The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1811-07-31

of this private letter Of Mr.. Madison ? Di
you at last discover it in the office /! Then
was pubick document. Did Mr.. Madiso
OF Mr.. EryiDg furnish you with a copy, or di
you find 1t annexed to Mr.. EryiDg's ac. ount
as a pubick voucher If you did, il prove
that neither Mr. Madison nor MIR. Erwin,
considered it in any other light than publicl
document; tor Mr.. Erying, however incom
prehcnslblc it may be 10 some people, is al
officer OF too high a sense Of honour 10 diyulg,
eorfdental and fripafe communications.
| TIE Ghhendir.-Thisi is composed Of Few
extracts of letters, the publication of which
will be quite harmless to all the world unless
1t be TO Mr.. Smith and 20 him they can bt
no otherwise detrimental, than as a proof o
his :mbeciity in publishing them for of hi:
laxity OF principle in betraying confidence
both pubicA and private, we could not want
this additional proof
| He is now servant out Of place. And
while he is oRefing himself for further SER
| vice with the usual cry Of zoho 7pants me, he
| naturally concludes that we shall require a
| character from hisIast place. Unluckily Mr..
| Smith, by this confession that he stood in
| need Of character, ant this mode OF raking
one together, has taken lower stand in the
scale of publick estimation than VIC should
have assigned him. We knew indeed his
want of capacity but did not suppose the
fac, would be put by himself in so glaring
point of light. What pity that during his
eight or ten years of publick service he could
not have done some useful thing some one
act that would mark him rs . noun substan,
tive, and enabled him to stand alone. Ask
I. 4. A.
The same department of State so;he years a.
go, he thought it necessary TO print himself
into our good opinion as a man OF talents in
business, by publishing scraps of old letters
from his correspondents And if ne says yes,
ask him If they were private and confidcn-
tial letters not intended Ter the publick eye.
There is one little trick of deception that
Mr.. Smith attempts to play off upon us in
THIS very act of hunting up character. The
mangled extract OF Mr.. Jcherson's letter of
September, 1910, is given us to create the
belief that the letter was accompanied By the
manuscript of literary work TO be corrected
and amended fer The press. Robert Smith
correct the writings of Thomas JEFFRRsoN
No, gentle reader the work 10 question vas
IN official document intended for publication,
to be supported and calculated, probably cor
rected, by facts deposited in the Department
of State of which Mr. Smith was ,hen the
official and depositary He is called upon
therefore as a publick officer, and not, thank
God, as man of letters.
We intended here to terminate our review
Of the pamphlet before us. But the accidcn-
tai naming Of Mr.. Smith in connexion with
literature, recalls remark we had noticed on
two or three phrases which bctray want of
acquaintance with the English language. He
uses this expression more than once--'s since
my accession 10 The Department Of State"
The word accession N this sense is only u
sed in TIE regal stile, and signifies to come
&c The throne by hereditary succession But
when man comes even TO a throne by eiec-
non or a.f55iatalenl OF other men, or even by |
conquest, 1t would not be accession. We
blame not Mr.. Smith for any thing an,-Re- |
publican in the phrase. His ignorance of |
language will excuse him from this it is
mere grammatical biunder.
Another little error Of language we will |
notice III this place, that some of our news
paper editors as well as Mr.. Smith may take
it is the error Of using the auxilia-
ry sriH instead of shall, in forming the first
person of verbs in the future tense !; as in |
these phrases, {" trust I ever 7oiW retain
Just sense" t" Then gpiH we have to look |
for the fact." We should like 10 hear of |
MIR. Smiths accession to branch in gram
nler school,. in which case the work might
apply,as he would come to that throne in
his own right.
rosTsc RIpT. -
-, Il
The pablick is generally amused from
time to time with certain ideas that get afloat,
and pass current without much examination. 4
Among these we have long noticed the erro-
neous supposi;ion that the country is unprc-
pared for defence and that the conduct of the
Executive in this respect is feeble and insult
icient. f&
On the FIRST Of these heads we will just OBJ