Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1823-08-05
RICHMOND. AUGUST 5 I325.

| Il 1
RICHMOND, AUGUST 5. 1898.
roH rHE tNQuIRkR.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTlON-No. !.
MR. CRAWFORD.
The position which undertook To establish
IN my former number is this, that there is
not at this day within the United States any
prominent man of Mr.. Crawfurd's are
acknnwlrdsed by us all as standing in the re-
publican ranks, who has AS poor preteusions
TO the character of uniform republican of the
good old Jefferson school as he has. And the
first proof which have offered in support of
the position is, that in the year 798,--tlat
decisive year in which politicians of his age,
every where took their places,-he was not Of
| the Jefferson school, but was opposed to that
school and to the principles which it incucat-
ed. de was as much opposed 10 tsem, as the
authors of the Bath Address which drew down
upon us the menace of being ground into dust
anu ashes. The act of opposition was the
same in both. Ii is written "by their fruits
We shall know them - and when two trees
bear the same fruit, there can be no hazard in
pronouncing those trees of the same kind. Is
tins Fact of his having signed the federal ad-
dress OF '98 denied? 1t is not. And, if the
proof were TO stop here, is not this single fact
enough to make good my position? For
what other republican is there among us who
divided against us, in that decisive year of
1893 Will you find one in Virginia? Not
one. This then is a feature in his political
history which of itself separates him from us
all. lie was not one of us in our darkest hour
OF distress. He deserted us in that awful
hour. In that hour when every vote told, he
was not for us, but against us. And vet he
forsooth, is the exclusive republican of the
good old Jefferson school
| This fact being admitted, what excuse i.
made Tor II: When the fact was first promul-
gated at Washington, congress was in session
and the friends of Mr.. Crawford were around
him. The publication was an astounding one.
The charge was in direct contradiction TO the
character which had been assumed for him
IL was full of dismay. 1t demanded prompt
and satisfactory answer; and il is beyond the
reach OF human credulity to suppose that his
| frien is would have taken on themselves the
responsibility of committing him by any an
swer TO that charge, without previous con-
sultatIon with him as to the character of that
answer. 1t is perfectly fair then to assume
that the answer or rather the series of answers
which were made TO it, proceeded from him.
what was the first answer? If the most
respectable information may be trusted, il
was, that 1t was true the address had been
written, signed and sent but that il was
sIratagem pracfised on the warm temper of
President Adams, in the expectation thar in
MS answer, his heat would betray him into
some rashness depression which would tend
10 degrade and hasten the downfall of the re-
uerai party. and advance the cause of republi
cdh'sm. but VI was soon perceived that this
answer would not do; for besides its gross
'mprobablllty, there was something so treach-
e'"'s III snch trick, practised on such
Character as that of the President Adams, that
every honest heart revoted at the perlidy.
Gle
moral depravity of the understanding which
could resort to such a sublerfuge, under any
pressure This explanation therefore was of
necessity immediately abandoned. and il be-
came necessary to resort tn something else.
| Inc next answer was, that it was true an
address might have been signed by Mr.. Craw
'ord, but that 1t could not have heen such an
auuress as was described by the publication
that the part of it which imputed TO Mr..
Crawford general and unqualified approha-
non oil the administration of President Adams
ana contained the pledge of support To it, was
spurious and false. Many years had elapsed
since the publication of the address, and il
was possible and even probable, that no copy
| oi the address itself, could now be produced.
III was therefore considered as the safest
course, Tor the present, To deny that such an
auuress as was described had ever been signed
by Mr. Crawford. Unfortunately for this an
1 a.
and re-published an ertenso and il was found
10 oe IN exact accordance with the description
which had been given Of it, What was next
| to he done
why, Tor fine it was family minated
| that the country was at that time threatened
WIN war with France; that il was of great
Importance to this country to show to France
| uh'ed front and that although the country
| appeared To he politically divided, there was
PreponderatInS majority in support of the adj
minIstratIon. BIT this again il was soon
iouno, would not do, for it was precisely The
federal language of the day, and was so far
irom dlsproviDg the charge Of federalism n.
gainst Mr.. Crawford, that il tended to con-
firm it. What next?
/, AS last resort his special friends. Mr.. Alb
bot, Mr. TAFT, and some others set themselves
10 work 10 prove by certificates that whatever
federalism the address might import. he was
~ iact nj the same fine, republican; or i'll
h"t republican IN 1893, he was al least re-
publIcan in 1889, when he came up from Au.
gusta To practice law in Oglethorpp county.
before proceed to examine this answer. |
peg ieave to call the attention Of the reader TO
'he sniting and inconsistent character Of these
cNcuSes' truth Vt IS an old and true remark
" s'fnPie ana consistent. II never speaks with
w, CONSIDERATIONS and having but one tale to
teII, VI resorts to no other With This princi
pie In view, invite the reader IN look hack
! upon the defences which have been offered
Tor this address and to ask him with what
character they marked Is it,with fine
simplicity and consistency Of truth and Juno
cenc". or the prevarication IF detected and
conscious guilt ? And what must he the
character of the mind which can resort to
such unCandid siIhtprfripps , L. flo ,o.r