Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1840-07-10
Is P~VIIVCt'! 1T UINVI'
AN EYEWITNESS.
FOR 71iE ENQUIRER.
TO JAMES LYONS. ESQ.

JULY mo, leu.
Dear Sir: In your eagcrneSs 10 indulge in a little
sp.,eful wit, YOU show a .orrc,fulncss not at all crcdita.
bic either 10 the goodness of your heart or the sanity
Of Your mind. When Won affected to hope The Editor
of the Enquirer would "promptly rctract the charge
made III Il moment Of torgr,tuIncss to which even the
brightest old age Is subicct) That Gen. Harrison IS Il
Fedcralis,,' ycu forgot lha; Tie General is some years
the senior of the Editor. The Generals old aye may,
however, he brighter than III" brightest, since he is the
Wing Candidate for the Presidency. There is no.
thing in IIarrisoas letter to induce any man, who
thought hun a Fcderalist, TO change that opinion. On
the contrary, there is much to confirm IL. So far from
DENYING that he is a Fcderalist, he virtually admits it.
How easily could he have shown, &c such was the fact
that although twice appointed TO office by John Adams,
it was known 10 Adams and other prominent men Of
the times, that he was a Republican. 1t is strange, in.
deed, if his politics were not known to oil who knew
him. At that time, there were no ncutrals in politics.
Harrison was then, and is now. a lcdcralst: and has let
ter proves it. You inform him-Onc Of the charges
sdccmed most potentiR the South Is, that he is i Fcdr-
r~alist-liow does he DENY this "pocnt charge: He ac-
knowlcdrcs he received iW0 appointments from John
Adams, who was not in the habit OF appointing itepub-
licans 10 Office. One Of these appointments was con-
ferred in the latter part OF Adams administration,
when the great political struggle between the Fcde-
ralists and Republicans, which cvcntuatcd in the cleo
ton of jefferson, was raging. Harrison must have been
then in Congress, where that sagacious man, John
Randolph, az ardent Republican, mjSiG0E hun for a
Federalist. He tells you, IN his letter, "ln l1.l, ! was
selected BY the Republican party of The Territorial Le-
risla,urc, to be their candidate for the appointment of
n Deliberate for Congress. There he made n speech
against the reduction Of Adams's standing army. Are
we to infer that he was not a Federaiist, and Is not no"
a Fedrralist. from the fact that he was selected by the
uEcprMicaR bGriH' as their candidate for Congress:
That would be what YOU Lawyer Electors call a nan
s~cgufor. The question which he bad 10 arrange with
his old patron and friend, John Adams, about the
sale of the public lands, and which caused the vie
DubhtcaRS" who sent him TO Congress to require OF nm
to play Orator Mum with the President on political sub
jects, Gin order TO secure the great object for which he
was sent, proves conclusively that he was not elected
10 Congress upon party grounds. lie might have peeh
then thought, By some, what some think him now-an
equivocal character; ready 10 be any thing for Office. II
is not in the nature of genuine Republican,, to hide his
faith or his works. 1t is never necessary for him to
prove his character. Ii by no means follows as a ne
ccssary consequence of his being selected By the re
| puJlican pariy as their candidate that Harrison IS a
Jefersonlan Republican. WIN. c. Rives was the Wing
| candidate for the Senate last winter and the winter be.
fore; was he therefore a Wing: lie expressly dis
claimed ii. Indeed, in a letter 10 James Garland, he
said some very harsh and true things about the Wings
want Of principle. lie denies that Harrison il a Wing:
for, he says ''he IS the true Republican candidate. Bui
Harrison is the candidate Of Tie Federal Wing party, and
according TO his own mode of proving he was a Repueii'
can in 1899, he incontestibly proves himselfto be a re-
deral Wing now; and, therefore, no Republican. Inc
old Federalists had a trick of calling themselves Federal
Republicans. That failed them. They then took the
name of National Republicans. This helped them a
little. By If, and the cOntrIvance OF Henry Clay, tley
got John G. Adams into the Presidency. Adams and
Clay, with their Federal principles, soon brought Ma
| tional RepubIicanlsm into %disreputc. ltbehooved Their
10 find a new party name, so they borrowed the nam,
Wing from Great Britain, as best sui,ing their ArIsto
cratic and Monarchical principles. This IS a very
appropriate name for your party, and am sorry 10 se'
| Won begin TO be ashamed of ii.