Gazette Of The United States, & Philadelphia Daily Advertiser

M'KEAN.

To the Editor of the York Herald.

SIR,

Please to insert the following letter, and oblige yours, &c.
J. C

To the Honourable THOMAS M'KEAN.
Esq Doctor of Laws, Chief Justice of the State of Pennsylvania, &c. &c. &c.

SIR,

I scarcely thought it possible among the vicissitudes of human affairs, that I should have to address you through the channel of a Newspaper ; but it seems the period has arrived, when it has become necessary for me, in order to contradict the vile slander that has been propagated, and the odium attempted to be thrown upon me, by those, who I presume, act by your authority; I mean certain Addressers of the Public in this place, that have, through the medium of your friend Solomon Myers's press, among other things stated, " Another charge is, that M'Kean should have said, that York county was a Tory county ; but the truth is, Mr. M'Kean never either expressed or entertained such an opinion. It is the fabrication of party men, and circulated with a view, to prejudice the people of York county against our Republican candidate." Whether the above charge is true, and the assertion of your friends untrue, I leave you and the public to determine, when I solemnly declare, that you, at the house of John Watson, Esq. in Mifflin county, in the presence of the honorable Edward Shippen and Edward Shippen Burd Esqs. did assert, without any previous provocation, " that the people of York supported the British Corporal, and were a pack of damn'd Tories;' and I replied they were as good Whigs as your Honor," &c, At another time, at Hartley's Tavern, near Bedford, in the presence of a Mr. Shields, you said " the members of Assembly from York county, were damn'd fools, and that you could not get them to do what you wanted " to which I replied that was the reason the county sent such men, for was it known that you had any influence over them, they never would be elected. At another time, I heard you say York was a Tory county," and I then replied it was not, nor would I suffer such slander. I have also heard you say., that every word of the letter written by Mr. Jefferson, to Mazzei, was true ; and that General Washington, had done great deal of good during the Revolution, but a great deal of mischief since that period." Those who wish for further information, respecting your assertions, and conduct, at the times and places above mentioned, have an opportunity of satisfying themselves, by applying to the gentlemen whose names with reluctance, I have been thus publicly obliged to mention ;and as to the other assertions, if necessary, I am willing to make oath of. Iam sorry that you and those whom I have above alluded to, have made - it necessary for me, thus publicly, to state the facts ; and the consequences that may arise therefrom, you and them will know to whose account they ought to be placed. With a hope that you may not be elected Governor, and a wish that you may remain in the station you now hold, I am,
Sir, your most obedient,
JOHN CLARK.

York, Sept. 13, 1799.