... I have thought proper to communicate (this) to a few confidential
friends in the district, with his permission, not doubting but that they
will make a prudent use of the information."
At the outset of any movement which, whatever may be its form, is in its
essence revolutionary, and only to be justified on grounds that justify
a revolution, the leaders, though loud in declamation about the wrongs
to be remedied, always hesitate to speak in plain terms concerning the
remedies which they really have in mind. They are often reluctant to
admit their purposes unequivocally, even to themselves, and may indeed
blind themselves to the necessary results of their policy. They often
choose their language with care, so that it may not commit them beyond
all hope of explanation or retraction. Brown, Innes, and the other
separatist leaders in Kentucky were not actuated by the motives of
personal corruption which influenced Wilkinson, Sebastian, and White to
conspire with Gardoqui and Miro for the break-up of the Union. Their
position, as far as the mere separatist feeling itself was concerned,
was not essentially different from that of George Clinton in New York or
Sumter in South Carolina.
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