Litchfield enquirer., 1831-10-13
MR. WIRT'S LETTER
TS tAv Committee of the Antim0sOnic COnveN
 fiOm Gk Baltimore

sennbled at this place, nominating me as their candidate for the office of President of the United States, at the ensuing election, is an honor very grateful to me, as a proof of con fdence from so respectable body, and quite as unexpected as it isgrateful. My pursuits, habits and inclinatiens, have removed me SO far from the political settlements and con tentiOns of the day, and know so well, from . close personal observation of twelve years, how little of attraction there is in the oftce Ot President of the U. States, to any man who values his own peace, that 1t was as far re- moved from my wishes as my expectations, that it would occur to any portion of my fel- low citizens to present my name to the con sideration of my countrymen for that office. Not only have never sought the office, but have, long since, looked at it with far more dread than of desire, being fully aware of it's fearful responsibilities, and of the fact, de- nonstratOd by past experience. that no de- gree of purity and intelligence that can be ex- erted in the discharge of its duties, can pro- feet it's possessor from misrepresentation and .aspersion.
 Give me leave to add, gentlemen, that one Ofthe last quarters from which l could have anticipated such an honor, is the Antimason- ic Convention; because, adopting, (too hasti- ly ara happyto fnd,) the current rumors of tho day, had supposed that the very princi- pie of your union was war of indiscriminate prescription against all persons throughout tho United States. who had ever borne the nane of Mason; that you would put in nom- ipatiOn DO person who had ever been Mason himself, and who would not, moreover r,pledge himself tO become a party to such war of indiscriminate extermination. and wield the appointing power of the office under your dictati0n; who would not, in short, become the President of your party, instead of being the President of the United States. l am happy to find that this is an error; for should have been grieved for my country. to see the rise of any party that should affect to seize upon the reins of government. and, through the agency 0fan automatoD President, to di- rect it's powers te the vindictive purposes of party prescription and persecution; and l should be grieved, for myself, to learn that there had been any thing in my life and char acter that could mark me out as it instru- meuf for the execution of such a purpose. l sam relieved from both these apprehensions hy learning, since your assemblage here, that y6u have no other object in view than, in ef- feet, to assAft the supremacy of the laws of the land ihaE you seek to disturb no portion of the peac6able and virtuous citizens of our country in the enjoyment of those social rights which are secured to them by their constitution and laws; but on the contrary, that the principle which has embodied you | is one of self.defence, in the enjoyment of those rights; that having become convinced | by the disclosures made under oath, by nu- | mereus and respectable witnesses, in the tri- | aIs which have bees agitNting the state of New ' ork, forsaveral years, and by your in- vestigations consequent 0n those disclosures. that the Masonic Society has become tre- l TA0 ndn al upSft fhn SUAP nd the disposition to set the laws of the land at defiance, to mark out and sacrifice its victims at pleasure and with impunty, and to silence all individual opposition by the mysterious tsrrOrs which it diffuses throughout the com Munity, yOn have come to the determination tO root out this noxiOus institution, if you can, by the use of aU the Peaceable. legal, and consti tutional means iss your po,Oer that the most effective means of this character which has itself 10 you, is by the exercise of your elective franchise that decming every man unfit for office, who, :n accordance with the principles established on the trials in New York, considers his Masonic oaths and obli- gations as superior to his obligations to the constitution and laws of his country. YOU will support no man for any office who holds that Principie or adheres to the society whose pnnctple 1t is; that you consider mans al. ieg'ance to his country his highest earthly ob- iigauOn, and that no man is fit to be trusted with one of the offices of the country who VIII permit a doubt to rest on the fact of his aieglance. These l understand to be your
 principles, and see nothing in them which
 does not commend them to every man whose mind and heart are sound for there can be
 n0Nquestion among reasonable men, that in ; free government like ours, the constitutio,
 and laws are our only sovereign; that tn,
 peace, order, prosperity and happiness of ou
 people depend on the steady, faithful and ef
 feetual administration of our laws; that an,
 secret society which. by the force of myste.
 iious oaths and obligations, and by the extent
 of its combination, seeks to disturb the action
 ofthose laws, to set them at defiance, to ride
 over and control them, to usurp the govern.
 ment, to hold the lives, peace and happiness
 ot society at their mercy, and to establish n
 reign Ofterror over the initiated and uninitiat
 sd, Y political monster as fearful as the Invis
 s0te frtbundt of Germany, or the Inouisitiom of
 Spain. and ought to he extrpated, without
 delay, by the use of all the peaceable means
 whsch the constitution and laws of our conn
 tfy furnish. ! am further sure that. in onr
 country. it is but necessary to establish ths
 fact of the existence of such q societv fin sn.
 sure it's annihiation.
 but, gentlemen. although your resolution
 asks of me no pledges or promises, vet the
 name and style of the Convention from which
 tt proceeds. tke Anti masonic Convention. mav 2 De considered both by you, selves and your fellow citizens, at large, is necessarily inyolv ins by implication such promises and pl.dr.
 es ana II IS therefore proper that should He