In the first part of your late publication, which is no less an invective
against me, than it is a defence of yourself, you have, with sufficient
art, insisted on my remarkably contentious, factious,[D] and jealous
spirit, which suffers no man, undisturbed, to enjoy his well-earned fame; a
circumstance in my character you expected to derive considerable benefit
from in the controversy between us. For this point being once gained, every
suggestion, every article of charge against you, which has its foundation
and support in me, would naturally be referred to those fierce and
malignant passions you have so unsparingly bestowed on me, and no longer
rest upon the general credit and reputation I trust I have acquired and
maintained. But as I cannot, without injustice to myself, make this
concession to you, I must declare my general tenor of conduct to have been
far otherwise,--that in my private life I have been at peace and harmony
with all mankind; and in my public, at enmity only with such public men as
have disgraced their country by their vices or injured it by their crimes.
Wherein until the present, except in a single instance, have I drawn the
public attention by attacks upon the character of any man? and that
instance, an impostor, like yourself, who had got into a seat of honor. In
this, it was virtue to become his accuser.
If you rely upon _your_ instance, as affording a proof of my eagerness for
controversy, it will not answer your purpose. I have not brought you to the
public bar; for, whatever was the amount of your offences, I neither urged
nor wished a public inquiry; another has brought you there, and I appear
only as a witness against you, challenged and defied by yourself.
This being premised, I shall enter upon my subject, and reply to such parts
of your pamphlet as respect me, and therefore specially concern me to
notice.
Your remarks, you say, are with propriety addressed to me; because though
not the actual author, it is to me you are really indebted for the
insidious attempt on your reputation.
That the public may have the most authentic proofs of the manner in which I
have been involved in this controversy, I think it necessary here to insert
the original letters that passed in the course of our correspondence, last
fall, on this subject.
SIR,--I have, for a long time, treated the anonymous abuse
which disgraces our public papers with the contempt it
deserves. But in Oswald's paper, of last Saturday, are a set
of queries, signed Brutus, in which the author, not daring to
make an open assertion, has insinuated, that in 1776 I
meditated a desertion to the enemy. Though my soul rises with
indignation at the infamous slander, I should treat it with
scorn, if it did not seem to deserve some credit from a
reference to you. Prejudiced, as I know you are, I should be
sorry to suppose you capable of propagating such a sentiment,
or decline the opportunity of doing justice to my character,
and in some degree your own. And this for two reasons: first,
the gross falsehood of the insinuation; and, secondly, to
preserve a consistency in your own character, which must
suffer from your placing such confidence in me, with respect
to the military operations of that period, and permitting
General Washington to do the same, after such a conversation
as these queries suppose. I need make no apology, in this
case, for requesting an immediate answer,--and am, sir,
Your obedient humble servant,
JOSEPH REED.
_Market Street, Sept. 9, 1782._
Gen. Cadwalader.
SIR,--In answer to your letter, which I received last evening
by Mr. Ingersoll, relating to queries published in Mr.
Oswald's paper of last Saturday, signed Brutus, I can assure
you, (as I did Mr. Ingersoll,) that I am not the author of
that publication; nor have I published one single word, since
I came from Maryland, relating to the politics of this state;
yet my character has, unprovoked, been traduced by you, or
some of your friends. But, sir, I have repeatedly mentioned
the substance of those queries to individuals immediately
after the conversation alluded to happened; and since that
time in many mixed companies. As charges of the same nature
had some time since been made against you, to which you never
made a reply, the world very justly concluded they were true;
especially as the rank and character of the person who made
the charge (at that time) merited your notice. From this
circumstance, it occasioned an additional surprise, that you
should, in this instance, undertake to investigate the matter,
and declare in your letter to me, that the "insinuation" was
"a gross falsehood." I therefore now assert, that in a
conversation with you at the time and place mentioned in the
above publication, signed Brutus, that you expressed the
substance, and I think the very words, contained in the
queries. If my character for veracity wanted credit with the
world, one or two other gentlemen could be named, who, at
nearly the same time, heard expressions from you, which
created in them sentiments unfavourable to your character. You
seem to insinuate that there is an inconsistency in my
conduct, because I afterwards reposed a confidence in you, and
because I permitted General Washington to do the same. It
would have been very dangerous, at that critical period, to
have exposed your weakness and timidity to the militia, as
such an example might have been attended with the most fatal
consequences to our cause. And as your conduct, upon this
occasion, appeared to me to proceed from want of fortitude,
and not the baser motives,--and as from the observations I
made to you at the time, you seemed to resume more spirited
sentiments in conversation, as well as from political motives,
I continued to show an appearance of confidence, and concluded
it best not to mention it to the General. The successes that
soon followed gave a happy turn to our affairs, and thus, you,
(with many others,) appeared to possess firmness in prosperity
who had shown a want of it in times of imminent danger.
If your conduct in civil life had been such as could have been
approved of, former transactions might have been buried in
oblivion. But when I see a man endeavouring to injure the
reputation of those, whose principles and conduct, from the
beginning of the contest, have been uniformly exerted to
obtain those ends intended by the revolution; and when he
denies all merit to those who are not equally violent with
himself, it is difficult to be silent.