The Recorder

(The Letter from Newbern, (N.C.)
Concluded from our last.)

ALTHOUGH you and many others of the idolatrous tribe, who fall down before the public will and worship it, are obstinate and hard of heart, and will not believe in the divine mission of the pole-man, yet, the time may come when you will relent, when your obduracy will be changed into conviction and reverence. It may be, that this change is to be wrought upon you, as the miracle which is to give credence to his divine commission; it may possibly be by a club.

This sort of half prediction is forced upon me here, because I see so many of my neighbors, who, at this moment believe in the divinity of the son of Dunn. That he is the only true apostle of the deity they worship, and the holy interpreter of his sacred will. And because history teaches something of the obstacles and difficulties, which a mere man has to encounter and overcome, who, like the pole-man, undertakes to consecrate himself and bestow on himself a sacred character, before he can bring the few to believe, that he is a true prophet, and speaks by the mouth of a god. The many are more pliable and kind, and always ready to receive conviction, and surrender up their wills, on the first exhibition of the serpent. What a stubborn struggle did the true illustrious prophets and law givers, quoted above, hold against the contempt and incredulity of the people, before they could establish a general belief in the tribe, to which they severally belonged, that their appointment was from the deity of their worship to expound his will to them; and those among the tribes with whom the prophets were the most intimate, were at first the most hardened in contempt and unbelief; but who became the most warm and enthusiastic disciples after conviction. The first and most arduous conquest of Mahomet, (says Gibbon) were those of his wife, his servant, his pupil, and his friend.

Having, as I trust, discharged the claims which philosophy had upon me, by the judicious and laborious investigation, that I have given the cause which produced the resemblance between your queries and the French-man's, I shall now proceed to the main object of this letter, which is to engage you to send me two of your papers, and to that end, I have enclosed you a forty shilling bill of the paper currency of this state. Any merchant, and there must be many such in Richmond, who has connections in trade in this state, will readily give you four dollars for it, the price which you demand for your paper per year. A bank bill of the amount could not be obtained. I have not thought it prudent to send specie enclosed in a letter, lest it might afford temptation to break it up. As most persons seeing so bulky a packet, as my philosophical letter makes, addressed to James Thomson Callender, would feel an itching to see the inside of it; and there are some others, perhaps, whose occupations it may be, at present, to handle letters, who might have an additional motive to rifle it over, and above that of mere curiosity on feeling something hard within it.

Nothing flatters the self-love of a man more than to find, that his sentiments and opinions coincide with those entertained by illustrious and distinguished personages; and it is due to you, that I acknowledge two instances in which you have furnished the source from whence my feelings have drawn the most copious and exquisite gratifications of this kind. One is, that I estimate your talents as an author, precisely as the reputed writer of the Declaration of Independence did, when you were engaged in writing the Prospect Before Us. The other is, that as to the conduct of your paper, I have the honor to think with the chief justice, that in some respects, it is the best ordered paper in the United States, particularly in the method by which it manages the high, as well as the low and base organs of the public will. In this, the conduct is excellent, because it is formed entirely upon a model of their own procuring and contrivance, executed after their own sort, but in a style superior and commanding.

As this may, in part be considered a political letter by some people into whose hands it may possibly fall, I entreat you to accept of a philosophical apology, for not signing my name to it; and as there is one already framed to my hand by a great philosopher, rather better suited to my purpose, than the corporal's letter was to Sterne's in the affair with Madam de Lese, because I have neither to take the credit gently of it, nor to whip it up in my own way; nor even to leave out that part which relates to mounting guard; I shall therefore, take the liberty to offer it to you in the philosopher's own words:

'You will know from whom this comes without a signature: the omission of which has been rendered almost habitual with me by the curiosity of the post offices. Indeed, the period is now approaching, during which I shall discontinue writing letters as much as possible, knowing that every name will be used to get hold of what may be perverted in the eyes of the public.'

Please direct your papers to the coffee house Newbern, North Carolina, and I shall receive them

I am, Sir,

Your most obedient
And most humble Servant.

To Mr. James Thomson Callender.