Acknowledges receipt of the letter sent by Mr. Isaacs. It is natural that Beers should feel as he does. "The vices and violences of Parties, and the Corruptions which they generate and cherish, are serious Evils, but they are Evils which during the full Tide of Democracy, mere Reason will find it difficult to correct, because the majority of every People are deficient both in Virtue and in Knowledg e." Reforms "are more frequently imposed by overbearing Circumstances, than produced by the Influence of Wisdom on the opinion and Choice of the Multitude." At the present democracy "prevails too much. The Time may come when it will prevail too little." One candidate should have been proposed by the Federal party or the party also should have adopted "an unequivocal plain line of Conduct relative to the present Candidates, explicitly deciding to vote for neither of them, or openly Resolving to support the one whom they considered as the least objectionable."
Subjects
United States--History--Constitutional period, 1789-1809; Jay, John, 1745-1829