Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1823-08-29


h" persecution ofhis antag enlist These who
snow any thing Of the secret springs of III,
heart, know :hat long course of uninterrupted
success IN any thing, hnt more especially in
the enjoyment of public confidence, unless
supported by the most active moral impulses
or directed by the strongest dictates of interest
often incurs discomfort and jealousy, that
of itself will ultimately wear out the most
seemingly well-fortifed popularity add
To this the agency of pity foi an object, though
the most cou,emptible, who is supposed tn
suffer by this prosperity, and the change of
feeling becomes inevitable, and what is the
most extraordinary feature of the case, the
popularity while it gradually leaves the favo
rite, to make his modification the more com
pletr. settles upon his opponent.
This has been precisely the process in the
case before us. Never perhaps had any one
acquired, and so deservedly too, such Il pop
ularlty as Mr.. Crawford, IN the state of Geor-
GA And such was his magnsnimity and for
bearaDce, he never abused il, for his requests
were few and always reasonable. On the
contrary the demands Of his rival were un
ceaslng and without number, and so continual
and repeated was his defeat and disgrace, that
compassion at last usurped the seat of honest
conviction, and he now owes his pr esent eeva-
ton to morbid pity of public sentiment of
which he has the meanness to boast. Mr..
Crawford was absent from the state, and
though daily acquiring for it, by distinguished
services, an honorable reputation, yet it WAS
studiously represented that he filed appoint
ments so high that he felt himself above the
people, above those very. people who had
given him his political projecality that he
cared nothing for the soil in which his early
honors were radicated, that he was not, as he
had so often pretended TO be, the sincere friend
of the state, that all his promotion had been
gained by intrigue and that too exerted against
native Georgian, who had fought for the
country, whose father before him was a revo-
lutlcnary soldier and sufferer, both of whom
had defended the frontiers, that the Younger
Clark had been most cruelty prosecuted and
injured in his private and public character, and
that all this was done 10 favor person whose
unrivalled prosperity had made him naughty.
supercilious and overbearing. Every one
must at once perceive what an effect such a
picture as this, possessing colours of such
glowing contrast, would have upon the I'm
practised taste and temper of a people, easily
deiuded and readily disposed from n sense of
generosity to repair any injury of which they
had been the innocent cause. And although
their sound Judgment long resisted the influ
ence which this suing appeal To their clemency
constantly exerted, yet as plains become fur
rows sand burrows channels by repeated friction,
so their too plant emotions, collecting into
current and rushing into the fatal course
prepared by an artful seduction, bore down
all opposition. This was the lucky moment
for g Book" which to he sure could not dis
grace ITS author, for in that regard he stood
pledged to much more criminal acts, that had
long since done the work, but which was aud
Is disgrace to the state over which he pre-
sides In this book the charge Of Intrigue is
reiterated from the title page to the end, and
that TOO Tor the very avowed purpose ofinjur-
ing his pretensons to the Chief Magistracy of
the Union.
My readers need not he afraid that intend
to discuss the merits of this Book will not
dirty my hands, or distress their senses with
the odour of such detestabe performance :
one, that even Mr.. Walsh, the political enemy
oi Mr. Crawford, whose testimony frankly
own on any other subject could not be
emitted to credit, has pronounced too dis.
gusting for the taste of any country, however
wanting in refinement it might be- But we
viii consider the ground for the charge of
Intrigue, not because il is found in that reposi
tory ofevery thing that is infamous, but because
1t has crept with all its ordure about il, from
mat place INTO much higher circle, even the
hlthy press of the Washington Republican.
of sufficient character to make them asha med
OF quoting their authority, and therefore are
worthy of notice.
Intrigue is one of those expressions of our
language that can be better conceived than
defined. 1t is of subtle nature, of doubt.
ini import and difficult explanation, but vel
none VIII contend, that it does not require
associates, plot, an object, and necessarily i'm
Plies great want of moral honesty and sin.
certify. Now, whenever a charge of tbi.
crime, for surely it is one, is made against an
individual, the time when, the place where, the
persons concerned, the object in view, and the
modus operdndi, ought to be fully stated and
clearly proved. This the meanest culprit in
soTiely, Tor the most petty transgression is
entitled to, and surely we will not convict on,
inquest and most useful characters, ofa greater
delinquency, upon less certainty of proof and
description of the offence. What other case
except the one alleged by Clark is TO BIZ
found against Mr.. Crawford-and of this tn,
very indictment against him by reason of if.
miserable counts attempted TO be supported
ny stili more wretched argument, as has beer
openly and honestly acknOwIe lodged by Clark
own friends.
Besides full investigation of this who'll,
affair before the Legislature of the state beCor,
a judicial tribunal, before the public in ever,
shape that the matter could be presented, all o
"hom,in the most prompt and unequivoca
manner, have honorably abs0lved him, not onl,
from the charge but the slightest imputation o
| IT, will any one believe that character lik,
Mr.. Crawford, whose talents, integrity, auc
deserved popularity had elevated him fa
above anlndivdual, who from the life he bad lee
ana the company he had kept, had been sub
Jec'ed' 10 say the least of it, to the reproacI
4
casiOu for so base report? Against an in.
dIvidual who was not in his way, who was DIES
ttute of every quality that gives CONSEQUENCE,
l TO rivalry or dread To- nnnnsifinr ....r ,.L.,.