Now then, let any man say whether WEBSTER is not himself the author of those calumnies, which he wishes to throw on a CORRESPONDENT; and whether his constant study has not been to revive and perpetuate a hatred of the BRITISH NATION.-If there be a Briton base enough to encourage such a wretch, he deserves to be kicked by every negro in the country. "SIR, POOR NOAH WEBSTER. "New York, July 6, 1798. "I have to request that you do not trouble yourself with sending me your paper any longer. "Unmerited and ill founded abuse of Great Britain I can read enough of in the Argus and Time Piece, without having recourse to the Commercial Advertiser. "Your account will be paid when sent in and I remain, Sir, Yours, &c. "MR. N. WEBSTER." ANSWER. 66 Newhaven, July 6th, 1798. "SIR, "The enclosed letter is returned it does not belong to me. The paragraph which has offended you, I think very censurable; and I know Mr. Hopkins well enough to affirm, that he suffered it to be inserted without attending to the abuse it contained. "A news "A newspaper is common property, in which all parties claim a right to utter their venom; and although I should not have admitted the paragraph you complain of, had I been present, yet, under the most prudent management of the paper, I found myself exposed to so many personal indignities, from different parties, that retirement was essential to my happiness, if not to my life. I found in more instances than one, that my best endeavours to please those whose esteem I valued, gave offence, Toa GENTLEMAN of my education, and standing in society, this treatment became intolerable-It wounded me to the soul, that the purest motives were often misinterpreted into the basest designs; the worst possible construction was put on paragraphs; articles and opinions laid to my charge, which were easily known to come from other quarters; and any little mistake was laid hold of to injure my feelings, and as an excuse for exercising revenge, by discontinuing papers. A property of this kind is hardly worth the purchase, and in the collision of hostile passions in our country, few men of honour and feeling can consent to take charge of public papers -they must generally be superintended by men who are callous. "The Commercial Advertiser is the medium through which I communicate my opinions on political and literary subjects, and its general tenor is highly agreeable to the sound part of my fellow citizens, whether natives or foreigners. Its character will continue the same, though I sometimes find in it sentiments of others not altogether agreeable to my own views of things. "Men who take offence at paragraphs which do not please them, and who withdraw their subscriptions, for incidental errors, when the usual tenor of a paper is good, are not desirable as subscribers. The candid citizen will inquire, before he takes a decisive VOL. IX. Ε decisive step. Your letter gives me no pain, nor can it have the least influence on my conduct. "Your very rude and extraordinary letter, in which, instead of a modest apology for yourself, you impute very unworthy motives to me, for having discontinued my subscription to your paper, I take no other notice of, than sending to your friend Peter Porcupine for publication. "When a man is publickly boasting of "his "education," his " standing in society," and the delicacy of his feelings," it is a duty every one owes to the world, to expose his rudeness and vanity in their proper colours. "I remain, Sir, Yours, &c. "Mr. NOAH WEBSTER, jun." Now, I ask the reader whether he ever, in all his life time, met with any thing so shamefully vain as this letter of Webster. Never did I see even an illiterate, empty headed military fop, exhibit such a total want of modesty. In all the ridiculous personages, whether in romances or plays; in all the bombastical egotism of pedant Partridge and bully Bluff we find nothing that is not distanced many a roed by "A GENTLEMAN of my educa 66 tio: "tion and STANDING IN SOCIETY !" Were FIELDING and CONGREVE to rise from the tomb, they must blush to see their two famous caricatures far surpassed in the real portrait of a single republican of this our enlightened age.-I have often heard of instances of WEBSTER'S impudent vanity.-Upon his arrival in Philadelphia, some years ago, a quack, pretty near as vain as himself, met him in the street: "I congratulate you, Sir," said the quack, "upon 66 your appointment to a preceptorship in our uni"versity."" You may, if you please," replied the conceited coxcomb, "congratulate the university upon my condescending to accept of the appoint"ment!!"-This was so far beyond every thing, of which I had ever formed a conception, that I looked upon it as a mere story; but even this, hateful as it is, is greatly outdone by the disgusting, nauseous, loathsome expressions in the above let ter. Were this man indeed distinguished as being descended from a famous race, for great learning and talents, for important public services, for possessing much weight in the opinions of the people, even then his vanity would be inexcusable; but the fellow is distinguished, amongst the few who know him, for the very contrary of all this. He comes of obscure parents, he has just learning enough to make him a fool, his public services have all been confined to silly, idle projects, every one of which has completely failed, and as to his weight as a politician, it is that of a feather, which is overbalanced by a straw, and puffed away by the gentlest breath. All his measures are exploded, his predictions have proved false, not a single sentiment of his has become fashionable, nor has the Federal Government ever adopted a single measure which he has been in the habit of recommending. And this is the inflated fop, whose tender. feelings E 2 feelings are injured, and whose life is endangered, because all parties were not willing, alternately, to submit in silence to his haughty and insolent treatment! One would imagine, on reading NOAH's complaint, that he had been the first attacked; whereas exactly the contrary is the truth. He has been the aggressor on every occasion. He attacked me in a most uncandid, rude, and malicious manner, just seventeen days after my gazette commenced, and with the evident intention of doing me a most deadly injury. I silenced him, though he foretold that, in such a contest, I"must be the loser." He has begun again, time after time, and always has made his attack in the most base and insidious way. He has never failed to hold me up as a hireling of Great Britain (though the vindictive wretch is well convinced that I am not so), and thus, to endeavour to undermine, what he sees he cannot knock down. His abuse of the British nation would, in any one, be abominable; but it is more particularly so in him, who well knows, that the Federal government has no friends, more firm than those natives of Great Britain in general, who now reside here, and who, if I am not misinformed, generously enabled him to establish a Federal paper," which the ingrate has converted into a vehicle, for pouring on their whole nation, the most villainous and unmerited abuse. I am happy to see, that these gentlemen resent such usage, with becoming spirit. God forbid that I should ever let fall a word, tending again to open the breach between my native and my adopted country. With men who have been deceived, and who harbour an ill-grounded prejudice, I would conciliate; but nothing in this way, ought to be attempted with the envious, rancorous, blackhearted enemies of Great Britain. No reason will ever sway their judgment, no kindness will gain " |