Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1819-03-20
ALEX ANDRIA:
SaTURDaY, yMaRCH 60, 1919.

There is NO species OF cruelty, the exer-
else of which so unequivocaly bespeaks a
base heart, as that with which gaiety is
mingled. "To be at once merry and ma
licious," says great moralist, f" is one of
the greatest excuses of human depravity;"
yet it is to he feared that there will always
be found greater number of persons ready
to laugh at. than to sympatbize with the
sufferer, under infections of that description
OF cruelties.-Many sulky, sullen heart,
expands with mirth at the fortunes in fit of
the govt OF those they ought rather to re.
verence and to love-and the agonies of an
unfortunate sufferer from the toothache have
elected flashes of wit from heads as stupid
as mallets. The punishment of tar and fea-
theirs, has often occasioned as much merri-
ment in the recital. as no doubt il must an
guish in the sustaining, among those SEN
sifive souls who think that nothing short nf
the loss of life is deserving Of PITY and
have seen whole Theatre iu'' &C
people almost convulsed with laughter RI a
blrn iering Irishm in = comedy in Fu-
rope, during our revo'u'ionarr war. who,
among the MANY pleasant AMI comfortable
circumstances attendant on BIZ removal TO
America, enumerated the coat of tar and
feathers he hoped TO he presented with On
his arrival there, exclaiming, :" can't but
think how like goose | shall look when
get stuck all over with feathers"
But how light soever il apupare1 to the
inc"nsiderate "r the inhuInan, the practice
was regarded by all others with adherence.
AMI furnished the enemies of our country,
during the national agony of our struggle
for Independence, 18th broad and coll
slant theme of repmach much of which,
no doubt, was occasioned by political We
CONDUIT much also by unfeigned sympa-
thy and regret ;-while On this side of the
Atlantic, it was hailed as a specific medi-
cine OF supreme efficacy, the confrivance
Of which did great credit to the ingenuity
Of the inventors.
Whatever the merit or demerit of the
thing, however, may really have been, or
whatever the glory or the reproach which
may be thought due TO the contrivers of it,
cannot refrain from disclaiming on behalf
OF my country, all pIetensions to any other
merit on the occasion, than what it may
be entitled 10, on the grounds Of minute
historical research, and willingness TO be
instructed by good example-for it was
practised at least so far back as the year
sixteen hundred and twenty three-al.
most century and halfbefore its intro
duction into the western bemisphere--It o.
riginated too, in quarter to which the
world is indebted for many comfortable
improvements Of similar nature. Whe n
the bishop of Halberstadt invaded the ter
ritories of the Elector Palatine, that un-
fortunate king of Bohemia who was son
and law to James the |. king of England,
his right reverence brought, among his mu-
nitlons of war, this invention, with stores
of tar and feathers, into the field along
with him.
Among the splendid achievements with
which this new kind OF Petard enabled that
right reverend bishop to emblazon his fame,
in the history Of that period, there is one
prodigiousIy droll and diverting Cat least
to one sort Of your readers) that / will
relate it for The embellishment Of your CO.
lumps and the amusement of the public.
Having pluniered and set'6re to two
nhonastesies, this mitred hero gave particu-
lar instructions to lis soldiers to secure
the per.ous Of the nuns and friars, uithaut
doing them the least hurt, as they rushed
from the flaming edidces-Then ordering
then. to be stript naked, their bodies were
smeared with tar, after which each mdivi-
dual was tumbed into a feather bed. rip
ped open, and held prepared for the pur-
Fine fun, doubtless. for soldiers
thosegentle, sympathising, sensible souls!
When the terrified creatures were thus re-
clothed, they were hunted Oh; of the BIZ
shops camp, and driven of towards the in
terror part Of the eountry-his grace in the
mean time exclaiming, "let US see if the
shepherd will recognize his own Hock"--te
the great delight of his blood hounds.
But the plan Of tarring and feathering
may be traced much further back, still and
that too in British annals, being mentioned