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

| Is our duty, however painful, 10 Insist tnat
| there is broad line OF distinction between
female laboring under a general susp-
cion OF impsopriety, and who is privately
charged with such Improperly, but whose
habitual demeanor repels the assertion. II
is in this broad line OF distinction that tie
defence of his majesty's ministers for the
exclusion of the queens name from the II
lurgy, and in other points OF conduct retera-
bic to the same principle, must ultimately
rest. tits not ON the final proof OF guilt or
llnaoceAce--itis not on the probability, the
cohesion, OF the private evidence which may
have been offered to them-that they may
found their claim TO the gooa opinion OF
their country. Ii is in the publicity OF the &C
cusations against the queen-the stories that
men of all ranks and countries have heard
and propagated--tha they must hhd their
justification for withholding those recognl-
tions which would have proclaimed all such
assertions to be unqualified lies, Ne would
ask, what is the conduct in parallel cases OF
private lite Ii female is surrounded with
exceptionable companions,i il levties obtrude
themselves upon the public gaze-and 1t
malice builds upon this her tale OF intamy-
do we not abate something OF the open re-
speCt Tor particular station-do we not with
hold the sanction otiormer lntimacy-do we
| not claim that the calumnles shall be dispro
we'd or explained away, before the object OF
them is admitted to the honors of unimpea-
cbabie society? The withholding these ho-
| nors is the assertion which deCency makes Ut
her own rights and though the rule may
sometimes lead to uncha.itableness, il is tar
better than that the exception should tempt
| 10 crime.
No saying of antiquity has acquired great
er vogue among the modelns than that at
tributed to Casar--"that his wife ought to
be, not only pure, but even unsuspected.'
Few, perhaps, of the persons who quote
this phrase, attend to the full force OF the
expression, and the various circumstances
| which constitute its peculiar proprlety.
few observations on this subject cannot,
therefore, be improper at a moment when so
many people who have, all their lives long,
quoted this saying as kind OF proverb, are
now inclined to make an IDOL 81 " C1sal's
wife, ;" tor no other reason, than because her
purity is suspected
I That the purity of Caesars wife ought TO
be above suspicion, is, let us hrst observe,
true OF every mans wife. Chastity is so pc
culiary and essentially the foundation OF all
that is valuable in the female character, that,
in this sense, the adage has met universal
assent--and very justly tor 1t nculca'eS
thai woman even without being guilty OF
the least depravlty. may, by light and lnoe-
cent conduct forfeit that purity OF Character
which is essential in wife; and 1t iuIther
teaches that if woman gives pernicous
| example and occasions public scandal ,sheIs:
as tar as regards her own husband, and soci-
ely at large, nearly as guilty as II she really
were what she gives the world reason to sus-
| pect her to be.
And this is founded in deep knowledge
of human nature. CoDtemptu lama, con"
! temni yirlutes-The man. and still more The
woman. who does not shrink from the ap-
! pearance Of crime, Will SOON cease TO be We
ny scrupulous about the crime itself. Ion
tempt Of public opinion, and familiarity
with the forms OF vice, will by degrees har-
den. and at last corrupt the heart
- Vice is monster OF such trighttui mien,
As to be hated, needs but to be seen;
! Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace
Its there fore, with strict justice, that the
laws of social Lille look in cases OF this ma
.ure, upon appearances, as realiteS-that
iuries find verdict Gil mere circumstances
such as a wife's being lock'd up in room
with stranger-that even the word denr-
rep which now means prostitute, is In TACT
only, a contraction Of demirePutatlon that
is, a woman who is content TO have halt
| character.
No wonder then, that by the universal
c. nsent Of all men and of all delicate wo-
men, tie words character" and" reputa-
ton are SYNONYMOUS with 6 virtue and
chastity and if all this be true, as I'M
| doubtedly it is, OF any mans wife. how mucn