Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-03-13

No. /.
Messrs Editors: There are some cases In
which it is quite difficult to act with proPriety
to the public, satisfaction to ones self, and with
Justice toward them upon whom the deeds have
adirect, and, perhaps, an important bearing
need not tell you, Gentlemen, that when these
cases cannot be quashed, they cause much pam
full anxiety All these cases, however, are not
equally difficult Of management: different Cir
cumstarces exert an influence, that must either
lessen, or increase the pain which every good
man feels in conducting them. When those
whom these cases concern, are the heads OF Ia
miles, whose reputation in no small degree, be-
comes identified with that Of their leaders, one
can hardly bring his feelings so far above the
reach Of sympathy, as to treat the case with
that degree of plain severity necessary to full
discharge Of his duty. Nor is this the only
source from which the good man derives re-
luctance to perform that deed which his rela-
ton to the public, really demands from his
hands. The good mans heart is drawn fully
out; he pursues these persons further than their
family circle. He falls from these, to those
with whom they may be connected in social
life. From these he rises TO the most sacred
public institution in society. And here, with
an ear attentive to that language once address
ed to the Hebrew Prophet, stake off thy shoes for
The ground on ,chich thou stdndeSt is holy" he
views them under that name which was first
given to the members Of this institution, at An
tioch Here the scales of action, with the
weight of duty on the one side, and the pressure
Of feeling on the other, are held, for while, in
equilibrium: and nothing but a sense OF duty,
can turn them in favor Of that exposure which
must tend to reform the heart, and correct the
deeds of those upon whom the exposure bears.
Under these impressions, and influenced by my
peculiar condition in reference to my book,
have been driven to the discharge Of a duty
which the conduct of Mr.. Waugh, citizen of
Alexandria, has imposed upon me, and which
justice to the public, as well as his reform re-
ouires from my hands. And did feeling per-
nit, would here cease to preface the disagree
able task with any further remarks. But the
scene is so forbdding in its nature, that must
become warmed in the proem, to enable me to
sketch the picture. Bear with me, then, gen.
,lemen, while take very slight glance at
some of those conditions through which man
has passed, and through which the arts and
sciences have been carried in being advanced to
their present state Of excellence. If we carry
man back TO the garden Of Eden, we shall find
him furnished by his MAKER with all which he
then REQUIRED But as we behold that vine
ward cursed with sin, and men driven from her
bowers into the land of thorns which they now
inhabit, we hardly know whether they have
been furnished by their Maker with all, or with
anu of the requisites OF domestic and political
life 1t is fair, however, to conclude that these
requisites have ever had potential being, and
tba, man has been left to discover, form, and
use them for his own good. The human fami-
" have Already seen three memorable condi-
tions:-
|. The Paradisticdl.
.. The Antedslurian.
5 The Postdslurian.
In the first, man was SO good that he held con-
verse with the angels; so upright that political
system was redundant; and SO sustained by the
direct regard of his Maker, that domestic con-
yeniences were useless. But while regaling
himself upon this summit, he stumbled-and
he fell.
We next find him in the antedeluvian world;
and in time, in possession oflall that refinement,
and excellence in the arts and sciences, which
are clearly implied by the brief account given
Of the an,edeluvians in holy writ The Attic
lions with which they were visited, viewed in
the light of punishment, forcibly declare the
existence of violated commands, and abused
laws-and the dignity of the refuge prepared by
Noah. to elude the aqueous chastisement which
fe,, from the heavens in streams till II returned
in one liquid mass, demonstrates their meehan-