 is not my fault, but the blmdness of my country- 
 men, that to use the words of a celebrated writer 
 ** We are governed by a set of drivellers whose 
 folly takes away all dignity from distress, and 
 makes even calamity ridiculous." 
 
 Having as I think routed His Excellency out of 
 some of his strong holds,, I shall make a short re= 
 
capitulation of his public conduct, for the purpose 
 of shewing that he has no claim whatever to the 
 contidence of the people, and that as the first ma- 
 gistrate of a republic he has degraded hiscountry, 
 and forfeited the title of an honest man. 
 
 His Excellency while secretary of state under 
 General Washington, in the opinion of all his 
 cotemporaries, supported that infamous paper 
 which was a perpetual libel against that great and 
 good man, wliose character one could have suppo- 
 sed was too pure even for the malignity of fiends 
 to attempt. That pajjer was then, and is still con- 
 ducted by the mad malignant idiot, once plain 
 scoundrel Duane, but now by the courtesy of His 
 Excellency, who remembers his old friend and fel- 
 low labourer, dignified to the indelible disgrace 
 of a once honorable profession — with the title of 
 Colonel Duane. What but the most gnawing am- 
 bition — what but the phrensy of high-wrought jea- 
 lousy, or the fell envy of the liend, who sighs to 
 bringdown the pure ethereal spirit to the level of 
 his own darkness, roz//c/ have prompted an American 
 to abuse and vilify so excellent a iiero, or to reward 
 the foreign hireling for a service of such prodigious 
 infamy? — If the pure spirit of the Fabius and Mar- 
 Cd-Z/z^i- of America, himself both sword and buckler 
 of his country — ever contemplates its fading glo- 
 ries, how will it regret the blood that was spilled 
 in the glorious struggle for that manly liberty and 
 independence, which in a ie\^ short years has given 
 place to an ignoble and cowardly system of decep- 
 tion and chicanery. 
 
 His Excellency while secretary of state was as 
 notorious for his devotion to the interests of repub- 
 lican:, as he is now to those of imperial France, and 
 on every occasion associated himself in the cabinet 
 with the then attorney general Edmund Randolph^ 
 in opposing the wise measures of General Wash- 
 ington, to resist the torrent of popular madness. 
 
55 
 
 The attorney general was afterwards convicted of 
 betraying his country to France, but the secretary 
 has been more fortunate, or rather more prudent; 
 and however strange the delusion may appear, 
 there are absohitely vast numbers of well-meaning 
 people, with the reputation of common sense, who 
 still believe him innocent of any share in that 
 honourable transaction ! 
 
 For these and a variety of other brilliant atchiev- 
 ments, His Excellency was elevated by the grati- 
 tude of the people to the chair of chief magistrate, 
 with full power to pursue his favourite scheme of 
 aggrandizing his native Virginia at the expense of 
 her younger sisters. 
 
 Almost the first act by which he signalized his 
 administration was entering a nolle prosequi, to 
 stop the proceedings against his worthy coadjutor 
 Colonel Duane, who was then under prosecution 
 for a most infamous libel against General Washing- 
 ton. This was exactly as it should be. "Honour 
 amongst thieves" says the old proverb, and xi they 
 betray each other where shall we look for fidelity 
 in this wicked world ? 
 
 By making this diversion in favour of his faithful 
 friend and compeer, His Excellency not only sig- 
 nalized his gratitude, but also his prudence. For 
 if the renegado Colonel had been left to suffer the 
 consequences of his crimes, he might in revenge 
 have turned upon his employer, and betrayed his 
 dark secrets. Yet notwithstanding all the rich 
 crusts which His Excellency has given to keep his 
 stanch blood-honnd true to the scent, a time will 
 certainly come when he will gorge on his master. 
 For in the general system of Pr'';;'idence there vi^ill 
 be found a principle of retributivejustice, by which 
 sooner or later the wickedness of the hypocrite i^ 
 revenged by the treachery of some worthless ac- 
 complice. When a great man descends to mean 
 and little actions, and commits to the custody of a 
 
. o4 
 
 tool, even the tattered remnants of a rotten refuta- 
 tion:, he becomes the slave of his own instrument, 
 and for ever forfeits that independence, which to a 
 noble mind is the first blessing of Heaven. 
 
 When His Excellency had become a little accus- 
 tomed to his blushmg honours, and began lo feel 
 himself strongly seated in the saddle of authority, 
 he lost notimem putting into operation thatsystem 
 of government by which he hoped to debase the 
 MIND of his country, paralize every noble spring of 
 action, and destroy every principle of emulation^ 
 but that of fraud and hypocrisy. 
 
 For this purpose it became necessary to secure 
 the co-oporation of the legislative branch of the go- 
 vernment, which emanating more immediately 
 from the people, possesses in general more of 
 their confidence, and is considered by them as the 
 peculiar guardian of their rights. The judiciary, 
 composed for the most part of men who have {^^^ 
 likenesses in the country — of scholars and gentle- 
 men — disdained to become the tools of the high- 
 priest of democracy, and by so doing, (as I have 
 before proved) ensured his most lofty indignation. 
 May this branch of our government flourish ever- 
 green, full foliaged, and immortal — for there is now 
 no other bulwark to the constitution, and no oth- 
 er defence against a military despotism. 
 
 But His Excellency solaced himself under this 
 disappointment, in the consenting arms of the 
 house of representatives, and like a true philoso- 
 phical lover, failing in wooing the mistress, accor- 
 ding iQh\susual custom, contented himself with the 
 favours of the slave. His overtures were received 
 in the house withni'he most endearing encourage- 
 ment, and in a very short space of time. His Ex- 
 cellency was as much at home as a rake in a bag- 
 nio. With the exception of a small majority, there 
 was not one of the members who did not submit to 
 the most shameless and open prostitution. 
 
DO 
 
 But with the other house it was necessary to use 
 some (ew of the aj^ts of seduction. The senate 
 beiug for the most part composed of grave, sober 
 church-ofoing bawds, who had some remnants of 
 character to support, required a little more time 
 to surrender their virtue, and made some show of 
 resistance; bur HiS Excellency like another gal- 
 lant gay Lothario soon triumphed over their affec- 
 ted opposition — they could not resist his red breech- 
 es. Having once overcome the sense of public 
 shame they even surpassed their younger sisters 
 in fradty, and set them an example of debauchery. 
 
 In treating this subject I have endeavoured to 
 restrain my contempt as much as possible. I am 
 aware of the danger of treading this forbidden 
 ground, and I know that the most insignificant in- 
 sects when collected in a body and roused by ir- 
 ritation are dangerous assailants. I know too that 
 there is no animal so dull and insensible as to be 
 incapable of rousing itself to vengeance — ^eveii 
 the swine will start from his beloved 7nire when 
 assailed with proper spirit. 
 
 Having succeeded in overcoming the coy resis- 
 tence of the two houses, and having fastened them 
 (as Achilles did the body of Hector) to his chari- 
 ot wheels, His Excellency began to drive at a pro- 
 digious rate, in imitation of the Grecian hero. 
 So eager vvas he in the race that he forgot his ha- 
 bitual caution — he forgot that he was the guar- 
 dian of his country's honour — the head of an inde- 
 pendent nation — the trustee of the people's rights^ 
 and the pillar of the state. He no longer remem- 
 bered that he had Vv^on the confidence of the peo- 
 ple by pretensions to superior sanctity of republi- 
 canism, and virtue more incorruptible. So zea- 
 lous was he to push us down the precipice of dis- 
 honour, that he forgot he was liable to be dragged 
 with us — and so anxious to become the deity of 
 his native state, that he unguardedly became the 
 
d6 
 
 demon of the others, and like the subterranean 
 gods, though adored in the region of tartarus, be 
 came an object of abhorrence in the regions of 
 light. 
 
 General invective is the usual weapon of weak- 
 ness or malignity ; I shall t|,ierefore in order to 
 fortify my observations detail some of the most 
 prominent effects of His Excellency's new system 
 of government. 
 
 Every body will recollect, for it is but a few 
 years since (so rapid has been our progress from 
 infancy to decay) when this country stood on a 
 proud eminence. Its dawn of existence was like 
 that of Hercules, and its maturity promised to be 
 like his. But the poisoned garment^ was thrown 
 over her at an early period, and her premature 
 strength has been followed by a premature old 
 age and second childhood. 
 
 Under the guardianship of the good Washing- 
 ton, the architect and pilot of the state, the name 
 of an American was respectable abroad, because 
 his < ountry was governed by men of honour, who 
 nursed her rising glories with a parental solicitudcj 
 and stood prepared to protect her from insult, or 
 revenge her wrongs. As her riches increased, so 
 did her strength — for a part of that wealth was 
 employed in the protection of the whole. Wash- 
 ington was a soldier as well as a statesman, and 
 he knew that high spirit in an individual was not 
 more necessary than in a nation, and that neither 
 one or the other could ever be respectable with- 
 out it. He therefore pampered that noble spirit^ 
 which is the best defence of nations, by every 
 means in his power : by promoting men of talents 
 and spirit — by rewarding bravery — and, above allj 
 by putting the country in a situation to resist an 
 enemy; well knowing that a consciousness of 
 strength is the best nurse of heroism in the peo~ 
 plCo By this wise and manly policy, the natioD 
 
Si 
 
 ill a little time began to look respectable, and to 
 challenge the consideration of Europe, M^iich saw 
 that the time was fast approaching when her 
 friendship would be of importance, and her enmi- 
 ty dangerous. 
 
 But this wise and virtuous rulerj vvorthy to be 
 placed on a level with any citizen of any age or 
 nation, at length retired from public life followed 
 by the blessings of his country. Though now al- 
 most lost in the blaze of Mr. Jefferson's superior 
 merits, the memory of their good father is still 
 cherished in ^.he hearts of all that is worthy amoncr 
 his countrymen; and notwithstanding all the at- 
 tempts of Duane* and his pack of yelping curs, 
 his name I trust will descend to the remotest ages 
 with honour and renown. 
 
 To General Washington succeeded Mr. Adams, 
 who appears to peculiar disadvantage when con- 
 trasted with his illustrious predecessor. But how- 
 ever faulty may have been his administration in 
 other respects, still he did not neglect the wise ex- 
 ample of that great man, and amid all his weak- 
 nesses, employed a part of the revenues of the State 
 in strengthening its defences. His administration 
 
 * This modest gentleman sometimes, in his cttps, boasts that 
 he made Mr. Jefferson what he is^ and can again reduce hina 
 to his original insignificance ! Truly it is no wonder His Excel- 
 lency made him a Colonel. It is well that same modesty vviiich 
 is the characteristic of his country prevented him from solicit- 
 ing a Generalship, because every body knows His Excellency 
 would not liave dared to refuse hrm. Truth is my witness that 
 though I speak of this transaction with apparent levity, I think 
 of it with the mostI)itter contempt for every one concerned in 
 this appointment, that seems to have been made on purpose 
 to disgrace a profession wliich was always respectable until 
 the catchpole General and Col. Duane polluted it by their fel- 
 lowship. With this contempt, is mingled a feeling of degrada- 
 tion, that my duty renders it necessary so often to mention this 
 renegado, who in better days, and under a government posses- 
 smg a proper sense of its dignity, would have been at this mo- 
 ment rotting in oblivion, or only remembered by those who 
 study the records of courts of criminal jiistice, 
 
 ri 
 
5S 
 
 is now OYily remembered as having paved the way 
 for the elevation of his present Excellency, in 
 whose " full tide of successful experiment" the 
 memory of all past weakness and folly is swept 
 away. 
 
 This wise system of strengthening the country 
 proved in the end the ruin of the Washington par- 
 ty. The emissaries of Mr. Jefferson were dis- 
 patched among the people to sow disaffection. 
 They were made to believe that all the measures 
 of defence adopted by that party tended to the 
 downfal of republicanism. 1 he navy and army, 
 instead of defending us against foreign nationss 
 were intended to enslave our own country, and the 
 forts erected for the preservation of the commer- 
 cial cities, were only instruments for the purpose 
 of overavi^ing the people. Those additional taxes 
 which the circumstances of the times rendered ne- 
 cessary, were cried out against as enormous im- 
 positions; and the people, who are peculiarly sus- 
 ceptible to all attacks on the pocket, were puffed, 
 up with the mighty conceit of an economical gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 The democratic party at length, by the steady 
 practice of these arts and calumnies, having ob- 
 tained a majority. His Excellency mounted the 
 high pinnacle of honour, and sat in the executive 
 chair. On that day, as it was triumphantly boas- 
 ted *' the sun of federalism set," and since that dis- 
 astrous period we have been wandering in shadows, 
 doubts and darkness. Our ships of war have been 
 sold or suffered to rot — -our fortifications have been 
 permitted to crumble into decay — the spirit of our 
 naval officers has been smothered in gun- boats — 
 that of the army broken by being put under the 
 command of a man who in the opinion the world 
 is a rank and tainted hypocrite* — and the mind of 
 
 * The General sometime since vindicated his injured honour 
 in a pamphlet of at least two and a half pages called " a plain 
 
59 
 
 tlie nation pressed doM^n to a tame endurance of 
 every species of degradation. 
 
 Invited by onr defenceless state the natives of 
 Europe have violated our territory — ^plundered 
 our commerce — kidnapped our seamen— commit- 
 ted hostilities on our vessels of war — and finally 
 persevered in insult and injury, until even th^ 
 mild and philosophic spirit of His Excellency is 
 irritated to some show of resentment. 
 
 But it is amusing to see how oddly a man will 
 sometimes revenge himself when he is thoroughly 
 in a passion. Instead of worrying his enemies 
 to the utmost of his power the enraged philosopher 
 in the phrenzy of vengeance most incontinently 
 turns apon his own friends, and by a "strong mea- 
 sure," points all his mighty energies against the 
 bosom of his country. 
 
 In the pious hope of starving his enemies he has 
 impoverished his friends, and in attempting to ruin 
 the merchants of England he has bankrupted 
 those of America. His Excellency has not even 
 
 tale," to which was suspended a long tail of an appendix, con- 
 taining scraps of letters from the late secretary at war, praising 
 his " discretion." Of his fidelity, courage, enterprise and acti- 
 vity, the secretary is most provokingly silent. Why did not 
 the catchpole General who is such a capital hand at altering 
 other men's letters, insert some praises of his other great mili- 
 tary qualifications ? General Knox could not have risen from 
 the grave to contradict them — and at all events, the court of in- 
 quiry might as easily have acquitted him of this as of other mat- 
 ters. There is also inserted in this most satisfactory appendix 
 a letter from Governor Foulck, a.-^/mnish Governor, certifying 
 that to the best of his knowledge and belief, the General never 
 sold himself to the Spanish government, or ever, (as far as he 
 knows) received a pension for betraying his country I This let- 
 ter is backed by a certificate from a most precious witness — one 
 Thomas Powers, an acknowledged agent of Spain, which is near- 
 ly the same as the letter. Who can resist such proofs ? Well 
 may it be said that this is the age of scepticism, if we refuse to 
 believe in the " honour of a soldier," who has been acquitted by 
 a court of Inquiry which was restricted from making any inqui= 
 ry at all, and who in virtue of the authority of General Knox is 
 a man of the most profound " discretion 1" 
 
the consolation of the envious man in the fable, 
 and has plucked out an eye to no purpose. The 
 present posture of affairs in Europe, and the man- 
 ly struggle of the brave Spaniards, is a death blow 
 to the feeble energies of the embargo, except so 
 far as they operate against ourselves, and by 
 opening the Spanish main to England will render 
 her utterly indifferent to the non-importation and 
 embargo — the two-edged swords of the invinci- 
 ble warrior-knight, Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 What will the yeomanry of this country, who 
 have hitherto supported the embargo from a for- 
 lorn hope of its efficacy, say, when they come to 
 perceive that it never was, and never could be in- 
 tended, as I have asserted, for any other purpose 
 but that of ruining our commerce, and of conse- 
 quence vitally injuring the agricultural interest? 
 
 It is but the idle language of a false and destruc- 
 tive theory to argue that the farmer is indepen- 
 dent of the merchant, or that the distresses of the 
 one will not be felt by the other. The expe- 
 rience of ages has demonstrated the intimate un- 
 ion betwen agriculture and commerce, and that 
 in proportion as one suffers the other sympathi- 
 ses with it. There is not a single instance in 
 the history of the world, of any great commercial 
 nation ever recovering, or surviving the destruc- 
 tion of her trade. In proportion as she lost her 
 commerce, her agriculture and manufactures de- 
 clined, and the people universally sunk into pov- 
 erty, idleness, and contempt. But in the eye of 
 the new philosophy, the experience of ages is 
 nothing but a mighty volume of errors, and the ac- 
 cumulated examples of five thousand years, vanish 
 before the illuminated inspirations of the enlight- 
 eued band of modern experimentalists. 
 
 To any person who has impartially contempla- 
 ted the baleful effects of His Excellency's " strong 
 fiieasure" the truth of my position must be evidept 
 
61 
 
 jNot only in our commercial cities are its effects 
 observed, but, in the remotest parts of the coun- 
 try, it is eating away the hard earned profits of the 
 husbandman. The produce of his farm, which in 
 happier times, found a ready and profitable sale, 
 now lies dead on his hands, or is sacrificed at one 
 half its value; or what is now a common and me- 
 lancholy case, it is exposed to sale by execution^ 
 in a place where there is no one to buy, because 
 all have more than they want. 
 
 The cry of poverty and distress begins to be 
 heard in the rural hamlet, where it never was 
 heard before, and instead of that gay and thriving 
 industry which once mantled the fields of our coun- 
 try with the rich product of labour, our acres are 
 seen lying fallow, and our late industrious labour- 
 ers basking in the sun. The farmer will not toil 
 without the prospect of gain, and had rather see 
 his fields lie 'waste, than their produce rotting in 
 his barns. 
 
 There is another circumstance in the adminis- 
 tration of His Excellency, which I shall notice 
 for the purpose of exhibiting one more proof of 
 Lis hypocrisy. We have seen how he inveighed 
 against standing armies as contrary to the geni- 
 us of a republic, and dangerous to the liberties of 
 the people, yet at this moment he is raising a stan- 
 ding army of six thousand men, not for the pur- 
 pose of defending the country, but of destroying 
 the civil authority, and enforcing his embargo at 
 the point of the bayonet ! This is no idle declama- 
 tion, no reverie of a crazy politican. Look at 
 the conduct of the navy and military of this coun- 
 try. What have they been about of late but usur- 
 ping the civil authority in all parts of the United 
 States ? Is a law passed for the regulation of any 
 district — a detachment of military is sent to en- 
 force it with fire and sword, before any opposi- 
 tion is intended or practised. Does an officer 
 
69 
 
 commit an outrage on the civil power, or insult a 
 magistrate, or break the peace—he draws his sword 
 and swears, that law shall be no more, and that 
 military justice shall prevail throughout the land*. 
 In short, instead of an army of gallant soldiers to 
 defend us against foreign dangers, we are saddled 
 with an army of military catchpoles, let loose upon 
 our rights and our commerce, actuated by the 
 spirit of bumbailifs, and commanded by a catch- 
 pole ^jeneral. 
 
 And yet his Excellency has found means to per- 
 suade the credulous people of the United States, 
 that he is a pure unsullied Republican, a marvel- 
 lous admirer of liberty, and the rights of the ci- 
 tizen. Indeed the more I contemplate his Ex- 
 cellency's character the more I am astonished at 
 his wonderful powers of deception. As a jug- 
 gler, I would not hesitate to place him on a level 
 with any slight-of-hand hero the world has ever 
 produced, not even excepting the famous Breslaw 
 himself. That he may not, however, rely with too 
 great security on his mountebank skill in making 
 black appear white, I beg leave to obtrude on 
 liim by way of caution a maxim which is of infi- 
 nite importance to all hypocrites, and jacobin pol- 
 iticians — '■'Chaain en particidier pent tromper 8C 
 etre troinpt: personne na tromp}. tout le monde^ 
 
 I shall finish my compliments to his Excellency, 
 with a character which will no doubt be recognized 
 by his most intimate friends. This character was 
 once given in my hearing by a great and lamented 
 genius, who is no more; a pupil and a friend of 
 the good Washington, and one who from long and 
 intimate experience, had become thoroughly con- 
 versant in all the secrets of the character he de- 
 tailed. To him might justly be applied the eulo- 
 gium once pronounced on the great Roman orator.: 
 for be was the American Cicero— 
 
 * Vide the valiant Lieutenant or Captain Cross. 
 
Animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, 
 
 Eloquentia illuminavit." 
 Of all the enemies which either a State or an 
 individual can possibly encounter the hypocrite is 
 the most dangerous. Fie who behind the mask of 
 Republican simplicity, hides an immeasurable 
 ambition ; and covers under an appearance of 
 philosophic moderation, the most gnawing self- 
 ishness, is a man who if in private life is born for 
 the ruin of domestic happiness, and if in a public 
 station for the destruction of his country. Against 
 open, bold and daring enemies we are on our 
 guard, and if we cannot defeat their attempts, at 
 least are not denied an opportunity of defence. 
 But against the attacks of the hypocrite no caution 
 is a sufficient defence and no courage an ade- 
 quate shield — we know not from whence the blow- 
 will proceed, and cannot guard against a danger 
 which approaches unseen. With hypocrisy, cun- 
 ning is generally in close offensive and defensive 
 league — for wisdom disdains such an ignoble alli- 
 ance and scorns to become the tool of a double- 
 faced associate. From the union of these two 
 qualities results a third, which is absolutely ne- 
 cessary to form the character of a complete jaco- 
 bin politician, and that is cowardice. 
 
 This illustrious assemblage of splendid quali- 
 ties, forms the principal ingredient in the charac= 
 ter now under consideration, and to the two first 
 of these, the gentleman is indebted for the high 
 station he occupies in" this country. Hypocrisy 
 enabled him to deceive the people by an appear- 
 ance of candour, of zeal for the public good, 
 and universal liberty ; and at the same time it 
 prompted him to deceive General Washington, 
 whose noble and candid spirit never conceived it 
 possible, that such a low and dastard quality could 
 possibly enter into the composition of a true Re- 
 publican. 
 
b4 
 
 But it was not only necessary that this gentle- 
 Inan should possess the confidence of the people, 
 hut that those who stood in the way of his ambition 
 should be dispossessed of it; and here his cinmhig 
 came into play. By artful insinuations against 
 the policy of the Washington party— by dark 
 suggestions that they were preparing to enslave 
 the country by the agency of its necessary means 
 of defence — by supporting emissaries who ca- 
 lumniated and reviled all those whose talents or 
 Tirtues had elevated them into public favour — and 
 "by every other expedient of low and malignant 
 running he at length succeeded in raising himself 
 on the ruin of his less designing adversaries. 
 
 Having thus by exerting the two great mas- 
 ter springs of his policy, attained the summit of 
 power, he soon had occasion to discover the dan- 
 gers of his situation, and that nothing but the most 
 vigorous policy or the most powerful protection 
 could preserve the independence of the country. 
 Vigour he had none, except in the prosecution of 
 intrigues, and the busy din of arms sounded on 
 his ear like the knell of death. Even " a speck of 
 war in the political horizon" seemed to his coward 
 perception like a thunder cloud ready to burst 
 upon his head. Preferring a pitiful dependance 
 on a foreign power to a manly assertion of his 
 country's honour, he quietly enlisted himself un- 
 der the banners of France, became a citizen of 
 that country, and to the eternal prostitution of 
 his fame, accepted a station among the prostitute 
 followers and toad-eaters of a tyrant and usurper 
 Here he will remain, I fear, until by his dark, 
 hypocritical, cunning and cowardly policy, he has 
 ruined the good name of his country, degraded 
 her into the ridicule of the world — and rendered 
 her a mark for the finger of scorn. 
 
 Thus have I endeavoured to develop the ma= 
 chiavelian character and policy of His Excellency. 
 
65 
 
 The task was difficult, for it is only at rare inter- 
 vals that the hypocrite intrudes into the light of 
 day and dares to encounter the sun- beam, which 
 like the spear of Iihuriel discloses the disguised 
 fiend, and makes him start at his own deformity. 
 The dark and secret course of the Virginia policy, 
 is held beyond the reach of common eyes, and 
 though we are alarmed with one indistinct appre- 
 hension of danger, like that which precedes the 
 thunder storm, the power which is secretly under- 
 mining the character and prosperity of the country 
 is impervious to our sight. It is not the roaring 
 lion seeking whom he may devour, but the gaunt 
 and crafty tyger, sneaking undercover of night 
 towards his destined prey. Under an appearance of 
 republican simplicity and disinterested patriotism 
 it conceals an ambition that grasps at the subjec- 
 tion of the Union ; and under a pretended lov^e of 
 peace, shelters a da,rk conspiracy against the char- 
 acter and welfare of the iVmerican name — -mcu^s 
 gravior sub pace est. 
 
 His Excellency being satisfied v^ith public hon- 
 ourSjOr perhaps perceiving that having brought the 
 State to the verge of ruin, it was hightim,e to get out 
 of the way, before it tumbled to pieces, took occa- 
 sion last winter to declare his resolution to resign 
 his prodigious honours. Three candidates have 
 appeared to claim the succession to this precious 
 inheritance, and it may be no idle inf^uiry to en- 
 ter into a short examination of their characters 
 and pretensions. In perfol"ming this task I disclaim 
 all prejudice or partiality whatever. Between the 
 venerable Clinton and the gentle Madison, I make 
 no distinction, except what is challenged by supe- 
 rior merit ; and were I inclined to give any title 
 to this portion of my labours, I would call it a phi- 
 losophical inquiry concerning a choice of evils. 
 Having thus, as 1 trust, cleared myself from all 
 suspicion of party views, or undue political bias, 
 
 I 
 
66 
 
 1 will now proceed with my undertakiDg. Per- 
 haps I ought in imitation of certain great patriot- 
 ic scribblers, to appeal to the good sefise oi' the sov- 
 ereigiipeople, to judge of the question ; and I would 
 most certainly follow the fashion, were it not that 
 I had previously determined to make my appeal 
 to the high and mighty sovereign, King Log, who I 
 consider by far the most sensible potentate. 
 
 To begin with Mr. Madison, who ought to have 
 the precedence, first — because he is a Virginian 
 Lord — secondly because he was once a federalist — 
 and though like Lucifer he has lost his station a- 
 mong the sons of light, stdl he is entitled to some 
 consideration on account of the rank he once 
 sustained — and thirdly because he is merely the 
 representative of his lady, and I am on all occa- 
 sions most devout in my allegiance to the fair. 
 This last consideration will influence me in my 
 strictures on his character, which I shall treat with 
 all the delicacy due to the feelings of a tender mo- 
 dest and retiring matron. The choicest language 
 shall be selected, the chastest colours blended to= 
 gether in the likeness^ and if unfortunately it 
 should happen that a scrupulous regard for jus- 
 tice obliges me to bring His Honour to the block, 
 his execution shall not be performed by a common 
 hangman. 
 
 In examining the conduct of His Honoiw I 
 promise not to visit him too roughly ; but like the 
 youthful grimalkin, play with my velvet captive for 
 a while, and then good naturedly suffer him to es- 
 cape to his hole again. Aquila non mangia mosche 
 ' — the eagle does not feed on flies — but yet will 
 sometimes turn aside from the pursuit of nobler 
 game, to frighten an insect by way of relaxation. 
 Indeed in so little estimation do I hold the talentsof 
 HisHonour, with the exception of that talent for in- 
 trigue which he has doubtless acquired in the cap- 
 ital school of His Excellency, that had he not ven- 
 
67 
 
 tured to aspire to the presidency, I know not 
 whether I shoidd have recollected his existence. 
 I remember once to have heard, but did not believe^ 
 that he wrote some of the numbers in that great 
 constitutional work the Federalist. His name ap- 
 pears also subscribed to the constitution of the Uni- 
 ted States, a circumstance which His Honour ap- 
 pears to have forgotten in the late crusade against 
 the rights which were intended to be secured to 
 the people by that instrument. 
 
 But though neither entitled by talents or servi- 
 ces to much consideration yet, His Honour by pre- 
 tending to the first office in the gift of the people- 
 has all of a sudden became an object of great polit- 
 ical importance. Like his stanch advocate and 
 friend, Colonel Duane, the misfortunes of the State 
 have elevated him to a station which neither his 
 abilities or services would ever have gained. 
 
 I will therefore endeavour to draw his likeness, 
 as far as it is possible to exhibit the faint and almost 
 imperceptible outlines of a character without a sin- 
 gle feature bold or strong enough to fix the atten- 
 tion of the artist. Such as it is however, it is pro- 
 per the people should understand it, before they 
 decide, whether or not, in the present situation of 
 the country, as respects her foreign relations, such 
 a man is fit to be intrusted with the guardianship 
 of their independence. When speaking of an in- 
 dependent nation^ I mean a nation which not only 
 enacts its own laws, but stands erect, and pursues 
 its measures without anya^egard to the will of any 
 foreign potentate whatever ; for of all tyrannies, that 
 exercised by a/(?rd'z^wzVz/?z/<??zce is the most degrading 
 to a nation, and dishonourable to a people among 
 w^hom the last spark of honourable spirit is not 
 smothered. The Roman historian Livy, thus ad- 
 mirably defines a free State. " Civitas ea autem in 
 libertate est posUta^ quae suis stat viribuS} non ex al- 
 
08 
 
 ieno arbitrio pendety'^ Whatever may be the con- 
 stitution of a State, and however favourable the laws 
 may be to the preservation of civil liberty, that 
 country never can be free which is subjected in 
 any way to a foreign influence. That such an influ- 
 ence has long existed in this country, to the sacri- 
 fice of its true interests, and the decay of all its 
 budding honours, is a truth, which however it may 
 strike a cold and death-like damp upon the hearts 
 of all reflecting men, is yet a truth sanctioned by 
 so many mournful appearances, that it now no 
 longer admits of a doubt: Every sentiment, ever}'- 
 act of our administration exhibits proof that 
 amounts to demonstration. 
 
 That Mr. Madison will acquiesce in this degra- 
 ding submission, will appear too certain the mo- 
 ment we consider his former attachments, and per- 
 flise the daily effusions of those papers exclusively 
 devoted to his interests. The advocates of Mr. 
 Madison and of French interest, are one and the 
 same ; and in the same column we are edified with 
 panegyrics on the patriotic republican French 
 Emperor, and the no less patriotic American Secre- 
 tary : The patriotism of the one, and the modera- 
 tion of the other, are placed side by side for our ad- 
 miration, and we are sometimes at a loss to pro- 
 nounce which of these worthies is really intended 
 for our master. To please Napoleon and his gentle 
 candidate for the presidency, the patriotic Span- 
 iards are denounced as rebels against their lawful 
 sovereign, and that generous sympathy which ever 
 throbs in behalf of men who are struggling against 
 oppression, is attempted to be turned into ridicule 
 and smothered, by these wretched tools of faction 
 and tyranny. 1 say faction and tyranny, because 
 while advocating the cause of the French Emperor 
 they at the same moment are striving to sow sedi- 
 
 * That State alone is free which rests upon its own strength, 
 and depends not on the arbitrary will of another. 
 
69 
 
 lion in the country, and to destroy every genuine 
 principle of civil liberty. 
 
 Does not this strange and apparent inconsistent 
 C}^ bespeak a community of cause between the Vir- 
 ginia candidate and the great emperor ? — Does it 
 not strike with the quickness of lightning that these 
 purchased renegado editors are so solicitous for the 
 success of Mr. Madison, because they are aware 
 of his devotion to their great patron ? That such 
 unprincipled fugitives from British justice as com^ 
 pose the majority of His Honour's editors may be 
 bought cheaper than dirt, is notorious, and there 
 remains no doubt that they have been bought, 
 except their not being worth the purchase. 
 
 There are other circumstances naturally connec- 
 ted with my subject, which materially strengthen 
 the opinion I have brought forward, that His Hon- 
 our will adopt the same policy which has been so 
 steadily pursued by His Excellency. 
 
 Both these distinguished pab'iots have been com- 
 plimented with the privileges of citizens of France, 
 and we all know that to became the citizen of a 
 foreign country is to abjure one's own. The law 
 of nations never recognizes a man as the citizen 
 of two States, for this plain reason that while he is 
 receiving protection from one, he may prove a trai- 
 tor to the other, and plead his duty to his adopted 
 country as an excuse for betraying his native land. 
 
 Whether His Excellencij and His Honour in be- 
 coming citizens of France, abjured their own 
 country, or whether they were exempted b}^ way 
 of courtesy, I do not pretend to decide; at this pe- 
 riod it is impossible. This however I may venture 
 to say, that judging from the whole tenor of their 
 conduct, it does really appear that both of them, 
 in becoming citizens of France, have ceased to re- 
 member that sacred duty which God and nature 
 ordain that every man owes to the country that 
 gave him being. Even the wretch who has been 
 
provoked by injuries, and forced by persecution to 
 abandon his native soil, is branded, and that justly 
 too, with the epithet of traitor if he plots against 
 its welfare. What then shall we say of such as are 
 bound by every tie of gratitude, and every motive 
 that ought to attach our affections, and yet betray 
 the interests of their country ? Let it not be un- 
 derstood that I mean to say these distinguished 
 patriots have betrayed us to France. I am aware 
 that this cannot be proved in a court of justice, un- 
 less Duane or some other kindred spirit should be 
 inspired to tell the truth, a circumstance not to be 
 expected since miracles have ceased to be accom- 
 plished. It would be a libel therefore to assert 
 such afact,and notwithstanding the acknowledged 
 clemency of these gentlemen, and their pious ven- 
 eration for the liberty of the press,* they might 
 possibly direct m.e to be tried before his honour. 
 Judge Tallmadge — ^uod avertat Deusl 
 
 This devotion to his adopted country has been 
 manifested, by a long tenor of services, either di- 
 rectly or indirectly rendered by His Honour. *' If 
 France wants money she must have it," says the 
 obedient secretary, and if it is necessary for the pur- 
 pose of subjugating the brave Spaniards, to send 
 dispatches to the French minister here, it is done 
 under cover of Mr. Madison's name!f On every 
 question of national importance/r/^//o72oz/risfound 
 combating at the side of the brave Vendean hero, 
 General Turreau, for the interests of his great pat- 
 ron Napoleon ; and with the same zeal that an In- 
 dian offers up incense to the evil spirit, does Mr, 
 Madison manifest his reverence for the upstart 
 Emperor, who in the blasphemous language of 
 General Junot is called " omnipotent'' 
 
 * Vide the example of Harry Croswell. 
 
 t It was discovered lately by the Spaniards, that the dispatch- 
 es of the French were forwarded from Spain under cover t© Mr 
 Madison, for their better safety. 
 
71 
 
 But it may perhaps be urged by very candid and 
 prudent men, that the defenceless situation of the 
 country, and the want of spirit in the people, who 
 have been born down and crushed by a habitual ac- 
 quiescence under every kind of insult, would ren- 
 der ridiculous the hope of preserving our indepen- 
 dence without the patronage of some great power; 
 and that like the abject hinds and villains of feudal 
 days, it is absolutely necessary to our safety that 
 we should at least do homage for onr possessions 
 to some liege lord. How far these arguments may 
 justify the sneaking policy of the administration, 
 in the eyes of the people I know not. But it may 
 be asked to whom is that defenceless situation of 
 the country owing ? We have seen that the two 
 former administrations used every prudent means 
 of placing this country in a state of defence, well 
 knowing that sooner or later they must be neces- 
 sary, and that when that necessity arrived it was 
 then too late to begin to provide against it. They 
 did not resort to gun-boats, and torpedoes, and 
 such paltry expedients for defence, but to gallant 
 frigates and gallant men who were proud of their 
 profession, because there was then a chance of its 
 leading to honour and renown. 
 
 But the noble pair of patriot brothers. His Ex- 
 cellency and HisHonour, whom it is diflicult to se- 
 parate, knowing that a people whose spirit v/as 
 nourished by the consciousness of internal strength 
 would not acquiesce with such graceful docilityg 
 in those measures whicb were intended to subdue 
 our national glory, suffered these bulwarks of 
 strength to moulder away. And this at the very 
 period that the terrible revolutions in the world, 
 and the total disregard paid to the rights of nations, 
 might have convinced every reflecting mind that 
 the time was fast approaching when each one 
 would have to depend on its power, and not the jus- 
 tice of its cause for safety. 
 
n 
 
 But it is not yet too late to retrieve our lost rep- 
 utation, and to resume our rank again among the 
 free nations of tlie earth. The great Emperor being 
 now engaged in an arduous struggle with a brave 
 nation, which has awaked from its long and inglo- 
 rious sleep to all the vigour of its former heroic 
 character, will have ample occasion for the whole 
 of liis taighty resources to crush this general ebul- 
 lition of patriotism. Notwithstanding the drivelling 
 speculations of His Excellency's oracles, the Na- 
 tional Intelligencer and the Aurora, shewing the 
 impossibility of their resistance being successful, 
 and notwithstanding the indecent attempts of Mr. 
 Madison's mouthpiece the Monitor to discourage 
 our sympathy towards the brave Spaniards, I do 
 most tirmly trust, that fortified by their native 
 mountains, their high spirit, and the justice oftheir 
 cause, they will yet achieve what they have so no- 
 bly undertaken, and so gallantly pursued. 
 
 Now therefore is the period for throwing off the 
 galling yoke oi French injiiience — now is the time 
 to throw off the yoke of Napolean and his creatures 
 - — of Duane, and the whole yelping brood oi purcha- 
 sed slaves For this purpose nothing more is ne- 
 cessary than the exercise of that right which has 
 been secured to the people by the constitution. It 
 is only necessary to elect a President, who is nei- 
 ther the creature of the French or English faction^ 
 but an American exclusively. One who will not 
 sacrifice the honour of his country to any traiterous 
 partiality for foreigners; One who has courage 
 to despise the vaporing and strutting gambols of a 
 whiskered ambassador, and the clamours of a delu- 
 ded faction. One who will not sacrifice the right 
 arm of our strength, because it does not happen to 
 be lifted up in his favour, or prostrate the welfare 
 of the union, for the purpose of exalting the ancient 
 dominion of Virginia. 
 
 A iew remarks on the character of Mr, Madison 
 
is 
 
 ^ill I trust demonstrate that he is not the man to 
 redeem us from our lost and abject situation. 
 
 Candour and openness are the characteristic! 
 of a noble mind, as cunning, evasion and hypocrisy 
 are those of a mean one. He who dares to speak 
 boldly what he thinks, will dare to act boldly ; and 
 there is scarcely an instance in all history of a splen- 
 did or noble action performed by a hypocrite. Per- 
 sons of that class have often indeed ruined a nation, 
 but never saved one — It is necessary that a man 
 to be worthy of becoming the trustee of a nation's 
 welfare, should possess a firmness of mind which 
 will bear him up against the weight of any for- 
 eign power, however dangerous it might be to pro- 
 voke its enmity, and withal a spirit of hardy patri- 
 otism that will prompt him to encounter any 
 dangers rather than surrender the honour of his 
 country. But above all, a man who aspires to the 
 confidence of the people should merit it by a con- 
 tempt of all double dealing or disguise. Let us 
 §ee how this likeness agrees with that of the hon- 
 ourable Secretary 
 
 The honourable James Madison, the second 
 hope of the dynasty of Virginia, has been the coun- 
 sellor, companion and friend of His Excellency, in 
 all the double fellowship of politics. Nothing but 
 an education in a college of Jesuits, could better 
 have qualified a man to practise a system of decep- 
 tion. Unlike the noble Persian who was convin- 
 ced that he possessed tivo souls. His Excellency and 
 His Honour, it would seem, share but o?te between 
 them. It has been vulgarly supposed that two 
 suns could not shine in one sphere, but the noble 
 pair of Virginian brothers have refuted the error. 
 Equal in talents, in patriotism, in courage— and I 
 might almost say, did it not derogate from the 
 honour of my favourite. His Excellency,— equal 
 in political chicanery. One spirit seems to ani- 
 Hiate them both ; like Castor and Pollux, as the om 
 
 K 
 
74 
 
 retires to the region of shadows, the other rises to 
 fill his place among the Olympic gods, and if they 
 cannot both be immortal, at least they share the 
 blessing between them. The resemblance between 
 the two deities of the pagan and those of the Amer- 
 ican mob is peculiarly striking, and would be more 
 so were it not that only one of the former could be 
 in the infernal regions — at the same time. His Ex- 
 cellency and His Honour, having so long indulged 
 in this delightful communion of souls, may now be 
 supposed to understand each other thoroughly; 
 and no doubt when Mr. Jefferson noyninated his 
 friend as his successor, he did it in the full convic- 
 tion, and probably under a solemn engagement 
 that he should continue the same line of enervating 
 policy which has so much distinguished his pre- 
 decessor. I say when His Excellency nominated 
 his successor^ because I consider Congress as the 
 mere organ of his will, and that wlien they usurped 
 their pretended right of gagging the people, by 
 prescr ibingf or whom they should give their suffragCj, 
 it was merely in pursuance of the sovereign will of 
 His Excellency. This subject will be treated more 
 at large presently, when I think I shall prove thafe 
 this assumption of the right of 7iominati?ig a Presi- 
 dent, is not warranted by the spirit of our consti- 
 tution — that it is a direct infringement of the right 
 of suffrage which resides solely in the people — and 
 that if it becomes a precedent, this country will, 
 at no very distant period, degenerate into a mong- 
 rel kind of monarchy, neither elective or hereditary^ 
 but the bastard issue of an intrigue between the 
 executive and representative branches of the gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 That the adopted successor of Mr. Jefferson ipos- 
 sesses a\\ the openness ajid cajidoiir of His Excellen- 
 cy, appears from the whole tenor of his political 
 life. Under the administration of General Wash- 
 ington, Mr. Madison and his party, for the purpose 
 
75 
 
 of cheating the people of their confidence, and pa- 
 ving their way to power and authority, uniformly 
 opposed debating with closed doors, even in the 
 most momentous questions. He urged continually 
 " that secresy in a republican government woun- 
 ded the majesty of the sovereign people" — " that 
 the government was in the hands of the people, 
 who had a right to know all the transactions rela- 
 tive to their own affairs."* Such in 1794, and such 
 ever since has been the language of Mr. Madison^ 
 but let us see how his actions have corresponded 
 "with these truly republican sentiments. Almost 
 every debate in Congress; almost every act of that 
 administration in which His Honour bears so con- 
 spicuous a rank, has been managed in secret : The 
 people whoHisHonour asserts have a right to know 
 '* all the transactions of the government relative 
 to their own affairs" are following on at the heels of 
 Congress, blindfolded and in darkness— -and none 
 hut the backsfair tools of administration are per- 
 mitted to know the motives of any acfc. When the 
 members of congress returned to their constituents 
 and it was demanded of them why they voted for 
 the embargo and other measures, with such inde- 
 cent precipitation, they could not answer, or if they 
 answered at all, were forced to the degrading ac- 
 knowledgment, that they did not know — ^They vo- 
 ted for the most important measure ever agitated 
 in this country since the revolution, because they 
 were told by the backstair gentry that circumstan- 
 ces rendered it necessary ! — Caligula made his 
 horse consul— Charles the I2th of Sweden threat- 
 ened to send his boot to govern the senate of Stock- 
 l^olm — and Mr. Jefferson directs the Congress of 
 the United States, by the agency of a few beasts 
 of burthen. It is astonishing what a sinkings im- 
 ilarity there is to be found in the freaks of an an- 
 
 :^ See Marsha's life of Washington^ Volume 5th. 
 
76 
 
 cient and modern tyrant, and the deliberate policy 
 of a republican magistrate of the new school. 
 
 Of the hardihood of His Honour which is the 
 next quality which claims our attention, I shall 
 not say much. No person that I ever heard has 
 ever had the hardihood to assert that he possesses 
 any of that necessary ingredient in the character 
 of a great man, and it is in the recollection of all 
 men, with what prodigious haste he retreated from 
 the seat of government when threatened with a vi- 
 sit from the terrible little, plump, squeaking Mar- 
 quis Yi ujo. It is also whispered that the frown of 
 Mrs. M — is scarcely less alarming to His Honour^ 
 than the warlike curls of the valiant Turreau's ir- 
 resistible whiskers. 
 
 Of His Honour's patriotism, I shall treat more 
 at large, for it is under this specious disguise that 
 the presentadministration has cloaked its encroach- 
 ments on the rights of the people ; and while it 
 pretended a most parental regard for their welfare, 
 clieated them of some of their dearest rights. 
 
 By patriotism, I do not mean that assumed 
 character, which to the misfortuneof our country 
 lias enabled so many great men to impose on the 
 people I do not mean an exclusive regard for 
 one's own party, even though composed of a ma- 
 jority of the communily. Neither do I consider 
 the sacrifice of the best intere'sts of the union, 
 to attain a short lived popularity, as a very une- 
 quivocal demonstration of love of country. — - 
 Neither do I mean Ij^ish patriotism, which would 
 sacrifice the country to France, for the pious pur- 
 pose of freeing it from the dominion of the laws. 
 By true old fashioned Roman patriotism, I mean 
 that high quality which prompts a man to pursue 
 exclusively the good of his country, in the very 
 teeth of danger, and at the expense of property, 
 lire, liberty, and even reputation. Such was the 
 patriotism of Washington, who persisted in those 
 
defensive plans which he knew would save his 
 country, though assailed on all sides by ridicule 
 and abuse. In a word by true patriotism, I 
 mean that which is manifested by actions as well 
 as words. The hypocrite will cant about his reli- 
 gion when in the very act of transgressing the 
 whole decalogue ; and boast of his love of country 
 at the very moment he is sacrificing it to his own 
 interest or ambition. 
 
 That Mr. Madison is one of the true modern 
 patriotic devotees at the altar of self interest, will 
 appear from an examination of the steps he has 
 taken to secure his nomination to the presidency. 
 The detail which follows is taken from actual ob- 
 s'ervation, and the reader may venture to give me 
 ample credit when I assure him, that I often ob- 
 served with the most contemptuous admiration, 
 the skill with which the Secretary played his part, 
 and tickled the backwoodsmen of Congress into 
 his measures. 
 
 Early in the last session of Congress he was ob- 
 served to pay the most particular attention to the 
 members of both Houses. He invited them of- 
 ten to his table, and his Lady invited them to her 
 evening parties, where they were surfeited with 
 good eating and attentions. It is shrewdly sus- 
 pected the great mortality which raged among 
 that valuable body last winter, was principally 
 owing to their being in the habit of overeating 
 themselves at these civic feasts. It was truly a 
 sight highly ludicrous, to see the honest clodhop- 
 ping members, fresh from their native wilds, fi- 
 guring away at Mrs. M 's balls, and rousing 
 
 the genius of laughter by antics that would have 
 done considerable credit to a mountebank's bear. 
 
 . If the Secretary met one of these unregenerat- 
 ed Orson's, of ^ morning, so far was he from be- 
 ing alarmed at his ogre-like appearance that he 
 
 approached with all the " undissembled homage'' 
 
78 
 
 of an Egyptiarij offering incense to the beatified 
 bull — inquiring with the kindest solicitude about 
 the family of bruin, and the welfare of his young 
 cubs at home, and even condescending to inter- 
 est himself i n the prosperity of his pigs and turkeys. 
 In short, all men who had before observed the 
 cold, distant, and aristocratic carriage of, this dis- 
 tinguished Republican, prognosticated that thes6 
 *' springes" were not set to catch the " IFoodcocks'' 
 for nothing. 
 
 My readers perhaps, deluded by the high sound- 
 ing name of The Congress of the United States of 
 America^ may possibly mistake them for an as- 
 sembly of sages, elevated far above the influence 
 of such paltry attentions, and too wise to be 
 caught by such chaff: They have been accustom- 
 ed to look up to the two Houses y as composed of 
 the talent of the country — of men of honour and 
 education™ too conversant in the arts of design- 
 ing men, to become their dupes, and too much in 
 the habits of Society, to be influenced by a false 
 shallow politeness. — ^Alas ! such once was the 
 character of that august asssembly !— In the days 
 of our glory it was composed of orators, patriots, 
 and statesmen, who were born to be the saviours 
 of their country, and who might challenge a com- 
 parison with any legislators of modern times.^ — 
 But O ! miseras hominum mentes—-Oh ! pectora 
 caeca I — The people led astray by designing and 
 interested demagogues withhold their confidence 
 from these men, and bestow it on others, who are 
 neither orators, or statesmen, or I fear even patri- 
 ots ; although patriotism in this patriotic age and 
 country, is a commodity so common that almost 
 every man his more than he can cleverly manage, 
 and an Irish scavenger can afford to sell as much 
 for a glass of whiskey, as would liaye immortaliz- 
 ed a citizen of ancient Rome. cR* the talent for 
 legislating possessed by our present Congress 
 
79 
 
 we have som» precious specimens, of which 1 
 would speak with all that indignation they are cal- 
 culated to excite in the breasts of men anxious 
 for the honour of their country, did I not make 
 every allowance for their having been passed in the 
 dark. As however all things are great by com- 
 parison, and as I wish to show every disposition 
 to be impartial, I am willing to allow that con- 
 trasted with the majority of our representatives, 
 even Mr. Randolph may be a statesman, and Mr. 
 Gardenier an orator of the lirst pretensions. Nay 
 Mr, Sloan, whose speeches seem to be delivered 
 invita Mijierva, may, for aught I know, turn out 
 a Cicero, or a Curran, when placed in opposition 
 to some of the back-woodsmen, who sometimes 
 really look as if they understood a debate, and ven- 
 ture to say " aye" or " no" on a division. These 
 men legislate 7it apes geometriam — by instinct, 
 which is best cultivated in the woods. 
 
 The least experience in life will show us with 
 what facility the vulgar may be gained by atten- 
 tions from the great, A dinner, or even a bow, 
 from Mr. Madison, was sufficient to secure the 
 good will of the vulgar majority of Congress, and 
 the consequence of this feasting and bowing was 
 a nomination to the first magistracy. 
 
 This nomination which is attempted to be im- 
 posed on the people, as an obligation to support 
 Mr. Madison, is as I have before asserted, con- 
 trary to the spirit of the constitution, and a co- 
 vert attempt to bubble the people out of their 
 right of suffrage. 
 
 I say it is contrary to the spirit of the constitu-^ 
 tion because it enables the President ab.solutely to 
 appoint his successor by intriguing with the two 
 Houses of Congress to nominate the candidate he 
 pleases. This nomination is held in such pro- 
 found veneration by Mr. Madison and his advo- 
 sates, that we might be tempted to suppose it is 
 
80 
 
 little less than rebellion against the real constitute 
 ed authorities of the country, to oppose the will 
 of a caucus of Congress, who have no authority 
 whatever to interfere thus with the expression of 
 the public will. If the people are obliged, as the 
 Madisonian minions assert, to support the nomi- 
 nation of the majority of the two Houses of Con- 
 gress, what becomes of their right of suffrage? — 
 or of what value is the worthless privilege of mere- 
 ly voting for a President, without the liberty of 
 choice ? This was exactly the way the mild Re- 
 publican Emperor* of France got astride the 
 necks of the French people, who were obliged 
 to elect him their master, because he would suf- 
 fer no other candidate to oppose him! This is one 
 among the many precious lessons borrowed by 
 Mr. Madison, from his adopted country. I do not 
 hesitate to say, that if this right of nomination^ 
 which peculiarly belongs to the people, is surren- 
 dered to Congress, the office of President will no 
 longer be elective, except in name : It will be a 
 virtual abandonment of the right of choice, with- 
 out which, the right of suffrage is a mere shadow : 
 because in a little time, such is the ever-toiling 
 industry of innovation, this right of nomination 
 will be held so sacred that it will be considered 
 highly offensive in the people to oppose the candi- 
 date so nominated, even though he were as un- 
 worthy their confidence, as a catchpole General, 
 or an adopted citizen of France, or even an Irish 
 renegade. 
 
 So fearful were the inspired framers of our Con- 
 stitution, that Congress might interfere in the 
 election of a President, that they expressly pro- 
 vided, that " no Senator or Representative in 
 
 * The new French coins bear on one side the Legend of 
 " Napoleon, Emperor of the French ;" and on the reverse, 
 " The French Republic." This is the true dozibk-faced 
 J?rench policy attempted to be introduced in America. 
 
8i 
 
 Congress shall be appointed an Elector," Being 
 thus restricted from any direct agency, they 
 have attempted to make themselves amends by 
 usurping tlie power of nomination ; which as it is 
 tiow attempted to be exercised, supersedes the 
 necessity of their interfering in any subsequent 
 stage of the business. 
 
 The prudence of this wise caution in the fram- 
 ers of the Constitution, and the danger of this 
 encroachment on the privileges of the people, will 
 appear in the most striking light, when we con- 
 sider the situation of the Representatives, and 
 the too great influence the Executive will always 
 retain over that body. His power of appointing 
 all officers under the general government, and his 
 extensive patronage will always secure a majority 
 in Congress, by promises of reward, or threats of 
 punishment by a dismissal from office. This 
 power will for ever purchase the services of a herd 
 of interested tools, to fetch and carry for him, to 
 do his backstair business, and to nominateh'is suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 By this incestuous intrigue between the Execu- 
 tive and Representative branches of government, 
 the people are in imminent danger of being sub- 
 jected to the dominion of an hereditary Presiden- 
 cy, not descending indeed from father to son, in 
 the usual way, but from a benefactor to his adopt- 
 ed heir. It is not in the wild and visionary spirit 
 of party, or in idle apprehension of ideal danger 
 that I warn my countrymen against this conspu'a- 
 cy against their common right. Every man of 
 experience, or reading, or reflection, must per- 
 ceive the truth of what I have advanced. 
 
 In no period of English history are to be seen 
 such instances of systematic oppression and ty- 
 ranny, as in that disastrous one, in which the par- 
 liament condescended to become, the tool of the 
 King, and to surrender the rights of its constitu- 
 
 L 
 
ents. The people are never in such danger, as 
 when placing a blind confidence in their Repre- 
 sentatives ; who acting in a body, divide the sense 
 of shame or disgrace among each other, and do 
 things from which a single individual, however dis- 
 solute, would shrink with disgust. 
 
 The foregoing considerations will I think make 
 it appear plain to every judicious man, that Mr, 
 Madison's pretensions to the presidency ought 
 not to be sanctioned by the people. His usurped 
 nomination ought to be an insuperable objection. 
 His want of firmness to resist the impositions that 
 we are daily submitting to: his being a disciple 
 of the Virginia School : his devotion to France : 
 his hypocritical pretensions to a superior regard 
 for the rights of the people, a regard displayed by^ 
 open violation : and finally, his being the friend, 
 protege, and counsellor of Mr. Jefierson, render 
 him of all men the most improper to be intrusted 
 at this dangerous crisis, with the safety of our 
 country. 
 
 It now remains that I say a few words on the 
 subject of Mr. Clinton's pretensions, which I shall 
 treat with a respect that perhaps their impor- 
 tance does not deserve. I have a Spartan's rever- 
 ence for age, and I trust it will never be said that 
 I treated the imbecility of second childhood with 
 insolence or contempt. This renovated sage, by 
 the operation of Medea's kettle, or the magic 
 draught of St. Leon, has, after having some years 
 ago retired from public life, under the pressure of 
 years, again revived to all the vigour of youth, 
 and burst upon us in all the fullness of new born 
 faculties. The limbs that a few years since requir- 
 ed rest, and the mind that was tottering on the 
 last verge of sanity, have at one elastic bound re- 
 sumed even more than their former strength and 
 brightness. The late, truly venerable Clinton, 
 has become a candidate for new honours, and by 
 
S3 
 
 SO" doing, has given to the world a memorable ex- 
 ample of" ambition that survived every other fa- 
 culty of the mind; even the power of enjoying its 
 success. 
 
 Of his talents, M^hatever they might once have 
 been, I appeal to his friends, few vestiges remain. 
 At eighty years of age the mind has generally 
 lost its strength, and leans as in second childhood, 
 on the supporting vigour of some youthful associ- 
 ate. Querulous, weak, and indecisive, its facul- 
 ties for the most part subside into a kind of in- 
 stinctive caution, which, however it may be ne- 
 cessary for the defence of weakness, hardly quali- 
 fies a man to direct a nation in a storm. Caution 
 is a good pilot, but when incorporated with the 
 conscious weakness of age, it is too apt to degen- 
 erate into a sickly apprehension of ideal dangers. 
 Mr. Clinton was indeed 07ice b. brave and gallant 
 soldier; and had he not undid in his civil capacity 
 all the good he ever performed in his military one, 
 he might have been entitled to the gratitude of 
 his country : But his age of chivalry is past, 
 and has been succeeded by Shakspeare's seventh 
 age. 
 
 I know not who it is, that has thus pushed this 
 aged barque again out into the stormy sea of poli- 
 tics, at a period which requires the vigour of youth 
 and the experience of age to direct her in safety 
 to her destined port. Whoever has exerted this 
 pernicious influence ought to be ashamed of thus 
 taking advantage of the weakness of age. I can 
 attribute it to no other motive, than the expectation 
 of being able to govern the " venerable sage,' and 
 thus under the name of a mere pageant, to exercise 
 a power which the adviser could not by his own 
 merits obtain. Of all the various kinds of ambition 
 thatof governing a state-puppet, is the least charac- 
 teristic of a noble mind. There is something grand 
 m the idea of controlling the destinies of millions. 
 
and sharing their censures and applause. But to 
 govern without the honour of governing, and to 
 make some poor victim, a packhorse to bear the re- 
 sponsibility of measures which are directed by our- 
 selves, is asituation which a high spirit would never 
 stoop to attain. 
 
 The " venerable sage," as he is humor ouslij sty- 
 led by Mr. Cheetham, is directed it seems to play 
 a most curious and difficult game, infinitely too 
 nice for his dim and blunted perceptions. He is 
 to approve of Mr. Jefferson's administration, and 
 to disapprove of the embargo, — he is to remain 
 firm to his democratic principles, and yet is direc- 
 ted to divide the democratic party by opposing Mr. 
 Madison who is the candidate of democracy. In 
 short, he is directed to twist, and turn with all the 
 dexterity of a posture-master, and to change bis 
 hues with the facility of a camelion. Shame on the 
 ambitious parasites who have thus roused the doat- 
 ing ambition of this "reverend youth," and spirited 
 him to the performance of such egregious gambols! 
 
 Whether Mr. Clinton arid his supporters do re- 
 ally approve of the embargo, it is diflicultto decide. 
 In the remote region where I am now vt^riting; 
 where wild beasts divide the empire of the earth 
 w^ith man, and where instead of populous cities 
 vocal with the " busy hum of men," are seen inter- 
 minable forests, resounding with the long howl of 
 beasts of prey — in this sequestered region I have no 
 means of deciding the question from my own ob- 
 servation. But I am told, that until the nomina- 
 tion of Mr. Madison, they breathed no whisper 
 against the embargo, but supported it with "tongue 
 and pen;" and that with the exception of the edi- 
 tor of the American Citizen in New-York, not one 
 of them ever expressed a doubt of its infallibility. 
 I am told also, that i\\\& gentleman v^^as directed by 
 his master to disavow and retract every word he 
 held published against Mr. JeiFerson's celebrated 
 
85 
 
 " strong measure," and that like an obedient ser- 
 vant he obeyed the orders with infinite grace, and 
 swallowed his paragraphs with as much ease and 
 philosophy, as the divine Socrates swallowed his 
 hemlock. 
 
 No sooner however was Mr. Madison nominated 
 to the succession, than the adherents of Mr. Clinton 
 began to rail against the embargo, with all the viru- 
 lence of disappointed ambition. That venerable 
 sage, had been it seems looking up to the Presi- 
 dent's chair with all the impatient longing of an 
 infant, caught by the glitter of some new bauble. 
 He had been probably cajoled by Mr. Jefferson 
 and Mr. Madison with promises of their support- 
 ing his pretensions ; and it was not until the nomi- 
 nation of the latter, that he discovered himself to 
 have been duped. 
 
 Disappointed in his expectations of support from 
 that quarter, it became necessary to tickle the 
 federalists a little, in order if possible to gain their 
 suffrages as a counterpoise to the weight of his ri- 
 vals interest. Th'gre appeared no more certain 
 way of doing this, than by pretending a most cor- 
 dial affection for the commercial interest of the 
 nation, and a most brotherly sympathy for the 
 distresses of the merchants. Accordingly, all at 
 once the Clintonian faction opened a hue and cry 
 against that very embargo, which till then they 
 had honoured, at least, with their pretended appvo- 
 bation. 
 
 Many worthy men,"unacquainted with the sel- 
 fish ambition which actuates everi/ leader of a 
 party, were astonished at this marvellous tergiv- 
 ersation, and wondered with open mouth, at a 
 change so sudden and so mysterious. Honest 
 souls !— they little know the twistings and turn- 
 ings of a true politician, and with what facility 
 he will change, as interest, or ambition may direct 
 him. Little do they suspect that all this pretend- 
 
86 
 
 ed patriotism, all this solicitude for the liberties of 
 the people, all this paternal regard for their inter- 
 est and happiness, is for the most part nothing but 
 the many coloured cJoak of policy, which changes 
 its hues, as the beams of a rising or setting sun fall 
 on it, and which, if thrown aside, would discover 
 the grim skeleton of gnawing interested ambi- 
 tion. 
 
 But in wooing the stately federal dame, the ve/i- 
 erahle sage was obliged to be exceedingly circum- 
 spect, for fear of exciting the jealousy of mother 
 democracy, who is a most outrageous lafly, when for- 
 saken by a favourite swain ; and on this trying oc- 
 casion, he discovered all the refined art of a rever- 
 end and practised seducer. No well experienced 
 rake, no habitual voluptuary, could have proceeded 
 with more consummate skill. With the federalists 
 he execrated the embargo as a measure calculated 
 to insure the ruin of the country; and with the 
 democrats he abused the federalists, and approv- 
 ed of Mr. Jefferson's administration, as founded 
 en the true principles of republicanism. The 
 American Citizen, while deahng out federalism 
 with all his might, at the same time disclaimed all 
 idea of an union with the federalists ; and in one 
 and the same breath, asserted the infallihiliti) of 
 his Excellency the President, and the impolicy of 
 his measures ! — Such a jumble of paradoxes, such 
 a tissue of inconsistencies, and such a melancholy 
 string of contradictions, as that able Editor has of 
 late attempted to palm upon the world, I have nev- 
 er seen before. In the publication of blunt butt- 
 end calumnies, he is very respectable, I am wil- 
 ling to allow ; but to gloss over a paradox, or 
 varnish an inconsistency, is a business too delicate 
 for his clumsy intellect, and ought to be intrusted 
 to some person of real ability ; a scholar and a 
 gentleman, if it were possible that such a man 
 could be brought to descend so low i or that 
 
87 
 
 among all the partizans of Mr. Clinton, such a 
 rara avis could be found. 
 
 But the federalists, are not back-woodsmen ; to 
 be cajoled by such bungling artists. They are, I 
 trust, too steady in their principles, to support a 
 man who courts their affections by attempting to 
 deceive them into the belief of his anxiety for 
 their peculiar interest ; and at the same time, with 
 true double faced Jeffersonianism, pretends to re- 
 vere the very man who is the greatest opposer of 
 that very interest. 
 
 There is no doubt in my mind, that if by the 
 support of the federalists Mr. Clinton should gain 
 the situation to which he aspires, their interests 
 will be the first that are sacrificed. For a little 
 while perhaps, he may condescend to acknowledge 
 his obligations; but democracy has always been 
 his religion, and he would return, at the moment 
 he could do it with safety, into the bosom of his 
 mother church. How poor, how contemptible, 
 will then appear that party which has hitherto 
 stood by itself, alone and respectable ! They will 
 not have even the donsolation of successful mean- 
 ness ; but will be constrained to sit down with the 
 consoling reflection, of having sacrificed their prin- 
 ciples without gaining any other reward, than that 
 of being despised and laughed at, by those very 
 persons to whom they have condescended to be- 
 come instruments. 
 
 That this would be the case is verified by a re- 
 cent example. We alj remember the famous sup- 
 per at Dyde's, where the adherents of Col. Burr, 
 and those of Mr. Clinton, met in order to cele- 
 brate a reconciliation, and smoke the pipe of 
 peace : How they toasted Col. Burr, with three 
 cheers ; and how the next day they denied the 
 whole transaction, with a hardy falsehood, that 
 disdained to shrink from the assertion of any thing 
 necessary to the success of their paltry pretensions. 
 
88 
 
 lust so would this unprincipled faction treat 
 any other ally, if it became necessary to their in- 
 terest or ambition. 
 
 I have dwelt so long oil this subject, not be- 
 cause I suspected the federal party of so much 
 weakness as to contemplate any kind of fellow- 
 ship with the " venerable sage" and his hungry 
 band ; but because I thought it possible, that some 
 honest individuals might be taken in by their hy- 
 pocritical cant. The federal party I trust will 
 never descend to become the ladder for Mr Clin- 
 ton to mount aloft : They will not be so weak as 
 to be deluded by his clumsy attempts at decep-- 
 tion. They will not desert the standard of Wash- 
 ington for that of even the '■'■venerable sage:'' 
 neither will they assist in the elevation of a family 
 always more remarkable for its ambition than its 
 talents, and whose boasted services, would have 
 been sufficiently rewarded by a few parish offices. 
 
 I have now finished all that I intended to say 
 on a most important subject. Remote as I am 
 from the theatre of political rewards and punish- 
 ments, obscure and undistin^guished — I could 
 have no other motive for undertaking this task 
 than the wish of serving my country. I am not 
 one of those, whose virulence is excited by having 
 been removed from office, or whose exertions are 
 put forth in the hope of obtaining one. We all 
 know the secret road to honours and rewards is to 
 obtain an interest with the people, to influence 
 their votes, and to guide their opinions. A man 
 who is backed by a district, carries a recommen- 
 dation which insures his success; and though pos- 
 sessed of no more real talent than the Secretary 
 of the Navy, or him of the War Department, may 
 safely aspire to almost any office in the gift of the 
 Executive. Not such a tool am I, thank Heaven ! 
 for of every species of ambition, that of leading a 
 mob by the nose, is most the object of my con 
 
89 
 
 tempt — Make me, ye gods ! — ^a leader of bears, or 
 banditti ; bat never may I be invested with the 
 honourable office of guarding ignorance and folly, 
 from any dangerous disposition to emerge from 
 that darkness, which seems to have been intend- 
 ed by providence as the proper medium of their 
 action. 
 
 1 freely own that I do not expect any wonder- 
 fid effects from this disintej-ested attempt to open 
 the eyes of the blind, the ears of the deaf, and the 
 hearts of those who have been led astray. The 
 monster democracy is now so conscious of his 
 strength, and so secure in his assumed habit of 
 angelic beauty, that not even the touch of Ithiiri- 
 el's spear is able to render visible the deformity of 
 the fiend. 
 
 One consolation however will still be mine, even 
 in the midst of disappointment. His Excellency 
 Mr. Jelferson, as a philosopher, cannot fail of be- 
 ing grateful for 'my analysis of his character.*- — • 
 Mr. Madison, if he has a spark of gratitude in his 
 bosom must thank me for my strictures on the pre- 
 tensions of his rival Mr. Clinton — and the " ven- 
 erable sage," as he is hmnvroushj styled by the 
 Citizen, I think cannot well refrain from testifj?^- 
 ing his approbation of the great pains 1 have ta- 
 ken to provo him the least of two euils. My bo- 
 som warms witJi the idea of monopolizing the ap- 
 plauses of three such distinguished patriots. To 
 be praised by those who are themselves worthy of 
 praise, was the wish of a wise ancient, and though 
 not possefc^sed of more wisdom than I iind absolute^ 
 ly necessary, I candidly acknowledge that I am as 
 fond of this kind of praise as atly wise man of the 
 TLast^ or any other of the ear din til points. 
 
 To conclude, and to strengthen my claim on 
 
 * JK^sce ie^sunt—is one of the most important branches of 
 knowledge ; to make a man acquainted therefore mih hims-elf, 
 is a claim vipon his friendship difficult to resist, 
 
 M 
 
90 
 
 the gratitude of Mr. CI in ton, who since he has 
 gi^own yoinig, has become an object of peculiar so- 
 licitude to me — I will merely observe, that if it 
 should become necessary for our sins, that instead 
 of plague, pestilence and famine, the usual instru- 
 ment of national punishment, we are to be afflict- 
 ed with another democratic President, I do sin- 
 cerely recommend it to the federalists to support 
 the youtliful sage, for this reason that people " so 
 zvise so yoimg they say do not live lojig.^' 
 
 At the moment I had brought my proposed plan 
 to a conclusion, I received information that Mr. 
 Pinckney, of South Carolina, had been nominated 
 as a candidate for the office of first magistrate of 
 the United States. It has therefore become neces- 
 sary for me to say a few words on the subject of 
 that gentleman's claims to public confidence. 
 
 As the traveller who has journeyed a weary way 
 over barren plains, destitute of every object dear to 
 the eye or the heart — or over mountains teeming 
 with stunted vegetation, and covert danger, rejoi- 
 ces when he beholds at a distance a fair landscape 
 rich in all the charms of cultivated nature. — So 
 with honest pleasure do I rejoice, when recalling 
 my attention from men over whose weakness, vi- 
 ces and ambition, posterity will hover with sorrow 
 and shame, I fix it on a man, against whom even 
 the malignant spirit of party rage, has never dared 
 to whisper a scandal. To censure vice is a duty^ 
 but to praise virtue a pleasure. 
 
 Since his return from the embassy to France Mr, 
 Pinckney has for the most part lived in retirement 
 without taking any active part in politics, or cour- 
 ting popularity by deceiving the people j or seek- 
 ing for honours at the expense of his personal 
 dignity. 
 
91 
 
 I know, and I have often regretted the folly of 
 mankind, that this is not the method adapted to 
 secure the affections of the populace, who are for 
 ever mistaking a dignified conduct, for pride, and 
 who call that liumilitij, which is nothing but the 
 most insatiable ambition. To court their suffra- 
 ges by the most abject servility, to pamper them 
 with gross and hollow flattery, to worship them 
 with our tongues, and to despise them in our hearts 
 is the true way to attain popularity and become a 
 tyrant. 
 
 But this is not the line of conduct pursued by 
 Mr. Pinckney. A soldier and a statesman, the 
 friend of Washington and of his country; he is con- 
 tent to wait until the voice of the people calls him 
 to save that country, and chase from the helm of 
 state, those ignorant or traitorous spirits who are 
 steering us straight forward into the enemi/s port. 
 
 He is not the puppet candidate of a caucus of 
 backstair members of congress, or of an ambitious 
 relative, who not having worth or talents suflicient 
 to become himself first magistrate, has imposed on. 
 the imbecility of a " venerable sage" that he might 
 make him the state coachman, who indeed sits on 
 the box and holds the reins, but is directed by him 
 who rides in the carriage unseen. 
 
 He is not a citizen of two countries vacillating 
 between the duty which he owes to the parent 
 that gave him life, and the one by whom he is 
 adopted — or like Mr. Madison, and the lamb that 
 was suckled by a goat, exclusively devoted to his 
 fostec mother. He did not say like that very obli- 
 ging and obedient gentleman " if France wants 
 money she must have it ;" but when France did 
 make a demand of money from this country, resis- 
 ted it with a spirit and dignity, of which I am sorry 
 to say, there have since been very few instances 
 among the chosen instruments of our present 
 dorious administration. 
 
■ -92 
 
 Though deserving to be known and reverenced 
 by every man in the country, his name has not been 
 made cheap by too frequent repetition, or soiled 
 by being for ever thrown as a football for the mob 
 to buffet. It is a name hitherto unsullied in the 
 eyes of man, and which even in the mad contests 
 of party rage, when every barrier of decency is 
 thrown down, and all regard for truth forgotten, 
 has kept its station above us, like a bright star 
 placed beyond the reach of earthly influence. 
 
 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, is now infhe six- 
 tieth year of his age, his body unbroken, and his 
 mind possessed ofall its faculties; joining the vigour^, 
 force and vivacity of youth, with the experience^ 
 the steadiness and the prudence of age. As one of 
 our earliest patriots, he distinguished himself, by a 
 manly and spirited assertion of the rights of his 
 countrv, and with a vioour that never tired, and a 
 fortitude that never shrunk from the keenest en- 
 counter, continued on to the end of the struggle, 
 without for a moment remitting his exertions. 
 
 Having aided in the establishment of our inde- 
 pendence, he was appointed one of the convention 
 for forming a constitution for the government of 
 the union, and there distinguished himself by a 
 strenuous support of that constitution, which until 
 its late shameful violations, was the bulwark of our 
 liberty, prosperity and happiness. 
 
 When Washington, after'resigning the presiden- 
 cy, with a patriotic humility worthy of Aris^tides, 
 (the most perfect model of a republican chief) ac- 
 cepted the command of the army of the United 
 States at a period of danger and alarm, he was 
 complimented with the privilege of choosing his 
 own officers. That distinguished chief, who \^ al- 
 lowed by all his cotemporaries to have been b, 
 most perfect judge of men, chose Mr. Pinckney as 
 his second major General j a proof of merit, w)jich 
 outweighs all the venal praises of a thousand hire- 
 
iing editors, or the bawling approbation of a thou- 
 sand blind multitudes, goaded on by interested 
 demagogues. 
 
 When acting as an embassador in France, Mr, 
 Pinckney distinguished himself by resisting all the 
 demands of that rapacious nation for money. He 
 disdained to purchase a treaty, or to subject his 
 country to an ignominious tribute. He did not 
 think with Mr. Madison, that when France wanted 
 money she ought to have it, but in conjunction 
 ivith Mr. Marshall, resisted all the intrigues and 
 bully ings of the wily Talleyrand. The names of 
 these tirm and patriotic embassadors ought ever to 
 be held dear in this country. OLIVER ElswoPxTH 
 is now in his grave, but I trust the memory of 
 his virtues and talents|^ will remai^ while the 
 people of New England have hearts to estimate 
 true worth and honour. His was one of those pro- 
 found understandings that penetrated into all the 
 recesses of crooked politics, and saw with the eye 
 of an eagle where truth was hidden. I remember 
 liim a senator, and his deep and energetic eloquence 
 made an impression on me, which will never wear 
 away. I remember him a judge, and his venera- 
 ble simplicity, his clear and admirable decisions — 
 his deep and learned insight into the theory and 
 practice of the laws, all contributed to the formation 
 of one of the most perfect judges that ever sat on 
 the bench of the United States. Honour be with 
 him in the grave ! — For he was one of the many 
 great and good men, whose loss this country has 
 had to lament within a few years; and who like fall- 
 ing leaves, seemed to predict the dark and wintry 
 season that was about to wither the budding hon- 
 ours of their native land. 
 
 This man was worthy to be honoured with the 
 same trust as Mr. Pinckney, who possesses, a 
 kindred mind, and who joins to the talents of an 
 Elsworth, those of a gallant soldier. To a courage 
 
^ 94 
 
 which has been tried in the face of death, he unites 
 a prudence that withholds him from rashly court- 
 ing unnecessary dangers. He is a true republican 
 — not of the bastard brood of open mouthed pre- 
 tenders, that has lately risen up vvith an exclusive 
 patent for patriotism ; but such a republican as 
 Washington — mild, brave, firm, and disinterested 
 —scorning to win a short lived popularity, at the 
 expense of his immortal glory, and too virtuous 
 to sacrifice the interests of his country, to gain the 
 fulsome and worthless panegyrics of mobs, and 
 mob directing nevi^spapers. 
 
 " Even such a man" is necessary to save this 
 country from the lowest pit of contempt and weak- 
 ness — to emancipate us from the tyranny of 
 France, of intrigue, of S^lsehood, cowardice and 
 hypocrisy. We have had enough of the supple 
 willow, that kisses the dust with lowly reverence, 
 at the wooing of every breeze, let us now take 
 shelter under the broad arms of the strong oak, 
 which, firmly rooted in its native earth, braves all 
 the terrors of the storm, and stands erect, despising 
 the wrath of the elements. 
 
 To the people I address these reflections. I do 
 not appeal to their good sense, because I am not 
 in the habit of placing much reliance on that — 
 more especially since the result of the Pennsylva- 
 nia election. Neither do I appeal to their expert- 
 ence^ my own experience having convinced me, 
 that they will sooner believe their ears than their 
 eyes; and that were I to place before their vision 
 all the formidable array of evils that are gathering 
 around them, one cabalistical word from their 
 oracular newspaper would convince them, that 
 what they saw with their own eyes, was nothing 
 but the mere conjuration of a wicked federal or 
 tory enchanter. 
 
 There is magic in this terrible word tory. Like 
 the cry oi maddogf it always raises a mob against 
 
95 
 
 it, and such is its wonderful potency, that it ofte^^ 
 changes a patriot who stemmed the tide of British 
 influence during the whole period of the revolu- 
 tion, into an enemy of his country, and a partisan 
 of Great Britain. Only let Col. Duane, or anv 
 other slave of French policy, point at a man, and 
 cry iory — that terrible lion — (or, rather, ass in li- 
 on's skin) the mob — will believe it, and roar at him 
 like a town bull, although he should prove to them 
 that he had shed his blood in the ranks against 
 England. 
 
 Such is the way in which people are deceived. 
 One would suppose that the nose was intended for 
 a handle, by which mankind are to be led, rather 
 than an organ of sense ; and if so, nobody can de- 
 ny that it fulfils its destination most admirably, 
 for there are few people who have not, at one time 
 of their life, been led by the nose. 
 
 It is therefore no great matter of wonder that the 
 people of the United States are so prompt to be 
 deceived. It is no matter of surprise to me, that 
 they believe Mr, Jefferson a republican and a pa- 
 triot — for he himself has told them so a thousand 
 times, and they would be most unreasonably scep- 
 tic to doubt the word of a gentleman who kept it 
 so faithfully with Doct. Bollman. In short I am. 
 not at all astonished that they consider this coun- 
 try in a state of most unparralleied prosperity; be 
 cause experience has proved that nothing is more 
 easy than to demonstrate to them, that national 
 degradation is a proof of national glory, and that 
 the people of the Uilited States, like saffron, flourish 
 the more they are trod upon. 
 
 The following note was, through mistake, omit- 
 ted in its proper place, see page 13. 
 
 ^ote. — Let ihe reader peruse, with attention, the following 
 infamous paragraph, extracted from the Aurora, one of the 
 newspapers most devoted to the present administration. 
 
\ 
 
 \ 
 
 cr. 
 
 /■' The recent conduct of the Judiciary at Chwiiehton^ la uiiLj an 
 Additional firoof of the monstrous absurdity of what is called 
 the INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGES — theij are in fact so indejiendent 
 of control^ and of every other tie but that of tlicir own perverse 
 and adverse ivill, agaijist the very princijiles of the government, 
 that unless their tenure @f officds is altered, and that ccrha 
 brov.ght to some sort cf responsibility, they must in the end destroy 
 the government. 
 
 " Ifihe laios and policy of the ration are to be set aside by a 
 quibble — if the very principles of peace and luar are to be involv- 
 ed in the wretched subti^yfuges and eqiuvocatio?is of this subtle 
 class of men, what avails all the superiority of a representative go- 
 vernment, tvhich cannot check the crimes of such a class." — Aurora, 
 
 Reader ! I ask you, if you have ever encountered such an en- 
 ormous example of insolent and presumptuous blasphemy. 
 That a wretch whom infamy herself would blush to acknow- 
 ledge as her offsprin^^ — a renegado caitilT — a vile alias fugitive 
 from public justice— whose 7vc/name, if whispered in our un- 
 polluted groves, would wither their foliage — should thus dare, 
 to lift his voice against, the most respectable and venerable 
 branch of our government—is a phenomenon, only to be paral- 
 leled by the unheard of infamy of rewarding such a wretched 
 low-born vagabond, by placing him in the rank of a gentlema^i I 
 Col. Duane — alias Dunn — alias. Col. any thing else ! — does not 
 every officer, who hears such a title coupled with such a name,, 
 blush for his profession ? Does he not feel that nw* hi? epaulettes 
 are the badges of si, liDe, instead of honour, and that it were 
 better for him to pace the streets, or drive a scavenger's cart^ 
 than belong to our army, commanded by a Caich/:ole General, 
 assisted by a Colonel, who so disgraced his father's name, that 
 he was obliged to change it in oi'der to appear nev/ burnished 
 in the e^es of his adopted country ? 
 
 It is one of the tasks which I hope yet to live long enough to 
 perform — -to lash this imported bloodhound, until even his back, 
 though from long habit almost proof against a cat-o-nine tails,, 
 shall wince under the operation. I will so knout him, that even 
 he himself shall acknowledge, in his moments of tribulation; 
 that though a nolle prosecpd may screen a wretch from the be- 
 hests of law, the strong arm of an unknoivn minister of justice 
 may reach him even behind the seven-fold shield of ExecxUivt 
 patronage. 
 
 iLS,?,"^ ^^ CONGRESS