PAPERS OF l\[InAilEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR 77 was the advocate of that nullification, which contemplates State inter- position against federal usurpation-discovers an inveteracy in politi- cal falsehood-such a contempt for every thing in the nature of truth, as would put even Baron l\lonchausen himself to the blush. Than Thomas Jefferson & George l\L 'froup, our Country has afforded no two individuals who haYe done so much for Constitutional liberty-the former in arresting the )Iareh of Federal despotism in 1798, by the assertion of State iuterposition; and the latter by putting the principle into practice, firmly & effectually, at a time when our State was likely to be dragooned ont of her rights of Sovereignty & soil by the bayonet of a ruthless soldiery.- Like a11 other patriots who throw themselves as shields between the people & their oppressors, they were denounced by the very people whom they sought to serve, as enemies to regular Government; & rebellious disturbers of public tranquility. It is a discouragiug refle~tion to the patriot & States- man who would emancipate his Country from thraldom, that he has less to dread from the vengeance of tyrants, than from the pusilanimity of those who prefer their chains to the danger of throwing them off. It is easier to carry terror. to the heart of a despot, than to allay the fears of a servile mind; & never will the former be more ready to take vengeance on his enemy, than the latter to surrender his benP- factor as a victim. Trust not the man who feels not his country's wrongs; or feeling, fears to right them-for though he may be with you in prosperity, he will fail not in the hour of danger to seek his own safety by a base betra~·al of freedom & his friends. Governor Troup, in his contest with the Government in 1825, had less to en- counter from foes abro1ul_, than from enemies in the very State whose rights & character he was defending at the peril of fortune, fame, & life. With n mind less intrepid, he would have sunk under the Stron~ arm of power; & with a heart less philanthropic he would have retired from the conte!-.t with the most profound disgust; for whilst contend- ing against the violence of Acknowledged foes, the ablest of his friends who could ha\'e n~ndered the most essential sen-ice, stood aloof in selfish silence, waiting the issue of the conflict, ready on the announce- ment of victory to "pursue the triumph & partake the _gnle." · Disirin_!! success, but lending no helping hand, the timid withdrew because of their fears, & the ambitious from unwillingness to hazard ought for the public in so unequal and doubtful a strife. But disregarding the cry of Ma-llness by his foes, & rashness by his friends, Gov, Troop took the field of \Varfare, with truth for his weapon, and the justice of his cause for his buckler; & with unpreeedeuted firmness, & ability, fought the battle of his State almost single-handed, not only against rulers "dressed in brief authority" & their . hired minions, but against the awakened talents & excited feelings of nearly the whole of twenty three States, & the vinrlictivc virulence of half his own. His pen, with the potency of JthurieFs spear, touched the politicnl toads in power, & they sprang up to public view in all the hideousness of their satanic nature, T-1 e now li\-es to witness those dodrinc-s which he was first to awaken from a Slumber of 20 years, RllYocntPd & :-:pread abroad with an energy like his own, by the wry men who once warn•d for their destruction & denounc-ed their <lcfc1uler as II traitor; & if Providence in kindness shall spare his life for n fpw more ven.rs we . '
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