The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1810-09-12
To the People Of zee Umted STATES


ALTHONGH had resolved not to OBJ.
trude myself upon our attention, until could
have invited 1t 10 the irresistible force of my
vindication, | am driven from my purpose by
the proceedings OF the late Committee OF
Congress, the sole object OF the ma jorIty OF
which appears TO have been TO search Tor
matter to criminaie my character and conduC,
THE report made to the House, consisting
Of incul patory evidence alone, instead of be-
ing confined to their journals, Is now unde:
publication, and will naturally tend to excite
your preindgments, before have been heard
IN my defence. What man among you, who
has been engaged in the publick service more
than a quarter of a cenlur'', whose acts and
offices have been as varied as mine, could
Withstand an occult, inculpatory enquiry, it
backed by the power and purse OF the nation
My cause is the Cause of all, and if the meu-
sures OF Injustice aimed at me he suffered 10
prevail, VINO among you will be safe, from
the most exalted to the most obscure | con-
lure you, then, defend yourselves against the
dangers, and your county against the odium,
Of having sacrificed fellow citizen to the
malice OF those who have been combined for
the destruction Of your Government--tor,
bear in mind should the precedent obtain,that
the House of Representatives have the power
10 institute enquiries into the conduct of in
diylduals, and to publish the testimony they
may collect before the accused has been heard
no man will be safe against the ealousies of
ar,ful, unprincipled, popular decIaimers, who,
protesting the pubiick good, seek only the
qualification of their ambition and revenge
The ruin of an individual, taken in the alb
str,ctt is Of lttle ,p,e-hut the exam.
pie may intuse deadly poison into your
oouncils and reanimate the dormant hopes of
those who conspired against your interest,
your happiness and your union for treason,
like the leprosy, is incurable, and the heart
once corrupted by its poisons, is lost to patri-
ousm and publick virtue, for ever.
Little discernment is requisite to trace the
source of the v!ifacation | have incurred.
You Witnessed the rise and progress of my
prosecutions, coeval with Burr's conspiracy
md co-extensive with its affiliations. l did
not involve the nation in war on the Sabine,
to give effect to this conspiracy, though my
orders warranted it in the repulsion Of the
Spaniards and, on my own discretion, de-
feated the wicked plot disgraced the promi-
nent actors and blasted the sinister aspirations
Of numerous and powerful associates for
these signal services, am more signalIy per-
secuted than any man, publick or private, in
times ancient or modern. The conduct
which, without bloodshed, saved the coantry
from the dangerous encroachments OF for
eign power,and from lawless usurpa,ion and
civil war, was pAlpable and specifck 1t can
not be expunged from the national records, land
yourselves are Witnesses of it. The crimes
imputed to me are speculative and legen-
dary---originating with loose and corrupt
men, some of them acknowledged traitors,
and supported, in the first instance, by pub
lick malcontents and personal enemies-yet
these men, with interchangeable industry and
shameless maiignity, have employed every
engine and every art, to awaken suspicion
and excite your lealousies and a life devoted
10 my country from the dawn Of the revoiu-
tion, has become theme of declamatory in.
vective.-I ann denounced in solemn deliber-
a,ive bodies by men of your election, with
out proof on their part or any hope of redress
on mine. 1t is notorious that justice has been
denied me, and that have been excluded, in
a land of liberty, my native country, from the
ordinary rights Of the most humble-ciuzeD.
You have beheld distinguished character
step forth the avenger of Burr's discontinue,
and associa,ing himself with vile informers,
denounce me in the dawn Of the conspiracy.
before single fact had been developed and