The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1809-02-07
70 JoRWT4lLoR. ESQ.
OF CAROLINE.


SHOULD be any expression To wound your fee
lings, the blame cannot possibly rest upon
me. There is nothing, which i venerate
more than age )" bu. when age, throws
eff the respect, which is due to itself, it team
not expect greater comp!aisancc from the rest
Of the world. The attacks, which YOU have
aimed at myself, have imposed on me, the
necessity OF ii reply.
The expression, to which you have OBJ
jected, Sir, is-private griefs. Your first re-
mark upon il excites my astopishment.--
The world have long admired you AS a quiz
bier and a sophist. But even in these quail
ties there is sometimes a refinement which
may defeat their object. In what ingenious
school of Logic, have you, sir, learned to
conSfrne the private griefs of such men as
yourself. into a disappointed "expectation
of Office" from the hands Of gevernnsat?-
There is nothing in the frivolous reasons.
which you assign for this construction. 1t
was a vefy different species of private griefs,
to which my allusion was made.
The first question, however, which arises
in this discussion, relates to the proper
sphere of agency belonging to the Press
You have used many desultory and unde-
fined remarks on the ~sanctitv of the cha
racter and conduct of f,,iUatc lie. This is
agreat question, and it is worthy of a few
remarks.
1hSTC are Certainty llNeS OF Qlst1nCtlOn which
the Press is bound to resrect.-Tic public acti.
oas of public men are fair game. Those pri, ate
actions and qua!iute, which serve to display the
real dispositions OF public men, are also lair sub.
jects of enqniry-priyate men, who arc candi-
dates for public Office, are also embraced within
the reasons Of the rule. Those qualities aud a.
chievements OF theirs, which have any beariag
upon their official qualifications those, which
are 10 unfold the talents, The real integrity. the
public principles, ard III a very few cases, the
temper OF the candidate, ought likewise to- enter
into the circulating mediums OF pubiic disquisition.
There are a iezo other Cases, in-wliCi Tie sane
tity of private lie can form no in,reuchmcnt a.
giinst the enquiries of the press--V When AN in
dlvloual chooses to foist his NAM iatn the public
prints, ie becomes, within a certain extent f.;
game for fair pursuit-Whcn at ne eve of any
great political crisis, sore private Individual Of
Intrigue and ag1-rdancy OF character, should
striye TO give an unfavoraDtc cas-, to the Interests
ottbc nation is it not then too tie dutg of a
ifSe press in drag him into lig.,t! Who would
have censured Edmund Burke Tor making Lord
Butc the Hero of Iii :" Present State Of the
Nation,' when chat willy Scotci.Nan was softly
skulkinG bchindtae throne Itself, ;.nd regulating
the monarch and his ministers at IN: will by the
ingenious establishments of al Z" interior CABINET
VITO would have ceasired the auimadversions
OF eHrSe, though Lord Bite had been ONLY .
private &o'.sticr, without an Office, without a III
tie AID without . pension Such cases and cha.
UtgP oCCuE NlAtan the tfnsS =. Z. - TS;Itit-
hc-as within the court OF st. Jamcs's-cases,
when individuals may set themselves in orpcsi.
ton to the best interests OF the nation. tbou-l
with less effect than my Lord B.ite-and with
much inferior talents. Cases of this descrip
ton would, however ne rare. Few men yitl,o,r
office have a sufficient ascendancy in public mat
te:sto give them any thing like a decided cast
Still fewer would be willing 10 exert it. Witt
respect 10 these cases, therefore, it would not of
ten happen that the powers OF the press woulc
be called iato requisition
The Election of a President Of the United
s., States Is a great cris 5 in the affairs of this
country. You, Sir, had been represented tc
me, as mar busy in your opposition to MIR
Madison, active and Influential. But, these
was not altogether the ruling consideration
which introduced your name into my popcr
1t was a motive of "a less rejecting cast
You, sir, shall explicitly hear all the I'M,
pressions, which had successfully collected
upon my mind, and the ultimate consequence.
OF which these ideas were productive.
There was a strong impression upon nv
mind, that you, Sir, had asserted, that Mr.
Madison was no " republican in principle
ami that his numbers OF the Fedcralist were
a decided proof Of it. This impression is no,
fancy, but fact.
There was a strong impression upon nv
mind, that you were at the City OF Wash.
ington when Mr. job Randolph first began
10 meultate Il schism from the administra.
tion-and that you then dissuadcd him from
making any attack upon MIR. Jefferson. but
that you readily gave up MI. Madison as =
victim to his resentment. Whv this dis.
elimination, sir s-The thing did not look
we'll.
There has been a strong impression upor
my mind that Mr.. Randolph on the loor O.
the House of Representatives has repeated
the very objections, which ou had previaus,y
expressed, against Mr.. Madison's number,
OF tue Fcdaralist. The same ideas occur II
the celebrated Protest of Seventeen. Had
you, sir, delivered these structures to Mr.
Randolph? The coincidence of these cir.
oumstances had strongly implanted ths
conclusion upon my mind, that you were the
Teal-though not the putativc father O
. them.
These ideas had left a strong corcIus;or
upon my mind, that you felt 40 extrao,dina
~ friendship towards Mr. Madison-but that
some demon of envy Oh i'll will had nolintet
your conceptions Of that mans charactcr-
] had understood, that YOU, Sir. we've no
altogether charmed with the praises. which
had been lavished upon Mr.. Madison's Re.
port OF 1GC0-and that YOU believed. tha,
your Resolutions Of '99, chastened and cor.
rccted as they were by The Pencil of Messrs
Giles and Nicholas, and disrcbed Of some o
49,.