Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1824-09-07
VERSUS TIM. PICKERING.

We received the following communicat ton. only
on Sunday last. The gentleman by whom i, was
transmitted 10 us, has very canddy acknowledged
That 1t had been previously offered, first to the Bal
timore Patriot; next to the aurora then to Mr.
Watsit; and finally, To the New-York American
and that from very different motives, each of these
had declined giving it to the public. We have so
far respected the supposed motives of the american
as to expunge nearly all that part of it, which might
probably have prevailed nhim to refuse its inser
ton; but after the unqualified rancour of Mr.. Pick
eruag's pen in his "Review of the Cunningham
Correspondence" we feel no disposition TO softer
the terms of severity directed towards that gentle.
man. lin some passages we have taken the liber-
ty to pfune "a little, the exuberance of the wri-
ters epithets, it has been with view to weaken
the force of his remarks, but rather to add to thcr
strength. From the dfuseness of the STYLE in many
parts of the original we readily believe that it was
written, as the writer says, in haste probably I'M
der the first impulse of his feelings after asting the
3" gall and NORWOOD" of Mr.. Pickering's pen. He
did not, therefore, perhaps, allow himself time TO
give their expression, the keener force of concise
ness.
THERE'S one passage in the following letter which
as the writer justly remarks, presents an image of
private herosm equal TO any thing that the page of
classic history records We the chivalrous
and truly honorable spirit of Smith, who preferred
the immolation of beloved son, to the baseness of
bctraying his associates in the Miranda expedition
Surely MIR. Pickering did not know of this act of
heroism on the part of the deceased Smith or his
christian charity might at least have acted upon
the pagan principle, "nil nisi bonurn de mortuis.
1871 June 1924.
DEAR TT send You by our friend w. the
Pickering pamphlet, which all parties condemn.
1t is exactly such thing as | expected from
this violent old man, who has been an enraped
politician all his life He owed the little repu-
tatloD he at one time enjoyed in New England to
the profusc cncoIniuyns heaped on him by the
Essex Junto, whose geese, you know, toeye all
S,gans, and who lahored 10 make the people be-
leve that their sect possessed all the talents and
all the virtue of the country; but he never ar
rived, out of that party, to, the reputation of
statesman. He was a cunning, not wise
man; one whose mind was made up &c of shreds
and patchesn
The consistent editor Of our Boston Centinel
in noticing this indiscreet publication, calls the
author .9y'iStides. Now we are told that .4,.is-
tides was just man and Just, our ex .Secreta-
ry never was. He may be called, as far as re-
lates to pecuniary matters, an honest man, as ho
never, that have heard of plundcred the pub
lie chest, cheated any one, or has been detect
ed, like the Honorable member from Tennessee,
in robbing poor widow Of her pension. In his
private dealings, lie has no doubt been honest
but that be has always been, politically speak
ing, the most Liberal, vindictive partisan, that
our country ever produced, every man, not
member Of the Essex Junto, will assent to. If
we had no other proof of it, this last speech and
dying confession Of bis, affords us ample testi-
mony. II confirms all the venerable Adams has
said of him; viz that he did not possess sufi-
Cient virtue or talents for the discharge of such
high trusts as he had arrived at by his cantiug.
cunning, intriguing course. That be was in fact
the creature and tool employed to goad the adj
ninistration, gull the people, and create war
with France, no one can doubt, after reading
Mr.. Adains's letters TO the notorious Cunning
ham, and his reviews of them. 1t indeed APP
pears to me, he is proud of the imputation, by
his vain endcavours to justify bis torturous, re-
preheusible course.
His abuse Of the Philosopher Of Monticello,
after having so recently made an anaende honor
able for all bis former attacks, has sealed his
doom, and marked bis stand in the page Of A.