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Joseph Kent, Autograph Letter Signed, to Joseph Gales Jr. and William W. Seaton, October 6, 1827, Rose Mount, Maryland. 7 pp., 8 x 9 7/8 in. Published in the Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), October 8, 1827, 3:1. ". until that moment I did not suppose he could have been forced to Vote for Genl Jackson. I might ask the Gentleman from North Carolina (Mr Saunders) if he does not know some, who made earnest and solem appeals to members who were uncommitted, saying, save the Nation, save the Nation, by the election of Mr Adams, and who are now to be found arrayed among the foremost of the opposition"In this letter to the editors of the Daily National Intelligencer, Maryland governor Joseph Kent attacks a "false & scurrilous" publication by R[omulus] M[itchell] Saunders regarding the 1824 election, asking them to publish a "correction." An excerpt from a letter Kent had written in May 1827 characterized Congressman Saunders, a supporter of William Crawford, as anxious that the election be settled on the first ballot so that North Carolina would not "be forced to vote for" Andrew Jackson.[1] In 1827, Saunders vehemently denied Kent's recollection and denounced the governor and the newspapers that had published his charge.[1] Daily National Intelligencer (Washington, DC), July 21, 1827, 2:3. Previously published in Phenix Gazette (Alexandria, VA), July 20, 1827, 3:1, which copied it from The Commentator (Frankfort, KY), July 7, 1827, 3:1-2. Complete TranscriptMessrs Gales & SeatonI have just seen the false & scurrilous publication of R. M. Saunders, and until I read it I did not suppose there lived an individual so devoid of truth & decency as he has proved himself to be. Deference for public Opinion induces me to ask the favour of you to publish the following reply In the month of May &c &cIn the 3 page make the following correctionOur acquaintance was as limited as he states, but not more so than I desired, having never made the slightest advance toward an intimacy with him, because I considered him a vain, silly, unhappy tempered man, always the tool of some aspirant, expecting no doubt, in the event of their success, the full benefit of his intemperate zeal.Insert the piece on Monday / Date it Rose Mount / 6th Octr 1827 My Dear Sir I regretted that you were out when I called at the office yesterday noon. In making the alteration at the commencement of my letter to you, I have worded it awkwardly. Substitute what you find on the other side & make the correction as desired on the 3d page. My situation makes it painful to have a newspaper controversy with any one & my funds insist on my refusing at this time to make it a personal affair. / Yours very truly Jos: Kent 6th OctJos. Gales Jr Esqr Messrs G & S I have seen the false and scurrilous publication of R. M. Saunders, and deference for public opinion induces me to request you to publish the following reply. Until I read Mr S. publication I had not supposed that an individual lived so devoid of truth and decency as he has proved himself to be. In the month of May last I wrote a letter to a private Gentleman, an old Congressional friend in Frankfort in reply to one received from him, not designed for publication as every candid man would at once perceive as well from its stile, as its subject, and he has since apologized for a portion of it finding its way into the public journals. In this letter in consequence of Genl Saunders's own zealous part in the H of Representatives the preceding winter (the lot of all new converts) I adverted to a conversation he held with me the morning of the Presidential election, every word of which I aver to be the fact and I throw back upon Genl Saunders the vulgar epithet he has had the audacity to apply to me. But a few minutes before the election, Genl Saunders approached the fire place at the south end of the room, taped me on the arm, drew me aside & used the strong language I have ascribed. (See website for full description).
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