4734. LIES, Political.—
Were I to buy off
every federal lie by a sacrifice of two or three
thousand dollars, a very few such purchases
would make me as bankrupt in reputation as
in fortune. To buy off one lie is to give a
premium for the invention of others. From
the moment I was proposed for my present
office, the volumes of calumny and falsehood
issued to the public, rendered impracticable
every idea of going into the work of finding
and proving. I determined, therefore, to go
straight forward in what was right, and to
rest my character with my countrymen not on
depositions and affidavits, but on what they
should themselves witness, the course of my
life. I have had no reason to be dissatisfied
with the confidence reposed in the public; on
the contrary, great encouragement to persevere
in it to the end.—
To William A. Burwell.
Ford ed., ix, 229.
(W.
1808)
