Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-02-14
.2s,suer of Mr.. .7dans TO the teller p"o-
Eshed yesterday.

Psrk;os. William Prescott, Daniel Sargent,
JohnJ DWELL. William Sullivan. Charles Jack.
,on Warren Dutton, Benjamin Pickman
Henry Cabot. c. e. Parsons, and Franklin
Dtxter- .
GrNrlxnKs-I have received YOUR letter Of
the 10Th ult and recognizing among the sigma
tures to il. names of persons Tor whom long
~, mv part uninterrupted friendship, has sur
,ived all the bitterness of political dissension,
would have afforded me pleasure TO answer
With sxplicitness and cabdor not only those
persons, but each and every one OF YOU, upon
the only questions in relation TO the subject
matter OF your letter, which as men or as chi
gems can acknowledge your right to ask,
namely whether the in,errogator was himself
one of the persons, intended by me in the ex
tract which you have given, from statement
authorized by me and published in the Nation.
al Intelligencer of2ls, October last.
Had YOU or either Of you thought proper 10
ask mr this question, il would have been more
satisfactory to the 10 rec i've tie inquiry sera>
rsteiy from each individual han arraysd in So
lid phaIanx, Zach responsible no, only for him
self but for all others The reasons for this
must b. so obvious 10 persons of your in'elii-
gence, that trust you will spare me the pain
Of detailing them
But, Gentlemen, this is rot all. You UNDER
take your inquisition, not in your own iames
alour, but as the iepresen atives OF a great AID
powerful party, dispersed throughout the
States Of Ma,saC hnsetts and Maine: parry
commanding, at lhr time 10 which your inqui
iies refer, devoted majority in the L. II ,'a,ure
Of the then Unitrd Commonwealth; and wen
now, if Judged Of by he character OF its 'olun
teer dele cation, of great influence and respec'
liability.
sa4ne 1sssssnzs Sag s sS sls esq tSR a
your credentials for presenting yourselves as
their champions, nor assigned satisfactory rea-
sons for presenting yourselves without them
But, secondly, and chiefly, because your in'ro-
ducton Of that party into this question is en-
,irely gratuitous. Your solemn declaration
tha, you do no, know that the federal or any o.
Their party, AT the time 10 which my statement
refers, intended TO produce the dissolution Of
the Union, and the formation Of a new cOnfede-
rscy, does not take the issue, which your own
statement OF my charge (as you are pleased 10
consider it) has rendered The Statement; au-
lhorised by me, spoke, not OF The federal party,
bu VI csRTAlN LEADERS of that party. In my
own letters 10 the Members of Congress, who
did me the honar AT that agonlziug crisis
20 our National Union, Of soliciting my conf
Dental opinions upon measures under deliber'
alton. expire sly acquitted the grra' hodv OF
. tie federal parry 3ot only OF participating in
the secret designs Of those leaders, hu wen Of
being pryy TO or believing In they "H s'enc,
Inow cheerfully repeat that declarar. -. wei
know that the parry were not pr, pared Tor hat
CONFUSION, TO which The measures AID d. signs
Of their leaders were instigatine Them; and my
extreme anxiety for the subsri' utI"n oithe nom
intercourse for The embargo arose from the i'm
rninent danger, that the couunuante X ehi"rcr-
msnt of this latter MEASURE would prumo'e the
views Of those leaders, by goadirg ma ority
of The people and Of the legislature TO The pitch
Of physical resistance, by state authority, a.
cainst the execution Of the Laws Of he Uninn;
The only effec tual means BY which the Union
could be dissolved. Your modesIy has prompt
ed YOU 10 disc claim the character OF LEADERS OF
the federal party at that lime. III am TO con-
slider this as more ihan mere disavowal oil
form, must say that the charge, which ! la
ment TO see has excited SO much Of your sensi.
bilty, had no reference TO any Of you.
Your avowed object is controversy. Youe1u
for a precise state Of facts and evidence; not
affecting, SO far as you ksow, any one Of you,
BUT to enable YOU fairly to meet and 10 answer
il.
And you demand,
1. Who are he persons designated as lead
ers Of the party prevailing in Massachusetts
in the year 1908, whose object / assert was, &
had been for several years, dissolution of the
Union, and the establishment ola separate con
fedrracy! and
2. The whole evidence; on which that charge
is founded.
You observe that it is admitted, in the state
ment OF The charge, that it IS not proveable In
. court Of law, and your inference is, that am
OF course no, in possession ofaLy legal evidence
by which TO maintain il. Ye, you call upon
me TO name the persons affected BY the charge;
a charge in your estimate deeply stigmatising
upon those pc, sons; and you permit yourselves
70 remind me, that my sense OF justice and self
ysspeef ohlise me to disclose all that do pos +
.ess. My sense Of justice TO you, gentlemen,
induces me to remark, that leave your self res I
De ct 10 the moral Influences OF your own minds,
without pre.uming 10 measure il BY the dieta-
ton Of mine.