Portland gazette and Maine advertiser., 1807-03-02


and Co. could effect but little in En-
gland Of mischievous tendency, where
the pillars Of society are placed Oh
firm pedestal but here they can casi-
~ cause the whole fabric to trcmbIe.-
1t is, therefore, necessary, If We intend
to preserve any thing ike rational lib
crty, to meet these dema9ogues 1t ev-
cry turning, and not permit single
lie, or fraud, to pass without contradic-
ton or exposure.
In this country, in which NC have 50
much liberty TO take care Of, it seems to
be the duty of every man Ike the die
tators Of Rome, 10 see that tic common
egealth receives no denImenf; we are
bound to be more than commonly scru-
pelous relative to the private charac-
tiers individuals, who claim Offices Of
pobIic Crust Or profit. Fer
These truths excmplifcd we see
II mini0ns Of sediliul,
10 rog4e il 3yivate tfe can be
An honest P9lHtc!aH.
Ifthis be granted, it becomes the
more necessary that the triuate cLay-
eacters Of men, acting, or claiming to
act il public capacity, should under
60 thorough ordeal. But the editors
Of newspapers who exhibit the evil
dence, ought to be sworn to tell the
truth and nothing but the truth, and if
they arc. caught in Ess, they ought not
only to be considered as infamous but
rendered incapable Of ever giving tes-
timony. The man who bears false
witness ii a court Of justice, at the
most, merely Injuries an individual or
two, but lying edit,r q c Hsaatafer,
7gay dsstroya nation.
Had it been fashionable in France in
the very outset of their dreadful revo-
luton, to write revolutionary Plutarchs,
and strip the mask from those bud men,
who pretend to be good Patriots, it
might, perhaps, nave zen possible for
those reformers Of the abuses Of the
old government, whose motives We're
pure, TO have stopped al some point of
have been spared the horrors to which
that event gave birth. We should
not have heard z Frenchman and a
democrat lament that a great and
enlightened people were mutilated, de-
Cimated, shot, drowned, and guIlot;ned
by their representatives that pub
lie funCtionaries butchered those from
whom they received their commits
sions that Rome had a series Of
tyTants in succession, or at least, at
short intervals but France had at once
and the same instant, host Of Cahcu-
las that " IaCltus himself would
have broken his pencil with regret, at
not being able to paint all the crimes
which sPrungi from the nonsriOu,
junction Of the ferocious Robespierrc
Bith the sanguinary Couthon Of the
barbarous BiIlaud, with the gloomy
Amur Of tie tiger CoIlat, with the Il
gar Carrier the Cut-thr0at Dumas
with the cut-thToat COHinhaIl and a
thousand sUbalterns submissive I'd
their orders" They would not have
complained that the waves or thl
ocean swelled with the manglcd bOuies
which were secretly committed to Tho
bosom Of the Loire blood flowing il
torrents down the streets of every
town ;sthe dungeons Of a hundred thou.
sand basules, grooming under The
weight Of the victims with which they
we're encumbered+."
"a scaaonQ6le process Of den7agegue
hunting, a timely exposure Of the Cul
prit journalists, the Cheethams, tn,
Duanes, and the Austns. who, b,
their lying and flagatious publications
paved the way to the commission Q
those atrocities, might have alresta
the career Of the savages, and shippe
them Of tile gaIb Of patriotism undo
which they committed these, till the
pnheard Of cruelties.
Similar men, In possession Of simila
means, would, in this country, paw
the way to similar atrocities. "
have our lying journals, which ma
De compared To the Prre Cu Chen
itself We have our colonel Duanci
ehd our captain Cheethams: who migl
il case Of emergency, supply the pl;
ces Of the revolutionary commander
and act on a new theatre, the tragcGit
Of Lyons and Ia Vendce.
To avert, as far as our feeble instr
mentality can be Of any avail, the dreac
full consequences attendant On the pr,
dominance Of bad men, in a govern