Letter to His Countrymen

Excerpt from Letter to His Countrymen

The private citizen who comes before the world with matter relating to himself, is bound to show a better reason for the measure than the voluntary impulses of self love. In my own case, it might, perhaps, appear a sufficient excuse for the step now taken, that I am acting chiefly on the defensive; that the editors of several of-the public journals have greatly exceeded their legitimate, functions, by animadverting on my motives, and private affairs; and that assertions, opinions, and arcs, have been openly attributed to me, that I have never: uttered, entertained, or done. When an individual is thus dragged and notice, the right of self-vindication would seem to depend on a principle of natural justice; and yet, if I know the springs of my own conduct, I am less influenced by any personal considerations in what I am now doing, than by a wish to check a practice that has already existed too long among us; which appears to me to be on the increase; and which, while it is degrading to the character, if persisted in, may become dangerous to the institutions of this country.

The practice of quoting the opinions of foreign nations, by way of helping to make up its own estimate of the degree of merit that belongs to its public men, is, I believe, a custom peculiar to America.

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