Litchfield enquirer., 1829-02-26

citizens, Fcan ncf.noHl e your right to ask; IsRheehertlse inferrpgsif0f as himself one OftIie pessous, irtanded g. me in fhe extract which you have gixen. from zlateinent authorised by me, and unfinished i1 slle National lnteIligeu. cer of slst of October iasi.
 Had you oreitheF of you thought properto ask me this uaestinn,it sknuld have been more satisfactory f, nle t0 neceiye the inquiry sep.9 aratciy from each jndisidnal. than arrayed in solid phalanx, eacIi Fesp1nsible not only for hi,nseil but fur aiE fise ufhen. The reasons fDr this must ne s0 OIiTi1lis to persons of your intelligence, that trust yoH will spare mo the pain of detailing them.
 But. genilrnen, tI1is not alL You under take your inquisitiou m n your own names alone; hut as the repteaentatives of great apdpowerItil party. dispersed throughout the States of Massachusetts and Maine: a party cOmmanding,at the fi1ne tp which your inqui- ries refer. a devoted ns1iOrity in the Legis.a- ftare ofthe United G fnonweaitl and even now,if judged ofhy yae eliaractcr If is voiun- teer driegation,of gtsas llssnee and fespaaf- ability. s l cannot recuguize you on this occasion, as the representatives. al. that party, for two rea- sos,s--irsf, because you have neither produc- cd yssts credentials for presenting yourselves Ias tlseiE Champions. nor assigned satisfactory FeaS1n% fDr presenting Yourselves without themX Bat secondly. and chiefly, because your intt0dnciion of that party into this ques- tion is entirely gratuitons. Your solemn dec- tlaratian that you do not know that the federal or any other party, at the time to which my statement refers. intended so produce the dis. | solution of the Union. and the g.nlDation of d new cpnfpderacy, does not take the issue,
 
 you are pleased to consider it) had rendered. The statement authorised by me, spoke, nut of the federal party, but of certain lenders of that party. ln my own letters to the nenn- bers of Congress, who did me thc honour at that ag onizing crisis to our National Unioi,.. of soliciting my confidential opinions upon ! measures under deliberaiion, I expressly ac- quilted the great body of the federal party, not only of participating in the secret designs of those leaders, but even of being priyy to or believing in their existence. now cheerful ly repeat that declaration. we'll knew that the party were not prepared for that convnl- |si0n to which the measures and designs of their leaders were instigating them; and my extreme anxiety for the substitution of the Inpn-intercOurss' for the embargo arose from the imminent danger that the continuance and enforcement Ofthis latter measure would pro- | mote the views of those leaders. hy g,,ading a l majority 0f the people and of the legislature to the pitch of physical resistance, hy State authority against the execution of the laws of the Union; the only seifrntual means By which ttthes Bnisn eonld yhe siisssl rcd. fOuf 'n1ndes- lty has prompted yOn to disclaim the charac- ter of leGders of the federal party at that time. 1 III am to consider this as more than mere disavowai of form, I must say that the charge which lament to sec hasexsited so much of your sensibilty. had no reference to any of you.
 Your avowed object Is controversy. You call for a precise statement of facts and evi- dence : not affecting SO far as you know, aoy. one 0fyou, but to enable yoN fairly to meet and to answer it.
 And yon demand,
 l. Who are the persons designated as lead CTS of the party prevailing in Massachusetts in the year 1908, whose object assert was, and had been. for several years. dissolution of the Union, and the establishment. .of sep arate confederacy and
 9. The whole evidence on which that charge is founded.
 You observe that it is admitted, in the statement of the charge, that it is not proyea- ble in court of law, and your inference is, that am ofcourse not in possession of any le- gal evidence, by which to maintainit. Yet you call upon me to name the Persous affected by the charge; charge in your estimate deeply stigmatising upon those persons: and you permit yourselves to remind me. that my sense of justice and selErespect oblige me to disclose all that do possess. My sense of jus tice to you, gentlemen. induces me tO remark, that leave your self-respect to the moral in- huences of your own minds, without presurl- ing to mearsue it by the dictatIOn of mine. Suppose, then, that in compliance with your call, should name one, two. or three persons, as intended to be included in the charge. Suppose neither of those persons to be one of you. You however have given them notice, that have no evidence against them, by which the charge is proveable in a { court of law--and you know that as well as yourselves, am amenable to the laws of the land. Does your selfrespect convince you that the persons so named, if guilty, would furnish the evidence against themselves, which they have been notified that do not possess? Are you sure that the correspondence which would prove their guilt. may not in the lapse Oftwenty- five years have been com mitted to the flames In these days of faiI- ing and of treacherous memories, may they not have forgotten that any such correspond ence ever existed And have you any guaran- tse to offer, that shall not hs called, by a summons more imperative than yours.tc pro duce m the temple ofjustice the proof which you say have not. or be branded for a foul l :, oN ,,,al;wnanf ela ndcrep If aune1o.a av1 va.