To the CITIZENS of PENNSYLVANIA.
IT is with great reluctance I venture to claim the attention of my fellow citizens; nothing but necessity could urge me to it at any time; but more particularly since it appeared probable that our enemies derived hope from sowing divisions amongst the whigs of America. Under this idea, I have patiently and silently seen my name held out to my country more than once, as if I had pursued a line of conduct inconsistent with the general interest, altho' I knew the insinuations to be perfectly groundless, and that it was in my power to refute them. I expected that you, my fellow-citizens, would readily discover the private reasons which produced these attacks, and, until that moment should arrive, consoled myself in the consciousness of innocence and integrity. But as the frequent insertion of my name in an unfavourable light may at length make strong impressions on those who are not personally acquainted with me, I mean to give a plain narrative of such facts as relate to the charges or insinuations made against me, in as concise a manner as I am capable of. The first that I remember was respecting the state of my accounts with the continent, in answer to which I promised, in a former publication, either a settlement, or a report of a committee on that subject. Soon after this a very serious charge of a criminal nature was brought against me in Congress. The matter was fully and minutely investigated, and I not only proved my innocence to the perfect satisfaction of that respectable body, but even my accuser himself, by examining into the transaction, discovered a most incontestible proof of it, a proof that had escaped me and the committee who had been appointed on that occasion: This he candidly introduced before that honourable body, which, together with their unanimous vote of acquittal, rendered my intended publication unnecessary. I then called on Congress, by letter to the President, to appoint a committee for inspecting the state of my accounts and transactions with the continent. This was readily complied with; but as I was engaged in the General Assembly of this State, and the attention of the committee appointed occupied by a variety of other objects, the matter by mutual consent was deferred. Soon after this I received advice that goods which had been detained in the West-Indies for about two years would be released, which has accordingly happened, and I am now receiving and delivering the same to the continent as fast as they arrive. This circumstance gives me the prospect of being able to make a final settlement of all my accounts, which I consider as much preferable to any the most favourable report of a committee, at the same time that it gives them unnecessary trouble. I shall therefore content myself with wishing that every person connected with public business had such accounts as mine to produce.
On the 25th of May last a Town Meeting was held in the State-House yard, and in the printed account of the proceedings of that day I found my name the only one mentioned as a delinquent, and a committee especially appointed to call on me for an account of my connection with a cargoe then lately arrived in this port. I was very unwell at the time, but the committee called on me in a day or two, when I readily gave them every satisfaction in my power. They treated me with complaisance, and appeared satisfied; indeed I have been told since, that one of the gentlemen declared they were so. As they did not call on me again, I wrote them a letter the 26th of June, when the complaint in my eyes began to abate a little, intending then to send it: but on being told they still intended calling, I withheld it until this time, and I here insert a copy, as containing the state of that transaction.
When you did me the honour to call on me about a month ago, agreeable to your appointment by the Town-Meeting held in the State-House yard the 25th of May, you found me afflicted with an inflammation in one of my eyes, that had for ten days preceding rendered me almost incapable of business, and such has been my situation from that time to this, or you should sooner have heard from me, altho' I think it was intimated at parting, by Mr. Smith and Mr. Rittenhouse, that I was to hear from you again in a few days. It may not be amiss to mention that, after you had signified the business you came on, I observed that by a publication in that day a paper of the transactions at the State-House yard, it appeared I was to give my answers in writing, and therefore requested that your questions might also be written. Mr. Matlack said, the committee, being entirely ignorant of the transactions relating to the French polacre's cargoe, wished me to give a general relation of the matter, to enable them to judge whether it was necessary to propose any and what questions to me, or whether a general relation of my knowledge on the subject might not be sufficient. I replied, that I should cheerfully gratify the committee, having done nothing that I was either afraid or ashamed to have known. Observing, that I considered this amongst the number of those unmerited and groundless attacks which I had been used to of late, and which I expected would, like the rest, end to my honour, rather than disadvantage.
I then assured the committee, and now repeat it, that I never moved hand, foot or tongue, to procure the cargoe in question, that I had not sought after it myself, nor employed any other to do it for me. It was many days in this port before I had the least idea of a connection with it, and when it did come into my view, it was upon the application of other people to me. I suppose it is a well known fact, that many persons wanted to get this cargoe, by purchase or otherways, into their hands; more than one requested me to join them, being particularly induced thereto from a knowledge that I could supply the ship with the cargoe wanted for her return voyage. Amongst the rest a gentleman, settled in a neighbouring State, a countryman of the super-cargoes, happening to be here at the time, had influence enough to obtain a preference of this much sought for cargoe. This gentleman came and offered me a share in the purchase, agreed to put it entirely under my management, and that I should draw a commission on the sales, provided I would supply an outward cargoe for the ship. These offers were generous, and fairly within the line of my business, such as I presume no merchant of ability to perform the engagement would have refused. But I insisted, that if a purchase was made, and I to be interested, it should be on such terms as would admit me to sell reasonably, and leave the concerned a moderate profit.
The gentleman desired the extent of my terms, which I gave, and as I thought in such clear and explicit terms as did not admit of mistake. After some little time a bargain was concluded, and reduced to writing the 3d of May. This writing is in the French language, which I do not understand, but being told it was nearly conformable to my terms, I consented to receive the cargoe. The first thing I did was to send for those agents who purchase for the continent, and offer them whatever was wanted for the army on such terms as they declared very moderate. I gave them the invoice to pick out what they chose, and they culled about one fourth the value of the whole, but entirely in articles the most saleable of any in the ship. Before the whole of these goods were delivered I had a translation of the agreement, and discovered that the parties had not understood each other. I therefore stopped all further proceedings, and got them together for explanation, when it clearly appeared that my intentions had not been complied with, and that I had not understood the bargain in the same light the consignees did, for I had sold to the public much cheaper than, by their idea of the bargain, they had sold to the gentleman that contracted with them. Upon full conviction of this, and that the misunderstanding was owing to my want of French, and the other gentleman's bad English, they very honourably agreed to render the bargain void.
After this Mess. La Caze and Mallet, the supercargoes, asked me to undertake the sale of their cargoe as a factor, for it was not probable that they, who were entire strangers in the country, could manage it properly themselves. I told them, if they would ratify the sales I had made to the public, I would accept their proposal, which they agreed to, and by this means the continent had the public supplies out of this cargoe very considerably cheaper than could have happened in any other way; for had the purchase first made been clearly understood, the agents must have paid twenty prices higher, or if I had acted from the first as a factor to the supercargoes, I must have sold, as I afterwards did, under their direction, and to their best advantage. My agreement to become their factor is dated the 11th May, as you saw, for I shewed you the original of this, and a translation of the other agreement. I believe the bargain was verbally made a day or two before, and from that time I proceeded in the sales, in such a manner as I judged most likely to give my employers that satisfaction they were entitled to. Their cargoe being bought dear, the advance on the invoice has not been so high as on others, the saleable articles were soon run off, whilst a great many, unsuited to this season and this country, remain on hand▪ This last circumstance not suiting the plans and hopes of the supercargoes, they made me new proposals, but it is immaterial to the public whether I accept these or not, as an agreement, after the bulk of the cargoe was sold, could not affect such sales, and what remains, besides being unsaleable, will be as subject to regulation as any other imported goods are. After giving you this just state of my connection with a cargoe that has made so much noise, I think you will not hesitate to do justice to my conduct, if it appears to you in the same light it does to every person with whom I have conversed on the subject. And as Mr. Matlack intimated that it might not be amiss to give the committee information of the original proprietors of this cargoe, I shall send herewith Mess. LaCaze and Mallet's declaration on that point, also their certificate that I have truly related my connection with their cargoe.
We, the subscribers, having perused the annexed letter from Robert Morris, Esq to the committee, and had the same fully and clearly explained to us, do certify and declare that he has justly and truly stated his transactions with us respecting the cargoe of the polacre Victorious, as far as accords to our knowledge or concern therein.
We, the subscribers, hereby declare and certify, that the polacre Victorious, her cargoe, and generally all the goods on board of her, were shipped by, and are the property of, our family and friends in Spain and France, and that no persons in America have any concern, directly or indirectly, in them.
This letter contains the state of that transaction, and I submit it to consideration whether my conduct therein merited censure, or deserved to have my name held out in the light it was. The next attack * on me was made by republishing in Mr. Dunlap's Packet of the 3d of June, a piece said to be taken from Rivington's paper, entitled, Memoir in answer to the observations of M. de la Fere on the bills of Congress, &c. dated Edenton, N. Carolina, Jan. 18, 1778, and for the satisfaction of my readers I will here recite the paragraph in which I am mentioned. ‘Few are convinced by the assurances of Congress that paper is equal in value to gold, assertions that reason and fact deny, and their own members do every thing in their power to confute. Mr. Robert Morris in particular has dared to offer to a person of my acquaintance, bills of exchange upon France at the rate of 13 sols and some deniers for a Continental dollar.’ Who the author of this may be I know not; still less his informant; but either the former has been guilty of gross misrepresentation, or the latter of direct falshood. In January 1778 I had no bills to sell, nor offered any to sale. I paid two bills on France in March 1778 for the ballance of an account at the rate of exchange that was current when the money came into my hands, and rebought these bills in April or May following at 400 per cent, which was then the highest course of exchange. The person with whom I had this transaction now resides in Philadelphia, and ready to prove the fact. Can it then be believed by any body that I should in January, 1778, ask a dollar for thirteen sols and some deniers of France, which is equal to an exchange of 1200 or 1300 per cet. If it be said the date is misprinted, and that it should be January, 1779, I answer that I ceased to be a Member of Congress in October, 1778. In January, 1779. I sold bills as a factor, the highest exchange obtained was 900 per cent. and it never was my practice to ask 300 or 400 per cent. more then the current price, though I might perhaps produce examples in justification of such practices, from a quarter not suspected.
If this writer meant to include me in the passage following that I have quoted, he intended me equal injustice, for I never sold to the public any goods but what I imported, nor purchased any produce of the country but for exportation.
On the 17th June I was much surprised at the receipt of the following note:
Sir, You are requested to attend the Committee of Complaints at the Academy, to morrow at ten o'clock, A. M. to answer a charge concerning flour.
To which I returned an immediate answer as follows:
"I HAVE just received your note requesting my attendance on the Committee at ten o'clock, which I should very readily comply with, but am afflicted with an inflammation in my eyes which has confined me for a month past; and although it is mending I cannot yet bear the light of the sun. As I have not for a long time past had any thing to do with flour on my own account, except in the purchase of a few barrels for my family use, I suppose the complaint you mention must have arisen from the purchases of that article made by me for the use of the French sleet, and I now have a quantity in store for this service, bought at the request and by order of his Most Christian Majesty's Agent, of which I am ready to satisfy the Committee if they will be kind enough to appoint one or more of their Members to call on me, or if that is not agreeable I will at all events wait on them: But if that is required I would hope that it might be after sun-set.
The next day a letter from Mr. Alexander Boyd, secretary pro tempore of the Committee of Complaints, was presented to me, of which the following is a copy:
Your letter to Captain Heysham of yesterday's date was this morning laid before the committee, who are sorry your indisposition confines you so long, and will with satisfaction excuse your personal attendance: In consequence have directed me to write you notice thereof; same time I am ordered to request you will lay before this committee at ten o'clock to-morrow forenoon, or sooner if convenient, the original instructions or agreements by virtue whereof you are purchasing for his Most Christian Majesty's agent, an account of the quantities so purchased and contracted for, and information by what conveyance and to what places or stores said flour is collected, and from what places in the country it has been and is now brought.
The Committee consider it their duty to communicate to you the information which necessitates them to make this request, and doubt not but you will judge it a sufficient reason for their conduct, viz. Alexander Wilson, of Earl township, Lancaster county, reports, that you, through Matthias Slough of Lancaster, give 22 l. 10 s. per hundred for flour there, and on oath declares he delivered you ten barrels yesterday, which he received, by order of Matthias Slough, at Whiteman's mill, Earl township, aforesaid; and further, that he saw Mr. Slough agree with a man at Lancaster for a quantity of flour at the rate of sixty dollars per hundred. The Committee perceive how this counteracts the resolves of the late town meeting, more especially as these purchases are made so nigh the city, and must enhance the price greatly in consequence of the waggon hire, exclusive of a suspicion which prevails concerning Continental teams being employed in that service.
I then laid the whole before the Honourable Mr. Holker, who did not permit me to make the communications required, and therefore I replied as follows:
I am honoured with a letter from your Secretary pro tempore, Mr. Alexander Boyd, excusing my personal attendance on the Committee, but requesting me to lay before you at ten o'clock to-morrow forenoon or sooner if convenient, ‘the original instructions or agreements by virtue whereof I am purchasing for his Most Christian Majesty's Agent; an account of the quantity so purchased and contracted for, and information by what conveyance and to what places or stores the said flour [Page] is collected, and from what places in the country it has been brought.’ On the receipt of this letter I thought it my duty to communicate the same to my employer, which I did immediately, with Captain Heysham's note of yesterday and my answer. Mr. Holker, his Most Christian Majesty's Agent in this business, does not think it proper for me to communicate the things you require, and therefore I am under a necessity of referring you to him for such further information as you may wish. For my part I am very willing as your fellow citizen to give you, and through you, the public at large, every satisfaction in my power, because I am desirous of retaining that good opinion I know my conduct deserves; and upon this principle I venture to assure you, the orders to Mr. Slough for purchasing flour were dated the 27th of January, and confirmed the 17th of February last. He was applied to in preference to any other person in that county, because he was already a purchaser for the continent, which prevented any raising of prices by contention, as might have happened had another agent been employed. He was limited not to exceed the prices given by the continent, and desired either to hire public or private teams as he found the transportation might be effected cheapest. All the letters I have written to him on the subject since those dates, were only to exhort him to a speedy and full execution of the order. No other purchase has been made in this state except in this city under my immediate inspection, conformable to verbal orders from my principal from day to day, and this before the meeting in the State-house yard. The quantity on hand here is inconsiderable, and I presume you do not wish to interfere in what is done in the neighbouring states. Before I close this letter I cannot omit mentioning that four or five poor women with sacks under their arms came to me this morning demanding supplies of flour, alledging they were directed to me by the committee for that purpose, and informed by them that I had received two waggon loads of flour from the country yesterday I confess this surprised me a good deal at first, but on reflecting a little it seems highly improbable the committee or any of the members could be capable of giving such directions, because some of them had before been informed by my clerks that the flour under my care belonged to his Most Christian Majesty, and my letter to Captain Heysham yesterday confirmed it; consequently it must be known, I could not deliver it to any person but by order of my employers; and I have too good an opinion of your candour to think you would send those people where they must of necessity meet a refusal, although that very refusal might raise prejudices against me.
After this I heard nothing more on the subject until the 2d instant, when I received a letter of that date from Mr. W. Henry, as Chairman of the General Committee, viz.
The inclosed is a resolution of this day, and is founded on evidence which appears to be incontestible. We consider the interest of his Most Christian Majesty, whose service you act in, as unnecessarily suffering, by giving greater prices than there are occasion for, and in his behalf, as well as for the purpose of appreciating our own currency, we can no longer be silent spectators of practices which tend to the injury of both.
The Committee, from a point of politeness, have inclosed their resolve to you, prior to its appearance in the papers, which will be to-morrow, and shall be glad to confer with you on the subject at any time and place you may please to appoint. An exact copy of this, with the resolve, is sent to Mr. Holker.
Whereas a quantity of flour has been purchased by Jonathan Rumsord, junior, of the State of Delaware, under the direction of Mr. Holker, Consul and Agent General of the marine of France, and Mr. Robert Morris, merchant, of the city of Philadelphia: And whereas the price given for the said flour exceeds the regulated market price, and thereby tends to depreciate the currency of this country, as well as to put our good allies to an unnecessary expence, both of purchase and increased commissions:
And whereas it is our intention and determination to support the interest of our allies, as well as the currency of our country, and to preserve the former from imposition and the latter from depreciation, and in all cases to do as we would be done by:
Therefore Resolved, That the aforesaid flour be detained under the care of the committee, and that Mr. Holker and Mr. Morris be properly notified thereof, in order that such measures may be taken as the case may require.
That the thanks of this Committee be given to the Committee of Wilmington, for their information and assistance respecting the above, and that we hold ourselves accountable to them for one hundred and eighty-two barrels received.
This letter and the resolution having positively condemned Mr. Holker and myself, without hearing us, I could not think it proper to wait on the Committee after judgment was pronounced, and therefore wrote Mr. Henry a note in these words:
I have received your favour of this day, inclosing a resolution of the Committee respecting the flour purchased in Wilmington by directions of the Honourable Mr. Holker, and cannot help regretting that the Committee did not think proper to propose a conference on the subject, before they went so far in censuring the conduct of persons by no means opposed to those desirable objects, "appreciating the continental currency, and lowering the prices of commodities."
I should most cheerfully have waited on you, and given the information which I think you ought to have been possessed of before such a resolve was passed. But the reflections in your letter and that resolution being entirely undeserved, I have no doubt of being able effectually to justify myself to the public. I thank you and the Committee for communicating the intended publication, and remain. Sir,
It may be observed, that I tell the Committee I should most cheerfully have waited on them, and given that information I thought they ought to have been possessed of before such a resolve was passed. In this I meant only information as to myself, and the part I had acted in the business; for Mr. Holker deems it inconsistent with the dignity of his Royal Master to account for his conduct, as Agent, to any authority not derived from his Majesty, except in such matters as are connected with Congress, or the Government of a State. On conversing with this gentleman on the proceedings of the Committee, he laid before me the copy of his answer to Mr. Henry's letter to him, and has given me leave to publish it. As it contains a full exculpation of my conduct, I shall do so. It is in these words:
I only act in any of the United States of North-America in my capacity of Agent-General of the Royal Marine, under the authority and sanction of Congress, I had therefore this morning the honour of informing them of the transaction of the Committee of Wilmington, and of the arrival of the flour to this city. I respect your motives, but as I am not a competent judge of the means you employ to accomplish your wishes, I must refer you to Congress, to whom alone his Majesty's Representatives or Agents can give any account of their actions. Therefore I can only thank you for your politeness and attention on this occasion. I observe with surprize that you have sent a copy of your letter to Mr. Robert Morris, with one of the resolves of the Committee. This must have given you unnecessary trouble, as I am alone accountable for the purchase of this flour, he having only acted in consequence of my express orders and directions. I am, Sir,
Had the Commitee thought proper to consult me before they passed those hasty resolutions, in the preamble to which they not only imply a censure of us, as depreciators of the continental money, but insinuate that it is done for the sake of encreasing the commission, I should have shewn them that I had nothing more to do in that particular affair than to receive and examine the invoices, and pay for the flour agreeable to order. This being really the case, Mr. Holker would have declared it under his hand then as readily as he has done since, not being afraid to abide the consequences of his own conduct; and surely under such information, the Committee would not have uttered these censures against me. I would have gone farther, and informed them, that from the first moment I agreed to assist Mr. Holker in the business of his agency, my advice to him was to draw the supplies of provisions wanted for the fleet from the Continental Commissaries, rather than purchase them himself, alledging that flour was scarce, the price not only high but likely to rise; that if he, under these circumstances, employed one set of purchasers, and the continent another, competition would probably take place between them, the prices rise rapidly, and the blame most likely be thrown on him or his Agents. This advice was adopted; Congress were applied to, and orders procured for the Commissaries to grant the necessary supplies. I would ask whether this advice savours of a desire to increase commissions, or implies any practices such as the Committee can be no longer silent spectators of.
Mr. Holker continued to depend on commissarial supplies until repeated disappointments from almost every quarter made him exceedingly uneasy, and he judged it absolutely necessary to make purchases himself. My advice was still either to employ the Continental Purchasing Commissaries, or persons of such character as might be depended on for prudent good management: This was agreed to, and pursued in every instance, Congress, or the Committee of Congress for the Commissary department, being privy to all the measures adopted: and we have never heard the charge of raising prices until now. Mr. Holker is possessed of ample materials to support his transactions whenever he should think it necessary or proper to do so. The Committee seem to have considered their regulated price of 20 l. per hundred for flour as having extended to Wilmington, which is in another government; and it appears they must be right, since the Committee of that place have agreed to act subordinately to them. Mr. Rumford, who bought the flour, I suppose had not conceived it in that light, or probably he would not have made the purchase.
In Mr. Henry's letter to me it is said, "We consider the interest of his Most Christiain Majesty, whose service you act in, as unnecessarily suffering, by giving greater prices than there are occasion for." Certainly the Committee will perceive that they gave too hasty an assent to this paragraph, for they surely will not pretend to determine how speedily the exigencies of public affairs may have required the supply in question; and they cannot but recollect that the regulation of the price of flour did in the first instance create a scarcity, which induced an application from them to the Committee of Congress for 100 barrels of flour to serve out to the citizens, as they could not get supplied otherwise at the regulated price.
It seems to me that the insinuation conveyed by the words, increased commission, ought not to have been hazarded against a merchant of reputation without the fullest evidence, as coming from a public body, who will always be more under the restraints of decorum than is perhaps incumbent on every individual. I shall notice it, but with that decency of language and sentiment which it is my duty to myself to make use of.
A merchant doubtless has it always in view to increase his commissions, but he must know very little of business indeed, who thinks to do that by raising the price of the commodities his employer deals in, for in this he certainly drives him to employ another Factor or seek a cheaper market, so that he would inevitably fall the victim of his own rapacity. Several gentlemen of the Committee must know that I was many years in the receipt of much larger and more extensive commissions for the purchase of produce than at present, and as that business increased on my hands until the exports from this country were stopped, it is evident that my employers were honestly and faithfully served. Why then should it be supposed I would suddenly depart from my former practice and principles, and sacrifice the interest of my employer for—for what? For the increase of my property by a trifling commission, which, gained on such terms, would necessarily reduce the value of my whole fortune, a considerable part of which is in Continental paper, and of consequence, however some men may circulate for their own purposes that I am a depreciator of it, my own private interest would of itself lead me, were I deficient in better motives, to exert myself as I always have done to support and raise its value. I have called the proceedings of the Committee on this subject hasty, they certainly were so, and I am confident they will think their censures are undeserved when they have candidly considered what I have said.
I am really at a loss to conceive why my name should, without sufficient grounds, be so frequently mentioned in the public papers, and held in such an odious point of view. It cannot arise from any doubts of my attachment to the general cause of America, my exertions from the first promulgation of the stamp act to this day do not leave room for a single suspicion, especially as those exertions were greatest when our affairs were at the worst. It cannot justly arise from any part of my conduct as a private citizen; for near twenty years I was engaged in a very great [...] of business, and extended the commerce of this port to places little known to you before my time. This increased the demand for your produce, raised the value of your lands, encouraged your industry, and rewarded your labours. I imported thousands of good settlers into Pennsylvania, after that business had ruined almost all that went before me in it.
With pleasure I can now look round me, and see amongst my fellow citizens some whose fortunes I have made; many for whom I laid the foundation of their present importance; hundreds whose circumstances I have bettered, and thousands to whose maintenance I have contributed. Ask those that deal with me, whether I am generous, open, and decisive in my dealing; ask the numerous tradesmen I have employed and do employ, whether I pay them punctually and chearfully; ask that useful body of men who follow the sea, whether I have not been their constant friend and benefactor, whenever it was in my power; and ask the honest labourer whether I have ever squeezed a pittance from his hard service. It gives me pain to mention these things. It is not from a disposition to boast my own praises, but a sincere and honest desire of possessing so much of your esteem as I know myself to deserve; and certainly the present committee ought not to consider me as an enemy, for I have not only sold my goods agreeable to their regulations, but have advised others to comply with them.
My mercantile character cannot have given just cause for the attacks made on me, for I have constantly sold off my cargoes as they arrived; and to consider me as a depreciator of the Continental Money, and at the same time as the holder of very considerable sums of it, is too absurd to deserve refutation.—However, I must add, that I have always paid too much respect to the credit of the paper money for my own interest. For by making purchases of bills of exchange, lands, &c. at prices that now would appear nothing, I might have amassed no inconsiderable fortune. Instead of doing these things, I have freely and liberally staked my property in the export and import trade with various success, frequently meeting with so many and such heavy losses as would have deterred a less resolute trader from continuing the pursuit. The instances of my success I need not mention, for these are counted up by lookers on in a ten-fold proportion.
This I know, that there are people who have made much more without risquing a shilling, and by the few small land purchases I have made, I have learnt that in that way alone I might have been a greater gainer, with infinitely less trouble and without any risque.
My enemies at present seem pretty numerous, and they are such on improper motives; for I declare that I am not conscious of having given any man just cause for being so.
If the disgust of any part of my fellow citizens proceeds from my opposition to the present constitution of Pennsylvania, surely when they come to consider, that a freedom of opinion on such subjects is essential to a free government, and that to act in conformity with our opinions where the object is public good is the duty of a good man, they will pardon endeavours which were well meant, even if founded in error, and in their own zeal on the one side, find a reasonable apology for mine on the other. For I will not suppose they have been actuated by private views, because I feel nothing in my own bosom to justify the suspicion of others. My conduct in promoting measures for re-considering the constitution was by those that opposed me acknowledged to be candid, open and liberal; I never was guilty of personal abuse, nor had I any personalities in view. I neither wanted or would accept any offer myself, nor had I any connections to provide for.
My sole object was to obtain such a Constitution as would in my opinion answer the ends of good government; and it was to me a matter of indifference what men were in the seats of authority, if sufficient security were provided for the liberty, life and property of individuals. I am very desirous of being only a private man, and when I became otherwise, it was in obedience to a sentiment I had adopted, that in times of distress it was the duty of a good citizen to act in whatever station his country might call him to, and so far am I from courting the continuance of public employment, that I shall with the greatest pleasure resign that which I now hold to such worthier hands as you, my fellow-citizens may appoint. While I was your servant it was my pride to serve you faithfully, to serve you chearfully; I have done so near four years, and made as great sacrifices of private interest as any man among you. I made them with alacrity. I had and still retain a proper sense of the honour of sacrificing my property, my labour and my ease, to the voice of my country. In your applause I shall at all times feel myself over-paid, and if I miss of that reward, I shall console myself with an approving conscience; and I shall at all times be ready to give my tribute of praise to those more fortunate men, who with greater abilities or better opportunities may have rendered you more essential or more agreeable services.