PAPERS OF l\lIRABE.\U BUONAPARTE LAMAR 159 eiples are involved and not personal feeling. In exposing those doc- trines, whfoh duty has lead me to condemn, I have avoided all in- -dividual allusion, and have directed and my arguments occasional ridicule [sic] against the doctrines themselves and never against the .advocates. That I may not be misunderstood, and that I may be saved. the trouble of correcting any misrepresentation or pre.version of my meaning, I will here distinctly state, that I feel no disposition to de- tract from the merits of any of the candidates presented by the Caucus or Committee; that I do not impugn t4e motives of either of the latter, or deny to them the right of doing what they have done-it is their privilege, as it is that of any other gentleman to place in nomination whoever they may prefer as candidates; but if they deny this right to any body else, and attempt to give to their proceedings any other force, than that of a recommendation, by censuring those who may not think it proper to obey them-then do they act dictatorially, and instead of being the servants of the people, they become their rulers. All this may be done, either by themselves or their friends from the most patriotic motive, yet it will not be the less dangerous to the free- dom •of elections, or insulting to the independence of the people. I in_sist that the people are accountable to themselves only for their conduct, and not amenable to seven men or seven hundred. It belongs to them,selves to choose their own representatives, and they should not be insulted for doing it with the spirit of freemen. I ask not the suf- frage of my fellow-citizens against their will. I wish none of my friends to attempt to drive them into my support. If I were forced into Congress by such means, I should be a very unsuitable repre- sentative, for I should oppose there the very principles upon which I was elected. The people of the State of Georgia know my political principles and character, and as these are approved or condemned, I know that I shall be accepted or rejected. This is all that I ask. Let me stand upon my own merit or fall upon my demerit. Who is not willing to do the same Y If my political course has been equivocal or treacherous-warm when honors were to be distributed, but cool if not bestowed upon me-if I have either in public or private life been more cunning than candid, more selfish ·than serviceable, or more illiberal than just-if I have made patriotism subordinate to a love of promo- tion; demanding much, but performing little: fattening upon offices, yet with a cormorant appetite still asking for more, and threatening desertion if more is not given-in a word, if I have been one of those hollow-hearted kind of politicians, who hold with the hare and run with the hound: who follow error when she is popular, and defend truth only when she requires no defence-whose fidelity is secured by reward; and who whilst they effect to worship in the temple of liberty, still offer up their idolatrous prayers to the ''legion fiend of glory and of gold' '-if any of these traits stand like black spots upon my political character, then ·are the people bound in duty to themselves and their country, by every consideration of equity and patriotism, and by the high obligation to distinguish between virtue and vice, to discard me from their coniidence, and by withholding their suffrages, administer a just rebuke to that insolence which would seek unmerited favor. But on the other hand, if my fellow-citizens have discovered in the past
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