Excerpt from An Examination of the Controversy Between the Greek Deputies and Two Mercantile Houses of New-York: Together With a Review of the Publications on the Subject

There were causes, constantly Operating on the minds of the arbitrators, which deadened their moral feelings, and prevent ed the free exercise of their judgment. Their minds were pre-occupied with Opinions and sympathies, of the extent and power of which they were not themselves aware, but which, in fact, rendered them incompetent to act as judges. They were indisposed, and very greatly indisposed, to'believe the charges it was our duty to prefer; and consequently the evi dence and arguments in support of them were not weighed and felt as they would have been weighed and felt by unbiass cd men.' The truth is, the cause ought nbt to have been heard in new-york. We shall be understood by reflecting men, when we say, that considering the nature of the controversy, and the situation of the parties accused, it was hardly pro bable itshould be heard in this city with the requisite impar tiality: at least the arbitrators themselves, and even the coun sel for the Deputies, ought to have been strangers. When we reflect on the mistakes which, from a false confidence, we ourselves committed, we are confirmed in the belief that we were all of us subject to an influence very adverse to a tho rough and vigilant discharge of our duty - an influence so interwoven with past recollections, and present opinions and feelings, that it acted on our minds almost with the secrecy and certainty of instinct. It was impossible to forget the long and established standing, the unblemished reputation tensive connexions, the numerous relatives and friends whose conduct we were called to investigate. We knew in what high estimation they were generally, if not universally held, and that charges affecting their mercantile honour would be listened to with extreme incredulity. It is not true that we conducted the inquiry in a spirit ofjealous and angry crimina tion. Until the truth broke in on our minds, with an evidence not to be resisted - until we were in a manner forced to see. Our disposition was to conciliate, to-softeu - to accept of any plausible explanation that, without a sacrifice ofthe rights ofour clients, would save the integrity of the houses from re proach. The arbitrators yielded to an influence, from which we found it difficult to emancipate our own minds, and to the Operation of which, from their far more intimate connexions with the houses and their immediate friends, they were much more exposed than ourselves. There are heights not only above the low atmosphere of selfish and interested feeling, but even above the region of friendship and gratitude.

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