Note 721 — Chapter IV

One may be sure that the following caustic comment of the editor of the Independent Chronicle is to be set down to instinctive repugnance and hostility, and is thus representative only of rabid partisanship: “Actions speak louder than words. If the parish observe the Minister busy about many things; if they find him more anxious about the geographical description of the City of Washington or the Georgia Lands, than the New-Jerusalem or the Land of Canaan; if they find him neglect his parish on a Sunday and employ himself during the week, to collect ridiculous fables to swell an appendix to a political publication. If he will do these things, he must expect that his Flock will not increase, and that at the year’s end, while he is exploring the territory of the United States, and hunting up Robinson’s [sic] straggling Illuminati, he must not be surprised if some of his own sheep have strayed across the river, and become the care of a more attentive shepherd.” (Ibid., Jan. 7, 1799.)