'
You certainly acted wisely in taking no notice of what the malice of
Pickering could say of you. Were such things to be answered, our lives
would be wasted in the filth of fendings and provings, instead of
being employed in promoting the happiness and prosperity of our
fellow-citizens. The tenor of your life is the proper and sufficient
answer. It is fortunate for those in public trust, that posterity will
judge them by their works, and not by the malignant vituperations and
invectives of the Pickerings and Gardiners of their age. After all, men
of energy of character must have enemies; because there are two sides
to every question, and taking one with decision, and acting on it with
effect, those who take the other will of course be hostile in proportion
as they feel that effect. Thus, in the Revolution, Hancock and the
Adamses were the raw-head and bloody bones of tories and traitors; who
yet knew nothing of you personally but what was good. I do not entertain
your apprehensions for the happiness of our brother Madison in a state
of retirement. Such a mind as his, fraught with information and with
matter for reflection, can never know _ennui_. Besides, there will
always be work enough cut out for him to continue his active usefulness
to his country. For example, he and Monroe (the President) are now
here on the work of a collegiate institution to be established in our
neighborhood, of which they and myself are three of six Visitors.
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