' Not a word or allusion in it respecting Mr. Pickering, nor
was it suspected that it would draw forth his pen in justification of
this infidelity, which he has, however, undertaken in the course of his
pamphlet, but more particularly in its conclusion.
He arraigns me on two grounds, my actions, and my motives. The very
actions, however, which he arraigns, have been such as the great
majority of my fellow-citizens have approved. The approbation of Mr.
Pickering, and of those who thought with him, I had no right to expect.
My motives he chooses to ascribe to hypocrisy, to ambition, and a
passion for popularity. Of these the world must judge between us. It
is no office of his or mine. To that tribunal I have ever submitted
my actions and motives, without ransacking the Union for certificates,
letters, journals, and gossiping tales, to justify myself and weary
them. Nor shall I do this on the present occasion, but leave still to
them these antiquated party diatribes, now newly revamped and paraded,
as if they had not been already a thousand times repeated, refuted, and
adjudged against him, by the nation itself. If no action is to be deemed
virtuous for which malice can imagine a sinister motive, then there
never was a virtuous action; no, not even in the life of our Savior
himself. But he has taught us to judge the tree by its fruit, and to
leave motives to him who can alone see into them.
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