9065. WEST AND SOUTH, Free government in.—[continued].
I fear, with you, all the
evils which the present lowering aspect of our
political horizon so ominously portends. That
at some future day, which I hoped to be very
distant, the free principles of our government
might change with the change of circumstances
was to be expected. But I certainly
did not expect that they would not
over-live the generation which established
them. And what I still less expected was,
that my favorite Western country was to be
made the instrument of change. I had ever
and fondly cherished the interests of that
country, relying on it as a barrier against
the degeneracy of public opinion from our
original and free principles. But the bait of
local interests, artfully prepared for their
palate, has decoyed them from their kindred
attachments, to alliances alien to them.—
To Claiborne W. Gooch. Washington ed. vii, 430.
(M.
Jan. 1826)
