The following extracts from the first of these articles reveal the temper and beliefs of the Federalists: "Burr never penned a declaration of independence; ... but he ... has engraved that declaration in capitals with the point of his sword: It is yet legible on the walls of Quebeck. He has fought for that independency, for which Mr. Jefferson only wrote. He has gallantly exposed his life in support of that declaration and for the protection of its penn-man. He has been liberal of his blood, while Mr. Jefferson has only hazarded his ink....
"He never shrank from the post of danger. He is equally fitted for service in the field and in the public counsels: He has been tried in both: in the one we have seen him an able and distinguished Senator;—in the other a brave and gallant officer....
"Mr. Jefferson is better qualified to give the description of a butterfly's wing or to write an essay on the bones of the Mammouth; ... but Mr. Burr ... in ... knowledge ... necessary to form the great and enlightened statesman, is much superior to Mr. Jefferson....
"Mr. Burr is not ... consecrated to the French; ... nor has he unquenchable hatred to ... Great Britain. Unlike the penn-man of the declaration he feels the full force of the expression, 'in war enemies, in peace friends'... Mr. Burr ... will only consult national honor and national happiness, having no improper passions to gratify.
"Mr. Burr is ... a friend of the Constitution ... a friend of the commercial interests ... the firm and decided friend of the navy ... the Eastern States have had a President and Vice President; So have the Southern. It is proper that the middle states should also be respected....
"Mr. Burr has never procured or encouraged those infamous Calumnies against those who have filled the Executive departments ... which we long have witnessed: Nor have those polluted Sinks, the Aurora, the Argus, the Press, the Richmond Examiner, and the like, poured forth their impure and fœtid streams at the influence of Mr. Burr, or to subserve his vanity or his ambition.
"If Mr. Burr is elected, the Federalists have nothing to fear.... The vile calumniators ... of all who have ... supported our government, and the foreign incendiaries, who, having no interest in Heaven, have called Hell to their assistance, ... from Mr. Burr have nothing to hope....
"Mr. Burr can be raised to the Presidency without any insult to the feelings of the Federalists, the friends of Government; ... without an insult to the Memory of our Washington; for it was not by Mr. Burr, nor was it by his friends, nor to serve him that the great, the good, the immortal Washington was charged with having, by his name, given a sanction to corruption, with being meanly jealous of the fame of even that contemptible wretch Tom Paine, with being an unprincipled Hypocrite and with being a foul murderer! a murderer under circumstances of such peculiar atrocity as to shock with horror the merciless savages, and to cause them indignantly to fly from his blood polluted banner!"
[1268] "John Marshall ... is the reputed author of a great part of the [rubbish] in the Washington Federalist." (Scots Correspondent [Callender] in Richmond Examiner, Feb. 24, 1801.) There is no proof of Callender's assertion; but some of the matter appearing in the Washington Federalist is characteristic of Marshall's style and opinions. See, for instance, the editorial on the prosecution of Theodore Dwight, denouncing "party spirit" (Washington Federalist, March 1, 1801). The Aurora of March 26, 1801, denounced "John Marshall's Federal Gazette at Washington."
[1269] Monroe to Jefferson, Jan. 18, 1801; Monroe's Writings: Hamilton, iii, 256. An article signed "Horatius" in the Washington Federalist of Jan. 6, 1801, stated this position with great ability. The argument is able and convincing; and it is so perfectly in Marshall's method of reasoning and peculiar style of expression that his authorship would appear to be reasonably certain.