The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1824-07-23

president OF 30th April, With all the do
cumenfs accompanying il As printers
70 the house. they had printed the mes.
sage ct the president, of 18th March. in
which full half OF the documents reIat,
| ing 10 the convention, and ali the mos,
essential documents, showing the course
oil the administration in the negotiation.
were contain ed. Had they never seen
these ! or, was their reason for emitting
| them, that they had Been hu6Hshed 6e
'ors IL seems, too, that they had neper
seen these omissions represented as lin.
! tentIonai suppressioDs by the secretary
| VI state. Perhaps they had never seen
unceasiDg streams of Infamous cslumny
upon the president, which have flowed
rom The same sources for MANY
months, COR they certainly would have
contradic,ed them
Whatever their motives, or whatever
their defect Of vision, may have been. the
grossly detective manner OF their partial
publication ofthe documents, and the 10
.al failure OF their promise on the e7;h
May, to publish them all, compelled the
secretary of state TO seek another vehicle
Tor The publication OF them. They were
accordingly published in the National
Government. Journal, paper exclusive,
y devoted to the compilation of public
documents
In the same paper were also published
the report OF the commissioners under
me FLORIDA treaty, and the schedule of
Their awards. And this is the 'head and
front of the secreisry Of states offence
against the editors of the lnieiligcncer-
That he should have presumed to pub.
'iNh IN paper other than ibeirss, one or
al most two public documents For this
they sally forth in complete armor. and
dencunce him to the nation, not by way
OF complaint, or comments, but by a
statement of the 'adked facs.' And as
the real naked fact would have made
them 100 much The laughing stock of
hose TO whom they appeal, they assume
naked TACT different from the truth. TO
eXPa'iate upon the uhwavering conf
dence they have enjoyed for four and
twenty years, of a Jefferson, Madison.
and a Monroe, snd,to contrast it with the
hasIy and Vindiclive pe;u!snce of The sec.
Rotary of state.
he editors of Tho InteIlieencer we'll
know, whether in their relations, public
on private, with the secretary Of state. he
has de'Gived charges Of unkindness or OF
disresPect TO them. When it suited The
n"eseni purposes Of their politics to assaiI
AiId' II they had confined themselves 70
me truth, he would probably have con
sitered them as iaboripg in their vocation
and have left their naked facts as naked
- he found them. But when they made
an act,periormed by him in the discharge
OF his public duty, with The appreciation
OF the president ot,he US The subjcc, Of
an emphatic appeal to the public arains,
AIM, 1t became necessary that the public
should be informed, FIRST, tina, in their zeeI
10 incntpate the secretary of state they
had SAID the thing that was moi anG &c.
condly, that the only grievance of which
they cOnid complain, had been induced
nT 'heif Own disregard of their promise,
a"d de:eiclioD OF their duty, in publish
ng a series of documents or The hiqhes,
interest to the nation and the world. and
involving the character and conduct of
The administration, with such Telicitous
,nadVer'ences and oversigbis, as if they
had been dictated by the opponents of the
convention and of ,he administration.
The secretary of state asks neither "a.
vor nor friendship of the editors of the
ln'elligencer Aware Of the confidence
which they have enjoyed OF those Illus.
rlUus patriots, to whose names they have
resorted to shelter the present under the
cloak OF The past, he has felt it his dutv
TO extend TO them the mantle of forbear.
ance and IN giving them significant
warming 10 return 10 that course of fair
| and honest attachment to the adminis,r,-
ton, which had Inspired the confidence
OF "1ich they boast, to give them an ON.
PoTlunity of redeeming that confidence
| by the candor and attention to their dutv
which had deserved it. He asks no A.
poIogy from them for what thew have
d0nej or omitted TO do; and in the oh
servatioD that none he'd been offered. the
reference was TO what was due, not to
nm, but from them. They have not
thought it beDesth them to say, that
part oil the space in their paper which
ought TO have been filed with the pro
missed public documents, was occupied
~ an article Of news, in which his name
was associated with testimonial of con-
1denoe from portion of his countrymep
hey ought TO have known the secretary
OF state, and they did know him, well
enough TO know that this would be no