Rhode Island Republican

THE Vindication of Mr. Jefferson deserves the candid attention and perusal of every lover of virtue, and every friend to the respectability of his country. It is a complete, an undeniable refutation of all the slanderous accusations which the malice, the envy, the chagrin, and disappointment of a waning faction have induced them to fabricate against the worthy chief magistrate of our country, respecting his conduct in our revolutionary war.

But it is not merely a refutation of calumny. It does not merely establish the innocence of the accused. It does not prove only the absence of guilt—it demonstrates the possession of merit. Who can read it and say that he acted in a manner unbecoming the dignity of his station? Who can read it and say that he did not fulfil his duty as a Governor, as a General, as a Patriot, and that his conduct at that time does not deserve the applause of every genuine American and of posterity? Henceforth let federalists beware how they calumniate men in whom republicans have placed their confidence. They may be assured it will always end, as in this case, in a manner honorable to the calumniated and disgraceful to themselves.

Though many editors of federal papers, when they published the letter of Mr. Turner, which contained the charges against Mr. Jefferson, expressed a willingness to give place to an answer, if any should appear, yet they have not, in a single instance, admitted this Vindication into their papers. This is perfectly characteristic, and discovers their hypocrisy and wickedness. They have declared they entertain a sincere desire for the preservation of public morals, over which the example of a chief magistrate, they allowed, has an important influence. and yet they have given publicity to a letter which represented the character of Mr. Jefferson in an odious light, and which, if believed, would induce the rising generation to suppose that honors were to be gained by the cowardly and abandoned, as well as by the brave and virtuous: And now when every charge in that letter has been proved to be false—when the character of the President has been cleared of every stigma, and passed the most penetrating scrutiny, as pure gold from the furnace, more bright for the trial it has undergone, they have declined making it known to the public. They have suffered the opinion, that Mr. Jefferson, was guilty, which they had impressed upon the minds of the people, to remain, and their ignorant readers will in future have an excuse for their bad conduct in the supposed guilt of the chief magistrate of their country.

Pol. Obser.