_then_ completed. And could you reasonably
expect that I should have remained in town till this is
completed? or could you suppose I would suffer your
publication, worked up, as it no doubt will be, with all the
cunning and misrepresentation you are master of, to pass
unanswered? As you have protracted this affair by your
_engagement_ to the public, I shall not put it in the power of
_accident_ to deprive me of the opportunity of laying the
facts I am possessed of open to public view. The question will
then be, whether what I have avowed is true? My wealth,
judgment, or passions, can have no influence, either way, with
impartial men. My own character, the character of others
concerned, and all the circumstances combined, will determine
the judgment of the public. This business being ended, an
interview may reasonably be expected.

I am, sir, your humble servant,
Gen. Reed, Philadelphia. JOHN CADWALADER.

Having for several years given over every expectation of seeing those
changes made in the constitution of Pennsylvania, which I have ever thought
necessary to secure that happiness and liberty intended by the revolution,
I retired, and have never since even expressed my sentiments concerning the
politics of this state, except among my particular friends. Your vexatious
administration hath furnished an example, to what a dangerous length the
authority of government may be carried under such a constitution.

The particular circumstances of my family made it necessary to spend a few
months in this city, last summer, without an intention of taking up my
residence here till the conclusion of the war; and though I never
interfered in politics here, except among my particulr[TN] friends, I was
attacked, in the public papers, by a party blindly devoted to you and your
measures; I made no reply, from a confidence that such intimations could
not injure me with those whose good opinion I regarded. But whether a
friend published the piece signed Brutus, in the mere spirit of
retaliation, or whether it was calculated for political purposes, at the
last election, let the author determine. The conversation, alluded to in
the queries, was known to many long before that period; among whom were
some of your friends, in proof of which I offer Mr. Prior's
certificate.[F]

Having mentioned the conversation _publicly_, those who heard it we