The Arkansas advocate., 1830-10-06
For the .4rdansns .iduocate. To WILLIAM r. WOODRUFF,
 A


 < Islander the worst of poison, ever finds An easy entrance Tn ignoble minds.''
 Were ali the vacations of life put toreth- CT, we should find that great part of them 1 proceed from those caklmnIes and re- proacies which are spread abroad concern- ing each other; and the publisher of scan- dal IS more or less odieus to mankind, and criminal in himself. But whatever on your part might have been the occasion of spreading false reports, you ought to con- sider that the effect of them is equally pre- iHdicial and pernicious to the person at whom they are aimed. The injury is the same, though the principle from whence it proceeds may be different.
 Let me ask you, Billy, whether you are ] not too apt to believe such little blacken- ] ing accounts, and more inclined to be cre- dulous on the uncharifable than on the l good-natured side? Examine your heart, and ice if you do not find In it secret in- eiination tC propagate such reports as hend to the disreputation of others. By giving publicity to certain charges against indi- vidual character, based on wicked asser- tion, without .hn aid of evid ence. have you not shown sufficiently that you have a true relish for scandal, and consequently. the seed of this vice within you! Such ere dulity is very vicious in itself, and gene rally arises from a mans consciousness of his own secret corruption.
 Did you not know at the time you made the charges against Mir. Crittenden, that they were false and would not stand the test of truth! Have you not acknowledged the same, and have l not conclusiyeIy, in my I'd and Sd chapters, demonstrated from your own statements that you have forfeit ed your reputation for truth? Have you not attempted iii the same dark and insi- dious manner, but under different name, to again assail the reputation of Mir. Crit tenhen and others! But let me inform you, Billy, that no man ever fell faster in pub lie estimation than yourself, and none more justifiably SO; and your vigorous hissing is heard without terror your public assertions are set down as worthless stuff, and your 1 charges (" but as the creatures of an idle l brain."
 1 Your productions, written to defend l yourself, Ashley & Co.,, and to criminate unjustly Mr. Crittenden and others, are l looked on as the outpouring of envy and malice, and Tn consequence of their lack ing that necessary ingredient, truth, the declarations, assertions and charges there- in contained, are well calculated to raise in public estimation the person at whom they are levelled; and the only ehectperceiva- bic on the reader which your" Jaw-Bone" produces, Is, that they are irresistibly seiz- ed with the hesitation which inevitably places the reader in an awkward situation, and his hearers in worse one.
 You will find, Billy, that truth indeed is always truth, and reason IS always reason 1; they have an intrinsic and unalterable va lue, and constitute the intellectual gold which defes destruction. Your frequent attempts to rob Mir. Crittenden of that merit and reputation due him, by unlusti- I fable means, and your studied, inveterate and malignant misrepresentation of that gcntleman's private character and con- duct, is rapidly and irresistibly producing l a reaction in his favor and as your mo- tives for attacking that gentleman's public l and private character, was and IS based on envy and malice, regardless of the public good, and as you have not redeemed a sim gle pledge ever given to the public, that public cannot longer be deceived in your character and motives; and you and your l coadutors must stand convicted in public estimation, as the unjustifable slanderers and prosecutors ofRobert Crittenden.
 What motive had you in charging MT. Ferebee with stealing letter! was it an honorable one! did public interest require you to invade the feelings of an honorable and high minded man! or were you actu- atcd by personal dislike, and picked that opportunity of venting your spleen! Did you not know at the time you headed a pieces The Stolen Letter" that you were slandering the fair reputation of gentle man! Has not Mr. .Ferebce in his address to the public, in manly, digniied asd ar- gnmentative manner, proved you slan- l dcreri and has not that gentleman said in plain English that you aro LicT