Alexandria gazette & daily advertiser. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1817-1822, 1820-09-11

vitieS IN which a private mGman m!Snt nave
INDUCED, arc forbidden to tie wife OF the
Sovereign and further, that things which
the wife Of the Sovereign might venture to
/ do at home, assume mere crmlual aIac-
ter when exhibited abroad, and made the
mockery of foreigners. r..
Again--eyery woman Of feminine delica-
! CIV shrinks from imputation for her own sake.
but how much more ought this noble feeling
to operate upon Cesars wife, whose con-
! duct, from the emnence on which she Is
placed must be observed by innumerable
eyes, and canvassed by countless tongues !;
and who is not only the guardian OF the ho-
hor of herself. of her husband, and Of his
people, but s.a lso, by the influence OF her
high example, Charged with deeper re-
sponsihiity to the whole of her own sex.
"'Tis from high lite high characters are
drawn - and what is true of virtues, is, 10
this respect, true OF vices also (; the effects
they make on the public are proportionabie
to the heights from which they come.
There is another allusion in this celebrated
adage, which probably Cesar Intended ;
which, assuredly, all mankind will nova
days recognize. Caesar hoped to make his
sovereignty hereditary and, whether titles
!, and property, and still more, wherever
thrones are hereditary in all noble families
and chiefly in all sovereign hou es it is o.;
/ the greatest private and public importance,
! that the character OF the wife should leave
no doubt as to the legitimate successor.
/ In private life, what injustice, what dis
sentions, what litigation, what run, does not
the doubt as TO the legitimacy OF children
create In States, what bloodshed, what
confscalions, What wars, what revolutions,
what various and dreadful and unlimited IN
Elections? These, if the succession be con-
tested but even where ii may not be con-
tested, what Indignation, what lntrigues,
what contempt OF authority, what deterora-
ton of principles, are not certain to ensue
Ne need not dwell on these topics, but II IS
| in this sense, perhaps, above IL diners, that
we are inclined to insist that Cesa 5 VIE
ought not IL be suspected.
Nor has i, impaired the currency and au-
thority which this phrase has received IN the
whole civilized world, for eighteen hundred
years, that historians tell US that Caesars
example was not SO correct as his lrecepts;
and That he seems 10 have had one rule Tor
himself and another for his wife. Caesars
gallanlres are as well knosrn, as those OF
Henry w. or Charles IL. aud yet no author
that weiaave ever read, and no poison whom
we have ever heard, have attempted TO IN
validate the truth and justice OF has rule with
regard to his wife, by an arguments drawn
from his own behaviour. " llhcut entering,
therefore INTO any examination OF the differ
enCe which nature and custom seem 10 have
made IN the feelings OF man aud woman on
this particular point, it is enough to say that
such difference has been always admitted
10 exist and that men are and have been III
all ages and countries, forgiven Tor an OF
fence, The very suspicion OF which drives a
woman out of society.
The grounds Owe cannot call them the
reasons) OF this indulgence to man, are per-
Laps to he found in some considerations TO
which we have already alluded. Chastity Is
not, in so peculiar a degree, essential to
male as to emale character the intldeiiiy
of the man (deep and deplorable as The OF
fence must be in the eye of the poralist and
the christian, does not produce such dele
terious effects on society it introduces no
bastards into The succession Of private iani-
lies and raises up no prelenderS 10 the
throne of nations. Fer be 1t from US TO
countenance, 10 eytenuatc, or to defend the
laxity with which the male sex thus inter
prets the law in It's own favor :; but so 1t IS,
and as we are now looking al this question,
as j! inyoivesithe public interests, we must
take, as we find it, the general iee!ins and
practice oil the world. and according
ly, this general feeling and practice, have
prevented Caesars apo'hegm from being
turned round against himseIi-and though
the misconduct Of Henry ". or Charles II.
might have been very justly quoted as enhaE'
cling the merit Of good conduct IN mary oi
Medicis, and Cathayine OF Portugal, every
toIx, kno,y. tb,t f, 70 lure in these ladies