“ circulated to his injury; observing at the same time that there might be a crisis in our public affairs in which the Talents & character of this gentleman might be of importance to his Country; that Men of Sense & moderation ought not to suffer their minds to be led away by the wicked & malicious reports which unprincipled men were daily circulating &c.

"Innocent & natural as this conversation appears, it nevertheless instantaneously kindled a flame which flew through all the boarding Houses & so violently agitated the minds of the majority of the legislature, that I verily believed if they had had the power they would have displaced the man whom a few Days before they had elected to the chief office in the State without a dissenting voice.

"The bare acknowledgment of a personal amity with such a man as M ^r. Jefferson, producing such violent effects does most certainly demonstrate a degree of distortion and malignity in a certain portion of our Country men, which can not easily be accounted for--Ignorance & passions may be an apology for some, but men of a different class have no such excuse. In a crisis like the present, it is a most deplorable misfortune & may be a lasting one to our Country; that the minds of the people should be so wrought upon, as really to be incapable of hearing with patience the Sentiments of their opponents or of judging of the purity of their Intentions or Measures.

"With the Name of Jefferson & those also who even acknowledge him as a friend, it is the wicked Business of his & their Enemies to connect similar atrocities to those which have tarnished the glory of the French revolution. The dread of the introduction of these evils may possible [ sic -- Ed. ] operate upon the minds of some good but weak and misguided men; but others who direct this flood of calumny feel the spirit of party & act under it, and do no doubt expect in due time to turn it to their emolument.

"To the incident which I have just related is owing the appointment of the character who fills my place in the Senate--

"I beg you to make my respects to M ^r. Jefferson. As occasions offer I make use of his letter & shall continue to do so. He may rest assured that it shall not go out of my hands . . .”

In the following month, on April 11, Jefferson wrote to the Reverend John Heckwelder of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: “ About the year 1787. I published a book entitled ‘Notes on Virginia’ in which was an account of the murder of the family of Logan an Indian chief in the year 1774. by some whites, at the head of whom was said to be one of the Cressaps. this was the general report & belief of that day. lately a m ( ^~ r) Martin of Maryland, who married a Cressap, has undertaken to contradict the fact, to deny that either of the Cresaps was concerned in the murder, to deny the genuineness of the speech sent by Logan to L ^d Dunmore & to represent Logan as a worthless, drunken, & unprincipled Indian, of no account in his tribe & of no abilities. I am told that your situation about that time was such as to enable you to give some information as to these facts, either from your own knowlege, or what you may have heard from others. my object is to learn the truth, and when I shall have got at an exact knolege of the transaction, to publish a correct statement of it, doing justice to Cressap if he has been injured or to Logan if m ( ^~ r) Martin’s imputations on him be found to be mere calumnies. I have no attachment which would induce me to coneal or discolour the truth. your character in the world gives me confidence that if you can contribute any thing towards fixing this transaction on it’s true bottom, you will have no hesitation to bear testimony to the truth. may I take the liberty of asking you to give me any information you can on this subject, which if addressed to me in a letter to this place will readily find me . . . ”

Mr Heckwelder replied on April 28, “In compliance to Your request, I have communicated what came to my knowledge respecting the Murder of Logans family in the Year 1774. I have shewn by what Opportunity’s reports were brought in the Indian Country--how they circulated--& what effect it had from time to time on ”