The Conduct of the Paxton Men Impartially Represented - 3
DEAR SIR,
THE PAXTON RIOT (as it is called) makes so great a Noise, and is so much the general Topick, that a Man must be be little in Conversation, without having his Opinion ask’d concerning this Affair.------In Truth, Matters are now come to such a Pass, that some People are of Opinion, that an Endeavor to make them worse may probably be the Way to make them better. Resentment rages high, and gathers thick from every Quarter; and where it will stop, I must leave to those that have more Light within them, than I can boast of, to determine.
For my Part, I am no Adept in Politicks, and have but seldom troubled my head about that Science, beyond the reading of a common News-Paper.-----It has been long my unhappy Lot to be a Spectator of the Distress and Sufferings of my Fellow Subjects; my Heart has often bled for them;-----and I should still have continued a secret Mourner for what I had not Power to redress, had not the unaccountable Conduct of your City Quakers provoked me to speak my Sentiments, and unburthen myself to my Friend.---By my Principles as well as Situation in Life, you know, my dear Sir, that I have no political Ends to serve; that I have nothing to hope or fear from Party Connections; and that I can have no other View in troubling you with this Letter than to rescue the miserable Frontier People, who lately rose in Arms, from the Infamy and Odium thrown upon them, by those whose unfeeling hearts have never suffered them to look beyond their own Private Interest and Party. (a)
(a) The Author of this Letter, hopes he will not be understood as approving of these People’s having taken up Arms. Such violent Steps can never possibly be productive of any thing, but WILD UPROAD and CONFUSION. Whatever therefore can have a Tendency to promote this; or that offers the least Insult to the LAWS and GOVERNMENT of his Country, he will ever think it to his Duty to bear his Testimony against, and to discountenance by every Means in his Power.
