The style was florid. Richardson was high in the councils of the Republican party, yet his argument was that of a Federalist. It was a panegyric on Freemasonry, and an expression of hope for universal peace and love. Opening with a review of the conflict convulsing Europe he launched out into a severe denunciation of the course that France was pursuing. “Already hath nation arisen against nation in lawless oppression,” the orator proclaimed. “Already hath our infant country been threatened with a final subjugation.” Continuing he asked: “And who are those who dare to usurp a superiority over us? The French! Once the boast of history, the pride of the smiling page; but now a band of robbers, dead to every feeling of humanity, lost to every virtue; a band of robbers whose lawless acts have drawn upon them the just resentment of our virtuous brother, the illustrious Washington, who, though loaded with the oppressive weight of sixty-six years, stands ready once more to unsheath his conquering sword to save his country from rapine and murder. Shall he stand the war alone? No, every Masonic heart will rush like lightning to his standard, with him conquer, or with him die!”[166] Richardson’s outspoken views appear to have caused an estrangement with the local Republican leaders, and in 1801, when he was a candidate for the State Senate, they were arrayed against him. He was charged with the unpardonable sin of reviling Thomas Jefferson, the idol of American public life. The _Pittsburgh Gazette_ and the _Tree of Liberty_ contained frequent references to the incident. Richardson himself published a card, which was at once evasive and apologetic. He was accused of having three years before drunk a toast, “Damnation to Jefferson and his party,” in Marie’s tavern. He admitted having been in the tavern on the occasion referred to, but added: “This much I will say, that if such a toast was given by me, it was improper, and I must have done so on the impulse of the moment. I cannot say whether it was given at all.” The Republican tide was too strong and he was defeated, and was again defeated in 1802, when a candidate for representative to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives,[167] and he met with a like fate when a candidate for the same office in 1803.[168] In August of 1809 he died, a disappointed man.[169]