, 1843-05-13

: cite any other feelings In my bosom thai
those Of contempt, as such remarks cal
only be pleasing to the vulgar and lgno
rant whose good opinions l covet not
1t was not against the official action ?
the Court my structures were directed
but against your unauthorized i~nterfer
ence with the rights of the petitioners
and against your insulting and gratui
tons aspersion of their motives, and t.
these points l strictly confined myself
But really Judge, supposing that all yo'
have said about me were true, is tina
any answer to my arguments, or to TIT
charges l make against you? l charged
you with descending from the proper
sphere and dignity Of a Judge, in catch
ing up a floating petition, and going into
the newspapers to discuss it. lfit were
true that l have heretofore written q
newspaper article, does that justify your
conduct in this particular, which you do
not even attempt to justify? Suppose
it be true that / am s'coward" &c.,
does that justify you in '.prejudging" the
case of the petitioners, which you do
not pretend to deny that you have done!
True, you attempt to deny the similarity
of the cases which l presented, but you
offer no reason why they are not alike in
principle, but tacitly admit the truth Of
the comparison by attempting to base
your justification alone on the ground of
self defence; and even this shallow pre-
tence you borrow from my suggestion
thrown out as the only p~rctenee TO justify
your course. Had you contind yourself
strictly to defence against implied char
ges. as weak as the pretence is, as | be-
fore intimated, I should not have troubled
the public to witness the castigation |
have inflicted on you; for disguise it as
you may sir, you give too many eviden-
ces in your reply, of the sore distress |
have caused you, to conceal it from the
dullest comprehension. But you did not
stop at defence, but cast the most unjust
and unwarrantable reflections on the mo-
tives ofthe petitioners, and now add in
suit 10 injury, by repeating your char
ges of their circulating false reports, sc.
l ask again sir, why do you under your
official garb, stab at the motives and rep
utation of individuals, under the pretence
of replying to a petition on which your
first communication was altogether bas-
ed? might repeat your own question,
''why did you not, with that manliness
which would arise from a consciousness
&C being OH the side of truth and justice"
step forward and give the names
of thecirculators of the misrepre-
sensations, instead of "coward like"
directing them against the body Of the
signers of the petition, and expect under
the cover of vague generalities to escape
that accountability to which as an indi-
vidual you might be held, to say nothing
of your accountability to the people? !?
| repeat, Judge, that you have lodged all
the charges and issues that | made, and
have sneaked out under the poor pitiful
Reuse of self defence againstmer opin-
ions; for nothing else could the statements
of the petition be called. You writhe
.dreadfully under the imputaiions which
your conduct forced me TO cast on youl
motives, and yet you thought it no in
whatever to impute to as high
and honorable men as this coun-
Iy affords, motives and conduct the most
lisreputable, and now repeat the char
ges,-this is very consistent, truly. You
seem to think it something monstrous
hat l should defind the petitioners a.
sainst your unjust osperSions, as if it
were something dishonorable. Ii it
would be any qualification to you, | can
inform you that am not one Of the sign
ers of that petition, but nevertheless,
.hink it no disgrace whatever to defend
hem against the impudent assaults of a
p%artizan judge. But suppose the petit
toner's had directly prayed for the reno
of the county seat. | say they had
. right to do SO, and you as a Judge of
he court, have no right to go into the
newspaper to dispute the right; and l
now make the charge, and challenge the
to the contrary, of any respecta-
Die lawyer in the State, that such an in
OF your part would be an i'm
p~eachable offence. l go further, and
state the opinion that the offence you
nave already committed lacks nothing but
! corrupt motive to make it an impeacha-
Die offence. | am willing to do you
he justice to believe that nothing :
than gross prejudice so blinded ,
your mind as to hide from your view =,
ne gross improperly of your course.
You call me an "~intruder' Mr..
Judge. No doubt you felt it an in. l
to have your conduct held ap ;
o the just censure of on unsettled {
But you must have very /
queer ideas of republicanism, it you |
:lalm the right in an official capacity {
o insult and abuse your fellow cili- T
and yet denounce as an intru- S
Ipr' ono who ayar,isoc tho Dr-