Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1804-06-13
RICHMOND PRICE CURRENT.
CORRECTED WEEKLY.
FOR THE VIRGINIA ARGUS.
T0 MlJoR PIERCE BUTLER.

1'0 1LlJ0R PIERCE BUTLER.
SIR,
THE commencement of the Ame-
rican revolution found you clad i'm the tau
dry mantle OF nobility, which you fortu-
nately surrendered for hoiiors more sub
stantial. BY jud;cious transmu,ation,
you passed from the unmcaning rank Of
cI1Udfed subjects, to the digni6ed station Of
ola FREE MAN. This circumstance, add
ed to your manners and your fortune, rails.
ed you to an eminence iBihe United States,
where the unfortunate disproporIion which
your talents bore TO your ambition, would
not permit you to remain. Your late con
duct furnishes melancholy proof of the
correctness of this opinion and directs the
enquiring mind to seek for other motives
i'll your revolutionary exertions, than those
which have heretofore been attributed TO
you by your yirtuous and grateful coun-
trymen.
Your two letters TO the Governor Of
South-Carolna, on the subject of the a.
mendment to the Constitution of the Uni
ted States relative to the election of Presi.
dent and Vice President, are strongly tine
tured with the gall OF disappointment. 1t
has been possibly said, by persons not an
knosgn 20 h5u, that our minister at Madrid,
had not talents equal to the elevated staff
on in which his country had placed him
Probably, twas presumed that your talents
might have been drawn upon to greater adj
vantage. 1t has also been insinuated, that
trip to St. James's would be acceptable
TO one, who could roll his glittering Coro-
net in noble pomp amidst his Peers of the
British Realm. To you, Major Butler,
was unwilling to attribute motives sopuny !;
but your puerlle and querulous letters in
voluntarily inclined me 10 believe the re.
port: Iregret it, but will not against my
conviction, pass over in silence nor attempt
10 eXtenuate the errors Of man, for whose
character | once had the highest venera-
ton and respe6t.--I shall now bestow q lat
tie attention on your extraordinary letters,
so far as they aim at argument.
You contend, that " while t.uo disting1asi-
cd citizens are Uofed for; flarty heas qriAnof
be so great as by Aaving single ottfosifion
chamfRons, running in direct otiioSitiul 20
each other" When this sentence escaped
you, you certainly did not rccolleet that sin
gle opposition candidates have alwa, been
run for the Chief Magistracyof the United
States. This has been the inva riabIe prac-
tice; and il is undeniably true, that altho'
The Electors did not name the one as Pres
dent and the other as Vice-President, it
was because they had not the privilege so
to do. This being admitted, do you ina
E me that now, when the constitution is
made conformably to the spirit ofthe form
er practice of the people, party animosiiy
will go to greater excess IF this be your
opinion, it must flow from ID belief that the
people are stupidity perver8e "a poor COM
pliment indeed to your countrymen. But
yours is strange hyhothesis. 1t is made
in the face of certainty and ertcrlenec. Has
it not been proved, that when, according
! TO you, t7Do distinguished citizens mere Uof-
I'd for, party heat was famed into fearful
flame? loo strongly indeed is this event
impressed upon the minds of Americans
to be wiped away by your sophistry. The
history of the United States will proclaim
20 unborn millions, that an Infamous fac.
! ton once ranked in her bosom, whose
! crimes were 4" higher in account than heL
| has foins TO fu'ish."
But say you, " Me Probability Of There ere,
again being t1ro namcs eg4at on the Mghesi
number, is so remote az not 10 jusfify an al
teraiion, 80 materially affecting me soperrign
~ Of states; 30 remote is it, htat1 Docto,
! Price 7Oho 1vas said 10 b. better read in The
doctrine Of chances, than any other man in
Eurofe, could rise Irom his grave, he 7vouio
hrobabLy tell ne that IL is hhe nearest 10 i'm.
hrc6abihiy IFS ever takiHg place again."
In one iule month might say, fol
twelve years is not so much in the
age of nations, has this evil, so re-
mote in the doctrine Of chances, fall
len upon us with an out stretched arm
and terrible voice How then can you, by
any sort of self delusion persuade yourself
10 assert, that repetition Of this hazard
Gus division of electoral votes is so i'm
probable But I care not how deeply reat
Doctor Price may have been in ;he doc
trine Of chances nor how far you may b,
inclined to leave our most important con
Germs in state Of alarming incertitude
| am content when recolleGt, that an en-
lightencd and experienced people will ne
yer permit an epoch Of CONSERVATION ant
d terror like that Of 1901. to recur uDon uq