Literary cadet, and Saturday evening bulletin. [volume] (Providence, R.I.) 1826-1827, 1826-05-27
From the Boston Commercial Gazette.
HONESTY.

llSLNLLC
A man of integrity is a man ~ofuniver-
sal goodness, of ripened virtue. 1t does
not indeed imply that he never yields to
any temptation (for of what mortal can
this be said) but it supposes he respects
the authority on which the laws of God
are founded, and does not therefore ha-
bitually tolerate in himself any one vice;
does 10 deliberately permit himself to
offend in any single point. There are
no breaks in the links of that golden
chain by which all his virtues are bound
toge,her-there is no secret and unseen
disease preying on the soundness and
healthiness of his moral constitution
In the goodly superstructure Ofhis cha
racter, there can be found no unnoticed
seam, through which even the penetra,-
ing light Of conscience can enter, be-
traying that its foundation is unsOlid
and insecure.
We all agree, that to pronounce any
one to be a man of INTEGRITY, is to give
him most exalted praise. But when it
is used in the more restricted sense in
which it is received among US, it is sup
posed to imply the possession of a very
necessary and very valuable, certainly,
but not a very high and dignifed vir-
tue. however think otherwise. | be-
Iieve that what is called common homes
ty, when it is taken to imply all that it
fairly and properly means, is a very ex-
allied quality, and is, am afraid, not so
common as is sometimes believed.
There are certain violations of homes
ty, which the laws define and punish as
open frauds, of the nature of which no
one can be ignorant. But there are
other departures from the strict rule of
right, from their nature not cognizable
by the laws, which really amount to the
same thing as dishonesty, though they
sometimes receive gentler names. OF
this nature is every species OF deceit,
assimilation, or evasion in our dealings
| with one another. For not only is it
| dishonest, expressly or by implication,
to ascribe to our goods any quality
which we know they have not-but also
designedly to conceal any fault which
we know they have, and with which the
buyer cannot in fairness be supposed to
be acquainted. 1t is dishonesty to re-
present our wares to be, in any respect
what they are not, or not to be what
they are.
1t is dishonesty, also, of a very ag-
gravated kind, to take advantage OF
another's confidence in our integrity
to borrow, for instance, on false securi-
ties or false representations of our cir
cumstances, without any intention or
reasonable expectation of repaying-and
it is dishonesty to raise by design any
expectations which we do not intend or
desire to fulfil.
We must place excessive rigor and
hardness in our dealings, among the vio-
%lations OF strict integrity. He who
takes advantage Of a buyers ignorance
or particular necessities, to insist on a
higher price than the current value or
fair market price for his commodity-or
on the other hand, who uses the same
advantages to beat down his merchan-
disc greatly below this standard, violates
the laws Of honesty. Under this head
must also be placed the exaetion of usu-
ry-not because it is not right that a
man should receive compensation for
lending his money, as well as any other
property into which that money may be
be converted-but in some degree, be-
cause the rapid accumulation Of wealth
without industry is bad for the state and
for the indi, idual, and chiefly because we
must know that in most instances he who
is willing TO borrow at exhorbitant in
terest must be on the brink of Insolvency
land that by lending to him we only
, precipitate his downfall, and increase his
inability to discharge the just demand.
Of those creditors who have entrusted
E him with the hard earnings of their OWE
f exertion. In this way we make our
f selves partakers Of another mans sins.