The only circumstance in which the extract from No. 6 appears to differ from the letter is, that in the extract mention is made of four men, and in the letter of only three. But let it be observed, that though only three persons are named in the letter, yet citizen Fauchet adds to them, “others unknown to me.”
The next piece of exculpatory evidence produced is the certificate of citizen Fauchet. But before we quote this paper again, it is necessary to see how it was obtained.
When citizen Fauchet’s letter was first shown to Mr. Randolph in the council-chamber, and he was asked to explain it, he hesitated; desired time to commit his remarks to writing; went to his office, locked up his own apartment there, and gave the key to the messenger; then went home, from whence he wrote to the President, requesting a copy of the letter, and informing him that if citizen Fauchet had not quitted the continent he would go after him, to prepare himself for an inquiry. Was this the behaviour of a man grossly calumniated? Such a man would have said: I see, sir, by this letter that I am charged with crimes which my heart abhors; I declare the writer to be an infamous slanderer; but as appearances are against me, here are the keys of my office and even of my private papers: examine them all, and I will remain here till the examination is ended. Send also for citizen Fauchet, if he be yet in the country: bring him here, and let him avow this to my face, if he dares.—I appeal to the reader’s breast whether there is any thing that a man, strong in his integrity, would have so ardently desired as to be confronted with his accuser; or any thing he would have so obstinately refused as to be the messenger to seek him? Allowing, however, that a man falsely accused of such heinous crimes had, in a paroxysm of rage, quitted the council-chamber to pursue the assassin of his reputation, would he not have instantly departed? Would he have closed his eyes till he came up with him? Would any mortal means of conveyance have been swift enough for his pursuit? And, once arrived, would he not have rushed into his presence? Would not the sight of the perfidious miscreant have almost driven him to madness? Had he found him in the arms of his harlot, or grovelling at the altar of his pagan gods, would he not have dragged him forth to chastisement? The heart that swells with injured innocence is deaf to the voice of discretion!
How different from all this was the cool and gentle, and genteel deportment of the Vindicator! He stays very quietly two days at Philadelphia, before his departure for Rhode-Island, and loiters away no less than ten days in performing a journey that the common stages perform in five. When he arrives, he goes and has a téte-à-téte with citizen Fauchet, and so mild and so complaisant is he, and so little malice does he bear on account of the wound given to his honour, that he afterwards writes the citizen a note, in which he styles himself his humble servant.
I pass by the certificates of a tipstaff and a pilot, which were brought in as auxiliaries to that of citizen Fauchet, and come to the questions that were to be put, but which were not put, to citizen Fauchet, before Mr. Marchant, a judge of the district of Rhode-Island, and Mr. Malbone, a member of the House of Representatives. This play at question and answer must have been fine sport for Messrs. Marchant and Malbone, who would have had the dramatis personæ before their eyes; but when committed to paper, a perusal of it would have been quite flat and insipid to us. No question, I am positive, would on this occasion have drawn truth from the lips of citizen Fauchet; except, perhaps, the question formerly employed in the Inquisition: for as to oaths upon the Holy Evangelists, what power could they have had upon the conscience of a man whose creed declares the Bible to be a lie, and who alternately adores the goat, the hog, the dog, the cat, and the jack-ass? Ref 053
After these remarks on the manner in which this certificate, which we are called upon to give credit to, was procured, we may venture to quote it, without running the risk of being misled by its protestations. Let us then hoar what it says with respect to the persons in whose behalf the overtures for money were made:—
“About the month of July or August, in the last year, he (Mr. Randolph) came to see me (citizen Fauchet), at my house. We had a private conversation of about twenty minutes. His countenance bespoke distress. He said to me that he was afraid a civil war would soon ravage America. I inquired of him what new information was procured. He said that he began to believe that, in fact, the English were fomenting the insurrection, and that he did not doubt that Mr. Hammond Ref 054 and his Congress would push some measures with respect to the insurrection, with an intention of giving embarrassment to the United States. He demanded of me if, as my Republic was itself interested in these manœuvres, I could not, by the means of some correspondents, procure some information of what was passing. I answered him, that I believed I could. He replied upon this, that having formed many connections, by the means of flour contracts, three or four persons, among the different contractors, might, by talents, energy, and some influence, procure the necessary information, and save America from a civil war, by proving that England interfered in the troubles of the West.”
After this the certificate says that Mr. Randolph stated a doubt as to the pecuniary affairs of these contractors, and observed that those whom citizen Fauchet
“might be able to employ, might perhaps be debtors of English merchants; and that, in that case, might perhaps be exposed to be harassed and arrested; and, therefore, he asked if the payment of the sums due them, by virtue of the existing contracts, would not be sufficiently early to render them independent of British persecution.”
So! here are all “these men who were balancing to decide on their party; these men, who, by their talents, influence, and energy, might save the country!” these men who could have decided on civil war or on peace are, by this barefaced certificate, turned into industrious, peaceable flour-merchants.
This explanation exceeds even the impudence of Lord Peter, who swore that the words gold lace meant a broom-stick.
Mr. Randolph pretends that, so far from having made overtures for himself and company, he rejects with horror the idea of giving a pair of gloves even to these honest flour-men. Citizen Fauchet, it is true, did understand Mr. Randolph as advising him to obtain intelligence, by assisting with loans those who had contracted with him for flour: but now calling to mind all the circumstances, he has an intimate conviction that he was mistaken in the propositions of Mr. Randolph, who only asked if these good people could not be accommodated with the “sums due them on their contracts!” Hence, then, they wish to infer that all was fair and honest; that no such thing as corruption was ever dreamt of. Admit them this, for a moment, and then let them account for the following expressions, which come immediately after the money overtures, mentioned in the dispatch, No. 6:—
“This inquiry astonished me much. It was impossible for me to make a satisfactory answer. You know my want of power, and my defect of pecuniary means. I shall draw myself off from the affair by some common-place remarks, and by throwing myself on the pure and unalterable principles of the Republic.”
Now, why pure? Why throw himself on the pure principles of his Republic? How could the pure principles of his Republic forbid him to yield to a proposal that had nothing impure in it? And why does he talk of his want of power, and of pecuniary means? Would it not be the height of stupidity for a man to talk this way, if he was required to do nothing but to pay three or four flour-men “the sums due them on their contracts?”
Nor was such a trifling proposal better calculated to awaken in citizen Fauchet these reflections!
“Thus, with some thousands of dollars, the Republic could have decided on civil war, or on peace! Thus, the consciences of the pretended patriots of America have already their prices! It is very true that the certainty of these conclusions, painful to be drawn, will for ever exist in our archives! What will be the old age of this government, if it is thus early decrepid!”
Would any man, except a madman or a fool, have made these reflections on a proposal to pay certain merchants “sums due them,” and particularly when those sums were to enable them to serve their country, by exploring the secret machinations of an hostile power? Mr. Randolph’s proposing to come at the secrets of the