tribe of brother
printers, who deal out calumnies for federal readers, gives me no pain.
When a printer cooks up a falsehood, it is as easy to put it into the
mouth of a Mr. Fox, as of a smaller man, and safer into that of a dead
than a living one. Your sincere attachment to this country, as well as
to your native one, was never doubted by me; and in that persuasion, I
felt myself free to express to you my genuine sentiments with respect to
England. No man was more sensible than myself of the just value of
the friendship of that country. There are between us so many of those
circumstances which naturally produce and cement kind dispositions, that
if they could have forgiven our resistance to their usurpations, our
connections might have been durable, and have insured duration to both
our governments. I wished, therefore, a cordial friendship with them,
and I spared no occasion of manifesting this in our correspondence and
intercourse with them; not disguising, however, my desire of friendship
with their enemy also. During the administration of Mr. Addington,
I thought I discovered some friendly symptoms on the part of that
government; at least, we received some marks of respect from the
administration, and some of regret at the wrongs we were suffering from
their country. So, also, during the short interval of Mr. Fox's power.
But every other administration since our Revolution has been equally
wanton in their injuries and insults, and has manifested equal hatred
and aversion. Instead, too, of cultivating the government itself, whose
principles are those of the great mass of the nation, they have
adopted the miserable policy of teazing and embarrassing it, by allying
themselves with a faction here, not a tenth of the people, noisy and
unprincipled, and which never can come into power while republicanism is
the spirit of the nation, and that must continue to be so, until such
a condensation of population shall have taken place as will require
centuries. Whereas, the good will of the government itself would give
them, and immediately, every benefit which reason or justice would
permit it to give. With respect to myself, I saw great reason to believe
their ministers were weak enough to credit the newspaper trash about a
supposed personal enmity in myself towards England. This wretched party
imputation was beneath the notice of wise men. England never did me a
personal injury, other than in open war, and for numerous individu