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[VOL. IL]
jUGUSTA- PRINTED BY DANIEL STARNES A Co. WEST END OF HUOAD STREET,
/ JPaShingtcnAug. n, 1810.
Gentlemen,
I will thank you to
<nve publicity to the enclos
ed address to the people,
and I fliall feel my self obli
ged by all, whose liberality
and candor may incline
them to republilli it.
With respect,
I am gentlemen,
Your obedient servant
JA: WItKINSON.
Messrs. Smith & Gales,
Editors of ike
Ratio nal InetelUgencer .
To the People oj the U. States
Although I had resolved,
not to obtrude mylelf upon
your attention, until I could
have invited it to the irre
sistible force of my vindi
cation, I am driven from
my purpose by the proceed
ings of the late committee
ol Congress, the foie object
of the majority of which ap -
pears to have been, to search
for matter to criminate my
character and conduct; the
report made to the Koufe
consisting of inculpatory
evidence alone, instead of
being confined to their
journals, is now under pub
lication 1 and will naturally
tend to excite your prejuge
ments, before I have been
heard in my defence j what
man among you, w r ho lias
been engaged in the pub
-1 cservice more than a quar
ts •of a century, whose acts
and offices have been as
varied as mine, could with-
Hand an occult, incul-1
patory enquiry, if backed
by the power and purse of
tne nation ? My cause is
the cause of all, and if the
mealure of injustice aimed
at me be fufFcred to prevail,
who among you will be fafe
from the moil exalted to
the molt obscure ? I con
jure you then, defend your
selves againll the dangers,
and your country again it the
edium, of having fjcrificed
a ttilow citizen to the ma
bce of those who have been
combined tor the dellruc
tro'i ot your government;
for bear in mind, ihould the
precedent obtain, that the
lioule of Representatives
i have power to institute en
quiries into the conduct of
individuals, and to publiih
the testimony they miy
■collect, before the accused
has been heard, no man will
be late again ft the jealous
ies ol artful, unprincipled,
popular declaimCTS, who
J : massing the public good,
ftek only the gratification
?V tneir ambition and re
ye:: o e * The ruin of an
individual, taken in the ab
stract, is of little importance
but liie exam} !; may infuse
a deadly poisei: into your
MIRROR OF TI-IE TIMES.
“ lIO.LD THE MIRXOA L'P TO NATURE.” — ShaktSfUart.
councils, and reanimate the
dormant hopes of those who
conlpired again ft your in
terelt, your happiness and
your union; for treason,
like the leprosy, is incura
ble, and the heart once
corrupted by its poisons, is
loft to patriotism and public
virtue forever.
Little discernment is re
quisite to trace the fcurce
ot the vilifications I have
incurred. You witnessed
the rise and progress of my
I perfections, coeval ot Burrs
conspiracy and co-exten-»
sive with its affiliations.—
I did not involve the nation
in a war on the Sabine, to
give effect to this conspir
acy, though my oiders
warranted it in the repulsion
of the Spaniards ; and on
my own discretion, I de
feated the wicked plot, dis
graced the prominent actors
and blasted the sinister
aspirations of numerous and ,
powerful associates; for
these signal services, I am
more signally perlecutcd,
than any man, public or
private, in times ancient or
modern. The conduct
which, without bloodshed,
saved the country, from the
dangerousencroachrnents of
a foreign power, and from
lawless usurpation and a ci
vil war, was palpable and
specific ; it cannot be ex
pungedfrom the national re
cords, 6c you yourselves are
witnesses-of it. The crimes
imputed to me are specula
tive and legendary—origi
nating with loose and cor
rupt men, some of them ac
knowledged traitors, and
supported in the firft in
stance, by public malcon
tents and personal enemies:
yet these men with indefa
tigable industry and shame- ;
les malignity, have em
ployed every engine and
art, to awaken suspicion
and excite your jealousies ;
and a life devoted to my
country from the dawn
of the revolution, has be
come a theme of declama
tory invective : I am de
nounced in folemu deliber
ative bodies, by men of your
election, without proof on
: their part or any hope of re
dress on mine. It is no
. torious that justice has been
denied me, and that I have
been excluded in a land of
liberty—my native country,
the ordinary rights of the
| most humble citizen.
You have beheld a dis
tingiiifhed character step
forth the avenger of Burr’s
| discomfiture, 6c associating
I himfelf with vile informers
denounce me in the dawn
of the conspiracy, before a
single fact had been deve~
j loped ; and to juftify his
j denunciations, you have
witnessed the ruthless ven
geance, with which this
political teaser has since
pursued me, at the expence
or every thing lac ted to del
icacy, to truth and candor.
You have seen his faithful
coadjutor, the legatee of
Bur’s resentment, a man
i has fealedhis own infamv 1
in the attempt to effect my
ruin, come forward with a
volume of manufactured re
ports, fallehoods and per
juries, flitted to the occa
sion ; and you have beheld
an hundred pens and prefix
es, operating again ft: me,
when distant, absent, and j
offering my health and
life to the public service :
but it would swell this ap
| peal to a volume, did I at-
I tempt to develope the sys-
I tematic schemes of ven
geance, by which I have
been hunted to the present
: hour.
) Thus pressed Sc persecuted
1 I have no resort hut in your
virtue and good sense ; I
vJ
make it in confidence that
you will fnfpend your opi
nions, until I present you j
with the only defence in j
my power to offer ; 6c if* in |
| thecourfe of the exposition, I
! which has been forced up
; pon me, I should he oblig
ed toindet wounds, where I
I have been desirous to;
spare feelings, the dqty!
which I owe to the charac- ;
ter of a soldier, to my name, |
and family, and tiie senfe*
of my wrongs must excuse
me.
No columny lhall foice
me from the silence, I now j
impose on myfelf. I (hail
make a brief record of all ;
the slanders which mav
' rech iny knowledge, and
| will attend t > them in their
{ proper place : But before I
; dole the present address, l
confidcr it my duty solemn
ly to pledge my honor, that
I shall bring proofs from
! autcntic sources to put to
| fharne, the profuse offer
ines which have been made
to effect my difhoner, as a ;
citizen, a soldier and a chief,',
by a long lilt of willing
witnesses, whose passions
prejudices and resentment,
have interefled them in my
| destruction. The war of
j an individual against a holt,
> is enongh to fragger the
I flouted; heart, but habit
i has placed, me above difri-
J culties, and under the pro
j tection of that Almighty
! power, in whom I trait, 1
* will succeed.
I Fellow-citizens.
I crave not forgiveness
for oifences, because 1 have
i committed none.
I seek not to excite your
sympathy, became I am
conscious I have deserved
i it.
i
But I invoke that justice,
which is guaranteed to all
by the {acred charter of the
j land, and constitutes our
! pride, our boast, and com
mon security L,et me
he heard before the con
demnation.
JA : WILKINSON.
| Washington,
Augujl , 18 io. ,
• r
From the N. Intelligencer .
The malignity with which
General Wilkinson has.been
alfaild by his enemies has
never been more strongly
| exemplified, that in the
publication of a letter under
the signature ofM. B. Car
rol, dated the 12th August,
180.9, Which appear'd in
the Spirit of Seventy-Si* of
the 3d inst.
Is it not enough, hat the
General fnould v compel
led to answer hr every
doubtful expfedijo of his
loose correfpqndence, and
for every ait susceptible of
distortion, that L is occurred
during a long lire of public
fervlce ? Is it not enough
that he {fiouhi he compelled
to refute toe multiplied
; charges of a band of dfiup
poinfed < nnipirators, and
; that Tub';/added to the faife
| hoods and perjuries origina
j ting from ib corrupted a
; tourer, he ihouid be com-
I pelled to encounter the pre
i judices which must be ex
! cited by the publication of
1 the teltunony collected by
! a Congreliional committee,
■ who have admitted that
their enquiry is not termi
i nated, that they have only
! heard one lidc of the quftion
and that the accused was
never before them ? Who
contrary to the pradice of
all inquefitoml tribunals,
have anticipated the paf
li'ons and judgments of ihe
, public, againtl an unheard
fellow-citizen by the pub
lication of exparte. evidence,
j which ought not to have
been made public pending
the enquiry ? Mfift the
! General also be compelled
to refiil aspersions sanction
ed by the names of officers
iof the government, who
know the fallity of the cal
: umny and take no steps to
a n fv/cr or fu ppre fs it ? Are
rherc no bounds to the
fhamclcfs profligacy of his
accounts, and will there be
no end ro the charges and
: persecutions againll him,
which have originated from
the difippointment of those
whose views he fruftrated
by dilcharging his duty and
laving his country from ci
vil war ?
The letter referred to
was accompanied by the
following remarks: — £< The
above is a copy ofLt. Cor-
[No. eg ]
MONDAY, September 3, 1810.
roll’s report to Gen. Wil
kjnfon, yet the General
wrote to the Secretary at
Wa ron the 19th of August
that not one of the gun
boats had been reported in
readiness.” What muff be
the indignation of every ho
ned man, when he reads
the subjoined true copy of
» Et. Corroll's letter and finds
that it is dated on the 2lit
and noton the 12th of Au
gud, ISO 9. The original
is in General Wilkinson’s
possession, and although
the General is determined
to take no notice of any
columny that may be cast
upon him except in the
memoirs he is now preparing
for the public ; yet it is a
duty which every honed:
man owes to lociety, to
take crliy Heps to expose
so fhamclefs a violation of
truth. I have therefore
obtained and now fend you a
true copy of Mr. Corroll's
ictterjdur publication, which
k tru/t you will in candor &
justice insert in your next
paper. It is obvious that
this publication has been
brought forward, at this
time, to impeach the Gen
eral’s varacity ; but it is
diflicult to divine by what
means this foul misrepre
feiitation got into the public
prints, as the letters of Mr.
Curroll of the 24th of Au
gust and the id of Septem
ber which accompany this,
will fliew no ground, the
the lead plausible, to ex
cuse the infamous impofw
tion.
JUSTICE.
CiioRGR a, Columbia county ,
IN THEINKKIUOR COU.HT
June Term, 1810.
ON TIIF. PETITION Op
.1 mps Catledge, statin* that
, l:e bring po<t«e*<ted of a tract of
land, situate Ihe County of Co
lumbia, containing two hundred
acre**, bounded at the time of sur
vey N. W. hv Little river, and «,n
nil other rides by vacant land—
granted to Hugh Middleton, and
by him conveyed to Daniel WaL
bcon, n copy whereof, an nearly at
your Petitioner can recolhct, is
annexed to the said prtition, and
ia now lodged in the Cbric’s Office,
together with an affidavit, purslane
to the Act cf the 22d February
1805, that the said Deed or Con
uyance ia lost or destroyed, ai*J
praying the bint fit intended by
su'd a'ct, and other circumstantial
proofs being laid before the Court.
Ordne.d ihe same be published
as the law directs.
Jest,
A. Crawford, Cl’k*
Clerk’s Office, July !}, 18tu.
mini
TO RENT,
THKSUHSCUIBKRS are » u .
thorUid to Kent that convenii nt
»nd wilt known Store St out housta
at f»re««jnt occupied by Messrs.
William Buoei k Co* for one year,
from the first day of Qctobr' next.
1/Si Roche fie V* hiixicrcn.
July, i ..