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LETT ERS

TO THE

P E OP L E.

By A FARMER.

•'  .....¦.•.....¦....•Though perils fhould abound,
As thick as thought can make lhem, and appear
In forms more horrid ; — yet our duty,
As doth a rock againft the chiding flood,
Would the approach of this yfild river break
And {land unfhaken 
§*alem :
PRINTED AT THZ REGISTER PRESS.
, By WILLIAM CARLTON.
ESSf X S f REET.

1002.

preface*

Cf*HE following numbers were at frji publifhed in the Worcefer
Papers. Their uncommon merit, their clear and unfophi/li-
catedfenje, and their judicious and manly appeal fo the People,
gave them a rapid circulation among all parties. The bold and
fieady vindication of Government, the mafterly illujlration of its
leading principles', and the vigorous detection of federal calum
ny and mifreprefentation, excited the inveterate abufe of the
Farmer'* enemies, even more thjin the admiration qf his friends.
He xnas attacked with fury, in the leading papers. of the oppoji-
tion, under every variety of forms tuhich ingenuity, wit, or ma
lignity could devife. But his fentiments remain unfiak.cn. Time
has developed the trutk of hisfiatements, and the more they ha<oc
been investigated, the more have the cowardly arts of his opponents
recoiled en themf elves. A momentary Jhade was all that modern
federalifin could throw over his principles, and the fame keennefs
of farcafm, which deftroys the fallacies ^ef a depraved mind,
have lent an additional lufire to_ the purity of the republican
"Farmer."
We trujl every friend to the Conftitution will- give thefe num
bers a frequent and profound perufah They exhibit the whale-
fome maxims of our national polity, and difclofe the dangerous
extremities to which ambition, when Jlimulated by difappoint-
ment, envy, or difgrace, will lead the thorough-going partifans of
federalifm.' They difclofe the nature of our rights a.nd liberties.
.and teach .irrefftibly the importance of a vigilance which Jhould

PREFACE.
never Jleep, and a zeal which fhould never relax in the vindication.
ef our eleclive franckifes, and the preservation of our national
Conjlitution. Wefubmit, cheerfully, thefe numbers to all honejl enquirers, to
thofe federalifts who, with honejl intentions, have been mifguided
by the bafe afperfions of the tory faction, and to thofe who love the
principles of our revolution, and the union of our States. If the
"Farmer" has clearly Jhewn that the toxy federalifts have abufed
ihe public confidence, by low artifices, abufe 'and falfehood — that
they have mifreprefented the adminijlration in its leading meaf-
ures, by misjlatemcnts, unfounded attacks, and illiberal infinua-
tions---ihat they have endeavored to impede the progrefs of^the
public ftntiment, and hazard the exiftence of our Conftilution,
by exciting diford, and encouraging a divifion of the States —
ihrti tc-.V all honejl and enlightened men abandon their Jlandard,
a Artjiore themf elves, to the bofom of Republicanifm.
The Editor.

^Letters to tije people*

Yc

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. I.
Fellow Citizens,
rOUR government being on the principles of a reprefentative
democracy,, on you, in various waySj are her callsfor a difcharge
of du,ty. The civil and religious'liberty of your country, are ag
gregated with your own, and form the moft precious treafure, pof-
feffed by individuals. The conftitution and the laws are the guar
dians of this-treafure, having in cuftody its protection, with that
of life, property and character. Compared with any foreign king-
dorn, your lbt has truly fallen in a pleafant place, and it refts with
you to make it the heritage of happinefs. The requifites are a ra
tional and fincere compliance with -the precepts of the pureft relig
ion, knowledge and virtue. The means are to-be fought for from
wifdom, from the found philofophy of the old, or of the more en
lightened, tho' more defpiled fchool of the new world. A digni
fied, a proud integrity, an invincible attachment to truth, a foul
exalted by a habit of candor, enquiry and fairnefs, a mind indepen
dent and compofed, with innate propensities, to war againft injuri
ous prejudices, error and bafenefs, are neceffary for ftemming the
torrent of party and outrage. — This paper, though addrefled lo4be
people at large, is defigned more particularly for the Ele&ors of a
National Reprefentative in the Fourth Weftern Diftrift of the flate
of Maffachufelts, and for thofe at a diftance who may influence that
coming eleftion. They have not to learn that the privilege of elect
ing, and the bufinefs of legiflating are of great' and interefting im
portance, having for their, objects the regulation and promotion1 of
commerce, manufactures and agriculture ; thefafety, profperity and
happinefs of the country. All parts of the union feel an intereft
in the tranfa&ion. And although the eleftion is by a part, the
defied is the reprefentative of all ; which may apologize for the
interference of a non-ele&or, ii| indeed, an attempt to rob falfehood
and villainy of their baneful effects needs an apology. On the
general principles of government, on the neceffiiy of a reform, on a
retrenchment of expenfes, on a change of particular arrangements,
A 2

6 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE,
on the expediency of fubftituting for an expenfive national military,
an improved militia, on eafmg hufbandryandinduftry of their bur
thens, and prompting their exertions, individuals have formed and
advocated very different opinions. The'diverfity is great, and forms
a line of political diftinction. But a fource of a much greater and
more pernicious divifion is prejudice, originating in falfehood, {"of
fered by cunning, and the vileft afperfions-, directed to an oppofi-
tion to the falutar'y meafures of the fupreme Executive. Inceflant
are the efforts to produce excitements, and the means are as con
temptible as the end is bale. The' wifh is to exhibitproofs of hof-
tility to the new adminiftration. But fo facred a .refervation of
power as the right of luffrage will not lift on the fide of paffion, or
lend itfelf to the votaries of faction, it will be exercifed with feri-
oufnefs and folicitude. It is not of importance to can vafs the char
acters of the different candidates, their refpective principles, Handing
and p aji fer vices are well known in the diftritt. The difting'uifh-
ing principles which mark the difference between .them, have been
ftated on a former ocCafion, and may be expreffed to a vulgar pur
pofe, by the terms republican and federalijl Individuals have ac
quired thefe characters from the parts they have acted, or from the
party they have affociated with. The trial is between the friends
and the enemies of the Piefident. The republicans have affociatcd
themfelveS wilh him and fupported his meafures, from a conviction
of their rectitude and utility. Their principles are expreffed in his
fpeech, which is fpreading in translations thro' an admiring word.
They wifh not to take from labor the bread it has earned, or to make
induftry tributary to extravagance. Simplicity, frugality and na
tional economy are the virtues of republicans. They have not vol
unteered their confidence to the fupreme Executive, it is called for
by long, faithful and eminent fervices ; and decency, juftice and love
of country have decided to give it. Arrogance and faction have
remonftrated. But-the meafures of a cabal, do but produce ,new
proofs of thofe talents and pauiotifm which excite the people's grat
itude to heaven for preferving, for the Prefidency to this day of trial
and divifion, a man known in Europe, known through America ;
whofe wifdom, thoughlfulnefs and foliciiude for the civil and re
ligious liberty of man, had been active through our revolutionary
ftruggles, and with few equals, funviving and furvived, led the
councils of the nation : Whofe continued adherence to thofe prin
ciples, and public and private difplays of a .faithful and luminous
underftanding, has fecured an authority and a weight, which extort
f£pm enemies an unwilling refjpectj and render their invectives harm-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 7
lefs things. This is the man who folicits only a wakeful confidence ;
but was he what the rancour of malice and difappointed ambition
wifh to make him ; had he the character which a reftlefs avarice and
the virulence of party are conftantly giving him, the melancholy
fituation would call for vigilance, but yet a managing moderation.
The people's government, their -reputation and intereft ought not
to be dcftroyed. Good citizens, as an- atonement for folly in elect
ing fuch a 'one to rule, would mourn in filenceover their misfor
tune and their reproach, and pioufly veil from the eyeof blafphem-
ing foreigners, the tarnifhed luftre of their rifing country. Stran
gers are not guilty of this fuicide of character. With them the fool,
or the knave, which is impofed, as a judgment of heaven, is inftantly
laboured into a wife, a good and a moft gracious fo vereign. Shall
thefe minions of defpots, thefe creeping things, whofe food is corrup
tion, thofe feeble energies in mechanical arrangements, be more fe
licitous for their country's honor, than the emancipated fenfibility
of American citizens ? Shall they reverence their firft magiftrate in
the perfbn of a child, a fop, or a fool, and we refufe to [elected merit and
acknowledged wifdom, the decent tokens of a reafonable confidence..
Fellow citizens — reafon, examine and confult for yourfelves, and
abide by your own convictions. Youare capable of it. It is your
bufinefs, your happinefs:' A high intereft is intrufted to your keep--
ing : With you is adepolit of original power : Its arrangement. is.
government: On public opinion, knowledge and virtue.^ fociety
refts as on fupporting pillars. It is yours to defignate the impor-.
tant agents who fupport it, ahd to your fuffrages are they refponfir
ble. Be impreffed with a fenfe of this interefting betruftmeut, and
under the double excitement of duty and of intereft, be prepared.
to act with funinefs and fidelity. Faithfulness to yourfelves^ t»
your pafterity, to your God and your country.
—Let principles, not men, be your object. The writer has no per-..
fonal partialities or prejudices to either of the candidates. — He con-
fiders the queftion to be, whether you will yielda becoming fupport,
or furnifh unavailing oppofttion to the adminiftration of your gen*
eral government. — "Whether y»u will fanction a fyftem of flanHer
more peftiferous than the peftilence which walketh in darknefs, and.
a deltraction that waftethat noonday. — -Whetherin the outlet, arm-.
ing yourfelves with prejudice and diftruft, you will quarrel with
principles once your boaft, and if left to operate, will ranfom your
freedom a fecond time from the hands of the affailant ;* or whether'
* By mifttke of the Printer, the word opclxnt, was originally u£ed (ox •-
assailant, which oceafioncd a train ef federal ftri&urct.

8 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
with magnanimity and candor you will wait their fair experiment.
Has decency no injunctions of refpeft for a conftitutional majority ?
Government is fixed for a term, 'and horiefty and patriotifm fhould
yield it their countenance.— Why premature attempts to embarrafs
its progrefs ? Another election of Reprefentative will precede a new
choice of a Prefident. If experience does not force fatisfactiori, if
prejudice, if enmity, if the blackeflrdetra&ion in our highways, the
corners of ftreets, our market places and the receipt of cuftoms, in
our private circles, and the more hallowed places of public devotion,
are not in fpite of themfelves compelled to come in ; then oppofe,
then change. Until then, houiliiy will be as ufelefs as -it is unrea-
fonable. The new fyftem was conftitutionally introduced, and by
acts of utility is ftrengtheningitfelf in the affections of the people.
Its friends which have grown up under its principles are pledged
for its fupport. — To thefe principles, their lives, their ftudies and
their very foulshave been devoted. For thefe, your fathers, your
brethren, your fons and yourfelves fought and bled. They are too
Venerable to fail of our homage, toohappifying to efcape our attach
ment. The Prefident early embraced them, and will never eeafe to
defend them. They will refill the arts of intriguing partizans, and"-
the open affaults of newfpaper clamor.
What is then the hoped fof productions, from an ill-timed re
finance. Is it expected conftitutional difcretisn will'furrender to
the ftormings of defperation ; or has it for an object a diffolution-
of our government ? The expectation is vain — nine tenths of the
Union are in heart, with the'exifting meafures. Two thirds of the
members of the next Legiflature are pledged io their duty, and the
interefts of their country. In the defperate and, let it beadded, the
treafonable idea of dividing the States is involved the lofs of charac
ter, of faith, of funds, of being, of a quick and overwhelming deftruc-
tion. The queftion is not whether Mr. Whiting or Mr. Haftings, :
fhall be elected, as men, but as affociated with certain principles and.
meafures, as attached to, or oppofed to the adminiftration of the
Government. It is known there are p.erfons holding up the firft
officer in America as unworthy of confidence, and as deferving
of the fevereft cenfures and the blacked reproaches, and you
are called upon to aflift in the nefarious bufinefs.. To produce an
impulfe, things are faid to ha v^ been, which have never exifted ;
well meant and meritorious actions, are diftorted into bad, and to
the moft ufeful tranfactions, are affigned the worft of motives. But
thanks to heaven, this is not the conduct, or the language of a Jay or.
an Elliworth,.nor,cf the enlightened , the candid and refpectable:

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 9
federalifts in any part of the Union. They lament that a caufe
planned in principles, fhould be difgraced by a departure from all1
principle. Was federal mortification fought for"; the moft effect
ual means" would be to report in the terms of fome of the moft vio
lent of the party, their invectives and their comments on the exer-
cife of a.conftitutional difcretion, in the removals and appointments
to office. It is happy that thefe invectives ai»d mifreprefentations
are in writing. They are yet to occafion, if not to the authors, to
their friends, much grief of heart, and the tears of a late regret. Sep
arate from their tendency Jo injure and difgrace our country in the
eftimation of foreigners, the difpofition exifting, I rejoice that it has
been avowed. It will lead the good people to enquire if the
charges are founded in fact, and to think Ind reafon for themfelves.
On tracing the evils to "their real fource, the grofleft of falfehoods
and impositions, they will indulge to proper reflections, place their
future confidence where it can beit reft, and leave the outlivers of
theblackeft calumnies tgfall the victims of their own bafenefs. —
A confederation of the propriety of appointments, for which th»
Executive has been moft fhamefully abufed, and of removals from
office of perfons (however refpectable) who in the moments of great
agitation, in violation of the principles and fpirit ofthe conftitution,
lent themfelves to a party to contravene . the public will, and acted
in meafures, the refult of a premature and a prepbfterous exercife of
Governmental power, will probably become the fubject of future
difcuffion. Toafliftthe people in judging for themfelves at the
approaching election, matters of a more national concern fhall be at
tended to in my next in a fummary manner, and perhaps afterwards
wore minutely. A FARMER.

I

TO THE PEOPLE.. ..No. II.
N the former number of the Farmer, you were promifed a fummary
attention to fome of thofe things which falfehood and ignorance
have charged on the Prefident of the United States; flanders which
were defigned as the ftaples in the electioneering' jobbings ; calum
nies, which at a proper time will be more fully refuted, to the con-
fufion of thofe who have been wicked enough to originate them, and
unfortunate enough to believe, or to propagate them. As thefe
charges are true or falfe, believe and confide in the authors and abet.
tors of thern, and let your future fuffrages be direfted. The gener.

rxo LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
al charges of deifm, irreligion, jacobinifm, of being a diforganizer, a
modern philofopher, &c. will be paffed by as too, vulgar, difgufting
and. contemptible. even for newfpaper animadverfion. To the re
tailers of fuch fluff thefe papers are not addreffed. 1 f they are proofs
of turpitude, itmuftbe to thofe who choofe to deal in them. Political.
prophecy early announced that Mr. J e f f e r s o nt , if Prefident, would
facrificetheinterefts of his countrymen to France, and put their necks
under the trampling feet of the great republic. Is this true? What
has he done, and what are the principles of his conduct towards this
once friendly, now reconciled nation ? He has told you, he has not,
like the tyrants of the earth, wrapped up the grounds of his admin
iftration in darknefsj in inexplicable reafons and myfteries of ftate.
No, hfeowedto his fellow citizens an explanation of hisdefigns, and
he has thrown himfelf on their candor, good fenfeand.patriotifm, by
announcing his friehdfhip to all nations, entangling alliances with
none. He has purfued with the greatefl economy, the meafures, -
nearly completed by his predeceffor, for reftoring peace between
the two countries, by finifhing one of the* moft liberal treaties ever
made, and at the fame time he has announced to that country, the
unalterable determination of this, to cultivate, on fair and liberal
grounds, a commercial intercourfe with all nations, but to endure a
fubjection to none. Tfie proof is in public documents. Is this, *
rny fellow countrymen, a fulfilment of the illbc»ding prophecy?
Judge for yourfelves. You were lately told he was devoted to
France, and that republican candidates were for offering to her, as
to the dancing harlot, the chopped off heads of America^, citizens.*
Such paltry fluff laboured in the columns of our public papers, and
decency and common fenfe forgot themfelves long enough to read it.
A fecond book of prophecies was, that he would involve this
country in a war with Great Britain. Has he done it? Decide,
my friends, for yourfelves, and make the proper improvement. He
has caufed the United States to be confidered- and treated as of in-
creafed importance to that" powerful and proud nation. He has
procured from her a ceffation of hoftilities on our cpmmerce, a re
form of her prize courts, as a fecurity againft future injuries, a ten
der of friendfhip, and of'fupplies againft A'.gerine depredations, and
a.fpecial order from his Majefty, thro' Lord Hawkefbury, to make
¦•Alluding to the infrance of royal Defpotifm, offering in a charger, the
head of a faint, t® a wanton proftitute, Alfo the infamous facrifice, which
hail been madeof truth, at a former election, in publishing ofthe candidate,
toprevent hischoiie, that he had faid, Americans ought, at the feetof France,
to have their headscut off as an atonement for the injuries they had,dqne her.

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. ii
known to the Prefident this token of his refp.ect and friendfhip for
the United States. The vouchers for- thefe facts are depofited with
the proper officers. Compare again tie hiftory with the predic
tion, and make your own deductions. Forgive yourfelves for being
deceived, and if poffible, forgive thofe who deceived you. — But be
on your guard for the future.
But, fay the objectors, the Prefident is unworthy oftruft,he muft
be oppofed, and not co-operated with ; that a delegate ought to be
fentfronv the Maffachufetts Fourth Weftern Diftrict, of fenfe and
ability to embarrafs his future adminiftration, or to punifh him for
his paft, becaufe he has improperly caufed a French ftate fhip to be
re-purchafed, repaired and reftored, by anticipating a ratification of
the treaty for that purpofe. Without paufing too long, in amuf-
ing refleflions, on the caufes of this fuddeti jealoufy of the treaty
making power in the minds of fome people, on the feafonable and
laudable awakenings to a fenfe of public economy in others, we will
relate what is underftood to be the facts in the cafe. Under the for
mer adminiftration the Berceau was re-purchafed and repaired in
part, for the purpofe of being given up, and this in purfuance of an
article of convention exprefsly requiring her reftoration. Thenew
adminiftraton, has only' completed what had been very properly be
gun by its predeceffor. Her reftoration and her additional repairs,
were on the fame principles, or on the fame funds with her purchafe'
-and Jier original repairs. This was not done until after the Firft
Conful had, under the fame article of the convention, caufed prop
erty to twenty times the amount to be given up to the citizens of
' the United States. The Berceau Was one of many fhips which the
French government claimed the right of demanding. She is the
only one which it has been in' our power to reftore, and the doing
it under the exifting circumftances, may probably occafion the ,
faving of thoufands to this country. Was it not of courfe ? Was
it not proper ? Would any man of prudence and information, have
doneotherwife ? Would the complaihers have difgraced their' coun
try, having accepted what was to be received, by perfidioufly with
holding the little which was to be returned ? You are again called up
on, my friends, in the fpirit of candor, manlinefs and magnanimity to
decideforyoujfelveson thisinftanceof theexercife of prefidential dif-
cretion. The fupplies to the French prifopers have been made the
fubjecl of the bittefeft reproaches. This tranfaction was but copy
ing the examples of other civilized nations. We were obliged fuit-
ably to fupport them. The officers, by boarding out in private
STmilies had contracted debts. ¦ On application, under sircumftan-

i a LETTERS TO .THE PEOPLE.
ces peculiarly iroprefling, the Prefident relieved the treafury from
the burden. of fupporting thefe officers, by enabling them to main
tain themfelves — He caufed to be advanced to them [a" thing ufual
in Europe) a fum equal to the amount of their wages, on fecurity
by the agent for the French government for its repayment in
France, where the money was needed by the United States. The
common lailor.was in imprifonment, naked and needy. Thefe in
purfuance of a legal provifion, your Executive vifited with the
charities of the country,' and cloathed them with a coarfe covering,
fuch as decency and humanity required. Thefe are the circum-
flances of a tranfaction, which has been proftituted to the vile pur
pofe of defamation ; for this, and fimilar acts, are you invited to join
" an oppofition, But previoufly decide, if the above related tranfac
tion was fit and proper, or ought to tie the fubjeit of flanderous
cenfure. Afk the pride and honor of your own Country, if it waS
not right — inquire of religion, of humanity, of your own hearts !
The heavieft of all charges, the moft attrdcious of all crimes, has
been the difmantling and laying up a part ofthe navy, for the di
rect purpofe of having it deftroyed and eaten up by worms. — This .
is the motive which is affigned for the fact. It is unneceflary to
remark, that the difmantling and laying up of the fhips was in pur
fuance of an exprefs provifion of the laft Congrefs — the place whetee^
was the refult of Executive difcretion— confpiring circumftances
left but little room for delibeiation. Two docks or,n*vy yards on
ly were authorifed by law. Thefe were located by the Prefident,
and fifty thoufand dollars were appropriated towards erecting them.
One,"and the only one in which any thing had been done, was by
the old Adminiftration, with propriety eftablifhedat Wafhington.
In'ftead of fifty thoufand dollars, near three times that fum had been
expended, when the new adminiftration commenced its labors.--—
The fhips were then ordered to the very place which had been a
long time in preparing for them ; where no worms had previoufly
been confidered as exifting ; but which had been conftdered as a
proper receptacle for difmantled' fhips. It is ftill perfifted in, that
there is no navy yard at Wafhington. With fuch obftinacy no man
ought to reafon. ~ Let it afk thofe horfes which for years have been
carrying earth into the fea, if there is no navy yard.at the Federal
city ? Let it afk thofe ftone walls which, travelling from the moun
tains, have waded far into the deep ? Let the prepared timber for
a feventy-four purchafed and merged by the old Government, in
the waters qf the Potomak fay that it is a victim to worms ? Let
the vouchers for the expenditures of public money fay, if there is_

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 13
no r.avy yard there — The bufinefs of a navy yard at Philadelphia
and elfewhere is well underftood by the writer, and may be a fub-
jeft of future explanations. The Prefident's difpofing ofthe fhips
at the feat of Government, has difcovered a refpeciful attention to
the meafures of Congrefs, to the doings of the old adminiftration,
and the intereHls of the people. Materials for repairs are in the .
neighborhood. The officers and men will be kept together and be
kept to duty. The national defence, will be under national infpec-
tion. Great favings will be made, our annual Congrefs will better
determine on the annual expenfes neceffary for the lupport of a na
vy, and will fee the ravages which time, the moft destroying worm
it has to fear, will be conftantly making on it.
The above are the charges which have been urged againft the Ex
ecutive of the General Government. He defends himfelf by no
-prefumption?, dnjwnfrom a long train of confpicuous paft fervices,
by which he has commanded the efteem and gratitude of his fellow
citizens. Thefe are paffed over in filence. He has claims of merit
in the very matters felected by his enemies, as the foundations of
cenfure. You will determine if thefe claims are groundless. He
'has been defamed in public and private. The very altars confe-
-crated to acts of piety and devotion, have in fome inftances been
proftituted to this ungracious employment. Of their minifters,
who ought to know and to practice the doctrines of Jefus Chrift
and him crucified, have.been found fome, capable of the foul work
¦6f ftudied detraction. Who, infteadof ftudying thofe things which
make for peace, h?-ve attached themfelves to the virulence of a party,
and been the fomenters of political feuds, fharpening their tongues
wilh more cruelty, than the dagger of the affaffin. They have ftab-
¦ bed characters in the dark, and like common fcolds called their op
ponents by hard names.
The preffes have been more than fatigued, with their paft labors.
"Every topic of abufe has been exhaufted and fpent itfelf on the heads
of republicans. The nrincipal has had a doable portion meafured
out for him, the cup has been drained to its loweft dregs ; but left
Shielded bya thoufandexcellencies and a confeioufnefs of rectitude of
tho't & action, he has-been unhurt. But reviled, he revilesnot again.
His ftudy is to do to friends and enemies all the good in his power.
His courfe, is fteady, firm and independent. — His time and his tal-
¦ents, commanding as they are, are early and late devoted to the
fervice of your Country. His endeavors are to economife, leffen
the expenfes of Government, the burdens of the people, and to
preferve their nghts and privileges unincumbered and unimpaired,.
B

14 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
to rendey the Conftitution ftrong and pure as it came out of the
hands of its makers, the States, unitedly and feverally, happy and
profperous, refpefctable and exalted at home and abroad. He can
have no intereft, feparate from this ; with it, is connected his rep
utation, his profpects, his pride and the higheft and beft feelings of
the human heart. He folicits only the candot, the reafonable con
fidence, affiilance and friendfhip of his fellow citizens. Will you
withhold it, becaufe he is a republican ? Is this the man you are
'invited to diftruft, whom you mean to oppofe ? The great body 9/
federalifts are all republicans. Deception for a moment, has led
them aftray. Our teachers, have caufed them to err. Reflection
and time will re (lore them to the path which they have forfaken —
"Republicans are all Federalifts." Mifreprefentationan'd a factious
ambition, may have rendered them fufpected. The violence of a
preffure, ahd the buffettings ofmadnefsmay in inftances have joflled
them from the way, but by a property of their natures, their re
turn is of courfe. — They will unite themfelves with republican fed
eralifts, with all good men, will adhere to our government, will
cling, will lajh themfelves to the conftitution and with it perifh or
furvive in the " temptjtuous forms," and ftruggles for her liberty
and freedom. — We farmers, by nature, are all federal republicans —
Situation, circumftances, habits, fentiments and feelings, confpire to
make us fo — as foon would matter ceafe to attract, the dews of the
evening ceafe to moiften, and intereft and felf forget to influence,
as the enlightened Yeomanry of our Country forfake republicanifm
— Friends and fellow citizens ! Be intreated to reflect, put your
hands on your breads, and paufe, look on the Fate which may have
been crowded into your hands, and let coiiicience fpeak, examine
the tale which is told you, come it from the bar or the bench ;. from,
behind the counter, the defk, or the tail of the plough ; confult
with yourfelves and then att — ferioufly deliberate, and you will act
right ! , A FARMER.

TO THE PEOPLE....N0-. III.
'VT'OUR civil and religious liberty, Fellow Citizens, the moft
precious gifts indulged to mortals, were not obtained, nor can
they be preferved but in the exercife of reafon, knowledge, virtue,
candor, a love of truth, and a love of country. Empty preten-
fions, for a moment may ape information — bluftering profeffions
gain active attention — habits of deceit, pafs for a pious concern —

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. i5
parcimonious exceptions to the extremes of (lander, be viewed as
candor — and a love of felf, a love of triumph, and the pride of par
ty, be impofed on credulity, as a fondnefs for truth, and an attach.
inent to country. From the experiments which have been made,
the arts of deceiving are brought to perfection. The apprentices
in the trade, have exceeded their mailers, arid fetting up for them
felves, are in bufinefs with improvements of their own. With
fome people, there is a falhion in their believing, thinking, fpeaking,
hearing and acting. Lately a blind confidence, at prefent an un
relenting diflruft, is the badge of right. Of old it was the precepf,
and the example of religion, to judge not at all ; at prefent the fafh-
ion istto cenfure without meafure, and condemn without mercy,
unheard and untried, every perfon difcordant with unerring felf.—
Formerly the hands of our rulers were to be ftrengthed, their
hearts to be comforted and encouraged — now they are to be de
nounced, defamed, difcouraged, oppofed, and Ifhmaelized, to have
lifted againft them the hands of violent federalifts. Formerly de
cently to cenfure the powers that were, was factious, diforganizing
and rebellious, like the fin of witchcraft ; at prefent rifing in malice,
in fury and in bitternefs againft the characters, the meafures and
the authority of the powers that be, is a proof of exemplary fubmif-
fion to order and good government, and of cheerful acquiefcence in
the public will.
Under the old adminiftration, government could be.adminiflered
only by its friends ; at prefent it ought to remain in the hands of
its enemies. — -Then to divide the people from their government was
jacobjnifmvnow it is patriotifm.
From this capricious fluctuation of opinions, from this tyranny
and violence on the mind, truth lofes her dignity and confiflency
.is placed in a (late of exile. — Honefty and uniformity feel a kind
of reverential reluctance, a forbidding melancholy, while old doc--
trines are thus paffing away, and fafhionable counterfeits are fuc-
ceeding to their places. The reign of folly and political foppery
will be for a time, and then it mud end, and with it, this facility
to embrace doctrines which were once rejected, and to difcard prin
ciples long revered. The criterions' of truth and falfehood, the
tefls of right and wrong, are not now cognizable by the under-
Handing, but by the fenfations of a devotion to the higher actors in
the ruinous fyftems of public deceptions. Men have arrived to
cerlainty in politics and divinity without intermediate ideas, and
received a direcliph in their ftrongelt movements from the paffions
•f others, the word which prejudice can ever furnifh. In the

i6 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.'
hurry to act, there has not been time to think. It is eafy to fall
down a precipice, although the headlong rafhnefs is followed by
fatal effects. By clofing the eyes, the ruin is not feen as it is com'
ing, but the wounds and the bruifes will apprize of the injury. —
The paffions being armed with falfe arguments, and the difcordant
elements which lurk in the bofom, being put in motion, by decla
mation and obloquy, reafon and duty are forced to yield.— But the
fpoils of darknefs and delufion will be detected in the light, and
reafon, robbed by violence, will recover her rights.
In the confufion and noife of party, the order of nature and of
government is inverted for a time ; forecaft gives way to improv
idence, reafon to feeling, wifdom and the founded policy, to pride,:
paffion and prejudice ; but a reverfal is certain. On the occafion-
of the late election, volumes of mifrepre&ntations, flandersand errors
were ftruck off, and put into circulation (modeftly enough in the
printed impreffions) but with monftrous improvements in their
verbal editions. Worn out and worn down charges againft thead-
miuiftiaticn, which had been refuted, revived and re-confuted a
itioufand times, were renewed and made to circulate. Anxiety for
the public- good, from the want of the means of information and
u flection, wasfurprifed and hurried into error. The bed of peo
ple, with the bed intentions, voted wrong. A little time and the
evil is paft and gene forever ; the ftruggles to retain it, will but
increafe the difficulties of its ever returning. The fortunate can
didate is confidered.as an anti-republican. If this is not his cha
racter, federalifts, by deceiving themfelves, have" injured him. Had
it been known that he was a republican, he would have had the
republican votes : fhould he prove to be fuch, he will have their
bed: wifhes ; oiherwife their decent acquiefcence. They have a
jefpect for his abilities ; but their object is their country, not party
— their attachment is to principles, not men. They do not com
plain-that the electors have voted for whom they pleafed. — It was..
their right, privilege, duty andJafety. But it ought to have been
done with dignity and manlinefs ; the vote which they gave ought
to have been their vote, not a nother's ; fairly influenced, not
forced ,• directed by truth, not falfehood. If thefe obfervations apply
to both fides, they are the more neceffary, and the tranfattions,
which juftify them, the more difgraceful.
Republicans would blufh at the imputation, and they .would
willingly hope, that moderate federalifts would keep them company.
Republicanism may have failed of that fupport which was of im-^
portance3 in reference to the character of the diftritt. Newfpaper-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 17
reprefentation, and the ill-natured declarations of a party fpirit, for
party pu'rpofes have affailed our candidate ; his character^ purfuits
and acquifitions are known to many, and being'known, he is and
will- be rsfpected ; his fteadinefs and uniform avowal of principles
and fentiments, which led us through our revolution, and formed
the genius and life of the Amsricao Conftitution, are generally ac
knowledged. He is and will be refpetted for his induftry, his
military accomplifhments, his capacity, his perfevering and innate
difcretion to accompli fh whatever duty may affign to him, or op
portunity permit. His knowledge of language, of hidory, of
politics, and even of the arts and fciences will compare with many,
who have been, arj, or will be, in oui national legiflature ; and let
it be added with many, very many, of thofe who have attempted to,
dilparage him.
If from the fog, the falfe medium through which obje&s have
been made to imprefs the eyes of well-mjnded citizens ; if from a
determined, ill-judged and ill-timed refidance to the condituted
authorities, in a fmall portion of the union ; there is a preference
to perfons, however refpectable, who are openly denouncing one of
the mod deliberate, and it is believed one of the mod ufeful and
important acts of the executive, as the mod infamous, difgraceful
and reproachful, it is bed it fhould be known. Thefe have been
the repeated declarations of oppofing individuals, in reference to
the fird officer of your treafury, and the highed magidrate in your
country. A magidrate, ehofen by a great and free people, under
the bed, the wifed, and a conditution the mod finifhed of any in
the world. To the republicans there is this confolation, though -
the triumphs of liberty are not univerfal, its principles are fpread-
ing through the union, and the oppofition in compaiifon is but like
a floating bubble on the furface of a mighty ocean. The failing can
didate may be more wanted, and more ufeful elfewhere, the member
elect, if oppofed to the government, will, in his place, be but the
melancholy fpettator of meafures, which he will be unable to pre
vent. The republicans are fatisfied with what is, and with what hat
been. They are fatisfied with their candidate. Federalids once
thought well of him, and if the finger of conjecture points right,
fome of thofe who have publicly attacked him, fhould they ever
become republicans, or in any event be again affociated with him,
will at once fee, and vouch for his merit. The friends to the ad
miniftration have nothing to regret; they have done their duty,
and in ihis they triumtih. They have r.othing to fear, federal
B 3

1 8 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
abilities, if againft the government, can never be difpofed of more
innocently, nor to lefs effetl, than with the minority in Congrefs.
Curiofity wifhes to know what is now expected, or what coald
have been feared from reported poverty and imbecility, had they
prevailed. Was it really the difgrace of the didritt ? If fo, there
is a claim on our gratitude : Or wft it a fear of lofirig a character
for federalifm ? If fo why was not the election put fairly It iffue
on its proper principles ? Why delufion ? Was it that it was
lcnown a large majority of the electors were republicans, and as
fuch would not knowingly have contravened their own views,
their highed intered ? Republicanifm was the objection, and h»n-
edy ought to have avowed it. It was not that the candidate was
deficient in ability, or in property, or that early in the revolution
the illudrious defenders of our country marching to its defence,
meafured their deps to the found of his mufic, then a boy- — No ;
had an angel from heaven been the republican candidate, he would
have been oppofed, if not as the player on a fife, or the tuner of a
harp in fome celedial concert, yet certainly on the ground of his
being a foreigner, a native of the heavenly wo?ld.
The writer has but one requed in refpect to the pad election.
It is, that thofe who do not know the failing candidate, would
make themfelves acquainted with him ; and decide for themfelves :
if reprefentations have been true. This knowledge will be ufeful
on future occafions. By the experience which has been had, you
may profit in trials to come.
The two lad numbers of the Farmer were defigned to call your
attention to a general recognition of principles which were once
dear to you, and to'imprefs on your minds the importance of exer-
cifing the right of fuffiage, free from paffion, impofition and pre
judice. In them was an attempt to evince the neceflity of a can
did Bxamination into the conduct x>f leading men, and of circum
spection towards thofe, whofe productions and datements have been
the refult of a contrivance, which time and events have fully dif-
clofed. The writer will endeavour, as leifure permits, to review tranf-
actions of a public nature, and to furnifh facts, by which the
hufbandry of the Country may form their own opinions. The
prefent generation are the guardians for pofterity, and extreme will
be the evil if the trud is betrayed. The legacy in keeping is of
inedimable value. — If it is differed to be fquandered, our progeny
will be ruined. Civil liberty is on trial, the experiment is in
nuking, and its friends fliould unite to give it fuccefs. The

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. j9>
Farmer, like the fon of Amilcar, vows eternal hatred to (lander and
corrupt party mifreprefentatious, by whomfbever prattifed, and will
not be wanting in his endeavours, lodefpoil them of theacquifitions
they have made, the havoc they are making, and to produce that
neceffary confidence in the Firft officer ih the Union, which is due
So his virtues, his fervices, his talents and his merit.
A FARMER.-

TO THE PEOPLE... .No. IV.
IT is .difficult to purine an origiml plan in reviewing the rrfea-
fures of a party, or of government, without deviations, into at
tentions to the occurrences jof the moment. Fidel is to Prefident
Jefterson, in a late Centinel, on many accounts, deferves notice.
This addrefs is a compendium of what has been often repeated, in a
ftyle lels engaging, and a language lefs forcible. It contains many
general fentiments,. excellent in themfelves, which" mifinformation,
prejudice, or ill-riature, may apply at' pleafure for the woiftof
purpofes. My fufpicions does not point at~the author, nor does
my curiofity or prudence wifh to know him. He is confidered,
from a fingle fpecimen, as polfeffing talents, and his ability for
writing, as demanding refpect. In private, his character may be
pure, his feelings chafte, his fentiments correct, his fincerity, his
friendfhip, his morality and his religion without a fpot ; yet much
hearing, reading, deception, and much party faith, may have made
him politically mad. He may poffefs the fecial and literary efteemv-
ofthe republicans, as a man, and their marked difa'pprobation and
cenfure, as a commentator on the principles and meafures of gov
ernment. The public has nothing to do with his fituation in life,
his reputation, his piety, or his connection — They may be prefum-
ed to be good. The Farmer is conftrained to think well of his
abilities, and thefe are all that is known concerning him The wri
ter and F ice lis may poffibly be intimate acquaintances, and as
fuch may have often converfed together in friendfhip. In politics,
they are certainly hoftile ; and the queftion h, if the addreffer is
right — Was it not for the manner, the bed anfwer to the matter, of
the addrefs would be its re-publication ; and a complete defeat of
its object, and a refutation of thepretenfions of fuch federalids would
be its careful perufal ? More than falfehood ever charged on repub-
licanifm, on jacobinifm, is now attempted, A diflblulion of the

,20 LETTERS TO THE PEOPXE.
government, with the indefcribable horrors and defolations of a civil
war, areibyoijght up to view, and dated, as ihe probable confequence
of conftitutional meafures. A premature deftruction is threatened
to the Chief Magi fti ate of the union., unlets he yields his diicretion
to the rantingsof a faction. Ideas are borrowed from the fury of a
virago, for the.purpofes of yaryipg the modes of,afperfibn. But
few things, which ingenuity could invent, or bitternefs excite,
have efcaped the pen of the Centinel writer. If they are, as he more
than fuggefts, who accord with .him in feeling and in fentiment, let
them, with him, come out in bold avowals ; let them no longer,
keeping mafkedj pretend a refpect -for order, for civil authority, for
the conftitution, for liberty, for property, and for their country ;
let them found the tocfin,. prepare the fabre, and fharpen their wea
pons for the dreadfui conflict. — But let them firft confider the
crimes and the punifhments due to common' parricides ; — the afro-
cities and the tortures which would purfue the deftroyers of a pa-
radife gained ; — the guilty confcience, the never-dying worm which
will .bite like an adder, and (ling like a thoufand ferpents.
The Prefident and his friends have their recollections pointed to
the period of his election. It would be melancholy to look, back
on a pofture of affairs, marked with violence, rnifreprefentation and
error ; — on the (late of the public mind, depreffed, degraded, ter
rified and enflaved, was it not on the comfort refulting' from re
flections on the efcape from dangers which are palled. It can never
now be afcertained, ih whofe favour the majority of the people of
Newengland were. Had the choice of the elector's been left, as
ufual, it might have been known. The queftion admits, now, of
only a probable folution. The Legiflature were the bed judges ;
and robbing the people of this important right, to prevent the
choice of Mr. Jeffcrfon, is evident that they thought the majority
was with him. Subfequent events prove, that they thought right.
In moftof the popular elections fince, the republican vote has pre
vailed, or come near it. The recent one, in a weftern diftrict, on a
fair conftruclion, is not an exception. The leaders of the oppo-
fition, fenfible that the principles of the people were againd them,
placed the election on different grounds. Not a fyllable, as for
merly, was written on antifederalifm, jacobinifm, republicanifm,
foreign influence,. &c. &c. I; was known this would not do, ex
cept with individuals, and with' them', management and cunning
labored in fecret. — It proves, that the leadii g federalifts dare not
rifque themfelves on a queftion. of politics. Confidering the com
bined efforts of the civil and eccltjiaftical, from the highed magif-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. n
irate to the lowed miniderial officer in the community, fuch minor
ities are virtual majorities, and promife every thing in future — I-
fay nothing of the influence of wealth on the fide offederalifro. It.
is known, for to create a confequence, federalids have claimed the-
property of the country. The good nature of republicans has in
dulged the arrogant affumption : but if it was of importance to de
termine the proportions of property, it would be'beft to fconfult
tbe acts of corporation affeffments. The farmers are all republi
cans, though fome, from furprife, have not acted with their friends.
They are getting right, and in future, will redeem their loft time"
and injured character. — Fidelis may have great riches and great
merit from the manner of acquiring them ; but he ought not to'
have mentioned a want of property as peculiar to the fupporters of
Mr. Jefferfon ; he ought to have known, in the laft Congrefs, there-
were individuals of that defcription, whofe property was more than
equal to that of the whole Newengland delegation, with one or
two exceptions. The eye of the addreffer may be (ingle, not a
mpte, not a (peck in his, or thofe of his friends, they may fee very
clearly errors, faults, wickednefs and injuftice in their neighbours y
to them may have been committed the awful province of God him
felf, to judge the hearts of his creatures : — To the fanctity of Fi
delis, the tremendous power of marking with deifm and atheifm
the fovereign elected reprefentative of an enlightened and religious
people. Is Fidelis acquainted with the man he condemns? Has'
Re ever feen him, ever converfed with him on religious fubjects,
. and learned from him his creed in divinity ? Has he an acquaint
ance with thofe perfons, who are raifed to the hi^h departments of
government ? Was he acquainted with their predecejfors ? Has he
any authority for the wanton and indecent attack on their religion ?'.
Or is it the fpecial privilege of federal chriftianity to trample on
its ftrongeft precepts and its pureft doctrines ? If Fidelis is a
fincere believer himfelf, if he is a conftant hearer and doer ofthe-
word j if his righteous foul is grievoufly vexed, from day to day,
with the ungodly behaviour of the rulers of the people ; if his own
- temper is moulded to the genius and fpirit of the fublime religion,
for which he has offered himfelf the champion ; if the piety which-
prompted, and the wifdom directing his warning voice, "is from
above, pure, peaceable, gentle, eafy to be intreated, full of good
fruits, without partiality and without hypocricy," then indeed he-
has religion, which republicans love, refpe€l and venerate : — But
if. his fruits are only the bitter clufters of the wild olive, if a railer,
fpeaking evil of dignities ; if a flanderer, having in his mouth thfes

*2 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
poifon of afps, he fpits it at private characters, and malignantly
rolling malice, like a fweet morfei under his tongue, his delight is
to flab public worth and individual merit ; then indeed republicans
lament in fecret the abufe of his talents, but leave him with his
own reflections, to fettle his account with a merciful and forgiving
God. Republicans judge no man ; to his own mailer he is refpon-
fible for his religion, a tranfaction between the creature and his
Creator. , Whether the addreffer is an ardent youth, with ability,
Unaided by experience, or fome officious, ambitious brother of
Aaron, broken loofe'from the reductions of Chriftianity, or fome en
lightened politician, ,with a mania quoad hoc, is unimportant to be
known : But He ought to know, that it is a ferious thing to charge
the high Officers of Government with Deifm and Atheifm ; of be
ing engaged in the odious wprk of extirpating the Chridian religion.
It is a ferious bufinefs to denounce to the world a majority of the
people ofthe United States, a majority of the electors, a majority
of the balloting members of the laft Congrefs, as deftitute of prin
ciple and enemies to heaven. It exceeds the fupercilioufnefs of
the canting, proud, unjuft, fuperftitious and hypocritical Pharifee,
with affected fanfctitude to lopk round upon his neighbours and
friends, and determine thofe who, unlike himfelf, favored the
election of Mr. Jefferson, "were .deftitute alike of religion and
property," and that " their charafters and fortunes render them at
all times indifferent towards the good order of a juft, permanent
and energetic government." Is Fidelis apprehenfive, that he i
fhall fail in his attempt to alienate the confidence of the citizens
from their Chief Magidrate, unlefs by heaping imputations on his'
friends, he can through them, reach him ? Is he defirous, for the
purpofe of warring againd the adminidration, to invite to infur-
rection ? Does he not know, could he procure followers, that they
would be treading along the fide of a threatening precipice, on the
narrow margin of treafbn to their country ? He ought to know,.
were his fentiments and his withes to prevail, ideas of property
would ceafe, public faith become extinct, and the funded paper an
nihilated, through all the various apertures of its extend ve circu
lations. Fideh s, and many others, may wound themfelves, and ruin
their moriied friends : But the conftitution and. government found
ed in the intereft and nature of man ; their opinions, their feelings,
and their affections, will furvive any conyulfions which they will
be able to produce. .Nine tenths of the people are with their
Government.— Partial oppofuion, and factious clamours can have

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 23
>i» effect, but to induce in her a more impofing attitude. The
Prefident, independent and principled as he is, faithful to the peo
ple and the conditutibn, checking in its enemies the power of in
juring, will be governed by no party, much lefs by its excrefcence,
fe'en in the outrage and violence of individuals.
The character of Washington, like the will of Caefar, is abu-
fed, on all occafions, to party pui-pofes. To appear oppofed, not
to hisj real fentiments, but to whatever intrigue or management man
put into his mouth or conduct, brands with infamy, and dedroys
'the influence of truth itfelf. That Patriot of a clofing century,
as has been ufual,is by Fidelis, dragged from the grave, to black
en reputations congenial with his own. Fieelis '. What are you
doing ? Could that hero have doled his eyes without a tremor, had
he known of his podhumous (landers on his former friends ? could
lie have funk with 'compofure into the grave, had he forefeen^him-
felf raifed by impious hands to the "frange work" of defaming
characters with whom he had affociated, thought and acted. To
whofe religion, philofophy and politics he conformed his own ;
from which were valuable portions of his own fplendid fame. No,
the ingratitude of the ait would have filled with horror, and the
feverity of juftice have given the veto to his departing foul. It is
time to differ this ornament of man to reft in quiet ; to difencum-
ber truth from the preffure of a name ; to free it from the authority
of a man. It exids in nature ; in the relations and fitnefs of things,
in the aptitude and tendency of principles to reafons, aims and ends.
It is knownthat in religion, Washington and Jefferson
thought alike. — It is time to feparate our religion from the tomb at
Mo,unt Vernon. , The Lord of the Chriftian, is Jefus Chrift : Re
publican Chriftians, have no other mafter — they believe in no oth
er name. Fidelis, and Fedeialifts, may take their religion from
a Virginian planter, and left it by examples which he never fet.
The republicans will fearch the fcriptures. Who is Fidelis, and
Iris friends, that the dating of a letter on the fabbath fhould diftrefs
their piety ? Are they, like fome pure fpirits, alone with them
selves and their Creator, the whole of holy time ? Are they igno
rant of the topics, which the gravity of Clergymen and the fobriety
of laymen difcufs on that day ? Was it a fenfe of duty, a real zeal
for the fabbath, and the fervice of the fanctuary, which excited
againft the writer of a letter, the criminations of irreligion ? Is
Fidelis fo cloiftered from the world, as not to know the walk
and converfation— the journeyings and feculaf attentions of min-
ifters arid people, of ^he Governors and governed, from the mea

34 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE,
who adminiftcr the juftice of their country, to thofe who follow ia
the duftof a travelling drove ? Is it from chrijlian ferioufneft,
that individuals fo often, paffing by aggravated profanations at
home, travel to Monticello, to convert innocent actions into impious
faults? Was it from a religious concern, that newfpaper columns,
and the paragraphs of pamphlets, have labored to prove a difference
between the firft and the exi ding Prefident, where none exided?
Or was it to aid a vanquifhed caufe by the affidance of the paflionsy
a blind fupeiftition and an unthinking credulity? Fidelis!
reflect, be faithful to yourfelf ; does your religion really teach you
and its followers to execrate others for lefs than you do yourfelves?
To denounce a man from the date .of a letter, aji act lefs exception
able, than that of " plucking an ear of corn?" But every thing is
changed; wrong inverted, government and the fabbath are not made
for man, but he for "them. Paufe Fidelis, do federalids generally
go this length with you ? Are there any among the pious, among
trie refpectable clergy, who keep you company ? It is believed not,
but that infulated, you are pufhing forward on a forlorn hope,
where appearances, a fenfe of decency or principle, will prevent
their following. The clergy, as a body, moving in their holy vo
cation, are defervedly edeemed ufeful and influential. They have
been the pride and delight of Newengland ; but among them, th°re
are, who have fought out ftrange inventions, found a new, a polit
ical divinity, injured themfelves, difgraced the order, and wounded,
religion in the houfe of its founder.
A writer, under the fignature of Clericus, appears tohehurt.
To injure is not the object of the Farmer; his endeavours are ts
correct; but truth arid circumftances mud difpofe of the confe-
quences of a fidelity in the arraignment of public errors, however
Unpleafant to individuals. The complaint is not, that it has not
been truly faid of the clergy, that there are fome., who have been
found capable of the foul w6rk of dudied detraction ; but that theyj
are not told who thefe are. The fact exi fling, each individual, and|
the public can .bed: apply it. Clericus fays he is not guilty ;
the Farmer is happy to know it,, by a tedimony direct, borne by
himfelf j If fo, he is notaccufed, and hisdifintereded zeal for the
defence of others has the more merit. The Farmer has no wifh to
.rob him of what is his ; to convict him of being one of the obnox-j
ious,; indeed, without knowing him, it would be impoflible. Was
he known, and to have been tripping, ftumbling, falling on the]
dark mountains, over which we have paffed, his regret and refor
mation, as an individual, would be more defirable. Particular

LETTERS TO, THE PEOPLE. aS
^private characters and conduct are not the topics for newfpaper dif-
cuffioh. -The public have nothing to do with them. The Far
mer at prefent has nothing to do with that catalogue of perfons and
newfpapers, which by Clericus is fubjected to meaning obfer-
vation. The fentiments involved will incorporate with fubjects of
future obfervations. In the mean time, Clericus will oblige by
reconciling with the example of Chrid and his apodles, the reli
gious precepts and doctrines of the Chridian religion, the reception
and circulation of a paper, by gofpel minifters, filled with "dander
and the tendencies to feditiop, infurreftion and oppofition to the
condituted authorities. In Clericus there is abundant matter
for copious remarks. His leading ideas of a political complexion,
are "but a repetition of what is defigned for the writer's attention at
another opportunity. His obfervations on the duty, province,
and on theconducl of fome of the clergy, will be further noticed in
a whole number, which will be dedicated fo that order, when the
public mind becomes a little more' compofed, and is'better prepared
to receive it- In that number, if Cl-ericus will have the patience
andgoodnefs to wait for it — if he really does not know anyjpf the
clergy chargeable with the conduct alledged again d them, he fhall
have information. If the fact is doubted, let there be a recollection
of prayers which have been addreffed to heaven, as a -leader of a
party— let there he an inflection, of fermons and pamphlets, which
have been tied to the backs of pedlars and .hawked through the
country. And be remembered the cannonizitions of .the fainted
Washington ; the deification of a departed mortal ; the grofs
indances of fervile fycophantic adulations to fuiviving individuals ;
and the bafe detracting reprobations -of others, their fuperiors. Had
the Farmer, as Clericus, with much Chridian candor labors to
prove, charged all the clergy with the improprieties of fome, as an
atonement for his folly, before he flept, he would write two more
numbers with the tears of contrition, for having injured characters
which he is in the habit of viewing with.friendftiip, edeem and
veneration — Clericus ought to have known better. — The num
bers will fpealc for themfelves.
It is forefeen, that arraigning this extravagance of praife, will ex
cite invective, and the contending againft the public influence of
the clergy, and of the authority of. a name, will, provoke refent-
ment. But as venerable as wis the character' of Washington,
truth is more fo. His bed panegyric is an imitation of his virtues ;
and his higheft plaudits, to follow his example ; tofpesk the truth,
C

s£- LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
a'rid to dare to think. We wifh riot" to derogate from his merits,
it is not1 in our power ; but to prevent its proditution to the in
jury of others. With thefe favings, we fubfcribe to any thing ap
plicable' to mortals. We feel a pride, and an intereft in preferving
his fame, and with excited fenfibility recall to view thofe tender
fenfations which on' an awful occafiGn, from the embarr'affrnents of
-nature, beggard expreffion ; when fhrouded. fi knee was the mod
powerful eloquence, and mufing reflections the loudeft encomi
ums ;' when fadnefs was feated on the countenance, and grief bad
hold of the heart ; when fpreading fackcloth darkened the day, and
like the curtain of night obfcured the dbject's of fight ; when the
pen of the orator didiirbed the arrangements of philofophy, arid'
the voice of the fpeaker, the fympathy of forrdw ; when the earth"
feemed robbed of her choiced dainties, and the' grave to be fatisfied
with her rich repad ; and while we now fee, or feem to fee, the
¦willow, the cyprefs and the plaintive harp in melancholy's gloomy
(hade, we dwell fufpertded on the impreflive fcene '! :A Wash 1 ng-
ton borne down with glory,'in the World of Spirits : Americans
in teats, yet amidd the throes and throbs of a bereaving Providence,
confoled, that Washington furvived. Let ndreaderof Fidelis
fay, we were enemies to the deceafed ; the accufation will be falfe.
We view his life replete with beautfes, but wifh that the done
which feals his fame may not be rolled from the tomb's mouth, to
:get from it, at truth's expenfe, a language he never fpoke, and re
ligious .fentiments which were never his. ,t
The dri&ures oil the inaugural fpeech, on the ahfwer fo a mer
cantile remondrance, and on the removals andappointme'nts, which
are in common to Fidelis and other writers, may be attended to
hereaftia-. The Farmer is enabled to proceed with unexpected ad
vantage, and in taking his leave of Fidelis, he wifhes him to ac
cept of acknowledgements for avowing fentiments, which were be
lieved to exid, but which would have coft much more able and
informed writer's months to have proved.
A FARMER.

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. V.
THE importance and utility of an enlightened and reafonable
confidence in the public officers of a free government ; and
the baneful effects of prejudices, erroneous conceptions and mif-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE;. a.f
guided opinions, will juftify unceafing attempts, to remove them.
Div.ifipns arid conflicting fentiments, religion, in politics and in
government have accompanied man from the cradle of Adam, and-
will probably follow him, to the conflagration of the world.- The
animal creation is full of contrarieties ; and nature's uniformity
feems to be a compofitiqn of oppofing parts.- Morality decides on'
things in thetir connexions and confequenees, and an overruling.
providence will combine with the means, their diftapt ends by a'
thoufand invisible and inexplicable energies. From the mind pof-
feffing providence and forecad, it was known on the transfer of the
powers of goyernrnent, from the old to new hands, that a party
fpirft) chagrin and difappointment, would fet themfelves to work,
and endeavour With the conftaricy, and afflduityof an employment,
to embarrafs, difgrace and impede the progrefs of the ex'iding.ad-
minidration. But it was not known, that by the fecret deeiee of
heaven-j its felected means of dedroying the ruinous effects of, thefe
.principles, were a previous blindnefs which would leave to them
the misfortune of dating to the public, uniformly, the reverfe of
what was true. For that wifdom and goodnefs, which thus difpofes
.O.f the follies of man, and watches over the fate of America, ought
to be expreffed the grateful acknowledgments of every friend to his
country. The Secretary of War, the Attorney- General,' the Farmer and
the Prefident, are denounced to the public in a joint charge of a
proditution of office. If the two former have been fent by the
latter, and are at hqme, in the abandonment of duty, forthe pur
poses of influencing elections (for. this-is the object affigned by fed
eral liberality) then indeed rjave- the people gporj reafon to com
plain ; the tranfaction would be derogatory to the Prefident, and
reproachful to1 his officers:- Obdinacy feems determined to make
.^impreffipns and: to difaffeft the public mind, from the alledged cir-
«cumftance. . The charge is made to the people. To that tribunal,
,to their informed,., honed and unperverted judgment, the accufed-
Fubmit themfelves--. with cheer fulnefs and confidence. The great
majority of citizens, the failed proportion of the community, have
no intereftfeparate from the general good. If the profecution is
groundfef3,an.d' malicious,, they will in their own iovereign time
and way, do juftice to its vexatious indicators. A fummary of
the ac^ufktion is, that Silas Lee, Efq. was appointed Diftrifl
Attorney to create a vacancy, and that General Dearborn has
been fent home to influence the filling it with a republican charac
ter, The facts ate, the appointment was made in purfuance of a

28 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
recommendationof feveral members of the lad C'ongrefs before they
left the city, and principally federal, among whom was one of the
Honorable Judges of the Supreme Judicial Court of this State.
If the appointment is to be cenfured as a republican meafure, it
Was a federal fault to recommend, and the acceptance of the office,
'an act of treachery to the caufe of federalifm. Neither of thefe were
•the crimes of the Prefident. If the Secretary at War fhould be in
the didrift at the election, he will have a'duty to difcharge, a priv
ilege to exercife, and none who know him, can doubt. of the fidel
ity and propriety with which he will act: Lad February he left
his family to fuperintend the erecting a public building in a fouth-
ern State,' on his way thither, he was called by the public to the
more importa-nt duties pf his prefent dation. To thefe, domedic
."arrangements and' fouthern engagements, were made to> yield. The
'public good requires the removal of his family to the feat of Gov
ernment. His indifpenfible attention to this bufinefshad been pod-
poned, from the firft of March 'to the month of Augtid. This
month and September were fel'ected for the tranfaction as the lead
inconvenient, to the public intered, and as a prudent retreat from
the feverity of heat, very trying and fometimes fatal, to northern
cohftitutions. - His predeseffor felt its' effects the laft feafon; others
ef the Government, then fought and will always feek a higher fit-
uatiorrand better1 air, for thefe months. It ufed to retreat from a
•more northern' climate, and fhelter itfelf in the country, under the
' old.Order of things. ^ But that was right,. its officers were thenfed-
"era'l." General' Dear born did not produce the heat, nor feat the
Government at the city of Wafhington. It was the doings of a
former adminidritioh, a bargain druck, the price for affuming the
State debts, a pledge of faith, which is to be refpected with un-
' retreating fanclity.
Another charge, which a wilful ignorance and party fpirit, or
an avidity to criminate, have urged againd the Secretary, is, that
before he left the feat of Government, he increafed the falary of fome
of his clerks, with information to two, that they, on his return,
mud give way to two of his friends. This is mentioned as a proof
of the promifed economy, and of republican bafenefs. But let can
dor examine with (aimed the whole tranfaction. On the commence
ment of the new adminidration, there were in the four principal
offices, upwards of one hundred clerks, with fixed compenfations,
; payable quarterly, all removeable at the pleafure of the refpefclive
Secretaries, and all federal ; none others, under the old Govern-
" mentj could be admitted, or apodatizing, could remain. Exceed-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 29
ing the credulity of the mod calculating hope, the whole have been
preferved, by the unexampled magnanimity of thefe criminated de
partments. Not a difmiffal, except one or two, under temporary
engagements, to the extra bufmel's of copying, where records had
been dedroyed by fire. It was known, from the fird, that the in
tereft and iafety of the Government, mud introduce into each
office, one or more clerks, in whom the principal could confide,-
under the fanttion andfecurityof a fimilarity of political fentiments.
But it was to be the work of wifdom and deliberation, not of pre
cipitancy and paflion. Experience was neceffary, to decide who .
to exclude, and who to admit. From the increafed expenfes of
living, and the particular fituation of the offices, the lad Congrefs,
the. old- Government, by a fpecial law. appropriated an additional
fum of money, to be apportioned among the clerks of the feveral
offices, by the difcretion of the refpective Secretaries. The gen
tlemen in the war office were all drangers to their head, and it is .
believed, all from the fouthward. It was natural and proper that
the Secretary fliould wifh for theaffidance of fome friend, acquaint- .
<d with the fituation of the eadem States, fome Yankee like our- .
•felves. On drawing the fird quarterly compenfations, there was a
petition for the appointment of the extra appropriation. , From a
deficiency in the knowledge of characters, if, could not then be
done with judgment and difcretion. On a fecond payment, the
Secretary, indead of referving the appropriated money to compen-
fate his eadem -friends for fervices they had never performed, was
guilty of complying with the law, in affigning it to thofe, to whom
it was due, as the price of their labor. For this ttanfaction, has a ,
high officer in your General Government, been aecufed, tried,
judged, condemned, and by a party fpirit, for party purpofes, held
up to view, Tan object of public cenfure, meriting the punifhment
of an official culprit. His appeal is to the people. Judge, fellow ..
citizens, on the merits of his conduct, on the characters of his ac- .
cufers, the complexion of newfpapers, equally cruel, deluded and ;
deluding. Hard is the fate of the new Government, if a faithful
compliance with the datutes of the old, is in the eyes of their enac
tors, the federal guardians of their country's laws, a, caufe of crim
inal cenfure and wanton abufe.
The charge of a difertion of duty, to the public injury, in the
Attorney General, if true, ought to "deprive him of his commiffion.
No excufes are to be made, for official neglect, or infidelity in
.office. Sinecure compenfarion, in this country, are violations of
Cz

3o LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
the genius and protecting principle of its conditutions ; and if in
dulged by their corrupting, their bufy or their idle influence, would
confign both to a lingering dedruttion. The Attorney General's
duties, as defined by law, are to profecute and conduct all fuits in
the Supreme-Court, in which the United States fhall be concerned,
and to give his advice and opinion upon quedions of law, when
required by the Prefident of the United States, or when requefted
by the heads of any of the departments touching any matters which
may concern their departments. To examine all Letters Patents
made out to the authors of new and ufeful .inventions and difcov-
eries, and if found conformable to the act made for that purpofe,
to certify the fame to the Secretary of State. And the Attorney
General is to direct the perfon, who has been appointed by the
Prefident, to act in behalf of the United States, in relation to fuch
claims as may be made againd the United States, before the com-
miffioners appointed to carry into effect the fixth article of the
treaty of amity, commerce and navigation, between the United States
»of America and his Britannic Majefty, and to counfel fuch agent,
and to attend before faid commiffioners whenever any queftion of
law or fact, to be determined by them, fhall render his affiftance
neceffary. And the Attorney General is further to employ fuch
agents in different parts of the United States, as the bufinefs before
the faid commiffioners, in his opinion, fhall make neceffary. He
is alfo confidered, with the four Secretaries, one of the PreGdent's
advifing counfel. The above, and the obligation in common to him
with all good citizens, of giving fincere and becoming fupport, , to
all the realonable meafures of government, is a fummary of his duty ;
no part of which is neceffarily confined in point of locality to the
feat of government, that of conducting the fuits in the Supreme
Court excepted. Nothing requires his condant refidence there.
In hisabfence, datements requiring legal opinions, or othermatters,
may be tranfmitted in the courfe of five or fix days to the town of
Worcejler. This is fome trouble to the Prefident and the heads of
the departments, no injury to the public, and their goodnefs and dif-
pofitions to accommodate, are prefumed to be gratified by an op
portunity, for a reafonable indulgence. Many of the incident em
ployments of the office, may as well, perhaps better, be attended to
elfewhere, than at the Federal City,
The pointed charge is, that there has been an attempt to influ
ence eiedions at home, indead of attending to the bufinefs of the
United States, at the late feffion of the Supreme Court. It ought
to be known that the laft Legiflature confidered it as very improper

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. ji
to have a feflion of the Supreme Court at Wafhington in the month
of Auguft, and that the laft Judiciary Act, fixed it in June ; but
from a miftake in the hurry and condition of a diffolving fyftem,
it failed of its object, and left one term, under the old eftablifhment.
The miftake was not difcovered until after the ridng of Congrefs.
The bufinefs of the government^ at the lad term, could not have
been great, and at the time of the Attorney General's appointment,.
his attendance at an Augud term was not expefted. It was difficult
to abandon his family and domedic concerns' for more than feven
months, which had only been arranged for an abfence of fix .weeks.
It is underftood, previous to his leaving the city, in the latter end
of May, he engaged, without any expenfe to the United States, a
gentleman, eminent in his profefflon, to do, in his abfence, at the
then next Court, the bufinefs of government ; and that this was,
on a confultation, with the madunrefervedand cordial approbation
of Judge Marshall, the Chief Judice. That the Attorney Gen
eral believes the bed iritered of the country is connected with an
enlightened, manly and deady fupport of the republican (ydem of
government, adopted by the new adminidration, is probable ; and
that under this conviction, he fhould endeavour to recommend' it
to the patronage and favor of fober-and well meaning citizens, by
an application to their reafon, their patriotifm, and to the truth of
facts, is natural. But the Farmer, though unable toaffert pofitively
(for he is not his brother's keeper) on an acquaintance with cir-
cum dances, dares to prefume, that there is not a perfon in the-
world, who can charge the accufed with foliciting votes in favour
of any one candidale ; of afking any individual to vote with him,.
of directing or influencing by intimations either to tenants, debtors,
or laborers; of even knowing, what were their political fentiments,.
or of ever having had any converfation on thefe fubjetts with them.
It is believed the accufing fpirit may be challenged on this ground.
The appeal is ferious. If other public officers have done lefe, there
is little reafon for complaint.
An apology is due to the public, for troubling them, fo long,
with an attention to individuals. It became important, only as the
ftroke has been aimed through them, on the Executive. The fote-
going fimple and plain datement of facts, are defigned to prevent
injurious impreffions. The eagernefs with which the per'verfenefs
of writers and the malignity of readers, catch at (landers, are matters
of deep regret. The Farmer laments that his endeavours to arreft
the progrefs of abufe and mifreprefentations, fhould call down on
chara&ers with whom he has no concern, and who are not to blame

32 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
for the faults which are his, the mod virulent invectives. And it
is to be remarked, that the moft outrageous, are from the pen of a
Clergyman. -Clericus, in an addrefs to the Farmer, with un
provoked wantonnefs,abufing the Prefident, Vice Prefident and a
large portion of their leading fupporters, and fattening with party
fury, on a catalogue of public newfpapers, on characters, at home
and abroad, in Europe and America, living and dead, defcencls with
accelerated rage, in a whole paragraph, on Abraham Bishop,
who ,he fays is " become the political and moral lecturer of Con
necticut and Pennsylvania." Clericus goes on " Under the
irradiations. of this illuminated mind, the darknefs of an antiquated
fuperftition is every where difappearing. His dogmas are as nu
merous zs , the vermin which feed upon him, as commanding "as
thunder, as^lucid as fun beams,- as thick as hajly., pudding." — I
meant to have recited the whole paragraph, but, it is. too-much, no
man will attempt to reply. It is invincible, inimitable — :the Fatm-
er is incapable of anfwering it — and with this acknowledgement,
he leaves it with its author,never to be ftoopedfor on any occafion.
The Farmer, in this heterogenous number, means to take his
leave of the private conduct . of individuals, and of ill-natured
newfpaper dri£tures, on perfons, chara&ers and things, which do
not connect with public meafures, and the adminidralion of our
own government. He will confine himfelf chiefly to facts and to
principles. And thefe fhall be addreffed to the fober fenfe and
plain under Aanding of .the candid part of the community, in a plain
unadorned dyle. He is not ambitious of a character as a writer.
If it was true, ,that he had written heretofore, with more reputa
tion than was jiidly his, it was not his fault, but. the reader's folly.
If facts fhould be erroneoufly ftated, principles wrongfully affum-
ed, or improperly applied, his greateft and mod ufeful friend, will
be-the one who corrects or points them out. ' Such drictufes will
be grateful, and decently noticed. The vigilance of criticifm has
marked fentiments and fentences, as faults in the Farmer. If there
are not more and greater blemifhes than thofe pointed out, he is
perfectly fatisfied. The dory of the navy yard is admitted to be
true, but it is (aid to have been told in a manner improper. Re
ferring political, obdinacy to horfes, dones, and the timber of a
/evenly four, for information, has been the fubjeft of repeated cen
fure. The author has neither wifhes, motives or feelings, drong
enough to induce an attempt ac a' defence of words, dyle or of
figures. If the defigned .ideas are expreffed, and with decency, his
object has been.accomplifhed, It has been to inform, rather than

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. '&
to pleafe, the minds of mechanical indudry, and the intereded
hufbandry of the country ; not the capricioufnefs and carpings of
cavilling criticifm. But the cenflired fentences have their models.
As great a divine, and as good a Republican as this, or perhaps any
other country" ev'er' produced", adviles to the fi'lencing of fi'mila'f ob-
dinacy, and to the confounding of its intemperate heat, clamor arid
railing, by reaforiing fird with a whirlwind, then with the Cataracts
of Niagara, next with the fiery eruptions of Vefuvius, .Strbmboli
and Aetna. Indances in point might be adduced ffdrri'the divine
Tully, who made the walls of the fenate houfe bow'in homage to
the Roman Parricide. The elegant and fublirae' Hab;akk.uk Pro-
'phefy's Demosthenes, caufed iht'flone to cry'out of the wall, ahd
'the beam out of tlie timber, to anfwer'it, with 'a woe to thofe who
build in violence arid blood, and" eftablifli their meafures' by'obdi-
ria'cy, falfehood and iniquity. By filch maders,- lepublicah's' may
'feel fupported ; from' Rich example's, Confoled; Uflde* rheTalh'of
'newfpaper paragraphs. Was it proper for the Farmer, whofe re
ligion, clerical candor haspublicly queftioned,, to prea'ch'to'critics,
and admonifh tranigreffors, he could, apropos, refer the fabricators
"of lies, the flanderers of their neighbours, the malicious .rcvilers of
'their ruler's, thededroyers offb,e peace and happinefs of their cqun-
try, the incorrigible offenders, to that awful (bene, ^hep' their af
frighted fouls, 'in difmal difmay, fhall call' on the 'rocks fo travel
~ from the mountains, and with the mountains themfelves, to fall,
and cover their guilty heads, from the eyes of an avenging God.
A FARMER; \

tsasa

TO THE PEOPLE.'... No. VI.
IT would be difficult "to trace in any. good or rational mind, an
intered, or a motive, for propagating falfehood, or for perfever-
ing in error, No man or fociety ; no party or defcription of in
dividuals, can. derive a lading and fubdantial advantage, from its
fupport. Paffioos and bafeneis, in their highed excitements, and
lowed debafeme'hfs, mayappreciale its momentary utility ; but even
they, with the blufhings of guilt, will frequently proclaim their
diffidence and diffatisfaclion, and, fo'oner or later, will yield to the
force of truth. An obyibus intered will open the eyes of the de
ceived, an enlightened and rational view, will drip management
and impbfition, of the influence which an unfufpectingcredulity_

M LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
(had given them. An error detected, will be one corrected, .and a
p»fitive and double reinforcement ^o the caufe of virtue and recti
tude. Furjous partifans, by waging an obftinate war with princi
ples, and facts, accumulate the cpmbuftables for their bvyn dedrup-
tion, : ' Their power, their influence and their refpe&ability, -mud
,from necpffity be confinec) in extent, and limited to a fhort dura*
,t?on. Inyeftigation, government, philofophy, morals and the ever
watchful principle of a public and individual intered, affunring
their native energies, will repajr the lqffes^they have fudained, and
pfogrefs to the triumphs of grandeur ahd of fovereignty,- in their
ftruggles for. freedom. Thofe who dedicate their time, their dudy
, and their property, to this important good,' will me,et',reproadl),
violence and .inful't. ' They, ought to expect it, and. that in propor
tion, .tp the magnitude of their Sacrifices, a,nd tthe fervices theyioajr
render. In civil fociety, this propenfity to abufer is .the-jhidory
of b.afe degenerate hearts. Antiquity abounds with; illudrations, ,
rnodern times have had their examples, "and enlightened America
is, now, in her .courfe of experiments, on .the wilclpm and nature of
man ; en his, capacity and aptitude for freedom, liberty and fcap.
pu-iefs. ^AYfar as fhehas^.gone, her profpects are, prorBifiri.g. Pre-
judice and pafflpn .rnay have wrefted the .fceptre from reafon, and
¦for a. moment bewildered and enthralled the publk.rnirid j- repub'-
iica^ifm nas been arraigned, and- embracery has extorted a verdict of
condemnation, yet the judgment has been arrefted, arisl the whoje
reverfed. Republicanism now await? from the great trftjunal.pf
the people, a restoration to all that (he hasiod. To fatisfy thefe
interfiling demands of judice,, wifdom is preparing her means in,
fecret, and drawing refources from a thoufend various caufes. Blind-
nefs cannot fee them, ignorance has its doubts, but nature which
has tied together, caufe and effect, and chair^ed,\heindincts and foul
of man to his prefervation and happinefs, guarantees the defirable
event. Strong principles are recognized, powerful caufesajg
crating, and the lapfe of time will crown the procefs with a
ous fuccefs.
The Farmer withdrew from the prefs, to give admjfance
others, who were faid to have been impatiently waiting/, oet ii&w
print, and whofe labors had been poftponed to thofe lqfg numbers
by which they had been excluded. The.goodnefs of tt Printer i?<
acknowledged.' In fhe Spy, during the retirement of tfjje Farmer,
the public have been addrqffed by the Citizen, re-addr^ffed *>'
Clericus, and threatened by a re-publication of Fidelis. "jTAi's : re
newed,, or cpntmued effort to create and prefer ve unreafonabls pre-

mcepo

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. gy
judices, as thS means of clogging the wheels, and embarrafling the
movements of government, was expected. Its' principles and its'
futility have been confidered. The repeated imputations of im
piety and irreligion, for political purpofes, are fo' wanton, mean arid
defpicable, as by confident federalids generally to be viewed with'.
contempt ; yet fome good people continue* to be impreffed with
them. They ought to be quieted. Clericus has picked up (lander
from common and vulgar report, and has employed himfelf in the
undignified work of fpreading it. The Citizen tells the world,
what are the-conjectures of himfelf and his federal friends, refpefcting
the religion and piety of others, and the motives of their conduct";
and, that native Americans are indignant at their adminiftration,
for the proditution of power, in the wanton removals and appoint
ments to office ; in the bribing of fcoundrel convicts, and in the
violation of the conftitution, 'by refpiting a procefs of law. An
individual, indulging to iuch grofs. ebullitions, to fuch a rhapfody
of indecency arjd outrage, on the free elected and regularly appoint
ed officers of the government, cannot expect to be noticed by the
jWople he infults ; yet may they profit,, if they wid have patience
to read the abufe, by a croud of intruding reflections. The refult
will be a conviction of the neceffity of lpirit, firmnefs and confift-
ency in the difcharge of the duty, due to the public. To apprize
the people of the exiftence Gf fuch hoftile difpofitions, and that the
rancor and the implacability of malice, in a few, are in effort' to
produce .correfpondent effects, will continue to be, with- republi
cans, an important object of attention. ', From this enmity will be
deduced invincible reafons. for good and moderate men, to uriile" in
fupport of their government, for the people's, repairing to their
pods, and being -on" their guard againd the "declared foes' to' their
peace apd happinefs'.' ' It is here repeated, that the recited declara
tions are not the language, or are they the fentiments of the enlight
ened arid refpectable federalids, in any part of the, Union. Such
language is inconfident with the avowed principles of their pad
conduct, with attachment to order, and government as fuch ; with
their political difcuffions and daily converfation. They deteft the
Tafhnefs of hatred, the' intemperate declarations of madriefs^; they
deprecate their, effects, and, are almoft in readinefs to execrate their
authors. . Men of the lea'ft.rel^'giari ufually exprefs the grpateft dif- .
tret's at its injuries. — Perfons of oftentation arid. grimace, would have
a PhariXaical gratification, by telling the world, that they are, more
pious than their neighbors, could this religious prudery be accred
ited. Such affected conceits are now well underftood, and' Have a

•3B, LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
currency in public, at their real value, When will the profeflbrs
of chridianity imbibe more of its wifdom, and correct a wicked pro-
penfity to injure others. Illiberal cenfure is a mockery of her pre
cepts, and an affront to her authority. Uncommon goodnefs fhould
keepimbowered — its' difplay on the houfe top looks fu.fpicious.
Real piety enters into her clofet, and (huts the door — the world
knows nothing of her : — Government has nothing to do with her—
piety is a private affection, an exercife of the foul, noticeable alone
by that omnifcient Being whofeeth infecret. Oftentatious difplays
are its exact counterparts, and are confidered only as the hypocritical"
affumptions and, whining" cant of empty pretenders. The religion
ofthe heart fhould be left by politicians, where government, reve
lation and its author have placed it ; wifh its individual profeffor,
and the object of his homage and fecret devotions. " Who art thou,
O man, that fudged another !" Is there a patent right from the
chancery of heaven for the arrogant prefumption ? Or does a pro-
feffional fupercilioufn'efs, or the littlenefs of a felf -conceit create the
whifpers of a political or a facerdotal competency ? — Chridianity
heifelf excepts to the jurifdiclion. The matter isexclufively with
in the province of. Omnipotence. Its uniform is charity. Have
chriftians nothing to do at home, that they are meddling fo much
abroad,' with the concerns of other people's faults? Thefe inquifi.
torial dribblers, who, on'ev'ery occafion, are quedioriing.the faith
of others, are not known, and if they were, the public could have
no motive to fpend a thought on them, or the fubject. The gov
ernment has no rieed of friends who are too religious to be good
citizens, who would arm a willing blindnefs, a jefuitical, or a dupid
fuperftition, againft its adminiftration. Such foes muft be feeble,
and their weapons truly defpica'ble. Defperate indeed muft be a
caufe, and forlorn the combat, which are conftahtly reinforcing
from the darked, and meaued, of the human paffions. It is fiu>
prifing, that thofe whofe hearts are full of abhorrerfceof fuch raifer-
able arts, fhould for the fake of a favourite purpofe, by their filence,
give them a negative Countenance. This detedable expedient is
peculiar to one, part of the union : The other, does not proditute
religion, by afting a part in the play of hypocrites. What is the
criterion ? Where is theiribunal? Who is the umpire to decide?.
As party enmity may criminate, an intriguing ambition may re
proach the bed of characters, with a want of piety ; the accufed
may retort, but can never defend. The hypocrite may fad every
day, for a pretence make long prayers, pay tithes of more than he
polTeffes, make clean the out fide of the cup, call bis neighbors hari

is

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 37
nsmes, infidels, heretics, enemies to God and his religion, and de
nounce them to the public as hateful to heaven, obnoxious to its
wrath, and detedable to man. A fpirit of perfecution being thus
•excited, darknefs will cloud the minds of men, wretchednel's will
overtake them, they will dedroy and torture*each other, until their
mifery is complete, and focietyand government become a curfe.
The evils of a persecuting fpirit are to be deprecated. Why this
federal folicitude to bring the officers of the federal government to
a religious ted ? The federal conftitution, with defign, forbids it.
Federalids (hould acquiefce in its prohibitions. Todojudice, to
love mercy, walk humbly, fear God and to honor the government,
k all the religion it requires. Is a political meafure lefs ufeful, if
projected by an unbeliever in the creed of a political feet ? Are
principles lefs important, if applied by a hand not confecrated ? Are
truths lefs oppofed to falfehood, if uttered by the worfhippers of
one God, as the creator, the moral and righteous governor of th«
world ? Is government lefs ableffing, lefs edimable, lefs protecting,
lefs grand, lefs divine,lefs maiked with proofs of its heavenly origin,
for being no refpector of religious peculiarities, in its fubjefts, and
the varying modes of fpeculative faith ? Is the federal conftitution
to be reprobated, and the wifdom and piety of its framers calumni
ated, for thofe fublime principles, which lift it to a heavenly height,
above the groveling dogmas of a bigoted party, and the degraded
redrictions of a political hypocrify ? To have piety, to have faith,
and to have them to ourfelves, feems to be equally a precept of
chridianity, and a principle of the federal government. Fellow
citizens, confider the circum dances under which an attempt is
made to prejudice you againd the officers of government, from the
charge of irreligion. The tales and the nonfenfe which have been
told you, of obfervations on meeting-houfes, temples and altars, are
infamous fallehoods, originating in corruption, and propagated by
bafenefs. The Notes on Virginia fpeak for themfelves — read them,
and then determine, whether the writer, or thofe who are endeav
ouring to perveit them to. his and yout injury, are mod deferving
of your confidence, edeem and fupport. The time is coming
when the liberal and tolerant fpirit which they breathe, and which
the gofpel inculcates, will prevail, when brother will ceafe to
anathematife brother, in aid pf an incenfed and furious party in pol
itics. Ill-natured and unfounded charges are eafily made. It is eafy
for the Citizen to fay on. paper, "'that native Americans are indig-
D

£8 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE;
tnant at their adminiftration, that removals have been wanton-; —
appointments unprecedented ; — thatmoney hasbeen given to fcoun-
drel convicts, as a reward for their friendfhip ; — that the confti
tution has been violated by a fufpenfion of a profecution ; — and that
high wrought injuries have been committed on the rights, privi
leges and liberties of the people." This repetition is made, that the
.declar?tions might be impreffed and remembered. It is eafy, .thus,
to retail flanderous fragments, taken on credit, from thewholefale
¦dealers of fuch fancied articles ; but it would occafion the dare of
Attention, ftiould the Citizen undertake to prove the violation of
the Conditution, from the direction of a noli projequi — and an in
jury lo the privileges of the people from the exercifes of a dele
gated difcretion in purfuance of their wifhes. Republicans may
ihe affured that the Citizen will never attempt it.
As the feverifh heat, which has been apparent in the papers for
a few weeks pad, is evidently abating. As recent events"hav'e
produced neither hodileefforts,nor apathizedacquiefcence ; neither
lethargy and repofe, or hurry and action ; but an intereded atten
tions and an enciteraent of feeling peculiarly favorable to ufeful dif-
cuffions ; the prefent is the time to addrefs the underdandings of
well meaning citizens. The bigotry and the idolatry of former
meafures are now numbered with the exploded follies of pad times.
Liberty and patriotifm undifmayed, by the terrors of oppreffive
profecutions, no longer looks about for a faneluary to hide in ; their
voice is no longer heard in the afflicted and affrighted tones of per-
fecuted innocence. The exiding date of things gives energy to
character, and invites to the exercife of-reafon, to invedigation and
a freedom of fpeech, fubject to no o.ther redrictions, than what de
cency, uprighthefs, manlinefs, a love of truth, a love of country,
religion and the date laws, enjoin. The rights of all are equally
refpected. It is not true, that the new adminiftration flirink frorri.
public infpection. They court one, founded on fact, and conduc
ted with fairnefs. They wifh not to be exempted from fcruiiny,
pretend not to an exemption from error or miftakes ; — complain
not of a juft and reafohable jealoufy, or of cenfure, if merited. They
afk not for an implicit faith ; they fubmit to an impartial trial ;
invite to vigilance, and a manly and critical examination of their
principles and meafures, and defire they may be tefted, with truth
and policy, with the genius and principles of the federal conditu
tion, with the maxims and provifion of the' date governments,
guaranteed republican, by the aggregated power of the whole. But
railing againft the government, is not reafoning. Hard names are

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 39*
not fird principles. Enmity to individuals, from private motives,
Is not a refpectfor conftituted authority. Stigmatizing, with the'
charge of anarchifm, deifm, atheifm, jacobinifm, are not proofs of
fact's, nor a difcuffion of the principles of government ; they are a
mean addrefs to the meaned of pa ffions. Such arguments can be-
equally employed by both parties. They are difgraceful to thofe
who urge them ; an infult to thofe who are addreffed by them, and<
proving lefs than nothing — republicans difdain to ufe them.
That there are violent, intemperate and unprincipled perfons in
the country, unreafonably oppoled to the new adminidration, feems
to be admitted, by a fenfible writer in the Palladium, under the figv
nature of Quintilian ; yet he complains mod bitterly that fuch-
a circumflance fliould be pointed out to the public attention. It
has not been dated, by the writer of this number, to what extent
this oppofltion exids ; he has defcribed it by no appropriate name,
made no ufe of the terms offenfive to Federalifts, Old Tory, Mon-
archid, Ariftocrat, Effex Junto, &c.- — He has pointed at no in
dividual ; indulged to no perfonalities ;— to no expreffions of dif-
refpect towards particular officers of the old government ; — lie has-
held private character and conduct, religious opinions, and mete7
theories, even in politics, as facred. The aflual meafures, and the
practical politics of parties ; the principles-, the meafures and the
objects of government, have been his objects ; yet he has been called
. by many hard, many harmlefs names, and been reminded of the
danger of looting the good. will and e deem of his federal friends. —
This.would be felt as a ferious evil : But as great and didreffingas-
would be the affliction, if the price of their prefervation is a dere
liction of duty, fentiment and principle, and the. liberty of com
municating them, he is prepared to meet the misfortune. Thelols^-
Compared with the alternative, would., be lefs than -a mote driven
away, by an agitated atmofphere in a dormy night. Experiencing,
however, in his own heart, neither deficiency or diminution of
edeem or friendfhip towards thofe who hold and maintain fentiments^
oppofed to his, he hefitates to believe, that a fimilar circumdance
can have a diffeient product on the opinions and affections of oth
ers. In any event,,in purfuance of an original defign, he fhall, as-
apportunity and leifure permit, with faithfulnefs and firmnefs, and-
he truds, with a becoming decency, fubmit facts, principles and;
obfervations, on parties and government, to the fober difcretion and
candor of his fellow citizens*
A FARMER..

( 40' - )

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. VII.
WHENEVER individuals differ their reafon to be indructeo?
by their pafdons, they will certainly go adray. Thefe
blind and furious guides, will hurry their votaries intb the miry
ditch, and mark their courfe,. through devious and dirty paths,
where greatnefs is never feen, and prudence never treads. The
foreign incentives to anger, refentment and revenge, are numerous -r
but there are, who court degradation, mifery and wtetchednefs, and
facrifice to fparks of their own enkindling. The natural excite
ment, o-ccafioned by the lofs of darlirg objects, by the defeat of
favorite meafures, through the agency, or with the mere wifhes of
others, are ufually too much for the patience of pride andof am-
bition ; — too great for the fufferer's mind. When, with this fenfe
of defeat, is afl'ociated, in contemplation, the idea of a lofs of polit
ical confequence, in any view of the fubject, and of this confequence
being transferred, as a matter of advantage, pleafentnefsj or gratifi-
va:ion,to thofe who may have contributed to produce the morti-
f. ni)\ change, the revelled becomes intolerable. Chagrin and dif-
if [-ointment corrode night and day. The interefted advocates for
a power, patronage, and benefice, which they have loft, can no
longer gaze upon the heavenly afpeci of government, as of divine
right, and a.» the confoling forerunner of perfonal aggrandizement.
The people's happinefs, their confequence, and their liberties, are
in the way, and oppofe formidable barriers, to the cravings of an
avaricious rapacity, and to the ademptions of arrogance. "Theop-
pofers of ambition, and of malicious, perfidious, falfe, and vindic
tive danders, aie feveiely afperfed. The friends to Republicanifm
;md to the adminidvation, to the riglTfs and privileges of the people,
are feen with pain by their adverlaries. They cannot endure a
word, a drawl, or a fcrap, in judication of the exiding govern
ment. The voice and the pen, of a Republican, if employed in
fupport of the condituted authorities, and their meafures, areodious
to certain Federalifts, and by them inftantly decried and execrated.
Their minds madden into defpevation, at the promifing profpectsof
their opponents. Their pride fickens at the fight. Their reafon
being prodrated, and all that is great, difcreet, and falvable, being
diffipated ; in this cruel tyranny of the paffions, they are urged on
to a ruinous, a blind, or an unavailing druggie, to create embar-
raffments, or to produce a change. That perlons of limited views,
of violent, overbearing and unaccommodating habits and difpofitjons

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE'. 411
fhould- be thus betrayed, is not furprifing ; but that they fhould
derive a condrufiive aid, from ability, learning, and the fciences, is
matter of ferious lamentation. If thefe rough propenfities, un-
chaftifed by any kind of difcipline, unchecked by the reftraints of
common deeency, unawed by a refpect for the reputation, and the
feelings,. of the party with which they act, are cherifhed by reafon-
ing principals, and refpectable leaders, the mifchiefs muft be great — >-.
may be boundlefs ; — the wreck of every thing valuable, and the
acquirement of what alone the word of paffions can atchieve. Bad
propenfities grow worfe, and drengthen its habits, by indulgence*
In. this depravity of human nature, are traced the caufes, and tha
origin, of the late outrageous, and accumulated attacks on theper-
fons, and the arrangements of the* new adminidration. The mif-
chief was brooded, before their actual induction into office, and the
clamor commenced before an act of theirs reached the public no
tice. Every informed man, every honed man, every wife, enlight
ened and honed principled Federalid, mud 'fee the dangers of this
mad extravagance ; fee an injury to themfelves and country, arid
feel difgraced at the ill-tirned rafhnefs. It is theirs to dem this
tide of vulgar abufe ; to hold in check thefe depredations of vio
lence and rancor— the flanderous tongues of malevolence, on the
well meant, and falutary actions of their rulers. It is theirs, by
examples, by doctrine and by precepts, to indrucl and to influence
the lefs informed, and -the more prejudiced ; the lefs tutored, and
the more untraclable,. .to a reafonable and a becoming confidence in
Government, and to a decent refpect for the high officers of the
people's choice. From fo refpectable, and- fo pleating a writer, as
is the reafoning Quinti lianj in many relpects, this office of
patriotiim, duty and decency, might have been expected, ,in favor-
of .the lower claffes, in the Federal fchool. From the character of
the- great mafter, whole name he has borrowed, to appear abroad in,
there was reafon to hope for a purity of dyle, and an example for
imitation ; — for perfect correitnefs in thought, word and deed. No
obfervations will be made, at prefent, on the beauty, purity and el
egancy ; or on the-patriotifm,, utility and tendency, of the perfonal
application. of general terms o f reproach, to the fird. officers in the
Union' ; none, on: the propriety, judice and candor of calling
thorn*, -with tbe.great body of the Republicans, indifcnminatejy,"
'*s\facobin$,"\ " Tyrants: in grain," "unrelenting, intokrant^per-
fecuiing" "democxats, debafed in foul," ," traitors, demagogues,
bards rwjttis! andJirmies'i'j <y If the above are fpecimens pf " addieffing
D 2

4« LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
truth, with good humour, and decency, to the judgment, and not
to the paffions, of the citizens," in the idea of the Palladium wri
ter, his underdanding of an indecorous difplay of ill humour, muft
be fomethihg truly diftreffing. Do Federalifts, generally, with a
redundancy of reproach, with invective generalized, delight to affail
the freely elected, and conftitulionally appointed, officers of ihe
general government ? Are they impatient to infult the great, and
increafing. majorities of citizens, by whofe agency thefe officers were
chofen ? Are the pacific, and the well difpofed, of Newengland,
pleated, by being exhibited to view, by Federal writers, as delight
ing in calumny, and as raileft at their rulers ? From an avidity for.
reproachful terms, are the people of Maffachufetls, the Federalifts
of Worcefter county, feverally, and as a body, affociated with their
addreffor, in that full chorus of abufe, which fwells his columns,
againd Federal Republicans. No, this feet are divided, the violent
are few, they are diffatisfied with themfelves, their numbers are re
duced, and are hourly decreafing. The refidueare moderate, begin
lo fufpeft, and are candidly inquiring. Will Quintilian him
felf, on reviewing leflections, deliberately judify a great liberality,
in vulgar invectives, and in the criminations of abdrael terms of
infamy and difgrace ? Is he not a writer of too much refpectability
to adduce them, as arguments, or a fubditution for proofs ? As
fuch, they have no force, no point. Are they defigned as rheto
ric ; — the ornaments of lpeech, flowers culled from the choiceft fe-
lection of that immortal matter, under whofe name they are claiming
a currency ? Our writer, furely, has trefpafled on himfelf: Has
hurried on beyond his intentions. From the fame .fountain, there
iffue not both fweet and bitter waters. In his fourth number, fpeak
ing of bafenefs, lying and detraction, he fays, they will be, "avowed-
and vindicated by no one ;" — and of Federal Republicans, by
which terms he means to defcribe Federalifts,. he tells us, " they
are unwilling to hear any cenfure thrown on the adminiftration of
government, and fcarcely lejs willing to have it, on invejiigation,
turn out to be well founded." Thefe are excellent fentmients, and'
would do honor to real Republicans. Are they the fentiments of
Federalifts ? Or are they thrown out, as an atonement for fomething;
pad, or to procure a difpenfalibn. for fomething to come, as a paff-
port, to facilitate the paffagfe of What the author knew to be contra-'
band. If he has defcribed his own d'ifpofition, it confirms the re
mark above, that he has faid things he did not mean— with Feder-,
alids of fuch a temper, Republicans havene contemtion : They both
have but one object, and they can fcarcely differ about thejrreans of
cbtaining it.

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.

43

The Farmer appears to Quintilian, '-' furprifingly bewildered
and beclouded," dealing in li dark layings," metaphyseal, without
ingenuity; — often flourifhing, wiihout ever riling ;. with a dyle
inflated and confuted ; not precife, indefinite, deficient in fimplicity
and force ; — difficult to be underdood ; intrenched deeply inrgenex-
al propofitions, which are incapable of being explained, applfed/or
confuted, without the exercife of patience and bard ftudy." In.
this unintelligibility, this confufion of language, and implexity of-
ideas, is feen an apology for the mod perfpicuous fentiments of the
Farmer, being fo often mifreprefented and perverted. The patience
and hard ftudy, to which Quintilian has, with fo much readi-
nefs, fubjected himfelf, is, undoubtedly^ proofs of his. patriotifm,
and of his claims to attention, from public gratitude. There will
be found, urrqueftionab-ly, in the numbers he is examining, much
caufe for the cenfure of a critic. He has written one piece, and-
promifed us a fecond,. in cenfuring the Farmer, for a fentiments
which he never expreffed. Speaking of the principles of feventy*.
five, which were once the boaft of the people,, it was faid, they, if
left to operate, " would ranfom freedom a fecond time, from the*
hands of the aflailant." By the miftake of the Printer, opulent is-
ufed, inftead of affailant^ which, was corrected in. his next paper,
but which was probably unnoticedifey the cenfurer. The facts are,.
the Farmer's numbers were fent to the prefsrin a* bad hand,, were
written in a worfe, and for obvious reafons, went out to the public,.
without the author's inflection of the proof fheets. Under thefe-
circumftances, miftakes and inaccuracies, are of courfe. Critics
complain of them: The Printer is not to blame, the furprife isr
that thefe have been no- more. A paper printed* at Wafhington,.
ufually correft,, in taking the fecond number, from the spy, com
mitted eight, in a fingle paragraph, and.copiedone. -The Farmerv-
ftands refponfible to- the public, not to critics, for the refiduum,.
after the tranferiber, and the printer,, haye refpeetiyely felefited thofe-
which are theirs. In inftanees, the fenfe of the writer has been ma
terially changed. Irreligion, in the fourth number, following the
words criminations of, is ufed. inftead of the word religion, as it
flood, in- the original ; unmeaning, .for meaning, which occafioned
an italicized repetition of it by Cler icus in his fecond. addrefs —
and in the-cldfe ofthe fame number, Washington furvived, for
WASMiNGTO-N'syimiiu,:. In the fifth number, and firft para
graph, for it was. known, read knew, and in the laft paragraph of*
the f; m : number, indead of the Prophefi.es, Demosthenes, &c»
whichjis unintelligible, read. P/opkety's Demosthenes. A-nsk-

44 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
tice of the above material errors appeared more opportune and ne
ceffary, as the critical remarks, on their corrector, are now repub.
Killing, at fhe author's fpecial requeft, in the Worcejtpr Gazette.
Quintilian faw much hidden meaning and terror, in the firft
recited midake, the mere accidental error of the prefs. In the mo
ments of his own alarm, he hurries to apprize the wealthy people
of the county of Worceder of the impending danger ; — of war's
being declared againd them, for the purpofe of didributing their
fubdance, like the fird reformers of France, " to the heroes who -
have pulled down American Badiles." He tells- them, that the
opulence of Newengland, being the tyrant foe, out of whofe hands
property is to be fnatched, and federal wealth being the threatened.
enemy, every body knows Jacobin knavery and beggary, .are to
have the promife of the prize money. Comments are unuecefiary.
Quintilian accufes of hade in theattempt to- vindicate the
government, and its officers, againd the vile, wicked, falfe, malici
ous and cunningly contrived afperfions to which they had been
fubjected. Of this crime the accufer (lands more than acquitted.
No one fufpects him of being criminal. It is believed to be the
lad fault he will be ever guilty of. His refentments toothers, for
the endeavor, will forever exculpate him. In a hurry, and. am
bitious of an oppofite merit, and always prepared to remit every
fact, argument, deduction, and candid prefumption in favor of the
prefent adminidration, he challenges the_Farmer,to meet him, on
thefe topics, in the field of inquiry. The invitationis declined.—-
No fatisfaclion, or advantage can relult, from. a controverfy's be--
coming perfonal, with a gentleman, however refpectable, who in
dulges to the ufe of hard names, and is in the habit of applying
them, indifcriminately, to all whomay differ from him, as to jaco
bins, "from the chief of them, down through, the Farmer, to the
vermin ofthe Chronicle." 'Befides. challenges are terrific prognoti
tics ; they imply a contemptforthe adverfary, a.fenfe of injury, and;
a Goliah like JiruBure of per/on, power, and weapon. Such a pre
luding difplay of drength difheartens. The combat mud appear;
to the challenger Unequal; the weapons unequal -,t — he a ppearsitw
be a man of war, drilled in the ufe of implements not \' vulgar.,?!
and (hielded, to the very heel, by being unknown. He -fays the
Farmeris known — abounds with . vulgarifms — parades without
moving — flourifhes without rifin'g ; — -of .this, the reader mud.de-'
cide : The writer makes no appeal; He claims the ufe of no other
advantage, and withes for no other documents, than plain reafon
and common fenfe; for' no other weapons,, than. the fling and. tha

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE".. 45
frone picked" up in the fimple and ordinary walks; of rural life.
With thefe, he would inform Quintilian, he (hall be occafion-
ally abroad in ^'the field," with his fellow countrymen. Any mil-
takes he may commit, either in preparing the foil, in feeding, or in
'cultivation, fhall be indantly corrected, ontheir being pointed out*
Should Quintilian follow him, as heretofore, he will be at
tended to with candor ; but with a. mixture of pleafure,. advantage
and regret. Quintilian has been laboring in the field of poli
tics particularly for the benefit of the citizens in the County of
WorcSfter, and-it is prefumed^efpecially with a view to republi
cans; for "the whole need not the phyfician." It is to be lamented,.
that he fhould judge it neceffary for the protection of his fydem,
to plant about it ibmany prickly thorns. They create a prejudice,.
and difgud attention. Opprobrious names are always forbidding^
If high toned Federalifts were generally underdood and their ob
jects known, the controverfy would foon end in the triumphs of
republicanilin. That they may be read, and read with attention, is,
the fincere wifli of , ,k A FARMER..

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. VIII.
Lj'KOM civility and refpect for the talents of the writer under the-
fignature of Quintilian,. from duty to myfelf, from the dan
gers of prejudices, and. imp-refdons, by his bold and impofing af-
iumptions, from his artful attempt to difplay, cover, and lead on,
his federal columns, by a parade, anda flourifh ofthe Wash i not oh
colours, and as a rear guard to what I have truly advanced, it feems
proper to look back on the ground we have paffed, and lo weed
from the field, the tares which have been town. Quintilian,
in his third number, fuperabundant in affuming, groundlefs in his
affertions, and with the overflowings of federal bitternefs, quarrel
ling with himfelf and his friends, for not having quarrelled fooner
with a fpeech, which the world are admiring, dates the fird prin
ciples of their fydem, the date from which they argue, the foun
dation on which they build, mean to repofe, and which are known,.
and, having been illudrated, as he fays, by a twelve years' experi
ence, have covered the federalifts wiih glory : This fydem he tells
us, is the Washington fydem ; is federalifm itfelf,and that their
principles are thofe of virtue and common honedy : That, they are
contained' in Washington's farewell addrefs; and that, if tlje

46 LETTERS TO' THE, PEOPLE.
new adminiftration faithfully adhere to thofe, which have raifed the'
country from difgrace, to honor arid fafety, indead of a fydem which
will fubject federalifts to experience a change, from-.a condition of
things which cannot be changed for the better. and wilt reform them-.
out of their peace, independence, tranquility, wealth and profperi-,
ty ; — then, &c. &c. 'This attempt to confound things which will;
forever remain dlftinct, and to fteai excluhve aid from a common,
dock, is a proof of drits and aimpoverifhment. Do federalids believe-,,
are they ferious in iaying, they are quarrelled with, perfecuted, and
have loft popular confidence, for adhering to a- fydem of govern^
ment approbated by Washington, and for venerating, in his;
character, thofe great and leading principles, for which he was moft
diftinguiihed ? "Or is it, to put high queftions of firet, and of prin
ciples, into the keeping of a'prejudice in the public mind, of their
own exciting ? We very well underftand the defign in charging
republicans with oppofition to Washington's fydem, and the-
principles of his conduct. It is changing the real quedion, and by
afalfe affuroptioh, calling to the aid of federalifts, a name, which is
to be a fpell, conflantly operating in their favor. The wifdom, th%j
integrity, the patriotifm, and beneficent intentions of the American?
Patriot, will never be queftioned. Notwithftanding, republieans(
are not in the habits of receiving for con ftitutional doctrines, the;
comments of man : They embrace with approbating admiration, the
great and falutary leading fentiments,' expreffed in this addrefs ; and
cone more, than the writer of thefe numbers. But is bis. fyflerr/
exclufively the fydem of federalids ? Both parties claim him as
theirs. Republicans accufe neither his principles, or the meafures
which were fairly and honeftly his, tefting them, by comparing him-
with himfelf. They have always diftinguifhed between the refutt-
of his own, deliberate opinions, and acquiefcences produced by in
trigue, impofition and mifreprefentation ; between alternatives
adopted as the means of preferving an union^.and,. terms, with a vi-
oleht party, in and out of the cabinet, and the felf-produced andj
(bund expreffions of his own judgment. We dwell reluctantly on..
this delicate ground. The criterions. of right and wrong,.truth and1
falfehood, are eafily found. To find them, we need not, with the
fpirit of a party, examine the deeds of the deadj or v ith a temper.
of controverfy, the principles, and the motives of meafures, adopted'
under the preffure of circumftances, which time and gratitude may
have confecrated. It would be like entering into the holy of holies.
If retiring federalifm feeks a fhelier in the tombs of the deceafedj.
^there let them, reft. To follow them would be like purfuing -a lift!

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 47
refort, to a fanctuary of fancied fafety ; like conflicting with detected
error, while clinging to the homs of a protecting, altar. Much
rather had we ted; the conduct and principles of federalids, with
the maxims and firft principles of our republican conditutions, with'
the genius and fpirit of our general government. Man is frail.
One generation paffeth away, another cometh; but truth, princi
ples ancf nature abide forever. Befides, we are not agreed, and
.never (ball be, in -what was the Wafhington fydem, at a particular
period. That itfelf, may have altered, changed with men, and
changed with time. We are agreed, that he has left us, and carried
with him, for fafe depofite in his father's houfe, the glorious
trophies of a well fpent life. There let them remain, fecure
from the moth and rud of corroding factions, and the pilfer
ing felonies of an intriguing party. For the ufe of republi
cans, he has left excellent examples, worthy of himfelf, an illuftri-
oustranfcript of a wojaderful man. We review with delight the
prominent ingredients of, his venerated character, the adonifhing
hidory of this modern prophet. Federalids (ay. he was theirs, the
•fuppor.ter of their politics, and the projector of their meafures, as
¦oppofed to republicans. Fellow citizens, you are afperfed. In
examining the fydem of modern federalifm, and the grounds on
which republicans cenfure, it is found to be fpurious : — In com
paring it with Washington's to be contrafted ; — apocryphal.
^His, was republican. His firft, and a long career, was republican,
without a (pot, and with fo much clear and tranfmitting fplendor,
as to hide the doubtful, pf his declining life. We hang with pride
on his numberlels excellencies, and haying an apology for his im
puted failings, we may venture to praife and to cenfure, as truth
directs. Thej-evolutionary principles and meafures of Washing
ton, were truly, American, they were republican. They were,
and they are, the principles of his furviving co-patriots of the an
cient dominion. On the topics of his unequivocal praife we would
willingly be extravagant, were it poffible. In the incidents of his
early life, the fable of antiquity would have feen indications of re
publican greatnefs ; the fure omens of their future inftalment, in
the providence which denied to him a child, the defign of making
him the parent of a nation. Family, perfon, property — thefe gifts
of fortune would have been loft in competition with intellect, the
chaftifed expanfions of a foul, devoted to a country's ufe. Fdr-
tunate man ! Thefe were his. Wifdom'slamp, always bright on
the altars of freedom, fhew to him her paths, through a revolution
of perils, A provident forefight kd hirnj by the hand, to the

:jS LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
- . - ,J'
means of fafety. The expedients of patriotifm were feafonably
his. Againd fecret defignsand open outrage, he was then equally
fhielded.' To erifnaring avarice, and the audacities of ambition,
to the mercenaries, and the mercilefs affailents, he oppofed conftan-
•cy, firmnefs, himfelf. Republicanifm, republicans, an invincible
phalanx, in the caufe of virtue. -Such were the energies which'
baffled Britifh hodilities, and the 'more fecret machination's of in-
fidious traitors. Thefe mud be our Wources in future trials. — -.'
Ufurping cowardice has been the fugitive of I heir power ; domi
neering infolence, their hopelefs prifoner. Such have been the
achievements of republicans ; fuch the glory of their leader. His
fufpending prudence exhaufted the hope of our enemy ; their in-
thralling perfeverance, wafting the pride, and checking and de-
ftroying the "enemy's power, ga*ve to America her peace and inde
pendence. The end and the means, the leader and the led, were
all' republican.
The greatnefs of his private and civil life, and the fplendorof his
rhilitary, were equally-republican. Literary ihftitutions may have
been. proud of their children ; but he, felf taught, and felf formed,'
had as his patron Prudence hcrfelf. In the lchool of experience,
he was led to reflect, and by the exercife of method, he ftudied na
ture. He had for his inftructor, the Maker of the world, and learn-
-ed from its characters, the economy of life. The food of his mind
w>s nature's manna. The fpring that he drank from was practicaS
fcience. He dared to think, and he dared to know. His mind
fought for truth, and yielding to her precepts, in fpile of its pre
judices, rofe'to greatnefs,' by its native exertions. Practical philo-
fophy was juft to her Ton ; and practical republicanifm gave fame
to its patron. His letters, like the Commentaries of Csefar, writ
ten on the fpot, are the annals of republicanifm. His obfervations
on common occurences were the leffons of prudence, the pieceptsof,
caution. His public addreffes are the dogmas of reafon, the max
ims of wifdom. The goddnefs of his head, united with the good-
nets of his heart, formed his greatnefs. In the inveftigations and
discriminations of men and things, a power of fufpending, and call
ing to the aid of a fteady judgment, his own, and the experience ol
others, performed the work allotted to genius. Until the ill-fated
period ofthe Britifh treaty, republicans were the poffelTors of his
confidence; with republicans he repofed his ftrongeft hopes', hit
deepeft folicitudes, and the fequeftered fentiments of a retired heart.
A character thus originating, thus progrefling, thus trained, thusl
•affociated; thus rifing, and thus rifen, muft from neceffity hav«'

LETTERS TP THE PEQPLE. 49
fiyed, a, republican, and in heart, have died one. From what de
tached part of Washington's. life, or, his adminiftration, does
Quintilian think to derive a countenance for federal rrieafures,
•as oppofed to republicariT By what particular att, induced by in
fluence, is to be changed the tenor and complexion of all the reft ?
Is it his feleclion in aid of himfelf,'and as neareft to himfelf, theex-
ifting Prefident ? Is, it his tender of office to another republican,
high in influence ? Or his having fent to France, as minifter, gov
ernor Munroe ? Or' is it his early partiality to the great Republic ?
Up to thefe periods, the moft fairly marked, the' modimportant,
and the moft JUuftrative of a conftitutionalfyftem, of fincere and
uninfluenced fentiments, republicans refer themfelves to the Wash
ington fydem, ,and would willingly be teded by it. It is not
neceffary, in quedioning the principles of federalids to derogate
fr.om fhe^me'o/ WASHitfGTON;' Oppofition to one, is not op-
pofition fo the other, but the r everfe. It enforces" the injunctions
of his parting, addrefs ; it recommends the tranfactions of bis- life,
as examplesf or imitation." Trie duties' of obedience and fubmiflion
to the. con.ftitutidrial arrangements of the people ; of refpect foraui
thority and the officers of government ; of a reafonable confidence
and a becoming acquiefcehce ; of difcounteharicing didriid, clamor,
calumny and difunion,. were themes 'on -wfhichhe dwelt, afidwhich
he enforced by the'practical exhortations of his whole life. : In this"
he was truly" republican. Are federal papers, and "federal ¦writers}
abufing the Prefident and all thpfe lately introduced intd authority,;
defaming their perfons and reproaching their meafures in conforta'i
ity to the Washington fydem, and in purfu'anse of his'farewell
addrefs?' For once, fellow citizens, make the reference, rurt" the
comparifon, arid draw the' conclufions. Headdreffes you iij'rhe
following words : — "Interwoven is the love of liberty with-euejry
ligament of yournearts." "The unity of gbyerhmtfnt' "which: !cd»&
ftitutes you one people is alfo dear to you. It is juftly-fd-; for- "it
is. a .main pillar in the edifice of your real independence^ ; ^he fiip-
pprt of your tranquillity -at home, your peace abroad ';" of yen**
fafety; of your prosperity ; of that very liberty- which -you -fd
highly prize. But it is eafy to forefee,' that' from different fiaufe*
apd 'from, different, quarters,, m'uch pains will be' taken, rnany'iartii
fices! difpiayed to weaken ih your minds thetonv'ictlon'df this
truth: as this ( is a. point 'in your political foitrefs,1 againft which
the. batteries of internal'arld.exteTtiaf enemies will'be'mdft condsnt*
y and actively (though often covertly and inddioufly}- directed, it

s-o LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
is, pf infinite moment, that you fhould, properly eftimate the 1m-
raenfe value of your, national union, to your collective and indi
vidual happinefs ; that you fhould cherifh a. cordial, habitual arid
immovable attachment to it ; accuftoming yourfelves to think and
to-fpeak of it as of the palladium of your political fafety and prof-
perity;, watching for its prefervation with jealous anxiety ; dif-
countenaricing whoever may fugged even a fufpicion that it can in
any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning upon ,the fird
ckwningrof every attempt to alienate any portion of our country
from the reft, or to enfeeble thefaered ties which now link together
the various parts."—" In contemplating the caufcs which tnay dif-
Jurh our union, it occurs, as malter of ferious concern, that any
ground fhould have been furnilhed for characterifing parties by ge
ographical dilcriaiinations — Northern and Soutlicrn, whence de
signing men may endeavpr to excite a belief, that there is a real
difference of local intereft and view,s. One of the expedients of
party to acquire infliaence, within particular diftricts, is to" mif-.
reprefent, the qpinions.and airris of o (her diftricts. You cannot
sjhfeld: yourfelves tojq muijh. againft the jealouties and heart burnings
yrhich.jfpririg' from thefe, mifreprefentalions ; they tend to render
cjilien to-each other,. thofei who, pught to be, bound together by fra
ternal .affection. This government, the offspring of your own
choice^ uninfluenced and unawed, adopted on full inveftigation and
piia/tore deliberation, compie'tely free in its principles ; in thedifiri- •
batidnof its jjowers, uniting fecurily with energy; and containing
JfrithAnt itfeif, a provifion for its own amendment, , has a juft claim
to.jyowr confidence and your fupport. Refpect for its authority,
eoppliance .with its laws, acquiefcence in its meafures, are duties
enjoined, by the fundamental maxims of trueliberty. The bads of
ohit- political- fyftems- is the right of the people to make and to alter
Uheir.cesift^tiytiqns of government. — But the conftitution which at
any ttftf exjfts,, until changed by an explicit and authentic act of
the ^!afe;pepple, is (acredjy obligatory upon all."* — " All obdruc-
tk>ni> lo the.eHecutionpf the laws, all combinations, and affociations
fcrtder whatever, plau dble character, with the' real defign. to dire£L
cpntrpl„<:.ountera& or awe 'the regular deliberation and action ofthe
«pnditutfcd (authorities, are dedrucllyeof thjs fundamental principle,3
and q{ fatal wndency ; they ferve to organize faction ; to give if
aft artificial and an extraordinary force ; to. putjn the place of the
Afeg^ed wjU4p.f the nation, the will of a partv,' often a'tmall but
artful and eriterprifing minority of the community; and,' according
to the alternative triumph of different parties, . to make the public

LETTERS. TOt.THE;PEOPLE. 5»
adminiftration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous pro
jects of faction, rather than the organ 'of confident and wholefome
plans, digefted by common councils, and modified by mutual in
tereft." — " As a very important fourceof ftreriglh and iecurity,
.cherifh public credit ; one method of preferving it, is to ufe it as
f'pari'rigly as poffible ; avoid oecafi'ons of expenditures by cultivaf-
. ing peace ; but remembering alfb, that timely difburfements to pre
pare for dangers, frequently prevent much greater difburfementS'to
repel it : Avoiding likewife the accumulation of debts,:not'6nly by
fhunning occafions of expenfe, but by vigoro'us exertions in tiMe-
of peace to difcharga the debts which unavoidable wars may have
occafioned, not ungeneroufly throwing upon poderity the burdens
which we'ourfelves ought to bear." It is difficult to'feleet-, more
difficult, to defid, in reciting from this admirable compendium of
republicanifm. Its highed encomium is not to attempt one, its
bed commentary is itfeif. It is fufficient to remove, or prevent,
the prejudices which, Quintilian, frorri it, is aiming to place
between the Farmer, and' his readers, the northern and the foulhem
S.tates, Republicans and Republicans, the people and their- admin-
idration. It would piobably found vulgar to the ears of modern.
federalifm, to fay to the citizens of America by way of perfuafive
and check, in the words of the addrefs, " You have in a common
caufe fought and triumphed together ; the independence atad liberty
you poffels are the work of joint councils, and joint < fFiris, of com
mon daggers, fufferings and fuccefles." This would be going biek
to old things, which are done away,1 look like vulgar references ito-
the principles, the meafures and the incidents of feaenty-five, when
the citizens of the ancient dominion, while the cloud looked biat'k
and angry, and the thunder roared at a di dance, before it bioke and
by its awful explofiori tinged with blood the plains of Lexington -,
while the heads of an Adams and a Hancock, were demanded as
a tribute, arid the blood of their co-patriols were in a date of re-
quifition ; while uturping avarice and a luft for domination had
prepared to tranfpOrt, in the chains of a felon, the patriotilm of
Maffachufetts, to the dungeons ofthe Tyburns, and the old Bailies
of congregated wretchedneis, I fay when inhabitants of the .South,
thefe Virginian (lave holders, with a (well of magnanimity, run to
the North, and hurried about our Capital, to refcue the endanger
ed, or to perifh in the attempt. The effort which is rriaking to
fubject republicans tea popular prejudice, on the idea of their be
ing oppofed to the principles and meafures of Washington ge
nerally,, renders an apology for thefe lengthy quotations^ and tht

6* LETTERS TO THE^ PEOPLE.
expreflions of our feelings and fentiments concerning him Urinecef-
fary. Republicans will ever celebrate his private virtues, all time
and all places, his pubiic achievements. The eulogies on a par
ent, the encomiums on a country needs neither to afk for- indulgence
or to. fear cenfure. The piety of the child will fecure complacen
cy, and the; fubject which is celebrated afford protection. We have
not exactly directed our courfe parallel with the road which has
-been; trodden by others, we have not fervilely followed the way-
wile, travellers who have pafled before us. We have deviated, a
little, from what common opinion has prefcribed as its right, and
the authority of examples has defignated as its objects. In detail
ing t.he triumphs of pre-eminent virtue, pride afks for an appro
priate indulgence of felecttng for itfeif.
We are now prepared to folve the quedions of enquiring feder
alifts, to continue pur remarks on principles, meafures, ahd govern
ment, and on parties in their pad, and prefent date. Republicans
with not to clamor againft the old ( adminiftration, nor to examine
its meafures for the purpofes of cenfure. In it, from their under-
ftanding of things, is feen. much to approve, and much to lament.
Their talk is, lefs invidious, their objects, more pleating : It is to
ju-ftify themfelves, and to diew that jthe fyftems_ and the meafures
of- the. prefent adminidration, are founded in principle,' on the con
ftitution, in utility, a love of country, arid a lpve of peace ; in a
refpect for the rights of the people, their intereft and happinefs.—
Federalids fay there can be no change for the better ; that the ojd
adminidration found the government in difgrace, and left it in fafely
and honor. Surely federalids do not mean to fay, that there was
either fafeiy or honor in the date of our public affairs— of the pub
lic mind, at the time, when the old adminidration left the govern
ment, in that prevalence and fpread of Jacobinipal principles, which
led to, and made the change neceffary ; in that recurrence to, and
adoption of, fird principles, which introduced the hew adminidra
tion. They forget they mean to be confident,. Republicans then
faw no danger, or difhonor, to our country, in this change of opin
ions and principles ; no horror or difrhay ; no caufe of alarm arid
anxiety : But they were then told, that they were hurrying down
a- precipice, that calamity was gathering around ; that the jaws of
dedrufetion were open ; that ruin had overtaken them ; and that ev
ery thing, great, good, and ennobling, had been, or would be prof-
trated. We have been fince told, that this work of wretchednefs
was progreffing and nearly completed. Federalids would, perhaps,
be as near truth, if they were to fay, that the late adminidration

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE", 53-
¦ »- J ' - . 1
found the government and country united, and left them divided ;
found1 them in peace, and left them clofing an unfortunate, and if an
unneceffa'ry, an inglorious war; found them in debt, and left them.
more fo ; found them republican, and were obliged to leave them
fo, as oppofed to modern federalifm.— But the dreaded evil is, the
danger of economy ; the bondaging fear, the fear of a reform ; of
being reformed, out of peace, compoled of the materials of war, out
of immenfe expenditures, of fleets, and armies, and actual fightings^
A peace, "paffirig all underdanding;" The danger is real. It is-
probable we fhall be reformed, out of an expenfive patronage,
into economy in the expenditures of monies;' out of the appropri
ations of an abandoned army fydem, into a leffening.of the burdens
of the people ; out of a blind or a forced confidence, inla a know
ledge of our rights; out of'federal darknefs, into republican light ;
and it is to be hoped, out of a fpirit of clamor, diftrud, diTunion,
detraction, mifreprefentation, irreligious contraclednefs; and real jac-
obinifm, which the Washington lyftem and addrefs- every whare
reprobate, into that regard for truth, love for the coriditution, at
tachment to fider States, and refpect for the condituted authorities,-
which they, on all occafions, inculcate: It would amufe, to be
particular and nice, in comparing the practice of fome Wafhington
federalids, with" his principles and conduct ; ifi comparing their
affumptions, their complaints, and -their writings, with the fenti
ments of his addrefs ; in comparing them with themfelves ; their fenfe
and application of- thefe fentiments in 1800 to government, then
federal; and to the fame government, now republican. The ad
drefs invites to union and to aforgetfulnefs of all local diflinclidfis,
by the moft powerful perfuafives ; the federalids urge to divifion,
from a reprefentation of a northern arid a fouthein intered; and the
mod illiberal reproaches. That advifes " lo frown indignantly on
the firft dawningofevery attempt to alienate one portionofour coun
try fiom the reft ;" thefe are endeavoring to "enfeeble the facred ties
which now link together the various parts ;" that- cautions againflr
-the intrigues of defigning men, who may "endeavor to excite a be
lief that there is a real difference of local intereft and views ;" thefe'
are actually practifing thefe intrigues ; that warns againft " ail com
binations and affociat ions, under whatever plaufible character, with
the realdefign to direct, control, counteract or awe the regular de
liberation and action of the condituted authorities" as dedructive ;-
thefe labor combinedly and feverally to rob the executive of one of
its mod darling attributes, the exercife of its conditutional difcre-
¦ E 2

64 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
tion, in removals and appointments to office, and to " counteract,
direct, control, and awe" that difcretion into a compliance with the
views of an "organized faction ;" that exhorts us to cherifh public
credit, by ufing it as fparingly as poffible, by avoiding the occa-
fions of expenfe, and by cultivating peace,". and to "avoid debt, by
fhunning-the occaiions of expenditures ;" thefe have endeavored to
commit the credit of our country to the uncertain events of a con
troverfy, with the conquerors of a world, and have found the oc-
cafions of accumulating the public debt, by paying an intered of
eight per cent, in the fupport, of a war. In fine,, that repofes its
hopes, its confidence and its dability, on republicanifm, the confti
tution as it is, and the virtue, difc^rnment, patriptifm and affections
of the great body of the people ; thefe lean too much On force, on
influence, on patronage, on. themfelves, on delufidris, on the banks,
on funds and their monied wealth, to the neglect of the folid con-
folidating and (overeign powers of agriculture.
A FARMER.

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. IX.
I HAVE beep waiting, for the re-publication of the charge of
inaccuracy and mifreprefentation made by Quintilian, refpecting
the Berceau, in order to notice them more properly. — The writer
in his firft ftatement was not, nor is he now able to detail,, in time
and in quality, in kind and in value, the repairs, including the fup-
plies, which have taken place in refpect 19 the Berceau. This was
never attempted. . Documents of that nature had been foug lit for.
They were not in a. train to be communicated. And it is believed,
that the account of the firft accruing expences touching this obnox
ious fubjefcl, are not now in the poffefdon ofthe public offices!—
The treaty being, now ratified, which ftipulated the reftitution of
all public veffels, the pretence for (lander on the fcore of a lofs of
property by her reftitution, is at an end. Quintilian himfelf
has1 too much pride, to fault the act, merely on the ground of its
anticipating the event which has fince taken place. His object is
to convict", and to fubject to the imputation of, inaccuracy and rnif-
reprefentalion, an endeavor to counteract one of the moft unreafon-
able and groundlefs afperfions againd the, prefent adminidration,
which faction had fabricated, or party prejudice had propagated,
His obfervations are calculated to revive the dander ; but the mif-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 5S
reprefentation is what he complains of, and 6f this his cariddr-feems
capable of fuppodng there might be no defign. Had this apologif-
ing fuppbfition been made with lefs parfimoriy, it- would have had
more of the features of real caridor, & agreaterclaim on the gratitude
of him, who if he has been, or fhould be, guilty of wilful mifte-
prefentatioris, is willing to be accounted, as unworthy the attention
of Quintilian, of the reft of his friends, as havingforfeited, now
arid ever after, all claim to the attention and corf fidence of hisfellow
citizens, and as deferving of their refentments and never-ceafing con
tempt. In exhibiting to the view of thepublic, a tranfaction com
mencing with the late and ending with the prefent adminidration,
and in which there has been the agency of different (ubordinate hands,
it may be difficult to draw the line, and fix the exact- point which
divides the acts of the one, from the acts of the other. In pointing
the peoples reflections to meafures, and to that miferable date into
which themfelves and their country might be plunged, diftorted,
torn and divided, by the fprfcad df falfehood, error and reproach^ by
the fage'& the virulence of faction, and the implacable animofitiesof
an imbittered and difappointed party, it would- be unreafonable and
wrong to confider ftatements as defigned to exprefs literally, and
with the nicety of mathematical correttnefs every immaterial cir-
cumftance attending the fubject. It is confidered as fufficient,' fair
ly arid fully to reprefent a tranfaction to'the purpofes, for Which a
'ftatement had become neceffary. Thefe obfervations are however
urineceffary ; they are only to the w, that the accufation muft' be
groundlefs, even in the aceufer's own view of' the matter. The
original ftatement is ftill belietrfed to be not only in fubftance, and
to evey purpofe for which it was made, but cir£Umdantially true.
Quintilian, 'from the confidence1 with Which' he expreffes him
felf, probably thought he was right, in faying riot a cent had been
expended, or directed to be expended, under the old adminiftration,
for the repairs of the Berceau, in the fenfe in which the word re
pairs is ufed by the writer in his fecond number, arid by the orders
of government, directing them to be made. In that'riumber it was
faid, the Prefident had been abufed and repfefented as dnworthy'of
confidence, for having caufed a French date (hip to-be repufchafed,
repaired, and reftored, "by anticipating a ratification of the treaty for
that purpofe ;' but that it was underftood, that the facts were, that
"under the former adrriiriiftration, the Berceau was re-purchafed
and repaired in part for the purpofe of being given up, in purfu-
ance of an article'of the convention exprefsly requiring her reftora
tion ;" that "the new admihiftfationliad only completed what had

S$ LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
been very properly begun by its predeceffors ;" that "her reftora
tion, and jher additional repairs were on.lhe fame principles, and on
the fame funds, with her puichafe and her original repairs." It is
neceffary to throw back our views to what has paffed on this fub-
jed. It had been felected by a defigning party, asYhepromifing mean,.
of producing impreffions on a duped credulity. The public papers,,
had been outrageous. t They had dated, that thefe repairs and the
redoration were a violation of the conftitution, a breach of truft
from an attachment to France, and a proof of an alarming and a
ruinous partiality to that country, and of perfidy and treachery to-
this ; and that fuch an ufurpation of power called for execration,
impeachment and removal from, office. Thefe heavy charges were
frequently made, ioduftrioufly propagated, and by intrigue and
management, made the topics, of noife and tumult in the ftreets, at
electioneering meetings, at cabals and factions every where. In
credible as is the fact, there were fome perfons in office, fome of
pretentions to refpectabilityy who joinedin the outcry,, fome who
went about creeping into houfes,, preaching, from this, text to wo- -
men and timid men, the dangers of a guillotine.. Every thing
moral, fair, and c ¦. nftitutional were foon to be prodrated. The-;
conditution had provided, that no money fhould be drawn from,
the treafury, but in confequence of appropriations made by law.
It was faid, no appropriations had been made for the purchafe or
the repairs, and to make them without was unconditional. The
actual redoration, and the extent of the repairs,, were alfo (aid to be
a breach of trud, and. were fubjefls of much clamor. The. whole
was charged to the new adminidration — no part of it to the old.
All the circum dances of this tranfaction were, known to leading
Federalifts.— Quintilian mud have known them. But, the
whole had been wickedly mifreprefented and bafely perverted: No
Federalid corrected the errors, falfehood,. abufe and mifchief which
Was put in operation on this fubject.
The attempts to (hew to the people^ that the- late executive did-
the fame thing, in principle, which was charged on the- prefect,!
and to correct the prejudices and impreffions of the prefent ex
ecutive having violated the conditution, and of being fo devoted;
to the French nation, as to facrifice to it the intereft of his own,
has been the fault of the Farmer. Notwithftanding Mr. Adams,.
with a fpirit and an independence, which will forever do him hon
or, and be one proof of his difcernment of a high intereft to this*
country, and of his claim* to her gratitude, broke from. the at-

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 55
tempted dilrefe of the departments, and the contrivance, tdpufh us
into a war wifh the French republic, and negotiated for the, return
of peace and friendfhip^ it was known he had no unreafonabje am,-
itres- for that nation. The principles and meafures of, ,the pldadr
tniniftration', and ofthofe under them, were confidered. hy, Feder
alifts as patriotic and right; ori at.leaft they were pot. cenfoied.T-,-
•The only objeftof the writer in his fecond nutftber.-in quoting- thp
old adminiftration, was to fhew it to be unreafonable to cenfure the
new, for afting on the principles of the old, which were approba
ted by Federalifts.: There- was no attempt to.juftify the ex ten t of
the repairs, from anything Mr. Adams had caufed to be done,— -
This was placed fairly and explicitly to Mrt Jeffetfoi),'s- account.
The purfchafej the repairs, and the redoration of the fhip, without-
a ratified treaty; and without previous appropriations by law, were
the faicls dated as the grounds of clamor. The. third article of the
-convention is, that fhips belonging to the (late on, either fide, or
which may be taken before the exchange of.ratifiCations, fhould bfe
given up. Nothing is laid- of the 'time when,. or of the condition
in which they Were to be reftered. As -fooni as reafbnably couljd-
be, is the implied1 time, and the ftate in which, they v<er,e at the
time of the capture, the implied condition, The treaty, was con-.
frderedby Republicans' as valuable and of intereding, importaiaae
to this country; Of this opinion undoubtedly was the. lass- Pr-efi-
'defif. An'artrcle Which was thought well of 'by many, and which;
had ted our cdrrrrni (doners fix weeks to obtain, was rejected.-***
There was forrre reafon to apprehend danger of the whole being re
jected by France, if we caufed her to doubt of our real drfpotjtion
for an honorable adjuftriient. This was the object offome people's
vrifhes. The Chief NCdnful bad, like himfelf, leaped in advance, of
the Ceremonies of the treaty, and on his part had executed it. He
had called in the privateers which had been depredating on our
trade, reftored the property which had been captured; and had fent
to us a minifter partial to Arnerica, with affurance of his efteem and-
ffiendfhijj. His generous and faithful compliance was a powerful
incentive to theexercife of a little confidence on our part. There
were other motives— we were on the poirit of a ruptuie with the
Barbary pqweYs. Algiers demanding the arrearage of her dipu-
lated tribute, and threatening to make reprifals ; Tripoli requiring
large fums'of money for preferving a peace which we had once pur-
chafed, and virtually declaring war, by her threats and her actual
preparations for hodilities ; our Mediterranean trade worfe than
embargoed; our mariners in durefs by their fears of a ranfomkfs

gS LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
and taerci'Iefs captivity ; our Confuls on. the. foot dating the darj^
gerous and diftreffed fituation to which our affairs were verging
in that quarter, and' calling for an immediate force for their pro
tection. In this pofture of public affairs, the execution of thjs
treaty on our part, was equally am act of juftjca to Frarice and of
utility to ourfelves. It was neceffary that fomething fhould; be-
inftantly done. To have fent our frigates; but on the idea of rat
ifying the treaty, to cruife in the Mediterranean, Would have been
madnefs. To have fent them into rough and dangerous feas,- in-
fefted' with enemies, where- ftorms and perils would render the har
bors of France and thofe under her control neceffary, and (he out'
•enemy, would have- been fending them to certain deftruclipn.-i.
"With this- good and evil in choice, was it poffible the late admin
iftration could have hefitated, in deciding on the redoration. of the:
Berceau, without- delay, and. in the dipulated condition. Indeed
this decition is. involved ia the early orders-it gave, for herpurchafe.
A refufalj-confidering what had been done'on the" other fide,- would
have probably been- a facrifice ef the whole, of the intereft and
-peace of this country, and it is' likely, of the liberty and lives of
many of" our feamen. The fird aft neceffary towards the redora
tion required by the treaty washer purchafe. Mr. Adams caufed.
this to ,be done. It was alfo neceffary to put her into the- condi
tion which the treaty required-. For this intermediate purpofe (he-
was purchafed ; (he could not be reftored without. Incaufing-it
-to be done in whole, or in part, the new, did but complete a bufi
nefs, which the old adminidration had begun. Thus far,, there is
no attempt to judify a doubtful, or a cenuitable act of the former*
by the imputation of tranfafctions to the latter, which. "were not
theirs. The making and the executing of the treaty, the procur
ing peace and friendfhip with a powerful nation, upon honorable
and liberal terms, have fo much merit in the view of the writer,
that he prefumes the prefent adminiftration would not wifh to (hare
thofe honors with anyone, were thefe wholly theirs — But forthem.
to have arrogited the whole to themfelves, would- be truly " be
decking them not with fancied ornaments, but with real ones,.
plucked from the brows of their predeceffors." It would b£
" begging or borrowing (in the language of Qu intilian.) " or,
deferve a lefs civil name."
The Prefident is accufed of violating the Conditution in making
any repairs, and the writer is accufed of making a mifreprefentation„
in faying, " that it. was underdood that the Berceau was purchafed:
and repaired in part under the former adtoinifttatioa ; and that hee

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 59
"Teftoratiorl and additional, repairs, were on the fame principles an<4
and on the fame funds,, with' her purchafe and her original
lepairs." ¦ It is faid this mifreprefentation was made for _the,'
purpofe of deriving a defence, of the principles and acts of the
men now in office in matters of a doubtful character from
falfely. imputing- fimilar ones to their {nedeceffors. Thefe are the
charges. The word repairs as ufed in the former datement,: from
the fubjefl master, from the nature of the caufe, from the object ir»
view, arid frdST its connexion with the word purchafe as applied
merely to the (hip, mud neceffarily be underftocd, to include every
article of expence, iuppty and purchafe, iother -than that, of the
flip herfelf. The queftion was if the Prefident had been violating
the conftitution, in mending the (hip or inpurchafing ftores or
fupplies for her, there being" no previous funds'or appropriations
bylaw for that purpofe. — Quintilian acknowledges at the fame
time when the old adminiftration1 caufed the -fhip to be purchafed,
it al'fo caufed (brae ftores to be purchafed for her, her fibres are a
great article in the bill of expenfes, and a corvfiderable part of thofe
repairs for whkh funds, or appropriations, had become neceffary
in ,the fenfe and to the purpoles for which the word repairs was
ufed — Thefe firft purchafes, were originating the repairs neceffary
to be made, to put the -Berceau into the condition required by the
treaty, for her reftoration, The additional expenfes, fupplies and
purchafes by the new adminidration were! on the fame . principles
and on the fame funds withe thofe original ones, and they were only
a completion of what had been begun. But to give up this ground
Which demonftrates fupplies and repairs to have been made in the
fenfe and in the manner ars was formerly dated; the Writer freely
Confeffes, he meant to reprefent, that there were in purfuance of
the orders, or of a courfe, and arrangements of matters made by the
old adminiftration, and before Mr. Jefterfon, from a preffure of
other bufinefs, had been made acquainted ' with the circumftances
of the cafe, directions given for other, and further fupplies, repairs
or expenfes than thofe at firft made. If in -this .he was miftaken^
it is perfectly immaterial to every purpofe for which the former
ftatement was made. The writer did underftand and he how bet
lieves it to be true, that the old adminidration did determine to re
ciprocate the anticipations of the French government by indantly
reftoring all property captured, which had not been definitely con
demned, and by. giving up all date (hips. To fuppofe otherwife
would be accufation ; it would be worfe.- be (lander. He did be
lieve general directions were given, and meafures adopted for the

Go LETTERS: TO; THE PEOPLE.
carrying this part of the treatyrinto a fair, and honorable execution,
ind that property was actually re (lored under the-.fpurth article of
the' cSnVeritJon by 'the arrangements and agents, of the old- admin
idration. ¦ The late Secretary of the Navy, a gentleman of liberal
habits in doing bufinefs, having, thevgeneral objects of , his attention
pointed ¦oat,- was not in the habit1 of. troubling ;the.Prefident for di
rections as > to the mode, or the detail of difcharging. his duty. This
gentleman icontinued in office and difchsrged.hi§. duties .near a .
month in conformity to old arrangements, excepting in cafes in
which the new Prefident gave' particular- directions. During this
time,1 and before Gen. Smith undertook to djfcharge, the; duties. of
the Navy Department, it is understood that orders were given to
the Navy Agent in Boftori, to put; the Berceau in handfome order
to bereftored. This older was indefinite, and it is believed, was
given' under the fame agency by which the firft purchafes.were
made, and previous to the interference of Mr. Jefferfon on the fub
ject. : It is probable not much if an^ thing was, actually done in
pursuance of this direction, land before the .giving ,pf further di
rections on the. fubject byGen^ Smith, v. The firflf, directions, muft
be confidered as. the directions, of the old adminiftration,, as muft all
thofe contracts whiehj were made by navy, and other Agents,.. after
the change in the adminiftration took placet, .and before there., was
an opportunity for any interference by the. new officers— All were
agreed that it wasneceffary to put the. (hip. into a fituation to be
reftored. The only. queftion?was,--as to. the condition. Handfqme
if/is a general term of very uncertain meaning. The treaty was
dlenton this point. It was capable, of but two conftruftions.—
Theione)as5/implying the condition the .fhip was in when the fiift
aft of a tiranfectian took place which terminated in her capture.—
The other-implying the.Gondition the was in;at. the moment of. her
Unking. The French' Minifter .claimed under, the former. In
either* cafe expenfe, fupplies or repairs were, neceffary inadditionto
thbfe'made at the time of herpurchafe. Policy, prudence andin-
tered ¦ furnifhed: motives' for new orders. There were powerful
reafons for a generous and .liberal conduct, none for rigidnefs, and
meatthefs. • ,
¦Vattel on the taw of nations fays, " When no time is affigned
forthe accomplifhment of a treaty; and. the execution of thefev.eral
articles, common fenfe. dictates, that every -point fhould be executed
as-foo»asp6ffibie." » Andfutther,* that- "thing!!, 'the reftitution of
which; is,in a treaty of peace, ftipulated (imply,i -without any ex*-
plication, Sjfe to bereftored in. tfa»icpnditjoai they were tafcep, the

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. . 6t
-word reftitution naturally fignifying the re-eftablifhment of all
things to their former condition." But the difficulty ftill returns,
and the charge, of violating the conftitution, (till remains on the
ground of there being no previous appropriations. It was dated
that the additional repairs wefe on the fame principles, and on the
fame funds, with her purchafe, and her original repairs : And were
they not ? Let Quintilian point out the funds, the appropri
ations and the principles on which the purchafe of the fhip, and-
fome dores for her, which he confeffes, were made by the late ad
miniftration, and the Farmer will inftantly prove, they are the
fame, out of which other ftores, and otherrepairs were made. There
may however be a doubt with refpect to the funds or appropria
tions out of 'which the (hip was purchafed, but (he being. purchafed,
being ours, there can be no doubt of the legality, of fup plying or
repairing her, out of the appropriations for the navy contingencies.
The writer, has been therefore, fo far from deriving a juftification
to the new adminiftration in a doubtful part of their conduft, by
connecting them with the old, in the affair of the Berceau, that the
reverie, is the cafe. He has affeffed the new, in aid of their prede-
ceffors, by the ftatement formerly made; How far actual expenfes
had been incurred on the order for handfome repairs, or whether
any, when the laft directions were given, is not of importance to
enquire. Nor is it of confequence, to decide, what part of a tranf
action taking place undei two concurrent orders, is to be afcribed
to one and what to the other. It is fufficient that they both had
for their object repairs-of the fame kind, differing only in degree,
and (imilar-in principle, to the ftores purchafed, with the fhip.
We will not inquire into the propriety or policy of libeling.,
conderrinirig and felling State fhips and other captured property,
after the arrival of a treaty of our own feeking, & after it was known
that in cafe of ratification, the faith of the United States would be
pledged for the reftoration, of thofe (hips and that property. We
will not enquire into the wifdom of leaving the price we were to
pay for peace, to be fixed by unfelected individuals, or of bidding
for the means, of preferving our national reputation, with-a crowd,
at a public auction — we make no enquiries into the economy,' of
felling and repurchafing, with the expenfes, and double commif-
flons attending the fales ; — none into the' peculiarityof a vendue,
where it is known, that government df neceffitymuftbe the higheft
bidder. It b not our bufinefs unneceffarily to accufe ; but tojuf-
-tify againft unreasonable ventures, 1 f -the above recited tranfactions
F

6a LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
were wrong, they were not the faults of the prefent adminiftration.
' If it is enquired whether it is probable, thatfimilar meafures would
have taken place under a fimilar treaty made with Great Britain,
we will try to be candid in our conjectures. If it fhould be faid
that the captors were entitled by law to the articles captured, ;we
will not believe that their imperfect right is liable to be defeated, or
exifts, fubject to the control of a militating treaty ;— we will try
to forget national dignity, or that a treaty with France, is to be the
fupreme law of the land — The Berceau, being French, has been
the occadon -of much difcuffion, and of the moll virulent (lander
and abufe againft the new adminiftration. The illiberality, the bit-
ternefs, and (landers which die has been the fubject of, or the pre
tence for, are circumftances, which moderate federalids can never
recollect or dwell upon, with any delight. She has gone, and has
carried with her the hiftory of this difhonorable conduct. It prob
ably will reach, and fpread in France, with, or before her arrival.
It is impo/fible the prejudice it will create, or the reputation it
will give us, fhould be of any prefent or future advantage to our
government, or our cotrimerce. The liberal and fair conduct of
our government, and the common civilities of Republicans, are the
only antidotes, which have gone with her — They wifh her a fafe
arrival, and with that wifh the writer means to takehis leave of her
forever. — He has been thus lengthy and particular, and he fears
tirefome, that the people, might know the minutia of a tranfaction,
to which, their attention had been frequently called, for the purpofe
of prejudicing their minds againft the executive of the general gov
ernment, and that they knowing the facts might decide for them
felves, and from the danders which they have occafioned, may form
an opinion of other afperfions, and topics managed in a refembling
way, and proceeding from the fame party.
A FARMER.

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. X.
Y^U are willing, in the exercife of a fober difcretion, to hear and
A embrace the truth. The writeir makes no drafts on you, but
what your own good fenfe, and feelings of propriety approbate. It
would be improper for an anonymous writer to be affuming. He
warns againft evils, that you may put yourfelves on your guard.
He afks you to be faithful to yourfelves, learn facts, and ta with-

LETTERS TO 'THE PEOPLE", %
draw your confidence and your aid from thofe who fhall continue
to abufe them. He afks you to enquire candidly, and to, reafon
and decide fairly, on the interefting tranfaetions of your own gov
ernment ; to refpect yourfelves, the conftitution, which is the work
of your own hands.; the public officers, who are public fervants-;
and, that believing they may do right, you will not. jyafiune they
do wrong, and fubditute ftreet (lander, and premature '^ewfpaper
clamor as the evidence of crime, for the purpofes of cenfure* .If
there is no fenfe of decency rernaining, none inculcated by public
teachers; if no beauties are feen in propriety or confidency of
conduct; if principles of enmity to public authority are d iffe rui
nated and nurtured ; if the precepts of the wifed, and the experi
ence of the greateft rrien of apcient and/ modern times, are held in
contempt and rejected, becaufe they are embraced by-;lhe officer's of
Government ; if their unexamined and untried meafures fhould
continue to be rudely, fuddenly, prematurely and wickedly anaih-
.amatifedby vulgar rathnefs) and facerdotal prejudice, merely becaufe
they are theirs ;vain will be our rett'ofpefts on paft exertions, on
revolutionary acquifuious ; dclufive ojt hopes of the future, tr, 1
miferable the condition of the- prefent and aijter generations. Bi«
this outrage will not much longer be, endured.1 Socieiy has already
made her paufe, threatening indeed to the enemies of her liberty.
The people are looking round for light and help, and they cpllett
firmnefs with intelligence. Republicanifm cherifhes the hope, that
placed on its conditutiohal bafiss in the hands of one, who has long
been its patron, and the patron of thofe- virtues on which alone i*s.
profperity can reft-; it will acquire that (lability, confidency and
iplehddr, which will long adorn, forever adorn the envied name of
America. There are thofe who- are hodile- to every meaf'ure of the
exidirig Adminidration, who were prepared to dedroy it, before it
was born. Thefe are not Americans, not Republicans, not FederaU
ids. The Writer wifhes not to provoke animofity, but to conciliate,,
and bring the congenial materials of a jarring people, to harmonize
in-fbeir movement, under the fleady wifdom of an illudrious indi
vidual. Did not prejudice ftandin the way, did not the graded,
the mod -unreasonable,, and. deteftabll of all hated falfehootH combine
th«ir labours ; had not principalities and powers, in high and con-
fecrated places, united their efforts"; were not the Federal newfpa-
pers, and theifr fupporters pledged to oppofite objects ; thfeatchiev-
ment would be of courfe. But the clergy are engaged as partizans.
The Palladium?, a paper printed in Bofton, eftablifhed by ex
traordinary patronage, confecrated to an oppodtion--to*civiLauthos-

H LETTER^ TO THE PEOPLE.
ity, fuffufed with abufe ofthe officers and meafures of government,,
is immediately aided by clergymen. It is confidered, as the means
of embarraffin^ and defeating the objects of the condituted author-'
ities.; of contradicting the acts of the majority, by fubTtituring the
arrogant affumptions of felf-created combinations, in the place of
the publidf'will : and by terrifying,. or wooirjg frick affronted lib
erty to recline again on the church's bofom, to Sanction the topics
of ecclefiaflical invective againd the executive. This paper, ia-
purfuance of deep contrivances, filled with tendencies to infuirec-
tion, fmoaking with the brands of fedition, marked in every page,
with incentives,, to difcordj drife and contention, was, in bundles,.
fent to Federal Clergymen of Maffachufetts, New-Hampfhire and
Connecticut, free from expenfe, accompanied with a lengthy note,.
dated at Bofton, expreffive of the object, the men and the meafures
which were to be fupported, to- prevent all being loft. This note
defignated, in explicit terms, thofe in whofe hands, the people and
the conditution, had placed the fupreme power of the union, as
" uniformly, oppofed to the wife meafures of the late adminiftra
tion," as " manifefting hoftility-or indifference, to the facred and
civil inftitutions of their anceftors." It defcribeiL-" Jacobinifm"
(by which is meant republicanifm) as " fpieading with alarming
rapidity in this Commonwealth, arid" in other parts of New-En
gland ;" as " haftening with increafed alacrity to do evil ;" to the
accomplifhment of her views in the General Government, " threat
ening to acquire an afcendency in the individual ftates," its object;
being " hoftility to religion, to law, to government and to proper
ty." It dated- the public danger, as " new in kind and magnitude,"
and called for "new means of felf defence," and an " additional zeal
in their application." — It informed the addreffcd, that the federalids-
in the quarter from whence the note was fent, " were defirous,
that there fhould be devoted to the caufe a newfpaper, ably dip-
ported, which fhould fpeak- with the authority of truth, of talents
and of multitude ;" and that this devoted paper would be a " for-
trefs on the highed hill, to overlook and filence the batteries ofthe
enemy ;" and that it reded its claim to their approbation and fup
port, upon its merit, and the necefflty of it, in that hour of danger,
when the federalids had loft the phyfical power, and when, unlefs
they maintained their power over opinion in a far greater degree
than ever, all would be loft." " The friends of the good caufe,"
(avs the note, " would be dedroyed, if they were at red while
their adverfaries were in action." . It calls for as much exertion,
for federal truth, as the adverfaries employed for falfehood i for" as

BETTERS TO THE PEOPLE:. 6%
much federal zeal for religion, law, liberty and property, as the rev-
publicans fhew for licentioufnefs, anarchy and ruin ;" and, it finally
calls for the endeavours of thofe nainiders to procure patrons for
the devoted paper, among thofe with whom- they are converfant, to
far as they approved of its fpirit and execution. The foregoing..
are. fome of- thofe leading fentiments, addreffed to Miniders of the
Gofpel, which were contained in a note,- recommending a circula
tion of the Palladium, and defcribing, the objects and the fituation
of the Government and its officers. This note complains of a-
wretched date of the public mind, a detedable procedure by a ma
jority of the people ; and, by reproaching.their principles, crim
inating their conduct, threatening and alarming their confidence,
exhorts and invites, virtually,: to infurre£lion,-revolution, treafon
and ruin. The writer is poffeffed of a copy of thefe general re—
quifitions for organizing fedition, and may hereafter give them to-
the public at large. In reflecting.on the nature, tendency, object,,
conlequences, and on all the affociated circumdances, of this mif-
chief making thing ; pity and refentment, in a druggling. conflict, ¦
by turns, get the afcendency. The judgment hefitates in deciding,,
which mod to reprobate, the imprudence of clergymen in receiving,-
or the wickednefs ofthe Federalids in fending to them, weekly (lan
ders on their Government". Taught to conlider.the clergy of this-
country as a refpectable and ufeful order of men,, and many of •
them, as men of fcience, talents and learning, s it has been with re
gret that any of them, have been feen in purfuits, which, if perfift-
ed in muft ruin them. Political wrangtings, and party ftrife, will,
give a fatal blow to iheir reputation, as the preachers of the Gofper.
of quietnefs ; which inculcates a reafonable and dutiful fubmiffion
to Order and Government. They will inflict thofe deep and dan
gerous wounds, which will bleed the more, for not bleeding at firft.
A clergyman is the pallor of an entire church, the minifter of an
.undivided parifh, the fliepherd of> the whole flock. His uleful-
nefs, and his living, depend on harmony, brotherly love, and the.:
confiding affection, of an uriited people. The fiding with a party, .
in a caufe of contention, involves engendered drife, and isa root
of bittemefs, which will poifon religious intercourfe at its fource, .
and turn the confolations of focial worfhip, into an imbittered talk,
or at lead a joylefs exercife. The fhepherd and the fheep will be
come eflranged, or if penned together, will, like the wolf arid dog,
tear and devour each othe.r. The Conditution of this Common
wealth has provided for the fupport of the teachers of " religion^ .
F 2 * '

66 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
piety and morality" generally ; not for the propagators of.fedition,.
- (landers, libels and modern federalifm. It has wifely left this teach
er, to the people's choice, and the contributions for his fupport, as-
an expenfe, to thofe who may attend on his mitiiflry. In this lib
erty, and in the political caufes which have, and are every day dif-
gufting it, if they are continued, we fee the downfall of federal cler
gymen. The people will not fupport an influence, pledged for
the fupport of one, adverfe to their own. They will not continue
to furnifhthe means and the opportunity of further annoyance to-
tbeir wounded feelings, and fubfidize men,, for abufing themfelves
and their bed friends ; what, as yet; has caufed fecret heart burn
ings, and filent murmurs, will foon produce bitter complaints.-—.
There aie bounds to. the trials of patience, and even chridian for
bearance, when intuited, mull have an end, Abufe, aggravated in-
kind, and in degrees/is never to be endured, and the fpaee which
nature has given,, and religion has prolonged, for reparation and
amendment, has its limits. Hitherto prudence, and the hope of a:
change, have fuppreffed a voice which begins to be heard ; and
redraihed the importunate provocations to action. Already has the-
forgiving fpirit plead for clergymen feventy times feven. In all fo-
cieties, in all Governments, under all fituations, to the conditu-
tional arrangements of the fovereign power,, to the regularly ex
preffed will of the rnajority,. their fufeje&s and citizens owe homage
and compliance. Adverfe combinations, oppugnations, difrefpect,.
reproach and fy Hematic revilings, are (in the effence and nature of
the crimes) fedition, treafon and rebellion. A guilty principal, in-
the reafon and fpirit of law, forfeits his (landing in fociety, merits,
punifhment, and cuts off himfelf, from claims to her protection and
fupport. He who aids or conceals the daring culprit,, is a fubor-
diriate offender only in the (hades of his guilt, but deferves the"
higheft correction a community ever inflicts. The obnoxious aits
are evils in themfelves, and if they were not forbidden by pofitive
fktutes,.-! hey would be a. violation of all law, and the great and
fa'lvable principles of focial prefervation. If a fubject of civil fo
ciety, a.member of the focial compact? which provides that the
will of the majority, expreffed in a prefcribed mode, fhall be the
rule of action, to which all had pledged themfelves to conform,
fhould withhold that compliance, and treat with contempt, the rule-
and the power which made it,,juitice, duty, religion and patriotifm
would not hefitaie to denounce fuch an individual an outrageous
offender, and- to treat hijn as an outlaw. If an individual of the
time body, exalted to peculiar advantages, obligated by ptofeffional

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.. 67
ties, feperated in the means of information, and the requifitionS of
duty, holding the keys, and difpenfing the feals of the old, and of
the new covenant, placed as a watchman againd approaching evils
Of every kind, exhibiting himfelf at once, as the indruftor and the
example in things lecular and facred, fhould do this, he would be
judly confidered as deferving everything that the injured could '
take, or t-ie intuited, and the betrayedj could inflict. The Condi
tution of the General Government is this compact ; every citizen
of the United States is a party to this focial connection. This faith,-.
this honor, this juftice, and this religion, are facredly pledged, for
his adherence to, and the performance, on his pan, of the folemri
engagement.. Piety and the bible, enforce the duty. The defolia
tions for public functions, b/y appointments, by elections, by a bal
loting felefcrion, in legal modes, are theexpreffion of the public will ;
that voioe of the people, which is the voice of God, and which
will be heard;. Thefe fervants of the public, are the creatures of
the people's fovereignty. Contumelioufly and falfely to reproach
them, is flandefing.and inful ting, the majefty of the people ; and to
thwart and oppofe, is to refift their Will ; is infurrtction, is, vir
tually, treaforiV This organized Sovereignty, muft direct ; other-
wife, Government becomes a rnonfter and muft die. The Govern-i
ment of the United States; the1 rate changes, the recent elections of
every defcription, the new appointments of every kind, are confti-
tutional and folemn exprefnons of the public will ; the final de-
eifions of a competent majority, the never to bp refilled decrees of
the people.'
The new adminiftration, .are the agents of the people's power to
execute their will, in conformity to law, inftructed by the confti
tution. The executive is the head, the people's immediate repre
fentative, an organ of their intelligence, the. medium of communi
cation, the inftrument by which they act, the guardian of their-
country's fafety,profperity and happinefs, Thofe who abufe and
refift authority, thus originating, thus condituted, thus conducted,'
refid and abufe themfelves ; they'abufe the fovereignty of the peo
ple. - To comfort, countenance, and encourage others in it, is fd
act ourfelves. To conceal, acquiefce in, or adhere to crime is, in
condruttion, the fame thing as to commit it. Many clerical Fed
eralids, and others, have combined together. What is their ob
ject ? Is it a legal, a laudable one ? This is not left to the difclofure
of reafoning, or to the defignation of conjecture. It is privately
avowed, though publicly difguifed. They, exprefsly, by their note,
Jecogrrize the fupreme power of the unionas placed, by the people.

68 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
in new hands ; they reprefent the principles and fentiments of thefe
men as different from their own ; but in conformity to thofe which
were fpreading through the General and State Governments ; and
which, being embraced by a majority of the people, were rapidly
aflim.ilating to them the arrangement of the General Government.
They denominate thefe principles-of the majority, andof the-con-
ftituted authorities, Jacobinical and hodile to antient inftitutions,
(acred and civil ; hodile to religion, law, government and property. -
Againd this majority, thefe condituted authorities, and the oper
ation of thefe principles, they'avow their determination to defend.
themfelves. • Againd them they declare hodilities ; on them, they
make actual war ; with combined ingenuity, they invent new in-
ftruments of dedruction. They rally, for.a defperate attack, to try,.
attempt, ,and to force every thing, to prevent " allfrom being loft,'.' ,
They build a fortrefs on the higheft hill,, to overlookvand to filence.
the batteries of the enemy ; to overawe, and. to force the will of
the majoricy, and compel conftitutional difcretion to yield to the
prejudice of a minority, and the clamors of a faftion. The Palla
dium is to do the double office, of openly battering down, and in-
fidioufly fpreading the. train to. ruin the interior. Licentidufnefs,,
jacobinifm, deifm, enemies to law,, government and property, are"
announced as the watch words-
Federalifts,, thus prepared, to fpeak With the " authority of the.
multitude," are calling. for jealoufy, diftruftand oppofition togov--
ernment. On their lifts federal clergymen have enrolled them--
felves, and have had affigned to them the duties of a recruiting fer-
geant, the bufinefs of enlifting at large. It is truly marvellous
that of an order of men, exempted frorii civil office, exempted frpm.
military duties, feperated from- lecular, on account of their fpiritual
concerns ;. profeffing to be thedifciples of him, whofe kingdom is-
not of this world, any fhoufd be found to engage, or be made fub-
fervient to, the fetting of one part of his common charge againft the
other ; of fupporting.confufion againd order, faction againft gov
ernment, the dogmas of a party, againft the injunctions of religion. .v
That there have been no more, is matter of comfort and joy. The
note was a faithful ProfpeSus of -the execution of the work. The
Palladium fpeaksf or itfeif. It has been a com pleat comment on -
the note ; unlets that it has done more than was promifed. It has.
been uniformly oppofed to the government, and the new order of
things ; it has kept up, in every direction, with violence and con-
ftancy, a malicious fire againft the adminiftration, its meafures, the
people and their principles. The clergymen, who acted" in the at--

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. t%
tack, were apprized of the object, and have feen the means by which
it has been fu p ported ; they would do well to confider the ground
en which they have placed themfelves. The conftitution of Maf-
fachufetts provides, as the means of ftrengthening government, a
diffemination of knowledge, religion and morality, and maintenance
©f their teachers. The general government grew out of the (late
governments, and reds upon them, — Jt is abfurd, to fuppofe a legal
or a conftitutiona! obligation to fupport the clergy, when the very
object, for which the duty devolved, is defeated, by its performance.
Believing,, as friends to order, law, and conditutional authority,
that it is the duty of every one to acquiefce in the" public will,
until it can be fairly changed ; and that groundlefs clamors and
lydematic oppodtion, to the adminidration, is dangerous and in
jurious, and ought to be difcountenanced. Republicans have no
delay in thinking, and want no apology for faying, that clergymen,,
who will allow themfelves in afperfing the firft officers of the gen
eral Government, who will wilfully excite, or countenance the ex
citing of, oppofition to its conftitutional and deliberate meafures ;
and fpread, or countenance the fpreading of, falfehood, mifrepre-
fentation, and calumnies concerning them, ought not tote fupported..
by their parifhioners. This is not faid for the purpofe of. gratify..
ing any refentment ; th? writer has none. Not from ,a want of
relpect for the order as a body ; he has in the view of his mind,
many whom he moft highly refpects. Not to weakenthetriotives,or
the means for their fupport ; he'wifhes to ftrengthen them ; not to
render them dependent on any thing, but their duty, their abilities
and the propriety of their conduct. He wifhes they may reft on
ihefe-cj-and profit by this caution and warning. For lefs than has
been publifhed in the Palladium, a thoufand times ; for lefs than
has been uttered, publifhed, and fpread, by fome of its clerical read
ers, a thoufand inftances might be adduced, in well regulated Gov
ernments, of convictions of dander, labels, (edition, and oftreafon ;,
and of punifhments, from the lefs fevere, to the mod horrid kind.
A tranfaction, is not lefs a crime, for not being profecuted, nor lefs
infamous for not being punifhed. It confids in a violation of
principle, and its turpitude is from its moral complexion. The
reception and circulation of the piper and its contents, being the
fubject of reflection, the inferences are qf courfe. That Clergymen
would ferioufly reflect, and draw thefe inferences, muft be the wifh.
of everyfriend to his country. The reception of a paper, for
warded for avowed purpofes is a proof of the receivers engage-,
ment. for their fupport. Their correfpor.dent conduct ; the iini-

7o LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
verfal, conftant, and uncontradicted declarations, that the clergy of
New-England, with many diftinguifhed exceptions, are oppofedta
their government, are further proofs. The upcenfured practices of
individuals, their marked deviations from their ufual courfe, on the
fabbath, and the laboured and, dudied expreffions in public ad-
dreffes, to get along, in the divifion of their homage between Heav--
en and the Federalids, affords a fhameful conclufion to the fame
point. The Republicans are induced, by inclination, bound by
duty, and-fome of them, tied by folemn oaths, to the fupport ef
the, Federal Government. They are unable to reconcile, the dis
charge of their duty to government and to themfelves, with the
fupport of thofe perfbns who are devoted to its injury ; who bor
row, fromholy time, opportunities for afperfing it, and of alien
ating from it, the confidence and affections of its fubjects. The
avowed object of the above defcribed note, the tenor of the obnox
ious paper, its condant and continued reception, the fpreading of
it in a parifh, connected with the note itfeif, and^particular indances
.of conduct and conversion, public and private, are conclufive ev
idence of the guilt of fedilion, and ot propenfity to inlurrection. —
It, at lead, furnifhes a violent prefumption of crime, and changes
the burden of proof.v It makes it incumbent; on the minider, to
account for his being felected, as a perfon, fuitable to read, and an
indrument fit for the fpreading (lander and abufe againft'the gov
ernment, among his people. — For lefs, infinitely lefs, was Lyon
convicted ; Callender and Cooper punifhed. %The charges of the
courts, on thofe trials, would be excellent leffons, for the perufal of
Clergymen, on the doctrines of fedition and government. Repub
licans, having prevailed againft the prayers of the high tonedr high
priefts of modern federalifm ,-are not anxious to have them. They
are not uneafy that fuch miniders do not, againd their confciences,
exprefs a thankfulnefs to Heaven, for the prefervation of , the life of
the Prefident, or for any excellencies he may poflei's ; that they do
not pray for a continuance of that life, and an improvement of thofe
excellencies, or of his ufefulnefs, or for a confidence of the people,
in him, or in his adminidration. They would not be uneafy, in
having the government, and its officers, paffed by in filence. But
they are uneafy at the infult, involved in expreffions, implying, "in
the Executive, a want of every virtue and qualification neceffary,
as the ground of confidence ; and of its being even incapable of hav
ing them beftfiwed, by the power of Omnipotence !
A FARMER.

( 7* )

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. XI.
PROMISES were made, in fome former numbers, of further as-
*• imadverfions on the fpirit of party, and the tranfactions of the
government. _ The republication of my lad number with the gen-
tlemanly and candid introductory obfervations by the editor of the
Spy, remind me of thefe engigements, and defignate the prefent
time, as peculiarly proper for their performance. The attention
excited by thefe numbers, the abufe they have occafioned,'and the
unparalleled unfairnefs and violence, with which the tenth has been
treated, add, in a feven fold degree, to the motives of duty.
Violence and invective were expected, arid, of courfe, have' been -
neither matter of furprife, or caufe of uneafinefs. But the diftor-
tions, faliehoods and mifreprefentations of the author's expreffions
and meaning, have exceeded the bounds, which federalifin, on the
feore of its own intered and reputation, ought to have fixed. My
mind was prepared for the difpleafure of the violent, the unprin
cipled, and of "thofe whom they could deceive. Had I not expe
rienced it, I fhould have confidered the failure as a prqof of the
deficiency of the means," to effect the object propofed by my endea
vors. It would be too flattering, and be arrogating too much, to
fuppofe the drictures on the conduct of fome of the Clergy have
been ufeful, in proportion to the clamour th.ey have excited. More
moderate advantages to the public, would have abundantly com-
penfated the author, for his trouble i.n making them ; and for all
•the feverity/unmanly and vulgar invective, they have drawn from.
the pens of an infuriated party, their clamorous tools, or political,
-clerical followers.* In reference to myfelf, thefe libels are of little
confequence ; and when viewed, merely, as touching the calumni
ators, and the object afperfed, they attach to themfelves very incon-
fiderable importance. The former, if left to themfelves, would
ficken at a retrofpeitof their unwarrantable meafures, and blufh in
reviewing the temper, from which they originated ; the latter, as
he had lived up whatever of character their ignorance, prejudice, or
party refentment have thought it neceffary, to attack, would live
down thofe malicious calumnies, by which it may, for a moment,
have differed. The connection which thefe parties have with fo-
ciety, and the effect of their conduct and fentiments on the public
mind, give a new and more ferious afpect to the fubject we aie dif-
cufling. Thefe mifreprefentations and (landers derive «n import
ance, and their pernicious effects are iricreafed, from the rank, cha-

72 LETTERS TO THE) PEOPLE.
, racter and fituation of the perfons who propagate them. Detraction,
" when it boads of rank in its origin, and has* f or its patrons a priv
ileged order, has an impofing appearance, a dangerous fanction. — It
is doubly formidable, and requires: integrity, .firrrmefs and indepen
dence, .to. provoke or encounter it. As difficult and as perilous as
the tafk may be, jidice exacts its. performance as a duty, T° >'e-
pel, is matter of neceffity. He who fhrinks from it is a coward-;
he who hefitates in doubt, orwavers in accommodation, is but half
a Republican, For me, attention has becottie indifpenfible. To
conflitl with a malignity produced by a fpirit of fallen pride, mor
tified ambition, and above all, with an afpiring, ecclefiaflieal fpirit
of domination and, felf fufficiency, requires coolnefs and perfever-
ance. Some of the order, forgetful of. primitive injunctions and prim
itive purity, under a pretence of ferving religion and obeying its
ordinances, have, by calumnies, milreprefeniations and batenefs,
with a turpitude of heart, black and gangrened, been labouring to
overwhelm, to fink to fcorn and execration, a faithful and a virtu
ous adminidration. The experiment has been made, with a fury
which chofe to be blind, and aperfeverence which exceeds the or
dinary meafure of obftinacy. Indecency has had no bounds, and
labor, rio-refpite. Contrivance directed effort,. and exertion; follow
ed- dratagem. All were planning, and all were acting at the fame
moment. Combination encircled- combination ; convention com
municated with convention. Synods. leagued with Synods, fetta-
ries and feminaries, .all combined in a fydem of obloquy, to. bear
down wiih odium the Prefident and his confidential officers. It
is unneceffary to detail all the various modes, and attempted ern-
barraffments to the operations of government^ which dained and
difgraced the journals. of- the. laft year. In future, they will be
read with-pecul-iar emotions, in the annals of our country's efcapes
and dangers. - The writer, on an- idea of bis being connected, hate
been affailed by a hod of foes. Their arrows, however envenomed,-
and-hurled withfavage fury, fpent their force in -air; and dropped-
'haranlefs at his feet. His fentiments, againft which they have raged-
and raved, and not reafbned, remain unfhaken. Defpair and cha~
grin have produced -a retreat. The retiring zealots are mai king
their- route, not by a gratification from wade or from pillage, but
byan unrnanlv and defpiGable indulgence in vulgar toads, and'
proditutedeffoftonsdf priedly conceit, or pedantic fpite and malice-;
in July orations or occafionaffermons. Thefe fruitlefs labors have:
been a beating of the air, inspiring neither knowledge, hope or feae,t

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.

73

pleating a few, annoying a few, and of thefe few, themfelves the
mod. No Republican has. been feduced, none intimidated, none
alarmed for the perils of the church, none converted to a religion,
degrading to its author, and intuiting to man. Their whole effect
has been to retard the action of public correctives on a public mal
ady. This action- will be the more powerful when made to oper
ate, and the more effectual from the obftrufctions it has met with. — *
Patience in waiting for a natural crifis has been ufefully indulged.
Precipitancy often injures. That perfecutirig fpirit, which ruined
the fallen party, ought never to be countenanced. The revenge
ful, incenfed, and vulgar denunciations againft a well meant, ne
ceffary and feafonable expoftulation with an expofed and endangered
order of men, will not be. imitated. Character is dear ; and the pure
and mild genius of gofpel love ought not to have been made to
fpeak in the ftyle ofthe bittered reproach, for the purpofe of de-
ftroying it. Tnis> however, has been made to abound. The Iov-
lieft of all charities, full of hope, full of gentlenefs, bearing all
things, and believing all things, has been armed by its votaries, with
anathamatizlng danders, and an execrating rage, to exterrninate the
obnoxious. To fix a ftigma on fpeculative opinions, uneffflntial to
(bciety, the mod fublime and heaven-derived principles of morality
have been practically denied, or (harriefully perverted. Reputation,
, public and private, political and religious, focieties and individuals,
have been wantonly arreded, and brutally handled, both by thofe
who.adminifter, and thofe who receive their miniftration.
Admitting error, admitting guilt, attrocious guilt, admitting in
fidelity in " one or twenty Gods," does the church iffue her ruin
ous procefs of courfe ? Has (he, has benevolence, has wifdom, no
alternative, no intermediate expedients, no firft or previous fteps ?
Cannot error be combatted, principles exploded, arguments refu
ted, mifr-eprefentatiohs .corrected, and erring mortals reclaimed,
without heathenifh bufferings, without a favage depredation on
character, more diabolical than the black deeds of the midnight
affaffm ? The hiftory of the lad year's federal uproar, will be read
with a mixture of triumph and iadnefs by Foreigners, with a me,
Iaricholy humiliation by Americans 1 It will be a puzzling paradox
to folve ; why a year, marked with a relinquifhment of patronage
and, doubtful power, with a difclaimer of all authority in religious
relations and church concerns ; with avowed recognitions of the
Chriftiari's Kingdom, as being above and beyond the po wer of go v-
ernrnent, and too ftrong tor the control of the world, fhould be the
G

-7* LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
very year, in which the church and its minifters fhould be made
to travel in alarm, and to cry out, and quake for danger. But
fuch has been the fact. The church and the minifters of the altar,
pure, peaceable and undented, have been called in, like common
vouchers, to fupport a fictitious procefs, founded in fraud. Under
its banners, and their fiery zeal, for a favorite object., the mod de-
tedable calumnies hive been invented, and as ft were, by mined
fanftity, patented for general ufe.
The Englifh vocabularies have been ranfacked for words ; and
terms of reproach have been put into all their various combinations
of phrafeOlogy and repetition, and made to •circulate, to excite en-
-irticy and contempt againd the executive. Incendiary means, and
thofe for the excitement of der-ifion, bate and contemptible, have
been blended for a double effect. In the "gefiion" of fp? eches,
profound and eloquent, great flatefrnen have gracefully pauied, with
emulating gravity, to offer up "the homage of their refpetl " to the
condituted authorities. The moft proper and bed felected expref
fions have been labored into ridicule. The ufingof an Anglicized
Latin word, by adding the • letter "N," has been an important
theme, dignified with federal attention. Verbal and newfpaper
repetitions of tingle words are among the pitiful expedients, which
have funk and difgraceda ruined caufe. "Liar," "favage," '•perfc-
cutor," "dif organizer," "infidel," uknave,"'znA" Moloch," are fome
ofthe terms applied to an individuals They are repeated with pleafure,
as they can be improved to advantage. Such has been the dyle of
writing, approved by violent federalifm. The object has been to
wound and to bear down, by the virulence and vulgarity of per
fonal abufe. The intended intuit has not been felt. The (harped:
. arrows, from the federal quiver have paffed, hiding, innoxious like
•the idle winds. The writer, in his former numbers, addreffed the
public, under the influence of no paflion, and he has differed none
10 be excited fince. His defign was to inform, correct, and be
ufeful to government, and the people. Fie can, and awWforgive
Jus calumniators,, with few exceptions, much tboner than they will
forgive themfelves. The approvers of the character, and tendency
of thefe dribbling attacks, mud have had weak heads, if they did
not know them to be impolitic, falfe and malicious ; and corrupt
hearts, if tbey did. If the latter, their approbation was a deedof
dark, infernal villainy. The means of information have been moft
within the reach of thofe who have traduced the moft- — Crime and
folly thus wanton, and thus malignant, fhould be marked with -the
foiger af (corn, and pierced with the eye of public indignation. —

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 7y.
The; unprovoked and falfe accufer commits an aggravated offence,
compared with which Cain's was a mere peccadillo. — We are
willing to meet our enemies on the field of invedigation and public
difcuffion. They ate. challenged to the combat on fair ground.
The Farmer is pledged for the truth and correctnefs. of what be has-l
advanced. He is ready to defend it ; afks no time to prepare, or
Indulgence or extenfion of candor from the opppdtion. - Rage- and-
malice have been labouring- to filence, and to deter fiom duty ; to
produce an abandonment of principle and of fydem. The defign
was as corrupt, as the attempt has been futile. Its effect has been
contrary, and evinced, bevond -every thing, the danger we were in,
and the neceffity of exertion. Abufe and trials are known to be
the common incidents of office. Fie muft have lived to little pui ¦-
psfe who is -unprepared to meet them ; and much too- long, who is
capable of abandoning government, friends, and duty,, to the fcur-
rility and rage of party without an effort to protect the one, or
perform the other. The weight or the danger of the undei taking
are not difcouragements. If an arraigned republican iiisroirje
than Marat, morefanguinary than Roberfphre, meaner than Du-
pont, and more feroeio its than Legendie," let him experience their
fate, multiplied to a tenfold weight and bittemefs. But, if for dar
ing to exprefs Gofpel truths, and maxims (acred in politics ; if for
advocating the principles and the fupport of a government, for
which a Warren fell, and a Wafhington wrote and fought ; if, for
warning of exiding dangers, and oppofing the word perverfions of
the be ft; of things, he "has been mod infamoufly and favagely at-
. tacked and traduced, let his caJumniators be convinced ; but let
them experience from Republican magnanimity, forgivenets of their
rafhnefs. It has beefr faid, that the labors of the writer have fubferved the
caufe,. they were defigned to deprefs. This matter is fettled in a-
moment. Federalism is welcome to all the advantage it has, or-
can derive from them. It is a kind ofadvantage, which, by the
efforts to- check it, will.be the more extended. If the lad number
-is fo very ufe&al to the objects of its cenfure, how is it that it has
[been publifhed in but two of their papers, and in them by a kind1.
of condrainl : This is one way of managing with what has never
' been anfweced. It has been, and certainly will be, the fault of
thofe, for whom it was affigned, if they do not profit by it. The-
ufeful effects have1 been extenfively felt ; its operation^, though fe-
vere, has been falutary beyond calculation. I- was inpmediately
gsrcsived,. by. the dchnefjiyit produced,,, the.reachbgs it -Qccafionfid,,.

76 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
and the bile it caufed to be thrown up. Its actions was thorough,
powerful to the very extremities, and dill continues. The degree,
and duration of the patient's fufferings, the multiplicity and vio
lence pf the complaints, are proofs sf the neceffity, and of the ef
ficacy of the medicine adminiftered. Some alteratives may now
be ferviceable. — The opinion of the party is, or at lead lhey lay (b,
that a few more portions from the fame hand, will reinftate expir
ing federalifm.- Thefe they fhall have, and in correct meafure.
Admitting from the feverifh habit of the body politic, and the
action of fome extraneous caufes, the "apparent effects of attacking
falfhood and error, have been unfavourable to truth and republican
ifm, they cannot be lading, and mud terminate in the triumphs of
government. All which is neceffary is to engage the people's at
tention, induce them to enquire, examine, read and determine for
themfelves. Strictures, which have raifed a hod of malignant foes,
merit attention, ought to be read, and this is what and all the au-
thor requires. Thofe who have only feen the ranting anfwers, have
no idea of the piece which produced them. Did it contain one
half of what party rage, prejudice, or perfonal enmity have made it
exprefs, it certainly would deferve much of the feverity and abuie
which have been heaped upon it. To the public, a man ought to
be refponfible for the fentiments which he communicates. They
are the fair topics for a critical difcuflion. It is right to expofe to
public indignation, improper motives ; to refute with fpirit and
force, datements and principles, Which are falfe or injurious. In
tentional impofitions ought never to be pardoned, and where tur
pitude of mind is clearly evinced, by an obvious influence or direct
proof, there fhould be no fcruples in inflicting a punifhment, equal
to the darkeft (hade of manifeft guilt. Even an excefs of feverity
is but the demand of juftice, and it can never be matter of com
plaint, if rightly applied. When the public are to decide on the
character of the action, time and attention are reqyifite for proper
i nve {ligation. To thofe who are blind by prejudice, or more than
blind by paffion of party refentment, neither is neceffary. A por
tion of mankind, and by far the greateft, have but feeble propen
fities to err. The gdod fenfe of trie clafs between the extremes of
opulence and poverty will perceive the inducement, think and act
right. Neither places, nor the wifh of any, will form excitements
or impediments, hoftiie to truth and fair reafoning. Thofe only
are to be addreffed. Others are either right, or exclude the hope
> of their^jeing changed.
Our fituation is peculiarly fortunate. A fair and ingenuous ap.

EETTER'S TO TrfE'P'E'OP'jdF*, y-'
peal to Americans, may always, with confidence, be made on fact.
and on principles. ; It has never failed of fuccefs. Time-tor re
flection and inquiry is all that is requifite. In the refult, difcern-
ing their intereft and their duty, they will- att with dignity. If
mifguided-'for'the'moment, they, pondering on caufe and effect and
the occurrences which are affociated, will ultimately get right. —
They have an intered and a character, as members of civil fociety ;
are tenacious of their religious and civil rights, and will be juft to
thofe who labor to defend, or attempt to injure them. With con
fidence, their attention is invited to the fubjeels in1 controverfy. —
They (hall decide — the world (halldecide, who are the offenders.
The dribbling federalifts, in their hurry to injure the " Farmer,"
forgot that they incurred a hazard of injuring themfelves, or thic
they owed it to their friends, not to difgrace a caufe which they
wete driving to fupport: They have managed with madnels, and
muft meet the confeqtiences of their defperate meafures;-
The writer- has ' been reprefented as oppofed' to religion, to the
Clergy; as at enmity with all which- is good— and' the proofs of
this dreadful charge are Iff be looked for*— in the tenth number.
Fellow-citizens ! Read it, examine it, put your-finger on the date-
meat that is falfe, on thefentiment that is incorrect: If they have
not been found, if they cannot be found, brand with infamy tbofe,
who have deceived you.- Bin few would go farther, than the au
thor of the -tenth number, to fupport a minifter, who is upright,
manly, intelligent and learned ; and none wduld abandon him don
er, when detected in playing the hypocrite, or in difgrace with im
proprieties. • If ever {here was a man, whom the writer venerated
too much, it was a'clergyman — but he was an " Ifratlite indeed" —
one with whom the writer. was moft acquainted, and who is now
deeping with the fatherof -the- faithful. His religion was a ftran-
ger to violence of action, or outrage of language. If was that re
ligion which acts upon the heart, by the mild and gentle influence
of preceptiand of example — and which, on its admiffion, tears from
it that*marice, hatred and bitternefs, that propenfity to (lander and
falfliood, whiefctpollute the foul, and difgrace chridianity ; which
fpurns the aid of proffered meannefs and political hypocrify. No —
the writer is a friend to mjhi tiers, and an enemy' to their faults — -
their crimes, and their follies, and will ever combat them. As
"¦teachers of religion, piety, ahd morality," they will and ought to
befupported ; as " the propagators of fedition, Jlanders, libels anct
modern fcdcralifm," they ought to be opjofed ; they muft, and-:
• -•- ¦•" ¦ ¦ G a

7$ LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
they will, of my word for it, they will be driven back — -back did
I fay ! They will be driven up — up to that, amiable and elevated
ftanding, on which they were originally .placed, by reafon and re
ligion, Chrift and his Apoftles.
A FARMER.

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. XII.
"V"OUR attention and your confidence are claimed by various and
. contradictory writers. The. ftatements they make, and the
principles they advance, are not confidently embraced by thefame
perfons. Realities which exid independent of the public percep
tion, or of individual ftatements, admit of no generally received
criterion, by which to ted them. Evidence, abundantly fatisfac-
tory to one mind makes no impreffion on another. Much depends
on the edimate we make of the veracity, the intelligence, and the
character for fairnefs, of the agents concerned in effecting a tranfac
tion, or in narrating, its effects. Principles in nature, lefs redure-
able to a (cafe of ablolute correftnefs, are more capable of a practi
cable edablifhrrsent. All perfons profefs- an attachment to truth ;
all talk of rectitude ; and mod' feel this attachment, abdrafctedly
confidered. But few have an intereft in being deceived ; yet they
have their inducements for deluding others.
The pofture of our public affairs, at home and abroad, prefents
matter for confideration, deeply interefting to American citizens.
Their afpect will be continually changing, in their minuter features,
if not in important habitudes, frorh the agency of thofe, by whofe
action they may be/affectedl As this action is to be prefumed the
refultof principle, it is of the laft importance that thefe practical
principles fhould be correct. The people for whofe benefit gov
ernment is inftituted, can never wifely felect their rulers, unlets
they are fubftanlially acquainted, both wkh the principles of their
government, and of thole who adminifter it. Thjt virtuous, by
candid enquiries, will be generally guarded againft being infidioufly
duped, or outrageoufly forced into the ruinous fyftems of factious
leaders. There will, however, be times, when, from the fqually
date of the political atmofphere*, the mod circumfpect will yield to
"a wind and a tide,", which manlinefs and integrity ought to re
dd. Paft prejudices, andprefent animofities, have almoft iubdued
the underftaridings, and the reafoning powers of moderate men. In

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 79r
the violence and collifion of parties, many are incapable of know
ing, and more of vindicating their rights. The authority. of indi
viduals, and a reverence for names, have increafed- the difficulty of
invedigating facts or principles,,- Yet this is neceffary for the dis
charge, of. the duties, which we owe to the public, or the obliga
tions binding in refpeQ; to ourfelves. Heaven and Earth are wit»-
neffes in the caufe of truth, and (anftion the arrangements for hu
man happinefs. Events in the old and- tranfadions in the new,
world, are proofs of a providence, over-ruling and watchful, for a
general good. The tide of- violent Federalifm will foon turn, and-
a rational, and con (litutional republicanifm flood in, if not impetu-
oufly, yet. with a ftrength and a cburfe, which will be irrefifrable.
The mire, and the dirt which are, or fhall be, thrown up in its
progrefs, by the agitations of troubled and conflicting factions, will
ceafe,- like the depieffed and inlidious undertow of the boifteroua
ocean, after a dorm.
This political current, from its own movements, will-work purej
The fcum, the weeds, and the trad), infamous trafh, which are toffed
about on its fin-face, will be feen innoxioufly depofited along the
borders ofthe quieted, element. Political navigators fhould fliape-
their prefent courfe, in conformity to the profpects, and the objefts
of the ufeful voyage. They are refponfible totheir orders, and their
owners ; and for evpry deviation they will be held to account..
In the State and National conditutions, are to be found the great
principles, for a fafe and proi'perous navigation. Thefe were the
work of experience and wifdom, and ate eafily reduceable to their
original principles and component parts. They are the compafs ;
and they alfo contain the charts of the coafts, haibours, founds,
flats, rocks, (helves and lands,, in reference to which we ought to'
fleer. .By them may be afcertained, the departures, the obliquities,
the. Northings and Southings, of erring dr fkilful pilots. Reafon
and.Patriotilm are now analyzing thefe happy exped-knts for focial
happinefs. The errors which may have affected their- pall appli-'
cation, or movements under them, are capable, of correction ; aided
by the agency of the conftitution-makers, themfelves, thefe reno
vating operations will be eafy, by a recurrence to firft principles.
Should this political analyfis become general, its fuccefs will be cer
tain, its. utility great. It hasalready been practical, and nearly com
plete, in its effects on the elections in P-ewnfylvania, and. moft of
the Southern States. NewrYork, Maryland, Rhode-lfiand andJ
Vermont, are adding themfelves to the number. "The bclW, manly,
and elevated patriotifm, at prefent prevalent in thefe States, com-

LETTERS TO THE -PEOPLE":
pared with the wreathings and twiftings of paft times, is a theme
of inftruttion, and a fubject of admiration. Our government ought
to be honedly and fairly adminiftered, in the fpirit and genius of
the conditutions on Which they red. The act of fuffrage, ought
.to be free, not forced j the aft of the people, not of z faction ; fair,
not the effect of fraud or falfehood: ,
In a date of error, and of political perplexity, in vexations and
induced-aberrations from the path of rectitude and duty* it is ufe
ful to tread back, from whence we have drayed, and to mark the
places, from which our deviations cominenced. The monuments
ib erefted, by returning travellers, will be ufeful and admonitory
beacons of future dangers. The difference between the principles,
the meafures'andthe objects of the prefent, and the paft adminidra
tion, is great, marked in fome rei'pects, of oppofite bearings on the
people's property, fafety, rights and privileges. It is but candid
to fuppofe, with a few exceptions, that both may have aimed to
promote: their country's good. The motivesof both may have been
virtuous, but the effects of their meafures and their principles can
never be equally ufeful. Thofe who have been in power, entered
under every advantage ; but power hasforfaken them, or, at lead
they donot retain it. This proves that they were either difmclined,
or incompetent to its exercife ; or that their principles of govern
ing, however good to themfelves, were not congenial to the feelings-
of the governed. . . The common dilution, confoling alone to degraded
power, that the people are incapble of difcerning their intereft.. or
too corrupt to purfue their duty, is too infultingly reproachful to
be admitted. The difgraceful obfervation, the favorite of violent
federalifm, that citizens are incompetent to be-truded with their
own government, or with the cuftody of themfelves, is a burlefque
on the American revolution, and on thofe who promoted it. The
afperfion is repelled, by the atchievment of our independence, the
formation of our Governments, and by recent events. .Americans
have made a. multitude: of experiments in a few years'; have' lived
lpng, in a fhort time ; and they ought to profitin proportion to the
advantages enjoyed. .t
There are,who early(advocated the people's rights,their fovereignty
and their competency for felf government. There are, who-planned
with others an emancipating oppofkion to the dominating claims of
a -mother Country, and led in the councils which conducted our'
revolution, and eftablifhed our independence. There are, whore-'
cognized thofe rights, and that competency, in the conditutions of-
government, which they a Aided informing. There are:, who ever

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 81
fence, uniformly adhering to, and ftiuggting for, the fupport of-
thofe rights and that competency, have, neverthelefc, been accufed
of violating thefe (acred piovifions, and plotting the deftruction of
the government, and the ruin of the country. This groundlefs
charge has deftroyed the reputation of thoufands, and cod us mil
lions of money. The people, having recovered from the effects of
this alarming and impoftng afperfion. let them not again yield, to a
fpirit of crimination, implicit faith. Let them not again without
jeferve, without check, and without fufpicion, abandon their high-
eft intereft, in an extravagance of confidence to the affum prions of
power. The public faith ought to be preferved at every rlfk.—
But the -effects of a blind, or a forced confidence, in the evils of
our money fyftems, and treaty adjuftments fhould (uffice, for their
quantum, and redeem our country from (itnilar misfortunes, foi a
century yet to come.
Republicans join with Federalifts, in inviting to a watchful
jealoufy of the men in power- They ought to be fcrutinized, their
every action to be weighed, tried and fairly tefted, by the conftitu
tion they have fwom to fupport. An enlightened people will view
with indulgence, the innocent failures of fallible mortals. They
will know what are the requirements of public duty, before they
decide it has been corruptly violated. In a government like ours,
there are no myfteries; no ab (tractions too profound for the com -
prehenfion of man ; no fublimities too exalted for the people's con
ception, ' They -who framed it are capable of underdanding it ;
they who adopted it of giving it fupport.
Our government, in its principles, was, when firft framed,
limple, its language fincere ; its form accommodated to the capaci
ties, and its pro virions, to the interefts of the people,who eftablifhed
it. They were then thought capable of difierning, and fulfilling
with propriety, the duties it affigned them. Their allotted agency
in it, was viewed as important, and neceffary to its adminidration.
The thought was correct. In its being realized, confifts their fafe
ty, and the duration of our country's freedom. The Slate Condi
tutions are the facred Vouchers of rights retained, and power con
ferred. Thefe are the weightier matters in the formation of all in-
ftitutions. The State inftitutions are the enlightened and ferioufly
digefted commentaries, on the principle, nature and ends of civil
fociety. They were framed by the wifdom and experience of the
wifeft of our countrymen ; and — "we, the people," adopted
them. The great and important provlfions of thefe conditutions,
eflentially neceffary to the fafety, liberty and happinefs of the peo-

St LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
pie, were transferred to 'our national government, and their, -genihs,
'and fpirit, as a vital principle, indued into its very being,.
' To the fair and full 'underdanding of the nature and defign of
this conftitution, it will be ufeful to look back on thofe admirable
contrivances for public happinefs, thofe true palladia of American
liberty. Let us read them with: homage, approaching to adoration ;.
and reverence, habitually, that fuperintending one, by .which they
are guaranteed Republican,' , , ,.
It will be ufeful at all times, more efpecially at the prefent mo
ment, to review the principles, once conlecrated by federalifts, and'
always facred to republicans. Although the temples and the altars
may have differed difgrace, or gone to decay, thefe arks and taber
nacles are dill untouched, and will yet recover and preferve the
, people. . When caufed to err, when to wander and to grope for the
right way, they will be the ".cloud," and the "pillar," to call them
back, and to guide their courfe.
The fallowing are among the political axioms, contained in thefe
facred mditutions.. . ¦:'.-, - ' -
The People of New-Hampjhirc, in 1783., with a fovereignfo-
lemhity, dated' to'the world and to themfelves^ ,"-that"a frequent
recurrence to the fundamental principles of thefe inftruments, and
a conftant adherettcejo jufiice, moderation, frugality, t&c, with all
the focial virtues, were indifpenfab'ly neceffary, to preferve the blefi-
ings of good government. <
" That the people, therefore, ought to have a particular regard:
to thofe principles in the-choice of their officers and REPRESrENTAr
tives, and have aright to require of their lawgivers and magif-.
trates, an exaclznd conftant obfervance of thenV •• . .
.." That economy, being a mod effentiat virtue in all ftates, efpe--
cially in a young one, no penfion fhould be granted, but in confid-
eration of aclualfervices, and -thofe with* great caution, and never
more than one year at a time.
". That ftanding armies are dangerous to liberty, and a well regu
lated militia,. t\it proper ami fure defence of a Sute."
-. That, -?' the People of that ftate, have the fole arid exclufive
right of governing themfelves, as free, fovereign and independent,
that they did, and forever then after, fhould enjoy every right, &c.
that might not be exprefsly delegated to the United States." 1
That, '', alL power redding originally in, and derived from the
people,, all the magiftrates and officers of government are their fub-
ftitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them/'
That, " Government is conftitutedfar the. cpmmon benefit, pre-.

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 83
lection, and fecurity of the whole community, and not for the pri-
¦vate intereft or emolument of any one man, family, or clals of-
men." In 1780, the people of Moffachufetts, ferioufly deliberating on
the principles of government, exprei's the following fimilar idea, in
their bill of rights.
That, " a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of,
the conftitution, and a conftant adherence to thofe of moderation,
indufiry, frugality, &c. are abfo/utely neceffary to preferve the ad
vantages of liberty, and to maintain, a free government. That the
people, confequentlyj ought to have a particular attention to thofe
principles, in the choice of their officers and reprefentaiives, and
that the people have the right to require a drift obfervance of them,
in the formation and execution of laws."
In the fourth, .fifth, fixth, feventh and eighth articles it is dated,
that " the people -of the Commonwealth have the fole and e.xelu-
live:right of governing themfelves, as a free, (bvereign and indei
pendent date ; that they did then, and forever after fhould, exer-
cile every right, whichfhould not be delegated to the U. States."
That " all power refiding originally in the people, and being
derived from them, the feveral magiftrates and officers of govern
ment, vefted with authority, whether legiflative, executive or judi
cial, are their fubftitutes and agents, and are at all times account
able to them." That, no man, or Borporation of men, have any
other, title to obtain advantages, or particular and exclufive priv
ileges, diftinct from thofe of the community, than what arifes from <
¦the eonfiderationof fervices tendered 10 the public."
That " Government is inftituted for the common good ; for the
protection, fafety, profperity and happinefs' of the people, and not
for the profit, honor and private intered of any one mun, family or
clafs of men ; and that in order to prevent thofe who are veded
with authority from becoming op pretfors, the people have a right,
at fuch periods, and in fuch manner, as they (hall edablifh by their
frame of government, to caufe their public officers to return to pri
vate fife ; and to fill up vacant places, by certain regular elections
and appointments.
In 1783, the people of Vermont formed anew their conditution,
"and -therein, almoft in the above recited words, recognize the fore-
gsing principles, as fundamental and' indifpenfible to civil liberty
and national happinefs. ;,
Thefe principles are either expreffed, or are affumed and leading
»a^ll the date conductions. Thfijr,genius and fpirit pervade all,

84 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE;
which have been formed or adopted by the people, throughout the
Union. Rhode-Ifland and Connecticut are- under their old charters— the
people ofthe former participate fully in thofe jreafonings and fen
timents of their neighbors ; and the iatter, fo foon as it can free it
feif from the deprefling effects of the " fteady," or rather colonial
habits, and be fully unfhackled, will embrace them as divine.
The Ncw-Hampjhire conditution provides, that all judicial offi
cers (hall hold their offices during good behavior, with exceptions ;
and with a provifion that, nevertbelefs, with the confent of council,
the Prefident may remove them upon the addrefs of both houfes of
the LegHlature.
The conditution of Maffachufetts makes its judicial provifions,
in the very words of that of New-Hampjkire. Subdantially fimi
lar provifions are made in the foothern governments. The juftice
of Connecticut and Vermont is adminidered by judgesannually ap
pointed, and in Rhode-Ifland they hold their offices but fix months.
Such is the various tenure of judicial offices in New-England, and
fuch the independence of thofe who fill them.
The Federal judges, likethofeof Maffachufetts and New-Hamp-
fihire-, are appointed to hold their of&ces during good behavior. The
federal government borrowed the term frorri the (late conditutions ;
they from the Britifh judiciary. From thefe fources, will be learned
the meaning of this intereftingi phrafe. But more of this hereafter.
The Federal Conftitution being an union' of governments; with
enumerated powers, for fpecific purpofes, in defined modes, and
merely to fupply the deficiencies of thefe governments, in ref
erence to common objects, it does not exprefsly recapitulate the be
fore-recited, maxims. But they form its balls and very effence. —
The patriotic framers of this Conditution, fay in its outlet, it is "to
form a more perfect union, edablifh juftice, infure domedic tran
quility, promote general welfare, and fecure the bleffings of liberty
to themfelves and their pofterity," and, in its progrefs, having pro
vided, that reprefentation and taxation (hall be apportioned among
the feveral States according to their refpefctive numbers, adding to
the whole number of free perfons, three-fifths of all other perfons,
doles with an unanimous expreffion of their belief, that it was li
able to as few exceptions as could reafonabiy have been expected,
and with the mod ardent wifh, that it might' promote the lading,,
welfare of our country, and fecure her freedorn:and hap1 pinels.
The above recitals may be tedious to the reader. But thelfenti-
mehts they contain can never be too -often iec0lletted, or too fre- :

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 85
quently repeated, until they are fixed in the heart. They fhould
be worn as a bracelet on the arm, as a frontlet on the head of every
American. They fhould be the Urim and Thummim, in all his po
litical enquiries. Such were the maxims of die patriots &datefmenof
75, 80, 83, and 87. By fuch was the conduct of America then regu
lated. They have commanded the attention of the virtuous of all
nations, and'endured the ravages of pewer and the fhock of time.
They ought never to be parted with, were once dear to us, and, if
rnadev" to operate, will ranfomfreedom a fecond time from the hands
of the affailant !" The new fy (terns which are "now advanced, the
different maxims now adopted, go to the prodraiion of conditu-
tional republicanifm. Principles and meafures, once execrated, are
now contended for — and thofe formerly embraced are now
reprobated. The- facts are notorious, apparent from a thou-
iand«vents, and, fhall be further illu'drated. Lately, it was a duty
- to reverence the national conditution, and inculcate a refpect for
the Congrefs, and the condituted authoiities ; now the mode, liable
* to as few exceptions as could reafonably have been expected, of
apportioning the reprefentation and taxation, fecufed by the con
ftitution, is clamored againd ; and the majority of Cpngrefe, and
the condituted authorities, are a faction, gotten into power, but to
be oppofed, and by calumny, hunted down. Lately, it .was the
duty of all good men, of all patriotic citizens, of every friend to
his country, to ufe his hightji and whole influence to give credit
and effect to the congreffional meafures, and Presidential arrrange-
rnen'.s ; now it is an unpardonable offencej judifying reproach, and
Calling for execration. But the government was then preferving
and.purfuing the provifions of Lhe conftitution, and promoting the
welfare of the country, it is now dedroying both. This is the
enquiry ; this is the queftion, for the decidon of the people.. To
them is the appeal !
Fellow Citizens ! If the Executive and the majority of the ex-
ifting Congrefs have faithfully and iteadily, adminidered the gov
ernment, on its true principles, in conformity to the conditution,
''for the bed intered of the people ; — if, believing that all legiti
mate power originates with, and is derived from, the people,
¦they have confidered all officers, whether" leg: dative, executive, or
•judicial, as their agents, accountable to-them, and having no title
"to advantages, but from a confideration of fervices, rendered ; — •
if, viewing government as indituted alone for -the common good,
they have regularly and ufefully caufed unneceffary public offiBers
?! * il. • H

86 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
'to-return'to private-life ; — if, fullyimpreffed with the idea that
the people of the feveral States have the iole and exclufive right
•ef governing themfelves, as free and fovereign, fo far as is confid
ent with their conditutional dependance on the general govern
ment, they have declaimed the exercife of every right, not dele
gated to the United States,; — if, confidering aftanding army as
dangerous to liberty, and a well regulated militia as its natural
and fure defence, they have difcountenanced the one, and are en
couraging the other ; — if, in fhort, Fellow-Citizens of Maffachu-.
fetts, in the language of your, bill of rights, this Executive, and
this majorii-y, in ¦" the formation and execution of laws, have
ftritlly obferved thofe fundamental principles cf government, and
cokjtantly adhered to thofe of moderation, induftry, frugality, and
economy 'J which are abfolutejy neceffary to preferve the advantages
,ef liberty ,- and to maintain a free government s" — will you con
tinue to view them as enemies to yout rights and intered, as un
worthy of your confidence ; and denounce them to the world #s
¦the unprincipled deftroyers of their country's happinefs ? Either
abandon the wife and neceffary maxims of fteedom, in your dale"
conditutions,, or juftify a patriotic conformity to them, in your
national government 1 If you are did attached to liberty, to felf
rule, to an empire of laws of your own forming ; then approbate
the meafures neceffary to preferve. them ! Break from the influ
ence of prejudice and ftandvr ; adhere to the principles of a Re
publican government ; cling to the national conditution ; ref-
cue from difgrace, and from a common danger, America's great-
,ff treafure, and the world's beffhope ! !
A FARMER..

TO THE PEOPLE....N0. XIII.
•f~\F all defirable objects, of all unknown expedients, the moft
^"^ valuable would be thofe, by which falfehood could be delected,
and true principles propagated, in times of great political conten
tion. Could this be effected, deep differences would fubfide ; a
•furious party fpirit become cool, or be borne down ; tranquility
would be eftablifhed ; an ufeful confidence be placed in government,
and a dignified direftion given to the public fentinjent, throughout
tthe union. Although fo happy a condition is not attainable, yet
£fall perfons, who honeftly wifh their country's good, were-candid

LETTER'S TO THE PFOPXEl gy
in their enquiries, and faithful iri their purfuits of thofe meafuiesv
^•liich their judgments approbate* np- portion ofthe United States-
would be torn, diftracted and diigraced, byjhe wamonnefs of'fac-
tiori, or the more deleterious and maddening effects of- the frauds,-.*
falfehdods, and danders, of defperate and Unpriricibled individuals, -^
The readied Way to correct (b pernicious an evif\: and-to defpeil-
thefe' defairiers of t>.eir power to influence', is^rp^ur-aifh' ;$Jjie great-
body of the people with foriip leading fafts and/principles, by' which-'
they may decide for th,errifelyes. If the adminiftratidri| in truth^
arid in good faith, is eonftitutioha'lty laboring} for the fafety and
pfofperify of the public, and not,' as de|arriexs?fay, for individual
aggraridizerhfent, tO'vits; injury dr deftruclidn : honed people will
befatisfied. ' If it .is. true-thal the legjifiature arid executive arey
ferioufly, fairly, and intelligently, cbhftr'oitag the conftitfition ac-1
eotding to its true intent and meaning-, and, in the formation and-
execution of the laws and* their duty, aie adlcluriufly conforming
to its real deuj|il-, principles, arid provifions, os-tbey were originally
underftdocf and- contemplated by the-people, they will fupport them.
Where this defign and meaning are underdood, the conftitution is-
linderftood ; where thofe are complied with, this is. confbijned to -^
fHeoath of office to> fupport the conditution, is an oath to preferve
thofe principles,- arid to execute thofe provifions,, in the genuine-
fenfe ih! which they were viewed by' the rnakers and adopters of tho-
indrument containing them." Indeed thofe principles and thofe
provifions, in fuch afenfe,.are the conftitutioB itfeif.- The oflkeir.
JWno alters this meaning, violates, bisoath; he who depreciates their-
utility or their practicability, -is- an- Anti-Fed'eralift; He who oo--
pofes them is a,diforganizer ; and'the man who dares to fubftituie
in thteir- place,, a principle of force, terror, fraud and corruption,.
er a fydem of pride-,- privilege,, aridocracy and patronage, isapar-
¦tieiffe^-and'commits an act of - tfeatori to his country. If the Con-
feutipn is deficient, let it be made more perfeft";.. if the govc;^i-
'ysient is tod weak, give it drength ; if the Executive wants rooisr
fefiergy,, enlarge its powers ; if too limited in object,, extend it.-J—
Kyt'fet this be done,,.not by Health, not inlenfibly, not by fubtlctjj^
art and management, not from, a- perfidious con (fruition, not pilfer-^
iHg.here a little- and there a little of an increafe of gpwer, and »ru-
eittenfron of pt¥rdgative. But let it be done by the pieoole ; lets:
power be fairly delegated, expreffed in an amended: conditution,.
adopted,' legitimated by thofe, from whom willpower is derived.-^
This will'be fafe ;"(afe for the prefent, and fafe for the future '; for-
tbe people, arid for thofe who may gpvem.'f In-civil . coatentioits.-.

88; LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE".
there will then be an agreed criteridn by which to decide. In po
litical convuMions, a rallying point, an explicit ted; which can be
feen and retorted lo. If our own, or the experience.of others, have
given us a predilection for the fopperies and follies of the old world ;
if it has prepared us for their corruptions and their oppreffions, to
meet the degradations and the privations, appendant to their fyftems
of government, vr.ifalage and 'nailery ; if, from"the trials they have
made, the people are already convinced there is tpo much trouble
in being always on the watch, too much expence in the care of
themfelves and their higheft concerns, too- condant a labor in the
frequent election of their rulers, and in the invedigation of the
principles of their conduct ; if, in fhort, they are tick of a freedom
which alone car. give dignity to man, and -make life happy, then
let them abandon thofe. laborious and expenfive, but all important,
privileges, to thofe who are claiming their furrender. Let the new-
modelled Conditution, by an explicit aft of our own, confide the
care of ourfelves, and confign our poflerity, with all the involved,
conlequences, to the management pf an Executive for life, and to-'
the gracious difpofal of an hereditary Senate, who will fave us
from our zoorft enemies, -ovrselves-.
Although any fuch arrangement, or any material change of our
government, would be deprecated, and is abhorrent to the very
fouls of Americans, with few exceptions, yet they are not fufficient
ly awake to the importance of a ftrict adherence to their old prin
ciples, and the danger of the great, radical-, and ultimately ruinous
changes, from fraall, gradual, but condant deviations, if the peo
ple will befaithful to themfelves, their government will be per
petual, and their lated generations be gieat and happy under ir».
The prefent divifion of politics is on principles, which ought to
make every voter a party. The active of both fides call on the
people to fupport ih'ir government and the conditution, and ac-
cufe theif opponents of hodility to both. In a country, indulged
with freedom of thinking, and of communicating the refult of re
flections, there mud be a diverfity of fentiments, on the expedien
cy pf fubordirrate principles, and political diffentions, relative to a
variety of meafures. From this,- in itfeif, there is no evil. The
danger is from the extreme, and fiom the mode of managing them,
by quedioning or faenficing the great and fundamer.'a! principles
oi a free government lo their fupport. Political difputes,- if con-
ftfied to- bounds, and managed with temper and intelligence, woulri.
Le generally falutary, feldom injurious, never ruinous. The ufiial
refult would be, an increafe of wifdom and of d-rength to the civil

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE, 89l
eftablifbment ; of ultimate harmony and dibilily to the union ;t.
and of folid force and duration to the provifions of theconfti'tution.
In all civil contentions and inveftigations of the theory and prin-
; ciples of government, the people will be much influenced by the
opinions of men of learning,, wifdom, ftudy and experience ; and <
it is right they fhould be. ' If thefe opinions" have .been, formed, .
unbiaffed by prejudice and abftra£kd from finider or perfonal,
views, they merit refpe£l. Proportions approved under fuch cir-
cumdances ought lo be embraced, and not fuddenly given up. But.
no politician, no ftatelrnan in office, in warm party times, with his
intjered, pride, feelings, and place depending, c^n be relied upon."
In deliberating, he will be in danger of miftaking feeling and iiv
tered for fentiment, his party for the. public,. -and habit and preju
dice for the convictions of the underdanding. This was in a de
gree illudrated, in the tranfaitions of the lad-fcftian of Congrefs,
and is remarkably fo, in the conduct of the leading partifaris through
out the United States, at the prefent moment. We were then, and
are now divided,' -not only on quedionsof expediency, where a
difference is natural, but on independent principles, queftiovss. of
condruction, and matters of fact,' as our party politics direct. It-
ought to be mortifying to our pride, with- our boaded powers of
perception andreafoning, that theevidenceof abdracttruths fhould
depend for its force, altogether, pn the party we aft with. One
fide mud, from neceffity, be wrong. To decide, which, and on,
the merits or demerits of the, leading characters, the correctnefs- of
their principle, their motives, and objects, it will be ufeful to go-
back, and review the various fcenee through which We have paffed,.
the principles of the prominent characters acting in them, and to.-
bring together kindted things which time has feparated.
In my laft -I -recited, from State conditutions, principles which'
were once confidered as important, and effential to the-fafety and
freedom of the people, and which, as yet, every officer atting under
them, fwears to preferve. When thefe Conditutions. were framed,
we were at peace .among ourfelves. Things were viewed with
unimpaflioned minds. Truth-was received as it prefented itfeif,
and applied as ¦ wifdom and experience directed, for the good of the
country. The National Government was framed under dill
greater advantages. The effentials and the objects of both, may, fo
far as a reliance ought to be placed on the authority of any individ
ual, be learnt by the fentiments of a Gentleman, to whom Maffi-
, chufetts is indebted for the mod valuable and democratic parts of.;
H 2 '

$o ' L ETTERS TO THE PEOPLE-!1
its conditution ; and the Conlirient,at large, for eminent-Republi
can Cervices. In 1776, on the applfcation of the lion. Geofge
Wyihe, of Virginia, to the tafe Prefident, -for his ferious arid' digefted
thoughts on civil Government, Mr. Adams, as agpeariby aBodon
paper. "pi.biifhed in" ,1790! expreffed them in a letter, from which
ths frilloWing"a,r^%eklracts. -, , ' ,-'•,'
* " If 1 we're equal to the tafk-of forming a plan for the Govern-
nierit of a -Colony, I fhould be flattered, with your re'qufeftj and
very happy to comply with' it ;, becaufe,. as thi|' divine feientf of
polities is the fciehce of-focial happinefs, and the bleffings of fociety
depend, entirely on the conllitiiiions of government, which are gen
erally inftitutidns that laft for many generations, there can be no
emptoyment-riuiie agreeable to-a benevolprit nrind, than a refearch
afler'the be.fr..4. ,. ' ' ' -- *'
"Pope flattered Tyrants too niuch, when he faid,
. " Forforms of Government letfoqls con,tejl,
H That. which is beji adminifter'd, is. heft."
''• Nothing can be more fallacious than this :- But poets read"
hiftory'to' coilett flower^ not fruits — they attend to fanciful lin
ages, not the effects of fecial, iri-ftkutions. Nothing i& more cer
tain, from the fciftbry of nations, and the nature of man, than that:
ibm'e forfllir of Government are betted fitted for being well admin-
-idered, "than others.-' " '¦ " '¦' -^ . i
•" We ought to cdnfider what is the end of ©otfernment, before-
xvi determine which is ibebeft fernS. Upon; this point, all fpee-
ulaiiye politicians'- will agree, that- the happinefs- of focitty is the-
Cn'd ofKioveVrimtnt, as all divines arid moral phrlofophers yriLlogree^
thai ihe happfnefs dPthe individual. Is the end of man. From, this
principle it will follow, that the form of Government which com
municates eafe,. comfort-, fecti?ity± x\r, in tviot^jhappinefs, to the
- gicated dumber of peffbriSj and in the gi-eatfeft delgteei is the bed.
,: » j\ii fobe'r- enquirers after: truth, 'ancient andj,mod@>m, Pagan
attd Cbri'ftian, have declared that the: happinefs of roan, as well as
his -dignit'y, confids in virtue. Confucius, Zoroafter-, Socrates,
Mahomet, hot to-mentidn authorities really- facred, have agreed in
this.' '•' If there is a form of Government, thee, whofe principle and
foundation is virtue, will not every fober man acknowledge it bet
ter calculated to promote the general happinefs. than' any olhes.-
form ? . ,' ¦
" Fear is the foundation of moft Governments,; but is fo fordid

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.. qx
Miid'brutul a paffion, and renders men in whofe breads it predomi.
nates, fo ftupid and mifersble, that Americans will not be likely to
approve of any political inftitution that is founded on it,
' " Honor is truly facred, but holds a lower rank in the fcale of
moral excellence, than virtue. Indeed,' the former is but a part of
the latrtr, and confequer.tly has not equal pretentions to fupport
a frame of government, productive of human happinefs.
"The foundation of every Government is fome principle or paf
fion in the minds'of the people. The nobleil principles and mod..
generous affections- in our nature, then, have the faired chance to
fupport the nobleft and moft generous models of Government .
" A man muft be indifferent to thefneen of modern Englijhmen,
to mention, in their company, the names of Sidney, Harrington^
Locke, Milton, Needham, Neville, Burney and Hoadly. Nofmall
fortitude is neceffary to confefs that one has read them. The
wretched condition of this country, however, for ten or fifteen years
paft, has frequently reminded me of their principles and reafonings.
They- will convince every candid mind, that there is no good Gov
ernment but what is Republican ; that the only valuable part of
the Britifh Conjiitution'isfoj becaufe the very definition of a Re
public, is an 'Empire of Laws and not of men ;' that as a Republic
is the bell of Governments, fo that particular arrangement of the
powers of fociety, or, in other words, that form of government
whkh is beft contrived to fecure an impartial and exact execution
of the laws is the beft of Republics.
' "In the prefent exigency of American affairs, when, by an a£t-
of Parliament we are put out of the loyal protection, and confe-
quently difcharged from our allegiance ; and it has become neceffary
to affume government for our immediate fecurity ; the Governor,
Lt. Governor, Secretary, Treafury, Commiffary, and' Attorney.
General, fhould be chofen by joint ballot of both Houfes. And'
thefeand all other elections, especially of Reprefentatives and Coun-
felloi 5, fhould be annual, there -notbeingin the whole circle of the*
fdences, a maxim more infallible than this," "Where annual eke*'
tidns end there fiavery begins.
Thefe great men, in this refpect, fhould be, once a year,
" Like bubbles on, the fea. of matter borne,
" They rife, they break, andrto the fea return."
"This will teach them the great political virtues of humility^.
patience and moderation, without wfiuh, every man infozner becomes
fl ravenous beaji. of prey.".

9* LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
" A rotation of all offices, as well as Reprefentatives and Coun-
fellers, has many advocates, and is contended for with many plaufi—
ble arguments. It would'he attended, no doubt, with many. ad
vantages ; and if the fociety has a fufficient number of fuitable
characters to fupply the great number of vacancies, which would.
be made by fuch a rotation, / can fee no objection io.it-. Th^fe per
fons may be allowed to ferve for three years, and then be excluded,
for three years, or for a longer or a fhorter term.
" A rniliua law, requiring all men, or with very few^xceptions,^
befides cafes of confcience, to be provided with arms and ammuni
tion, lo be trained ascertain fealbns,.and.requiring counties, towns.
or other fmall, diftricts to be, provided with public docks of am
munition and intrenching utenfy'ls, and with fome fettled plans for-
tranfporting provifions after the; militia,, when marched to defend.
their Country againdTudden invafidxis ; and requiring certain dif
tricts to be providediwith field- pieces, companies of matroffes, and
perhaps fome regiments of light horfe, is always a wife inditution,
and in the prefent- cireumftances-'of our countny, indifpenfible.
" Laws for the liberal education of youth, efpecially of the lower.
clafs of people, .are fo extremely wife and ufeful, that to a humane,
and generous mind, no expence for this purpofe would be thought
extravagant. " The very mention of fumptuary laws will excite a dnile. —
Whether our countrymen have wifdom ard virtue enough to fob-,
mit to them, I know not. But the happinefs ofthe people might.
be greatly promoted by them, and a revenue faved, fufficient to
carry on this war forever. Frv.gaU.ty is a great revenue, befides.
curing us of vanities, levities and fopperies, which are real anti
dotes to all great, manly and warlike virtues.
" A Condituiion, founded on thefe principles introduces know
ledge among the people, and infpires them with a confcious dignity, •
becoming freemen. A general emulation takes place, which caufes
gpod humor, fociability, good manners, and good morals to be gen
eral. That elevation of fentiroent, infpired by fuch a government,,
makes the common people brave and enterprizing. That ambition,
which is infpired by it, makes- them fober, indudrious and frugal.
You will find among them fome elegance, perhaps, but more folid-
ity ; a little pleafure, but a great deal of bufinefs ; fome politenefs,
but more civility. If you compare fuch a country with the regions
of- domination, whether monarchical, or anjloa atical, you will
fancy yourfelf in Arcadia or Elyfium.
" If the Colonies fhould affume gaversments feparatelft, they

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 93
mould be left intirely to their own choice of the forms, and if a
Continental Conditution fhould be formed, it fhould be a Congrefs,
containing a fair and adequate Reprefentation of the Colonies, and
its authority fhould facredly be confined to- thefe cafes, viz.war, trader
difputes between Colony and Colony, the Poft Office, and the unap
propriated. lands of the Crown, as they ufed to be called.
"Thefe Colonies under fuch forms of-government, and in fuch
an union, .would be unconquerable, by all monarchies of Europe."
" You and I, my dear friend, have been fent into life, at a time
when the greated lawgivers of antiquity would have wilhed to hace-
lived. How few of the human race have even enjoyed an oppor
tunity of making an election of government, more than of air, foil,
or climate, for themfelves or their children. When, before the
prefent epocha, had three millions of people full power, and a fair
opportunity, to form;and edablitb, the wifed and happied govern
ment that human wifdom can contrive ? I hope you will avail
yourfelf and your country of that extenfive learning and indefati
gable indudry which you poffefs, to a did her in the formation of
the happied governments, and the bed character of a great people
—For myfelf, I mad beg of you to keep my name out of fight,
for this feeble attempt, if it fhould be known to be mine, would
oblige me to apply to myfelf thofe lines of the immortal Jphn Mil
ton, in. one pf his fonnets,
- - ** / did but teach the age to quit their doggr,
" By the plain rules, of antient Liberty,
" When lo ! a barbarous noifefurrounded me,
"Of owls, and cuckoos, affes, apes and dogs."
The above, and the quotations in my lad, expreffed not merely
the fentiments of the late prefident, of "' Sydney, Harrington,Locke,
Milton, Needham, Neville, Barney, ahd Hoadley." They were
the fentiments of the Adamfes, Bowdoin, Hawley, Livingfton,
Dickinfon, Mafon, Pendleton, Lee, Randolph, Rutledge, P. Henry,
Madifon, Jefferfon, and Wafirington, and they were the fentiments
of every American. They are called up, fellow- citizens, with
names, to aid your memories. Paufe, reflect, for your own fakes,
your country's — for Heaven's fake confider. They were the fen
timents which you oppofed to the claims of tyianny, which car
ried us through our revolution, gave to us our independence, and
thofe republican governments, etfential to its fupport. Recollect,
read the annals of your pad exertions ; infpett the journals of your
pld congrefs; review your old opinion? ; look into your own

94 LETTERS TO' THE PEOPLE.
hearts, and' fee if you have changed ; look abroad and fee who hasi-
Be confident ; refpect yourfelves, your former theories, and your
prefent intered. If you-are not changed, if attached to the funda
mental principles of.your own governmenr, fupport them and thofe
who are their confident, per&vering friends. Compare thefe prin
ciples with thofe of the late inaugural fpeech, the meffage'- to con--
grefs, and the practice upon them. If tbey are congenial ; if they
are the fame ; if according with your own ; if promotive of you*
intered, the fecurity of your rights and the prefervation of your
liberty ; why countenance the violence and virulence of a bitter,
indifcriminating abufe of thofe, who are faithfully executing their
duty, in conformity to your withes,' as expreffed in your conditu
tions ? Why is there an unrelenting, enraged, falfe, calumniating
faction, denouncing arrangements, made in purfuance of 'the public
will ? Why has paffion, fraud, refentment, fal fhood ' arid intoler
ance, purfued, with a hue. and cry, the reformers of abufes, the pre-
fervers of endangered, if- not the redorers of lod rights ? Why!
have the defamation of a dangerous patronage, the retrenchment of ;
military and civil officers, agents and agencie*, been viewed as de- '
pastures from principle,- virtue and patriotifm ? Why has a gov
ernmental ceconomy, depredating alone, if not on an extravagant
ufe, yet on an unneceffary expenditure, of public property, been
abominated with more afperity, than the blacked deeds of a bloody
robber, or the moft atrocious of a butchering affaffin ? Why has
the reform of the judiciary produced acrimony, and a releafe from-
unequal and burdenfome taxes, generated hatred? Why-has the
envenomed tongue been let loofe on private character, to poifon the
fources ef focial intercourfe, and (ling to the heart the fympathies
of frienddlip ? Has it been for perfonal victory,- and individual
gratification, to < the degradation of government? Has pride, has
refentment, not truth, not our country's welfare, been the object ?
Is our government to be a government of factions, not of the peo
ple ? Are thofe in power to be overwhelmed with obloquy, be
borne down by the minority, and the difpute increafed in imbitter-
ed fkarpnefs, until the one party, or the oiher is dedroyed, or the.
government fubverted ? To the people are thefe quedions lubmit-
ted., They merit their attention, and muft wait their dilution !
A FARMER..

( 95 3

TO THE PEOPLE....N0.XIV.
THE advantages und^er which our national Conditution was
formed, furnifhed a predmiption of its excellency. From
the characters who formed it, the times and theciicumdances which,
produced it, there is reafon to believe it could not have been
ftrengthened for the better. We were then in peace, at home and
abroad. Our State Conditutions had been on trial for years. Ex
perience had watched and marked their defects and their perfections.
The fcience of government had been the dudy of Americans. They
had been invedigating its principles, and learning to apply them.
They were poffcffed or thofe maxims which practice had difclofedj
wifdom had fanclioned, and the hiftory, of ages had treafured up.—
3?hey knew the dangers to be avoided, and 'the comforts to be
fought for. They were acquainted with the oppreffion and mife-
ries, in the four quarters pf the globe, and the ca'ufes which, occa
sioned them. They had contemplated the deficiencies, and the ad
vantages of the varipus forms of government, in ancient, modern,
and the then prefent tiflies. The neceffity of a union was every
where felt, and the imbecility of dur confederation univerfally ac
knowledged. We had but jud become tranquil, in a refpite from
the conflict of an infurrection. This event lufficiently impreffed
on the mind the neceffity of energy in government, and refources
fer its fupport. The want of power, adequate to the regulation
and management of trade, foreign relations, common defence, na
tional juftice, and public faith, was fully experienced, and precifely
known. We had. recently conducted a revolution, and a long,
bloody and expenfive war, both without, and with the aid of an
ally. The people were prepared to delegate as much power, as
could be contemplated. to be neceffary, under any emergencies, for-
national purpofes. And it is drange, indeed, if the members of the
convent-ion were not difpofed to take it. The exigencies of the
rimes, the events of the revolution, had raifed up characters, of ex
ertion and public fpirit, and the mighty occafions had made them
"great. Thefe were (elected to amend the confederation. Never did
reeii meet under greater advantages, wilh.experience greater, minds
purer, principles more improved, and with fuch independence of
thought, and latitude of acting. Under this individual agency,
had been crowded together the ufual events of ages. They had an
ticipated, in their own experience, the action of a national Condi-
ntutian on trade, foreign relations, infurrectipns, public juftice, pub-

96 LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE.
lie faith, and in peace and war, domeftic and foreign. Nor were
their hearts lefs prepared and pure, than were their heads. They
had no motives to do wrong, they were acting for a common inter
eft, for others equal with themfelves, and for a common pofterity-
One fingle act accomplifhed, they were to return, and be loft in the
general, mafs of their conftituents, and to be, with them alike gov
erned by the conftitution they were engaged in forming.
Thus unwarped by power, or by thofe who poffeffed it — unin-
fiuenced by emoluments, or by thofe who could beltpw them —
unfeduced by offices, or' by thofe who could corrupt with them— ¦
Tegardlefs of popularity, and without improper motives to obtain it,
they could, from high ground, contemplate meafures, and difcern
in principles, their operation on the public weal. Abandoning.
the idea of amending the confederation, they were at large, unin
cumbered in the wide fields of experience, reafon and nature ; with
liberty to form a government, with as much power in the rulers,
as could be ufeful and fafe to the ruled. But it was Republican —
Republican in form, in principle, and.in conformity to the people's"
withes. Are not the doings of characters fo fituafed entitled to refpeft,
and their" judgment more to be relied on, than the intereded or the -
influenced opinions, formed under the corrupting effects of power
corrupted ? Were not thefe datefmen capatiated to combine princi
ples, which would give to their government more than a twelve
years' duration ? Or were they regardlefs of their duty, or of the
importance of difcharging it ? Were they acquainted with the pro
penfities of the human heart, and the various (pririgs which act up
on it ? Did they not know the pride, to ambition and the avarice,
with which it is oppretfed, and the fecret arts of managing it ? Were
they ignorant ofthe expensive nature of power, and the blind force
¦with which it fometimes operates ? Or were they uninformed of
the temper and genius of Americans, and the fituation of mod for .
whom they acted ? Or, if thus ignorant, thus incompetent, were
all the date conventions equally deficient ? Thefe fuppofitions
being rejected, and their reverfe affumed, as they certainly ought
to be, there is reafon to believe, what patriotifra would prefume,
that the federal conditution, although not perfection, is as near it
as the lot of humanity will admit ; and, that if we weie to lofe it,
nothing but a miracle could give us another, equally, or half fo
good; refultirtg from force, the child of chance, or the creature of
confent. It is however faid, that this conftitution, thus excellent, thus, •

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. 97
'•^nd by fuch characters, formed, is too weak in principle, too pop
ular in form, inadequate in its objects, incapable of duration, .will
Toon be diffolved, or, rather is already proftrated by the people, or
by thofe who*are attempting to adminider it. -Independent of
thefe bold declarations to the contrary, reafoning on facts and nat
ural prefumptioris, We fhould have fuppofed, from the individuals
compofing the convention, they would have framed arid propofed
to the people a conftitution, in (trength, executive force, and checks
on popular energies, fufficiently prompt arid extenfive. Let thofe ••
who denounce it as inefficient, and not worth preferving, and its
friends as vidonar/, pfailofophic, and wild theorids, ' confider the
extent of their cenfure, and the confequences of their ill-directed
invectives, as tending to a diffolution of the focial compact or to a
civil war, in a ftr'uggle to preferve it.
At the formation 6f this government, it is well'knoWn there" was
a difference of principles on fome very important fubjecls; — that
there were fomefew, even in the convention, more out of'it, who
wifhed, by merging the (late governments in a general one, to have
them confolidated, and in fact to have a limited monarchy, under
the name of a drong Republic. General Wafhingtpn was never
Bf this number. Nor was Mr. Adams, then ;. nor fome others,
who, there -is reafon to believe, may have dnce changed their prin
ciples. — There have been alfo from that time, a party increating
in numbers, and in opennefs of avowal, who unhefitatinglyexpreis
their unbelief in the practicability of a Republican government—
who contend for an extenfion of the power of the Executive, and
of his influence from patronage — who would dr.etch and ftrength-
en, by ingenious conftructions, and fubtle refinements, the action
•of the federal conftitution at the «xpence of thofe of the dates —
who fmile at the idea of the'competency of the people to fupport -
their freedom with popular elections — of the competency of a mi
litia to defend their country, to repel invafions, or to fupprefs in-
furrections ; who confider a (landing army as neceffary for the pref-
ervation of civil liberty, to aid. with their guns and their bayonets,
the peace officers of their country, and a political Clergy as auxik
iaries to an army of foldiers and civilians ; — who contend for great,
enormous expenditures, for multiplied navy-yards, laboratories—
.Jeveaty-fouFS, and all the various taxes neceffary to fupport them —
who advocated or approved the enacting as a punifhment, a. fine o£ ,
not more than 3,000 dollars, or of an imprifonment not exceeding
two years, for "any perjon who flialj write, print, utter, or publifh,

<$B TETTERS TO THE PEOPLEi
or fhotrld caufe or procure to be written, printed, ottered,' "or
- publifhed, or fhould knowingly and willingly aflift or, aid in writ
ing, printing, uttering or publifhing, any falfe, fcandalous and ma
licious writing -or writings againd the government of the United
States, . with intent to defame the (aid Government, or
"either houfe of the faid Congrefs,' or the faid Prefident, or
to bring either of them into contempt and diftepute j or'
¦to excite againft them, or either, or any of them, the hatred of the
,good people of the United States, or to ftir up (edition within the
United States," &c, &c. — The leaders of this party, areeitheroat,
or going faft, out df power. The people" have paufed at their con
duct. They have been diffatisfied with their principles and their
meafures. They have been jealous that their rights Were in danger,
and have retorted to the only nfanty, fafe and conftitutional exped
ients to preferve them, temperate difcuflion, and reprefentative elec
tion, The Sedition law is afleep with the Jtrmg meafures, and the
Isold ftrokesof ninety-eight. May the unceafirtg provocations to
reanimate, or ftimulate it into life, prove ineffeflual ! But it-ought*
to be remembered. The rational part of it, the principle on which
all law is bottomed, its virtual fitttefs and moral fan&iohs, yet fpeak,
-and- in a court of • confcience are ftill operative.
If in 179B, flanderous and malicious writings againft the govern
ment, the Prefident or either houfe of Congrefs, with an intent to
bring eitheir of them into contempt and hatred, was criminal, an
-act of moral turpitude, deferving punifhment by rifle or imprifon-
ment, it is equally fo now, in the nature arid relation of things.-**
Every perfon but the lawlefs, and difobedient, for whom alone laws
are made, will with caution trample on "their protected principles,
by its virtual and higheft fanctioris. That vice is doubly bate,
•which is committed, becaufe there is no laW to punifh : and that
•criminal is branded with peculiar meannefs, who offends becaufe
he can efcape with impunity. He confcffes that the tear of fines,
imprifonmferrts, or other corrections, is his only reftrairit, and places
himfelf on a level with the mifcrearit, Whdfe morality is taught by
the fcourge of the whip. Good citizens, generous minds, perceiv
ing rulers to reft their claims to approbation arid refpect, UpoW in.
¦tegrity, ability, and the utility and wifdom of their meafures, will
.meet them on this elevated ground ; — perceiving that their rulers
difdain the entrenchments of myftery, and to be Walled about witfr
•dungeons, fire and faggots, pairis and penalties, they Will confider
it as a probf of rectitude of intention; and afecurity for meritdffou*
¦conduct : perceiving their rulers fubmitting themfelves -to the em«

LEiTERb fO THE PEOPLE.

59

-pire of reafon, whofe firft laws are calmnefs, truth and fairnefs, arid
-whole inftrumen's are free, liberal, and manly diicuilioiis and fair
inveftigaiiiuis, they will combat them with no other weapons,. —
Such men refpeft the conftitution, and their manly, but oppdfing,
and boneft diffentients ; they honor themfelves, give dignity to a;
Jegiflature, caution to its operation and correctnefs, not ambiguity*,
not embarraffment, to its direction. Such men refpect and lubtnit
to the majority, put a value on gpvernment, value freedom, with-
to preferve it, as an object of animating hope, and would difdain,to~
live when liberty, is dead. But to return from whence we have-
digrefled. There is another party in the country opppfed to that WeThave-
defcribed as gone and going out of power, from a lofs of the con
fidence ofthe people. This is the party whofe principles were the
principles of America, when the federal government was adopted—
the principles which were recited from the State Con dilutions,,
and Mr. Adams's letter, in our paft numbers ; whitih are dated,
as having been the principles ot the members of the "convention,
and which characterize the great body of the Republicans in the
United States... This party are friends to order, to religious and
civil liberty, togovernment, to a fubrniffion to the public will, as
conditionally expreffed hy the voice of the majority ; to popular
elections, and the confequent refponfibility of rulers — They !o<e
the conftitution, believe it fufficiently ftrong ; and look for its
meaning in the plain and obvious condruttion of the terms of
which it is compofed. They are not for enlarging its executive
provifions, or abridging the people's rights.- They are jealous of
thedefcretion of an unchecked pdwer, of danding armies, of a hod
of dependents, of profufe expenditures, of an interdiction of free
enquiry and liberal difcuflion, or of praife or cenfure, as truth may
direct. They are friends to agriculture, commerce and manufac
tures, and- repofe their hope for defence in the bofom of their coun
try, a militia of. Arnericans ; — They are averfe to unneceffaiy or
unequal taxes, toexcludve privileges, high falaries, and a monopoly
ef offices ; — They are promoters of economy, and, equally with the
other party, lovers of religion, fearers of God, and haters of covet.
toufnefs. Thefe reprobated principles are now rifing from the op
probrium ,in which they have been buried ; their perfecuted ad
vocates are not now flying to a fanftuary in which to hide. Their
profcribed votaries have been called into power, and are now ex
hibiting them in practice. Thofe are the republican principles,.
for Which a Milton wrote and a Sidney bled. To patriots and

toa LETTEliS TO THE PEOPLE*.
ilatefmen, philofophers and politicians, they have beeri the topics'-
of the higheft eulogiums,' and they gave- to us our fame and inde
pendence; Americans once fang Hof annas to their glorious effe&j •
and- we then thought them a divine, a lovely theme, on which th*
Angels of Heaven might have>tuned their harps. But an unbe^
lieving, a proud; perfecuting, difappointed and ambitious fpirit, -» '*
ftill- purfuing them and their faithful' fupporters. The two parties
are- conflicting on queftions concerning them. The difference is -
great, and of the lad importance to" the people's happinefs.' - It is
-their 's to decide between the two, and fix for themfelves their
choice of the fydems. Let them tonfider, and then act— Let them
reflect; forto reflect is to act right. If they continue to ftrengthen
the handsand comfort the hearts of thofe they have placed in pow
er ;¦ if they do. not replace them with thofe they have "lately re^
moved, we are then threatened with new and various evils, fatally
deftru&ive.- Our conftitution is already deftroyed, and our gov
ernment wholly prpftrated-; our credit- goney our bank flock gone ;
our army and our navy gone ; our public debt going I No religion I
No-war ! No taxes ! The fortrefs on the higheft hill gone ! all — all
gone ! all loft, or all to go, and be loft again, and again, at every
election, until the general refurreftion of all the federal faints and
friends of order, to their loft power ! But to leave thefe tales of
federal woe, dark and difmal, which difgrace our .country, and
frighten- our women ; thefe ufual precursors of _ every election,
which fpread in our papers, and infult our feelings — let us look
abroad,- for the proofs of their- exiftence ; enquire if our goverri-
mentis proftrate, and the people ruiried ! >,.
Is it then true, as federalifm fays, that our government is weak
' in principle, ineffectual in its operations, or proftraled in the hands
of thofe in power ? Was it ever, notwithftanding all the domeftio
artsand cabals to difgrace it, more truly refpected, with better cre
ditor more courted abroad"? — was there, on great queftions, ever
more unanimity in Congrefs ; more cordiality between the legifia-'
ture and the executive — more confidence among republicans, and
realfatisfaflion among the people ?— Did power ever 'more confti-
tutimdlly, effectually and happily accomplifii its purpofe, than at
the prefent moment ? We perceive no deficiency ; no want. We
fee its feverity no where ; its falutary effects, every where. Our
commerce is floating under its guardianfbip. Neither lavages or
foreigners choofe to provoke it-; every portion of the country^:
at d its general concerns are prplefcted ; — Its common intereft re
gulated, -ample jufiict adminifteBed- ;<• property fecured 1 Revenues'

LETTERS TO THE PEOPLE. i«t
arc punctually collected ; the public debt, that monfter of mifchief,
attacked, and a train laid for undermining it, to its final deftruction.
Faith is preferved at home, induftry encouraged, economy practiced,
(but of this more hereafter) and delinquents are called to an
account. — The intercourfe between all parts of the union is facil
itated, and the burthens of the people leffened — no groaning from
federal prifons ; no murmurs, noexcife colleftors, or ftamp matters,-;
"no cries but for taxes ; — no body movements, no popular commo
tions, nofiirs- but religious ones ;— no indirections, no tumults, or
figns of any, but among the exclufive friends to law, order and the
Gefpel? _ Where then} fellow citizens, are the inftances of defects in the
operation of the principles of your conftitution ; or the proofs of
its being broken, and of your government's being proftrated ? If
broken, as was once wittily afked, where are the pieces ? Are they,
as has been feverely faid, floating on the temp.cfluous fea of liberty i
the internal taxes on one wave, -the judiciary on another, and the
navy and army on a third. If thefe are the wrecks, are not the
ruins inore valuable than the prefervation, and- the beft way of
laving a thing, to caufe it to be deftroyed ?
Fellow citizens, you are called "upon ; federalifts are called on,
to fpecify an inftance of the want of energy in the government ;»
tranquility in the^country, or of caufe of diffatisfa£liori to the"peo-
ple, to a greater degree than heretofore. Are they difpleafed with
a diminution of expence, not of a thoufand dollars, not of one hun
dred thoufand, for once only, but of upwards of nine hundred'
thoufand annually ; and a confiderable part of this, in civil ar
rangements and military meafures, in reference to defending our
coaft and frontiers ! Compare this military peace eftablidiment, of
5,000 men, floating on the wreck of a proftituted government,
with the preceding edablifhment of 5,000, (landing firm, rank and''
file, on Terra firma, a houfe tax, a landtag, and a loan at eight'
per ce.nt. Call the roll ! Are they on furlough, or drifting about
with the political wind and tide,-' on the fragments of a proftituted'
government ? Are they not as well collected, as well, arranged, as
well difciplined, as condant at their pods, our forts, frontiers and
military places as well defended, as much drengthened, and as
greatly improved, as before all was loft, and every thing in wreck-
and ruin ? Have not our foldiers been as Well employed, their da-
tioris lefs their tombs, their morals, lives and healths as well pre- '
ferved, and their conqueds and the trophies of their triumphs more
glorious ? They have not been watching or waiting for an infur*

ttiftforv They have r.Pt been the pace oSicerK, -Hie pafifi. Gsitika-
-tu^ofUur Counties, employed in keeping cj izens in-ctdrr^i or in
nq; idling: rioters with loaded m>jfkci8. They hav« not been bright
ening their bayonets for the breafti of their brethren, Qr tharpening
their ("words for the blood of their former companions in the con-
<41i£i "with Britain, at P'itifburgh or Northampton (or if federalifm
Willfo have it) for :t>he<rnanufa£lurers of Gin and ot Wbi&y at
the'Weftwafd. They have not been debilitating or demoralising
•in a baneful idlenefs, in a fauntering camp. No ! they have been
falling the trees of the foreft, for hundreds of miles, and giving to
our frontiers, excellent roads, important to defend comm%rce an<t
fertlement ; making our country htoffdm as the rofe, and convert
ing its wildernefs- to fruitful fields.
• Fellow citizens I In this number we have caufed a variety of
"ifnatters to pafe in review before you. Our;defign was, not to de
cide, or to influence^ by methodical reafprmrg, or the adducing of
'quejiibnable fa£b, but to put, you on thinking, and to aid your re
collection of important truths. This knowledge-is indiipenfible
for a right decifion on the character of parties, year rulers and your
^government, and the doing that juftice and thatduty which you
c6we to yourfelves, your country and your God !• ¦
A FARMER.

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