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Federal Gazette & Baltimore Daily Advertiser 1807/07-1807/12 msa_sc3722_2_6_2-0072 Enlarge and print image (5M) |
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on that dfly—Wyself, my feliow-citkens,
and uie world at targe, do and willholdyou
aftswerable. Three of those Toasts will be
the "abject of rriy animadversions.
Thy /t'o is be following words, Tlie
grand jurors lately-ijnpannelkd at Richmond
ro indict the traitors I their country, May
their ;:eal and patriotism in tbp cause of li-
berty* secure thiitn a crown of immortal glo-
ry, and the fruits of their labor bo a death-
wowul to all conspirators.
TheSth— Luther Mat tin, the ex-attorney \
general of Maryland, the mutual and high- |
Jy rtjspec.'Hi friend of a convicted traitor —
May his exertions to preserve the Cataline
of America, procure him a humble coat of
t::r and a pi. iDigeof feathers, ttiat will ri-
val ii. '.nery all the mummeries of Egypt.
The 9th— Aaron Burr, the man who once
received the confidence of a free people—
Mny his treachery to his country exalt him
to the scafFiId, and hemp be his escort to
T.:;.' republic of dust and ashes.
To any person of common sense, who
possesses one sentiment of Candor, one hu-
l.iaiie feeling of the heart, it would be sup-
posed, that none but daemonsfrom Hellcouid j
on such an occasion, have d<-liberatelyprepar-
fcd and drunk the foregoing toasts unless
they had the most perfect knowledge of
colonel Burr's guilt. And even in that case
he would naturally conclude the persons to
he savages or descendants of Savages, who
when they kill their prisoner, feast their'
inhuman souls with every cruelty of tor-
ture.
But, gentlemen, have yon any know-
ledge that colonel Burr is guilty of treason
or of any other offence ? Doth either of
you know of one single fact to prove upon
hiin guilt of a;:y kind i Why have you not
come forward and informed your govern-
ment ? And why ha 1 1 not the pleasure of
seeing you as witnesses at r.'icbinond ?
I know your answer. You rAust confess
fiMt you have no personal knowledge of aay
thing criminal, that has been committed by
colonel Burr, but that in the Aurora, the
., rgtts, and many other democratic pipers.
j-OG have seen him charged with not only
misdemeanors, but treason Nay, you will
probably say, that the president of the U-
r.ited States in his mt'ssa^e to congress., de-
clared his guilt to be placed beyond d, uht
And after the length of tinv you have
lived, a length of time which ha< whitened
me of your heads -Af er toe different
public appointments which some of you
have executed, am I now to put you in
mind, that not one shillings worth of your
dirty firoflerly can be taken from you. with-
out your having an opportunity of being
personally heard, nor without legal coi
deuce delivered on oath in your presence, with
liberty on your part to cross examine, aid
by Other evidence to contradict. And yet
you have to the utmost of 3'Our power,
wantonly and wickedly assailed the g.iod
name, fame and reputation of colonel Burr,
upon no evidence! You have done what is
stili mire wicked—you have without any
evidence, auiiiled his life.' For, are you
now, fir the first time, to be instructed)
oeii'Sv" a person is to be tried lor a
;e, which is punishable with death, he,
BrllQ endeavors to prejudice and inflame the
public mind against him ; he who does any
act of a tendency to prevent the accused
from having a fair, dispassionate, impartial
trial, is, in the eye of God, guilty of as
,n intention, as If he attempted
td plunge a dagger to his heart ! Equally
murderous, but infinitely more cowardly —
m the danger of punishment in the first
case is meant to be avoided? What thr.k
you, gentlemen, of the cowardly wretch,
woo anxious for the blood of an enemy, but
fearful of danger or of punishment, slips a
Stiletto into the hand of an assassin, and
points to the victim ! What think you of
yourselves and the rest of those who drank
your savage toasts ? Would you not have
swallowed the beverage in your glasses, had it
been the blood of colonel Burr, with more
pleasure than the juice of the grape ? Would
net those who could express such savage
d'dight in the hope of his deaths could
they do it with impunity, rip open his
breast, tear out his, heart, gnaw it with
their teeth and suck down its blood, as act-
f\ the blood thirty Parisians towards the
svniable, the accomplished, the beautiful
Lamballe ! And know you not that the gen
tleinan, whose death would be such a feast
to your savage souls, has a daughter as ami
:..ble, as. accomplished, as lovely as was Lam-
balle ! And to her you have been drinking
a life of unutterable misery ! Yon may pos-
sibly think this language severe, but in a
case like this, no language can be severe.
I would wish to harrow up every feeling
of your souls, if indeed such souls can have
any feeling !
You have toasted the grand jury, when
you knevf not whether they did right or
wrong; when you knew not whether the
p rsons indicted are traitors or innocent ci-
tizens ; whether the grand jury were actuat-
ed by zeal and patriotism in the cau e of
Ifterty, or by Zealand sycoplumey in the
cause of persecution ; whether their conduct
deserves a crown of immortal glory, or a
r-oose of immortal infamy.- for you have no
knowledge that can enable you to decide
Vipon the propriety or impropriety of their
conduct. The toast, therefore, only stands
f taring you in the face, to your eternal dis
honor, as' a proof of your ferocity against
colonel Burr. Nor, gentlemen, will the
grand jury thank you for the toast. They
were gentlemen of honor, of worth, of hu-
manity ; they were not actuated by the hell-
ish wish, that the persons, concerning whose
conduct they were to inquire, should prove
to b« guilty ; nor did they, iifreturning the
tills true, feel an infernal pleasure. No, sirs,
r.ot a man of that grand jury assented to
the finding of the bills, whose heart did not
) iel a pang , nor is there one of them whose
heart will not enjoy exquisite pleasure should
their innocence, on a fair, impartial trial be-
fore a petit jury (if, indeed, such a trial can
be had, and which you have murderously
endeavored to prevent) be made manifest.
Not u friend of the gentlemen indicted blames
the grand jury. But are you to be informed,
that the grand jury can only act upon evi-
dence, selectcd and sent to them for the very
purpose of proving guilt; examined exparte ;
and that perjury can there appear unappall
ed ? Aud are you,to be informed that the
Benign Spirit of our laws, ever, after indict-
.~ ¦ . ; presumes innocence? T-hosi laws that
:-'e "said to.be our gordion knot which you
:.:'. bound to support, and good,
¦ : tnous republicans,.who,bea
of Liberty, your sacred re ie lays.
vuo call yourstiyes
arqtecTtJJrj, the
guardians of tho rights b? eveVy man, have
¦thought proper; not only to presume guilt,
but have presumed to hold up to the indig-
nation of your country him whom the laws
of your country presume to be innocent !
And novlet me inquire, who is this gen-
tleman whose guilt you have pronounced,
and for whose blood your parched throats so
thirst ? Was he not a few years past a-
dored by you next to your God, I mean
your earthly God, for whether you be-
lieve in a deity, who ha,-, any govern-
ment over your " republic of dust mid
ashes" I know not. Were you not then his
warmest admirers ? Did he not then possess
every virtue ? Had he then one sin—even
a single weakness of human nature ? he was
then in power.—He had then influence.—
You would then have been proud of his no-
tice.—One smile from him would have
brightened up all your faces.—One frown
have lengthened ail your visages.
B.it he is now a private citizen—he is
now no Ionrjer in power-—he is now pers -
cuted !—And behold he is now a Citaiine,
—he is no* a traitor,—ryour prayers are
now that he m.iy be exalted to the scaffold—
that hemp may be his escort to the republic
of " dust & ashes," and to these invocations
you have prostituted the anniversary of a
day, which only ought to be held dea1- as
long as the g wernment, consequently estab-
lished, shall sacredly protect property, repu-
tation, liberty and life.
Go. ye holiday, ye sunshine-friends,—
ye time servers,—ye criers of Hosanna to-
day and crucefize to morrow,—go hide your
heads if possible;, from the contempt and
detestation of every virtuous, every honorable
inhabitant of every clime.
Your eighth toast, as it personally relates
to myself, gives me no uneasiness. I only
notice it, as proving the accursed malignity
of your hearts towards col. Burr.
As to rh'yselfI have never in-uled or in-
jured a single individual, who on that occa-
sion celebrated the day. In the whole com-
pany I had not a personal enemy, nor was
there a man among you that had reason to
be so'; with many of that company, perhaps
with all, I had been pers .nally acquainted—
1 had been inhabits of receiving and return-
ing polite attentions ; on some at least of
the company I had conferred benefits, nor
was there one man in the company on whom
I would not have conferred any benefit he
needed, and in my power with propriety to
have besti.ved___Nay, so well do I know
you all, and the good will that you possess
for me that I have the most perfect confi
dence, had I arrived at Eikton the moment
after you had drank your eighth toast, and
entered your room, you would have reeived
me in the mo^t friendly manner, you would
have requested me to share in the festival,
& yourp lileness would have induced you to
have suppressed your ninth and tenth toasts.
Hiving thus done you justice, having
acquined the company to a man f any per-
sonal 'resentment against me ; let me state
i hat was my conduct which induced you deb-
berately to prepare and deliberately to drink
the eighth toast.
I had appealed as one of col. Burr's
oounsel ; and pray doth not the constitution
rno:.,t sacredly secure to him the benefit of
counsel ? Can it then be said that a person
shall be criminal, or even censurable for do-
ing what your constitution authorises him
to do ? Nay, if by public clamor coun-
sel| is to to be intimidated and prevented
from appearing for tiie accused, is not the
constitution thereby violated ? And is not
the accused thereby deprived of a constituti-
onal right, and if convicted, unc nstitution-
ally convicted ?
But I appeared in hi; defence as his friend,
not merely as an attorney for my fee—And
how long has it been, or upon what maxim
is it established, that to do an authorised act
fiom motives of friendship, is less honora-
ble than from motives of sordid interest ?
But you will say, that you believe him
guilty of treason. I reply, you have no le-
gal evidence . n .hichyou can found this
belief. I will further say, that I, who have
infinitely better information on the subject,
believe col. Burr to be as innocent of any
thing (reasonable, in act or intent, as the in-
fant unb rn; and that I believe thee^e' utiveof
the United States is at this time of the same
opinion—And for the truth of this asseve-
ration I appeal to my God. And I further
anse er, that if col. Burr was as guilty of
treason, as you, without any knowledge of
the fact, declare him ro be, yet he is entitled
to a fair and impartial trial ; and the con-
stitution secures lo him the benefit of coun-
sel. You will perhaps, as your last resort,
for in truth yon have no other, tell me, that
at all events you wish him to be hung, and
tnerefore are enraged at every thing which
interferes with your wishes. .Then, sirs,
you ought to proceed in the true French
style, for which indeed you appear quite
reidy—" Hang first, and try afterwards :"
it would save a world of trouble, and grati-
fy many a revengeful, malignant fiend.
The whole burthen of my crime is re-
solved to this—That I have, in a case where
the honor,the life of a friend, and the hap-
piness ot all who are dear to him, are at
stake, had the hardihood; even although it
might prevent you Irom feasting on his
blood, to offer to him, from motives of friend-
ship, those services, which the trifling abi-
lities my God hath kindly bestowed on me,
mny enable me to render him —I have
thrown my body as a shield between the
dagger of the assassin and the heart at-
tempied to be pierced !
And for this conduct, for which, if his-
tory records the event, I shall be respected
as I0114 as the page of history shall last,
by all the, worthy and good—yes, for this
conduct, not only innocent, but praisewor-
thy, if any conduct of man can be so, you,
the advocates of the ceistitution-^you, ex-
clusive republicans—-you,lfie supporters and
advocates of the rights of man, and of a
government of laws—you, the sworn ene-
mies of despotism, in whatever shape it
may appear—would, if in your power, arm
an infuriated mob against a private indivi-
dual, who never gave you the slightest cause
of personal complaint—and would be glad
to see him, if his life was spared, suffer in-
sult and injury to the last extreme which
could be inflicted ! Remember, gentlemen,
I only hold up to your view the mirror of
truth ; blame yourselves only for the mon..
strous. images of deformity which meet
your vi :ion.
In your toast you have particularly no-
ticed me as ¦' the mutual and highly-re-
spected friend of an indicted traitor."
Remember, gentlemen, a few years only
have passed since you boasted of your friend-
ship for col. Burr. Your tonnies, at that
time, moved as quickly, and with as much
ease, as doth the aspen leaf under the influ-
ence of the atmosphere, in his praise ; and
had I then presumed to have treated his
name as you have treated it I should not
have been surprised had I been tarred and
feathsred—and indeed should have thought
that I richly deserved it. He was then
your political triend—Such he never iuas to
me—Our friendship has been personal ; our
politicks have ever been different. Think,
then, if my heart was such a heart as you.
possess—that my friendships were formed
from political motives only, and depended
entirely upon the situation of the person—
whether he wa; in poA'er, or a private citi-
zen—whether he was the object of exe-
cative favoritism or persecution : Cannot
you suppose such a heart might be gratified
in the extreme, to see that power which he
did bestow, which he only could have bestow-
ed, upon tho e who now p< assess po.ver, (a
truth notorious, and which democracy hath
often acknowledged,) now exerted for the
destruction ofhwa who gave it ? Yes, gen-
tlemen, if my heart was like yours, I might
perhaps take as savare a pleasure in behold-
ing his execution as it is evident you would
take.
A few words more, before we part.—
You have shewn to.the world a disposition
to exp -se me to an enraged mob—a dispo
sition to see me suffer insult and injury, and
what I suppose such beings as ynu would
call disgrace. My life, I acknowledge, is in
the power of an assassin—it is in the power
of an infuriated multitude ; but to me that
is a consideration which never hath nor ne-
ver will influence my conduct. I know
that I must die—To me, who has lived
longer than I had a right to expect, the time
when it shall take place is not.to myself of
much consequence ; nor do I know that it
is so to my country ; but there is a number
of individuals to whose felicity my life is of
importance—for their sake, I would not
rashly expose it. As to the manner in
which my life shall terminate—whether sur-
rounded by friends, 11. my bed—vhether
torn limb from limb by an enraged mob—
or whether Perjury should •* exalt me on
the scaffold"—is to me perfectly indifferent :
my future existence will not be thereby affect-
ed ; nor can I, by the manner of my death,
nor by brutal violence in my life, be dis-
graced. I hold my reputation and my ho-
nor on a much surer tenure than the unsta-
ble voice of what is commonly called popu-
larity, to obtain which I never sacrificed one
feeling of my heart, nor one duty which I
owed either to God or to man
I am known, and J am respected, in every
state and in every territory belonging to the
United States. I repeat, that lam respect-
ed—Do you wish to know why ? Because
my heart is the very reverse of those be-
longing to my Eikton toasters ; because I
never intentionally injured a human being ;
because, instead of wishing harm to any
one, I have ever wished the reverse, even to
my enemies ; because, instead of encreas-
ing the miseries of human life, I would, if
possible, render this world a paradise; be-
cau-e my wishes have been pr ved sincere
by my conduct, as far as my fortune and my
situation in life have given me power ; and
because, it is known' I am incapable
to desert a friend in distress.
On the subject of mobs, permit me to as-
sure you, I fear no violence from any combi-
nation of American citizens. By that de-
scription I mean all those, of whatever
clime, who were here when the peace of
1783 took place, and the descendants of all
such persons—My name disclosed, even
should my person not be known would, as
to them, be a security from violence.
I now. gentlemen, take my leave of you,
most sacredly assuring you, that, as to what
relates to myself, I freely forgive you, and
that I feel no resentment against you. My
indignation hath been excitfed and expressed
againt your conduct, on account of colonel
Burr-—on account of its immediate tenden-
cy, and your wicked intention, to deprive
him, in a case where his honor and his life
are at hazard, of that fair, impartial trial,
which the constitution and laws of your
country stand pledged to him that he should
have ; of which pledge, with a sacraligeous
hand, you have robbed him. And I have
been actuated by a wish to express to the
public my detestation of, and as far as in
my power to put an end to, that infamous,
that infernal, that murderous conduct, which
has been common in the democratic papers,
and too much countenanced in some of the
federal papers—to make the press, which
ought to be the guardian of liberty, the
shield of innocence, and, even as to guilt,
an angel of mercy—to make that press the
d'era'on of envy, hatred and revenge-—the
Moloch of persecution, whenever personal or
political enemies were to be hunted down :
a practice not only the dishonor and disgrace
of this country, but under which no man
ci be safe; such h.15 bei-n the cwuLvt vf
¦printers on a former occasion as to colonel
Burr ;such has been toe conduct of printers
in the case of Selfridge ; such has been the
conduct of printers in the present case as to
colonel Burr.; but you, gentlemen, have the
unparrarMed guilt, which I hope will never
be parralleled, of endeavoring to turn the
fourth of July into an auto defect; on that
day to burn your victims.
And remembeiygentleineti, what is colonel
Burr's case now, may be the case of any one
of you hereafter, unless you are protect-
ed by your insignificancy. Yon may be-
come obnoxious to individual hatred; you
. may become obnoxious to some future admi
¦nistration ; you may be accused of some ca-
pital crime. Interest and influence hatred
and malice may inflame the public mind
against you ; the celebrators of the fourth
of July may devote you to the halter, before
a jury whose minds have been poisoned
against yon; you may be brought tor trial
before a jury th :t has already prejudged your
cause, from the public papers, .is you have
prejudged the cause of col. Burr. Their fiat
is to determine whether you die an ignomi
nious death ; whether your wives and chil-
dren shall suffer despair and distraction. la
such a situation you will feel the infamy of
that conduct, of which you have boasted :
and you will then know how to appreciate
the merits of any gentleman who shall dare
to advocate your cause even for the conside-
ra.ion of money, leavinc friendship out of
the question. LUTHiiB MARTIN.
NiTwrjrjRYPORT, July 17.
We learn by the master of an eastern
sloop, which arrived last Monday, the fol-
lowing particulars ; for their correctness we
cannot vouch—the eastern papers are silent
on .the subject.
That an English privateer of 15 guns,
from St. Johns, had come into the jurisdic-
tion of the United States, a place called
Snug Cove, near Kassamaquody. where lay
a coasting vessel belonging to Harpswell,
captain Mc.rriman. An officer and men
from the privateer cam", on. board captain
M. and in an msole.it manner ordered him
tv call his people on deck (they being below
fearing the intention of the privateersmerr)
which captain M. refused. The officer
said he would be d-----d if he did not have
some of them . he then proceeded to open
the hatches, at which instant the Ameri-
cans below told him if he attempted to de-
scend they would shoot him. Not regard-
ing the caution, he vas about to effect his
purpose, when the men below.as go.;d as
their word, let drive' and shot three balls
through/him, »hen he fell instantaneously
dead!" How the affair terminated 0141 .infor-
mant does hot know.
Extract of a letter, from an officer on board
the frigate Chesapeake, to his faijfer in
Charleston.
'' An account of the disaster that has be-
fallen tne Chesapea'ke, I make no douit has
bef re this reached you, filled with circm-
stances very much exaggerated, to the dis-
advantage of the officers, and of the.Ameri-
can flag ; but which 1 hope my fellow-citi-
zens will pay no attentien to, until they
shall have received a fair and impartial
statement of the facts, frem the seat of go-
vernment. I shall not pretend to assign the
true reasons for this attack, contrary to all
the laws of nations. I shall only mention a
few facts which came under my own obser-
vation, during the action, and which I
hope will palliate in a measure, the dis-
graceful, yet sad necessity of lovcring our
colours to tli se tyrants ot the sea.
" On the 2 |