its counterfeit gilding at length rubbed off, and
the native colour of the contexture exposed, has depreciated, like the
Continental money, with such velocity, that though a few years ago worth a
President's chair, it would not, _now_ purchase a constable's staff; nor is
it more highly rated in the sphere of polite life, than in the great
theatre of the world; for its unfortunate owner stands alone, unnoticed in
the midst of company, with full leisure to reflect on the sensible effects
of the loss of reputation.

My immediate purpose requires nothing further from me; but your
administration, the theme of your own solitary praise, might not improperly
have been touched upon, but that it is a field too extensive for me, and
that I have not asperity enough in my nature to do justice to the subject.
I will yet observe upon some matters in your pamphlet, not in direct
connexion with one or the other subject; but which are extremly[TN]
demonstrative of a temper in the writer to wish evil to the community,
after the power of doing it has ceased.

You, who have ever been a rapacious lawyer, and have never omitted any
means of amassing a fortune, have, with a truly consistent spirit, shown an
implacable enmity to all those who are raised to a condition above want and
dependence. And though you kick against the parallel drawn between you and
the Cataline of antiquity, you have in this point proved its exactness; he
haranguing in the circle of his conspirators, exasperates them against the
opulent citizens of Rome; you, in your pamphlet, labor to create invidious
distinctions, would pervert the order of well regulated society, and make
fortune's larger gifts, or even its moderate blessings, criterions of
disqualification for public trust and honours in Pennsylvania; and under a
spacious description of men, offer with your _sword_ to lead the indigent,
the bankrupt, and the desperate, into all the authority of government. But
in the shallowness of your understanding, you have mistaken the spirit of
the times; it will not countenance or support a Cataline.

You would also, no doubt, as may be inferred from your pamphlet, _you_, who
are so deficient in morality, draw your sword in religious quarrels, to
bring you once more into play; but 'tis to no purpose you would raise an
alarm, as a very great and respectable part of your opponents consist of
persons belonging to that society, of which you profess yourself to be a
member; and th