The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1826-09-28

only by The depression that surrounds II
the history OF whose possessor is not to be
read in-the glistening eye Of the grateful
inferior, the honest approval Of the equal,
or the growing prosperity Of the whole
community to which its beneficial efforts
are freely and judiciously extended bat is
to be found recorded in mortgage deeds
and pecuniary obligations bearing interest
from date,-in the rayages it has made up
on surrounding prosperity and the long
protracted cries for justice from the widow
aud the orphan. Such an influence .meven
if there be added to il the command OF con-
siderable powers Of mind, powers employ
ed only TO ensnare, to awe and To depress
rather than TO ccnciliatc, to instruct and to
elevate the people, may be vastly less hon
orable to him who wields it than respecta-
ble poverty 10 humble and Industrious
man.
am happy to find that am not alone in
drawing down your censure for having
been unfortunate, and am still more hap
py that in your evident eagerness to cut
keenly, to the very bone, yon have found
no accessible points but the location of
birth and the degradation you attach to
want 81 property and its attendant cohse-
quences. Why am not alone in this you
may understand by the most remote refer
ence TO a person whose political integrity,
sterling sense and sound judgment, have
made him an object of the greatest dread
within the circle ofyour more immediate
influence, and whom you have in vain at
tempted toparalyze by the magic applica-
tion Of the sneer Of former insolvency.
While suffer in common with such men
shall esteem it an honor able distinction.
But alas wash born in Rhode Is-
land. am an" interioper." fear, sir, this
narrow view of the political relations Of
this great republick, and Of the law and
policy governing the question ofcitizensbip,
will hardly extend your reputation abroad
as sound politician statesman fitted
10 sustain that dignifed station in the first
Legislative body in the nation to which you
80 ardently aspire. Those who did not
know your mode of speaking beyond what
you are prepared TO act, might anticipate
that your first political act would be to in
troduce a resolution to amend the consti-
tuition so as to exclude from seats in the Ma
tional Legislature, OF an office in any State +,
oil but ndtire born citizens Of the respec-
tive States sending such members, or in
which such Offices were TO be held. / had
hhDAkht ouNh ltSptStihR OHC
birth place, who had ali his Interests here,
belonged only to little minds. had hoped
that residence Of thirteen years, the
dearest connexion in life formed here, and
an honest preference Of my adopted over
ny native state, would have been received
by this time az sufficient evidence ofciizen-
ship SUI less, till saw your newspaper
essay, had doubted that my children born
n,, th. InfD h, I'll L.
cure from this pretended reproach of for
eign birth, and be entitled to the. full priv
leges OF citizenship. l now find was mis-.
taken. They are, in your estimation bat
of the HALF BLOOD, only hdif citizens (; aud
should they ever be SO presumptuous as 10
write in a newspaper against vie ambitious
pre- tensions Of a. naitre Rhode Islander,
must be liable to be aspersed with the ap.
pellations of ofmongrels and half breeds. Pray
Sir, how many generations must it pass
through to get this foreign blood out Of the
contaminated veins? l believe however,
you have not always scrupulously rejected
the aid Of "half bloods" or no bloods at all
If by their voice or vote they could in any
way promote your political views in this
State.
You say that my motives in opposing
your election to the United States Senate,
Though you are hardly certain you should
go il you could might be found in a cer-
tain speech on the repeal Of the insolvent
law, pronounced by you, (as am to inierj
at me. i had imagined to myself much
higher motives--the good and quiet Of the
country: the support of a pure and enlight-
ened Administration which believed, and
still believe, you would vehemently or in.
sidiously oppose: but we are liable to de-
ceive ourselves, and It is possible my mo-
tvos may have been other than these,
though on my soul was unconscious of
any other. As to the speech you allude to
as disturbing me so much, ! suppressed it,
If not in tenderness to you, as ! have done
others, and by your desire, yet in conIpli-
ance with the suggestions of high minded
men who dreaded in its publication an ex-
posure derogatory to the character of the
Rhode Island Legislature in the person of
one Of its most distinguished members.
You say that you "find you are continu-
ally abused in certain papers in Proyi-
dence, managed by interiopers into this
State without property or character, and
OF course without responsibility" j am
undoubtedly bound 10 take my share of
this invectlve, and do il chcerfully though
| deny, as ] trust every honorable mind
will, the corolary of your proposition, viz:
that want of character and responsibility
is the necessary consequence of want Of
property. As the conductor of newspa-
per, however humble my prctensions, I have
a right (even independent of the rights OF
citizenship, which you deny me- fairly TO
canvass the merits Of persons who stand
before the public ostensibly the candidates
for public office. IL this is not denied, (as