The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-03-29

niformly with the. administration and what
every you may think of that course, the seal
OF appreciation has been already fixed upon it
by Vour country.
No more then of your harping on this gee
neral charge of want of energy descend
to specification and shew us when s. where
it was. We beg your pardon: YOU have
specified the solitary ground of this heavy
charge-Mr. Madison, it seems, left his post
IN Congress, in the moment Of danger, and
took refuge i'll retirement. This is Just as
candid as the rest ot Your rcproaches., The
case was this MIR. Madison had devoted two
and twenty years of the prime and f,ow-
er of his life TO the service Of his country ::
he had not spent those years in saving "yea"
and "nay,' nor, what is worse, IN venting
barbarous sarcasms, in writing protests dis
graceful to his virtue and understanding. and
in playing the part OF Ihersites in the camp
OF Agamemnon No those years had been
spent i'll beneficial services, i'll the discharge
OF the most ardupus duties, in the most in
tense and unrelaxing exertion of his pre-e-
minent faculties in the cause of liberty and
republican government In the mean time.
his private affairs had been neglccted-hs
constitution had received a serious shock
his health was in visible and alarming de-
cline. In these circumstances, at the
close of general WaShington's athninistrati-
on, he sought an interval to put his estate in
order, TO recruit his health if that were pos
sible, or, if otherwise, to provide for the aw-
iui change which he had too much reason to
apprehend. 1t was IN 1897 and 'gs that ne
was thus engaged. But VIC, have seen, that
IN 1899 when The dangers of his country had
encreased almost to desperation, although his
health was so far from being confirmed that
IT mad become worse, he again made his APP
pearance Gil the political theatre, with the
same signal ga lantry, which had ever dis
tinguisacd him. He has been in public life
ever since. And those two years of rcpose
and OF private duty, SO reasonable, so ncceS-
sary to him, are what you would have us to
consider as a cowardly flight from danger /!
We are not Barbarians. You defeat your
own purpose, gentlemen; you wish to tes-
| troy Mr.. Madison !; but you force us to recall
his services and to reflect low immaculate
must be that life, against which malice itself
Can bring no better charges.
Somuch for your accusation of the want Of
energy, and for the single instance by which
you attempt to support it. But after all, this
is, perhaps, a mere dispute about Il word {:
| 1t IS probable, that we do not attach the
same idea TO the term energy. What our j.
dea OF the energy of republican patri-
OF is, We nave already shcwn In the exam
| pie of Mr. Madison. As to any thing farther
l..
Madison has not that kind of energy which
d stinguished a Catalina, q Clodius or a
Csssar,a Danton, a Robespierre or a Napo-
leon. Ne hope that he has ne ambition to
inquire at the spring of guillotine, at the
head OF faction nor of ap army, red will
civil blood, and UNANIMOUSLY immortal bv the
overthrow of its country's liberty This
may be the species of energy which suits
Your projects But where will you find it /.
Not in MIR. Madison, most assuredly and as
assuredly, not in either of the undetermined
e honorable gentlemen, who are understood
to be cursed with the support of your names.
We have done with this charge Of the
want OF energy. Those W no choose to take
the floating rumor, and through indoleBce Oh.
credulty to found their faith upon it, with
| OUT examination, may have been guided by
the din which you have raised. They are
however but few. The people, who choose
10 take nothing Oh credit but TO examine for
themselves, are not thus 10 be dipped We
have examined this charge and we have
foula it air.
But let us see how we'll this quadrates with
your next charge. This is, that Mr.. Madi-
son in conjunction with Mr. JAY and Mr..
Hamilton, wrote the work called The Fede-
rahst, in which the most Objectionable doc
tr'nes OF the latter are maintained Now the
! Objection to the doctrines of the latter gen
tleman were, that they were 100 e7ergetic.
lin one breath, then, MIR. Madison wants en-
ersN-in the next lie has too much of it
his is the unity and consistency of truth
But why, again, are you so vague and SO gem
eral IN this charge about the Federalist.-
| Our Jurists tell us doius iatet in generaE
6HS"--deception turks in general expressi-
| ons /? and the truth of the maxim was never
more strikingly exemplifed than in your
treatment of Mr.. Madison. You mount
| some emlnence, and with a trumpet to yuur
! mouth, you bawl out "Yazoo,'' "want of
energy" " the Fedcralist-Jav and HamiI-
ton." 1T does not suit YOU to descend to par
ticulars, because you knew the charges re-
quIre but to be seriously examined, & they
are at once falsihed and exposed. You know
the odlum attached to the words which YOU
utter, and regarding your countiymen as a
pack from the kennel, you seem to think
thatyou have nothing to do, but to point out
the game and set us on. But we are not
quite such beasts as You are pleased, most
re"NecVnHy to consider us. Instead of be-
ing ready to worry patriot whose virtues
Offend you, we will protect and cherish
MN against your injustice and most undeser-
Ved persecution. The FederaistS We
know thatit is defence of the constitution.
which we are ali sworn to support and
where is the crime of Mr. Madson's having
participated in that defence,. Is It criminal
IN Mr.. Madison to have defended the consti
luton by written argument, and vet not cri
minai IN you and i'll us to have sworn to SUD-
port 1T This is another evolution of the
and 81 fa1r IL,