s is on the point of meeting, the public papers will
necessarily be occupied with the debates of the ensuing session, and
as, in consequence of my long absence from America, my private affairs
require my attendance, (for it is necessary I do this, or I could not
preserve, as I do, my independence,) I shall close my address to the
public with this letter.

I congratulate them on the success of the late elections, and _that_
with the additional confidence, that while honest men are chosen and
wise measures pursued, neither the treason of apostacy, masked under the
name of Federalism, of which I have spoken in my second letter, nor the
intrigues of foreign emissaries, acting in concert with that mask, can
prevail.

As to the licentiousness of the papers calling themselves _Federal_, a
name that apostacy has taken, it can hurt nobody but the party or the
persons who support such papers. There is naturally a wholesome pride
in the public mind that revolts at open vulgarity. It feels itself
dishonoured even by hearing it, as a chaste woman feels dishonour by
hearing obscenity she cannot avoid. It can smile at wit, or be diverted
with strokes of satirical humour, but it detests the _blackguard_. The
same sense of propriety that governs in private companies, governs in
public life. If a man in company runs his wit upon another, it may draw
a smile from some persons present, but as soon as he turns a blackguard
in his language the company gives him up; and it is the same in public
life. The event of the late election shows this to be true; for in
proportion as those papers have become more and more vulgar and abusive,
the elections have gone more and more against the party they support,
or that supports them. Their predecessor, _Porcupine_ [Cobbett] had
wit--these scribblers have none. But as soon as his _blackguardism_ (for
it is the proper name of it) outran his wit, he was abandoned by every
body but the English Minister who protected him.

The Spanish proverb says, "_there never was a cover large enough to hide
itself_"; and the proverb applies to the case of those papers and the
shattered remnant of the faction that supports them. The falsehoods they
fabricate, and the abuse they circulate, is a cover to hide something
from being seen, but it is not large enough to hide itself. It is as
a tub thrown out to the whale to prevent its attacking and sinking the
vessel. They want to draw the attention of the public from thinkin