Excerpt from An Address to the Citizens of North-Carolina, on the Subject of the Presidential Election The brave and generous defenders of Spanish liberty have been overwhelmed by the power of the French monarchy, instigated and sustained by the Holy Alliance; and we see evident indications of a design to resubjugate, by the same power, the independent states of South America. How far this unholy crusade may be extended, or what part it may be necessary for this republic to take, in the great conflict between despotism and freedom, less than a year will probably determine. But it is a matter of the utmost importance, that in selecting a man to preside over our affairs, we should inquirer which of the candidates is best qualified to sustain the republican party against domestic opposition, and the cause of our country against the possible machinations of foreign despots. In reference to these great objects, propose to discuss the relative pretensions John C. Calhoun and William II. Crawford; as it is now apparent that, in this state, the contest will ultimately be resolved into an issue between these two gentlemen. The proposed discussion will involve a comparative view of their past history and services, and an inquiry into the evidence, furnished by these, of the purity of their republican principles, and their capacities for future usefulness. I pledge myself to state no fact, which is not either a matter of general concession and notoriety, or established by the published speeches and reports of the gentlemen in question. It will be recollected that the friends of Mr. Crawford, at the opening of the presidential canvass, believing that he and Mr. Adams had obtained the exclusive possession of the field, by a sort of prescriptive right, commenced their operations by holding up Mr. Crawford as the uniform and exclusive Republican candidate. Either not looking into his true character, or supposing that time had thrown the mantle of oblivion over his political frailties, they confidently expected to prostrate Mr. Adams by making him responsible not only for his own aberrations, but for the sins of his father. The ceaseless clamour kept up by all the organs that could be brought into requisition, about Mr. Crawford's uniform republicanism, very naturally excited a suspicion that it was designed to cover some latent and conscious frailty, in the party making it. The inquiry was made, and the suspicion realized. Mr. Crawford's own hand-writing rose up in judgement against him, and he stood convicted of having drafted and sanctioned an Address to President Adams, amidst the excitement produced by the most violent measures of his administration, expressing the most unlimited confidence in the firmness, justice and wisdom of that administration." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.