I replied in the papers, pointing out the gross illiberality of the attack, and tried to provoke a discovery of the authors.

But they were still as death; the mask that had been assumed to shield envy, hypercriticism, and falsehood, there was neither elevation of moral purpose, courage, nor honor, to lay aside.
In the mean time, all my correspondents and friends sustained me.

Men of the highest standing in science and letters wrote to me.

A friend of high standing, in a note from Washington (Oct.

24th) congratulating me on my recovery from the fever at Chicago, makes the following allusion to this concealed and spiteful effort: "When in Albany I procured from Mr.Webster copies of them (the pieces), with a view to say something in the papers, had it been necessary.