The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-03-24
FOR THE ENQUIRER.

WARD &: S7AENARD, H'ILLI4M RoBt ~
SON ard JoHy BRocKENBRoUcH, Diem
5crs Of the b2oNRoE Standing Commit
tee.
EENTLEaEN,
When after the silence and
inactivity" of eight weeks, you came for
ward to discharge the very first act OF your
official administration, to animate the fiar-
cling friends of Coz Monroe. and to manifest
your own ardent zeal In the cause which
Your own Judgments had espoused, and which
Nou have been Scirctca.o promote ;--it was
impossible not to take III your address with
OUT great expectation and curiosity. Com
ing forward vita your own names subscribed
to your address, the world could not but ex-
pect that you would attempt to illustrate
those names with all The powers Of argument
and eloqpcnce which yoa possessed.-Com-
ing forward in such cause, it was impossi-
bic not to hope-for the credit of the gentle
man himself whom you support-that YOUR
enthusiasm would havo dictated style of
composition the most commanding, and ar
guments cogeut, persuasive and irresist-
ible. Some eft you too, gentlemen, had as
sumed claim TO literary pretensions, which
it was seriously believed, you would readily
attempt to fortify and extend The time roo
which you had devoted to your researches,
was fiattering to these expectations. No man
Every one presumed, that if your excessive
zeal would not permit you to relinquish your
hopeless opposition, this same zeal was
busy and interchangeable in the cause, which
It supported; collecting new lights in favor
OF your candidate, or rev censures on his
competitor; or performing the ordinary du-
ties of a corresponding Committee; distri-
busing circulars, supplying the daily waste
or Your committee men and eleCtorS-a task
III which, it must be confessed, no inconsi-
derable portion Of Your weeks would have
been uscIesslv wasted. Few of us indeed ex
pectcd from you the honor of public adj
dress; but still fewer of US, could have ex-
pected from YOU any other address than one,
IN which the powers of language and of
thought would have striven for the mastery
--one, in which all the results of your num-
teress researches, and all Your collected
Lights in favour OF Col. Monroe, would have
been poured IN. one irresistible stream upon
the public eye. As Won had hitherto done
nothing in your official character, much
would have been expected from von We
should have imagined YOU. like the sleeping
giant, only 20 have siumbcrcd to renovate your
powers, and that when you, hurst the "si-
lence and inactivity" which had hitherto
enshrouded You, Won would have come
forth in all the might and majesty of your
strength.
Gentlemen, we have seeh,vour address
and how supremely have we been disappoint-
ed. A more. vapid, more spiritless, a
more disheartenihg composition has never
been ushered into ligl1t-one more lame in
argument, more destitute cf facts or logic,
Or more calculated 80 freeze the most ar
dent hopes the party, which it was meant
to inspire. No words that breathe; > or tho'ts
that burn" No hopes to animate the sinkine.
spirits OF your friends no consolation to
administer 10 their agorsing disappoint-
rnents. Really, gentlemen, if you have
nothing more inspiring or heart cheering to
offer to your friends, take the candid advice
OF an adversary. On the very next melan-
choly intelligence which comes, from the
West or the North, write an Elegy over
your expiring cause, and bury the pretcn-
sons OF Col. Monroe with as much grace and
decency as possible.
] have no disposition to touch on the first
and 'long" standing considerations, which
have led You to a preference of James Mon
roe to JAMES Madison. De niortuis nil hisi
69num, is perhaps sood maxim, whether
we apply it to the life OF man, or the prcten-
sions of yori' candidate. have no dispo-
sition to find fault with either mis- qualities or
his pre- cnsiohs the first are great, but un-
der existing circumstances, the last are tru-
ly ridiculous. 1t viii require a more pow
erFul addres 8 than yours, to convince me of
the contrary.
But, gentlemen, cannot SO easily pass o.
yer the . equally cogcnJ. and conclusive ar
guments," in favor OF Col. Monroe election
which you have drawn from the spirit of the
times. You have insinuated that such ar
guments may be "dcduced from a view of
the critical situation OF the United States at
this moment, the causes which produced it.
and the distress and calamity to which we
shall be exposed, by contest now almost
inevitable, with the only power in Europe
which has not bowed, or been made TO bow
its neck to the yoke of a conqueror, whose
ambition is without bounds, as his successes
are without example"
l can pretty well understand what you
mean by your dIusi0nS to the critical 81
tuation of the United States at this mo-
rnent ;" and by "the distress and calamity
TO which we shall be exposed by conteef''
with the Emperor of France 1t is no more,
presume, than a touch upon the same
string, arepetition of the same cant. which
I the luminous protest OF tile congressional
J minority, which Falkland--aiia$, MIR. John
Randolph Conon--herhohs fni mcr
Secretary to our former minister at Paris
have so much delighted to harp upon. Pret-
~ good authority, G.ntlcu.en, for most or
your assertions You mean, as understand
you, that as the United States are about to
be involved in " contest" with cor
9ueror, whose ambition is without bounds,
as MS successes are without example,