Philadelphia, December 17,1794.
MY DEAR FRIEND,--Your and Mrs. G.'s approbation of my speech1 is very flattering, even if your friendly partiality should have augmented it; for that partiality is worth as much as the praise of more impartial critics. Indeed, the resources of private friendship are peculiarly necessary to a man in such a government as ours. Bright as the prospect now is, I am decided one thing only will make it answer: to speak French,2 a revolutionary effort, a rising, in mass, at the elections, to purify Congress from the sour leaven of antifederalism. So much faction as now exists in it will kill. Good men must not be duped. I stake my credit on it. The disease may and will produce many deaths. I know but one cure--the real federalism of the body of the electors. The lottery was three blanks to one prize in August last; and had not Harry Lee been Governor of Virginia, probably that region would have been whiskeyed. This State for a long time acted a whiskey part, till, by the zeal of New Jersey, the talents of the little Secretary,3 the weight of the President's name, and bad management among the rioters, the tide turned in favor of government. Disaffection enough to begin, if not to complete, a revolution, actually existed. The talk of all rascals, that they are in favor of supporting government, ought to deceive only blockheads. In a more respectable case, did not the language, "We adore the British Constitution and dependence on that Crown," continue long after blood was spilt?
Excuse my croaking. I feel sure of turbulent times, unless more changes take place than I see any cause to expect. Time, I begin to think, is against us. State factions get better organized and more diffused. The best men are weary, and in danger of being driven out. The President,
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