The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1810-02-08

1
animates Your small and puny band! We
perhaps owe it to that very contemplate
th,nness otyour numbers. that at this moment
the intolerant practices of the superstitious
| secs ui antiquity are not again dug up, 70
] be used against us--that we are not now
broi'ed on the gridiron or, roasting on Goals.
The IRE and tasgoe CT the catholic super.
s'tions are but types and emblems of the
fury which would Consume us. Bnt your
ranks are too ;hin for the purposes Of re
| sensInent--and therefore you may axe it
out in low abuse. Monks and women, who
have no other mode OF venting aud CRAFTY
ing their spleen. are proverbially privi-
legged to rail! Like them, sir, you, are
destitute of the political power of inf,ict
ing more decisive venseance-and like
them. may enjoy the distinguished privilege
o. employing your tongue pen in the Ian
guage of the passions. Happy, if you do not
infict greater mischiefs upon yourselves,
than upen the objects OF your resentment! !:
In vain do we lock for some distinguished
exception in the motley group, which you
have rallied together. Your spirit animate.
the wholc---Whethsr we contemplate
their restless and ambitious Chiefain. or
those who stand next TO him in.vehemerce
and rank, or that class of subaltern charac-
tiers. that bring up the rear Of the army-we
the ranks The generosity Of their oppo-
nents Yields no claim upon their gratitude &
liberation. In vain have two administrations
she'd the light of their cotin;enance upon an
attorney of the Upi,cci S.atcs-in vain are
instances Of official rcrissncss imputed 70
him---in vain is his t,isafection to the lea
ding measures of administration not only
suspected ba, proved upon him-shc man
still retains mis- post and his hostility. Plea.
ding before the Very tribunal of the Chief.
Justice Of the United States, in this district,
under the last administration, he laments that
the substance Of Liberty was near being eifa
ced in this country. And now he is preaching
up the extinction OF Federal aud Republican
distinctions-the union of all the friends of
their country to snatch 1t from the disgrace
which hovcrs over it through the auspices of
the predominant party.
/ This spirit, sir, is caught from you-and
Iii covers under its wings the most perscious
absurdities, which you utter. will not say
of you, sir, nor OF them, what Hume saws of
the. votaries of dolatfy, that {" the boser the
materials are. of which the divinity is com
posed, the greGtc7. depo len is he likely
/" TO excite in the breasts of his deuded vo
4" tarics--that they eXult in their shame,
" and make merit with their deity, IN bra
wing, for his sake all the ridicule and con
tumely OF his euemies-that ten thousand
crusaders enlist themselves uuderthe holy
banners ; and even openly triumph in those
parts OF their religion, which their atlver
sarics regard as the most rcproachful -
have too a high respect for your genius
and integrity TO entitle them base materi
as-and one of the sinceresr regrets.
which feel, when John Randolph rises to
my view, is the prostitution of those powers.
which he possesses, to the qualification of
IN ,1ns anH nj taI
Had you, sir, at the time whsn you dis
approved of any particular schemes Of the
last administration, confined your structures
20 these alone-had you exercised your in
dependence, as you ought to have done,
without Aging into the extremes of passion
had you come forth frankly ard fairly with
your reasonable objections and remonstran
ces--your object might possibly have been
achieved, and your talents would have been
of use TO your country. The gallant stand,
which you had made, against the -sYazoo
fraud, would have insured you a most fa
vorabie hearing. 4. At all events, the Co.
lossus of your reputation would not at this
time have strewed the earth--your ears
would not have been ravished with the
thanksgivings of Federal hosts and British
minions.
But this reasonable course did not suit
your ambition. You aspired to be the lead
er of your par,y-and you have now sunk
into the champion OF a faction. You might
have been spared the msrtifcation of con.
tradicting your former maxims, and of re
futing yourself. You might have avoided
the modification of hving thro' the signs of
the Political Zodiac, from Capricorn to the
Grab.
The course offe men has been more eecen-
trio and inconsistent than your own-You
have scarcely consulted any other monitor
than your own passions ----aad they, like
an igttis .fatRus, have bewildered you
amidst boss and 9uagmires. These very
letters which you have addressed TO the Pre-
sident of the United States, furnish new
proofs OF the facility with which You NAV
contradict yourself. 1T this time, you can
speak with a sneer of f." the masteriy ar
arrangement Nth Mr.. ErSkine" when you
were the very first man, during the last ses-
sion of Congress, to bring forward a Reso-
luton, approving of Mr.. MaaiSon's promp
titude in forming that arrangement.
In what terms shall we speak Of your con.
duct towards Tn Jefferson-the man, whom
you once so deeply admired, but of whom
you noSv sneeringiy state, that he "mrde his
debut" (this you know IS falsc) on the the
atre of the great world at the court of Yer
sailles, & came home, in due season, in dress,
taste, politics." (what politics, of the old or
new regime, you donot distinguish) "philoso-
ply and religion in short, in every thing
but the polish of his manners, a finished
Frenchman." when you say of him, that
"the measures which have led to our pre-.
sent disastrous and disgraceful condition,
were he q er rRe nf fLuf mani ftc orr,