owing letter is from his warm friend, the Reverend Samuel F.
Jarvis, written in New York, December 14, 1814:--

"I am not surprised at the feelings you express with regard to England or
America. The English in general have so contemptuous an opinion of us and
one so exalted of themselves, that every American must feel a virtuous
indignation when he hears his country traduced and belied. But, my dear
sir, it is natural, on the other hand, for an exile from his native land
to turn with fond remembrance to its excellences and forget its defects.
You will be able some years hence to speak with more impartiality on this
subject than you do at present.

"The men who have involved the country in this war are wicked and
corrupt. A systematic exclusion of all Federalists from any office of
trust is the leading feature of this Administration, yet the Federalists
comprehend the majority of the wealth, virtue, and intelligence of the
community. It is the power of the ignorant multitude by which they are
supported, and I conceive that America will never be a respectable nation
in the eyes of the world, till the extreme democracy of our Constitution
is done away with, and there is a representation of the property rather
than of the population of the country. You feel nothing of the
oppressive, despotic sway of the _soi-disant_ Republicans, but we feel it
in all its bitterness, and know that it is far worse than that of the
most despotic sovereigns in Europe. With such men there can be no union.

"The repulsion of British invasion is the duty, and will be the pride, of
every American; but, while prepared to bare his arm in defence of his
much-wronged country against a proud and arrogant, and, in some
instances, a cruel, foe, he cannot be blind to the unprincipled conduct
of her internal enemies, and such he must conceive the present ruling
party to be."

On December 19, 1814, his mother writes:--

"I was not a little astonished to hear you say, in one of your letters
from Bristol, that you had earned money enough there to pay off your
debts. I cannot help asking what debts you could have to discharge with
your own earnings after receiving one thousand dollars a year from us,
which we are very sure must have afforded you, even by your own account
of your expenses, ample means for the payment of all just, fair, and
honorable debts, and I hope you contract no others. We are informed by
others that they made six hundred dollars a year