Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1809-03-14
NO. 1.
TO THE PEOPLE OF VIRGIL
MA.
FELLOW CITIZENS,

ELLoW-CIfIzENS,
am aware of the
inequality Of the contest in which
am forced TO embark: am supper
ted in it ONLY, by the firm reliance
which L have on your candor and JUS
tioe, and by the consciousness of my
own purity, which appeal to Heaven,
IN the most solemn mauEer to attest.
call upon you to do unto me as you
would that others should do unto you:
read my defence; and If 1 do not
convince you Of my innocence, and
of the barbarous and tvrannical injus-
tice with which have been treated,
then, abandon me forever. do not
mean to in pute to the House Of Dele
gates, generally, any deliberate inten,
ton of barbarity and tyranny: many
of them knew not what they were do
ing. have been Informed OF CONVEX
sations held bv several Of the Del
egates 81 nee their return to their res
Pective counties, which afford the most
conclusive proof that they did not even
understand the report Of their own
committee. These misapprehensi-
ons will be noticed and exposed as !
proceed with the examination of the
report. They will not fail to- have a
properefrect upon yourminds, because
they Will convince you that an act
which ought to have been done on full
knowledge and calm deliberalion only,
has been done, by many, IN to-
tai darkneiis and ignorance of,he facts
and even eff the statements for which
they were voting. There were in the
House of delegates other gentlemen
ofvery honorable principles and minds
adoption of this report: but they took
the facts ont the statement of their COM
mittee they felt indignant at the sup
position of guilt, which it was their
duty to haze seen proven before they
Condemned: they took that upon Gre
dit, which they ought to have taken,
only, upou evidence and so highly
were they excited BIZ the idea that the
state had b cen swindlcd and defrauded
BY my agency, that some of the n were
even. unwilling to have a memorial
read to thu: house, in which prayed
TO be heard before l was condemned /;
although tltat memorial was couched
in terms the: most respectful and unex-
ceptionable, and although those, who
were thus i topping their ears against
1t, had not cen one atom OF the proof
on which tlreir prejudices were foun-
III NJ. /. 81, Il
who voted or the report under an i'm
preston, Incredible as 1t may appear,
that the REPORT imputed nothing dis
honorable 70 me that it arraigned,
merely, MY supposed inattention In
the purchase ofiron, and looseness and
inaccuracy in the mode OF keeping the
accounts: men who were, therefore,
willing to have appointed me, again,
as the supe rintendant under the checks
and restrict ions of their new law. To
these three classes of men the delibcr.
ate intenticil OF injustice, cruelty and
eespotism cannot be fairly imputed !;
yet the effect upon my character and
interests il, the same, as ii thew had
been !mpetled by the worst of motives.
There was in the House, small corps
not so innocent as those of whom have
been speaking; men who have been
hostile to tht mandatory ofarms from
its first foundation, and who have
sought every opportunity of reviling
and seeking to destroy it. The hos
tility of these men began before the
armory commenced its operations
and therefore, cannot be reasonably
ascribed TO any thing amiss in the o.
perations themselves; unless the effect
be supposed TO exist before it's cause.
am asked to what the hostility Of
these men is to be ascribed? an
swer, that IL might have proceeded
from am honest conviction that the
suilding of the .armory was an impoli-