The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1829-03-04


which he had enyeloped their characters.
Such persons had a right to require that
the innocent should not suffer with the
guilty, if any such there were; and that the
parties against whom the charge was level
led, should have an opportunity to repel
and disprove it. Mr.. Adams had indeed
admitted that his allegations could not be
proved in court of law, and thereby pru-
IDENTIFY declined legal investigation but
the persons implicated had still right to
know what the evidence was, which he
1 proiessed to consider as unequiyocal," in
order to exhibit it to the tribunal OF the
public, before which he arraigned them
He had spoken of that evidence as entirely
satisfactory to him. They had right to
ascertain whether it would be alike salts
factory to impartial, upright, and honorable
men.
( 1t being determined that this denuncia-
ton could not be suffered to pass unanswer-
ed, some question arose as to the mode in
which it should be noticed. Should it be
by solemn public denial, in the names of
all those who came within the scope Of Mr..
Adams's accusation, including, as it does, all
the leaders of the federal party from the
! year 1903 to 1874? Such course indeed
would serve in Massachusetts, where the
character of the parties are known, most
fully to conntervail the charges OF Mr.. Ad-
ans; but this impeachment of their charac-
ter, may lie heard in distant States, and in
future times. A convention might have
been called of all who bad been members
of the federal party in the Legislature dur
I ing those eleven years and respectable
host they would be, in numbers, intelli-
gence, education, talents, and patriotism !;
yet it might then have been said" You
mean to overpower your accuser by num-
bers; you intend to seize this occasion to
revive the old and long extinct federal par
ty; your purpose is to Cypress by popular
clamor falling chief; you are avenging
yourselves for his ancient detection from
your party; you are conscious of guilt, but
you endeavor to diminish the odium of it by
increasing the number of your accompii-
ces."-These reasons had great weight !;
and the course adopted after elaboration
appeared to be free from all objection.
| The undersigned, comprising so many Of
the federal party. that Mr.. Adams should
not be at liberty to treat them as unworthy
of attention, and yet so few that he could
not charge them with arrayiBg a host
against him, addressed to him the above
letter of Nov. 26th. They feel no fear that
the public will accuse them of presumption
in taking upon themselves the task of yindi-
eating the reputation of the federal party.
The share which some of them had in pub
lie affairs during the period over which Mr.
| Adams has extended his charges and insinu-
ations, and the decided, powerful, and well
merited influence enjoyed by their illustri-
GUS friends, now deceased, most assurediy
gave to the undersigned a right to demand
the grounds of the accusation; a tight
which Mr.. Adams himselfrepeatedly admits
might have been justly and properly exer-
cised by each of them severally. Their
demand was founded on the common prin-
ciple, recognized alike in the code of honor
and of civil jurisprudence, that no man
should make charge affecting the rights
or character of others, without giving them
an opportunity of knowing the grounds on
which it was made and of disproving it, if
untrue. To this plain and simple demand
the undersigned received the answer con-
tained in the above letter of Mr.. Adams,
I dated on the Both of December.
/ 1t will be seen that Mr.. Adams altogether
refuses to produce any evidence in support
of his allegations. The former part of his
letter contains his reasons for that refusal
and in the other part he repeats the origin
al charges in terms even more offensive
than before. When addressing to him our
letter, we thought we might reasonably
expect from his sense of what was due to
himself, as well as to US, that he would full
" disclose all the evidence which he pro-
fessed to consider so satisfactory and we
felt assured, that in that event we should be
able fully to explain or refute it, or to show
that it did not affect any distinguished
members of the federal party. And if, on
the other hand, he should refuse to disclose
that evidence, we trusted that the public
would presume, what we unhesitatingy be-
lieve, that it was because he had no epi-
dence that teould bear 10 be submitted to an
impartial and Intelligent community. Mr..
Adams has adopted the latter course and
ifthe reasons that he assigned for it should
appear to be unsatisfactory, our fellow citi-
zens, we doubt not, will Join us in drawing
the above inference. We therefore pro-
coed to an examination of those reasons.
Mr.. Adams first objects to our making a
joint application to him; acknowledging
the right of each one alone to inquire
whether he was included in this vagne and
sweeping denunciation. 1t is not easy to
see why any one should lose this acknowl-
edged right, by uniting with others in the
exercise of it nor why this mere change
of form, should authorize Mr.. Adams to dis
regard oar claim. But there are two OBJ
jections TO the course which he has con-
descended to point out, as the only one in
which he could be approached on this occa-
sion. Any individual who should have APP
piled to him in that mode might have been
charged with arrogance; and to each Of
them in turn he might have tauntingly re-
piled, 8 that the applicant was in no danger
OF suffering as one of the "leaders" in
Massachusetts, and had no occasion to ex-
culpate himself from charge conveyed in
the terms used by Mr.. Adams" The