Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-01-27

TO be accountants. Is lie tO oe lhfoi'cu III TIC
guilt of blood stained Jefries?-n all the crimes
and Hagitious acts of Scroggs and Bromley!
Is he to have all their sins visited on his devoted
headl Forbid it justice! 1t is enough for him
to answer for his own acts-to stand or fall by his
own merits alone. Every DAVIS experience would
remind those, he (Mr. Writ address, that there
was something always occurring to lower seif-lm::
portant man from the high bearing ofhis nature
to sink him from the elevated scale in which Gre
alton had placed him-something always occur
ring to remind us of the folly of human reason
contendug against human prejudice; and this
should teach charitable feelings to aI tor that the
innocent should sometimes be subject to condem-
nation with the guilty, was fault which the
weakness of human nature had unfortunately rem
dered US liable to. He feared, for he humbly
conceived it was pretty evident, however Patrio-
tic the honorable Manager might be-however
high aud honorable his feelings-that some Turk
ing prejudice had influenced the statement OH this
prosecution Hehimself, for aught he was aware
might be the victim of an unknown prejudice
working in his bosom-of prejudice, to which
his loose intimacy and friendship with the respon-
dent might have given birth; and in this, he &C
knowledged himself equally weak with the honor
BILE manager. Of this the court would Judge.
But to what other cause could he ascd the
language which had been used-the respondent
was held up as "a judicial tyrant,' "a petty pro-
vincial Judge "a monster influenced alone by his
passion, and walking over the violated laws OF
the constitution to reach his victim and crush INNS
in his grasp This was the horrible picture that
was held up before this honorable Court-6efore
the House of Representatives here assembled
before crowded salleres-nay, more-sent to the
remotest corners of the United States, on the
wings of the press as far as eoquence OF language
could speedit
Well could he imagine the feelings OF horror
to which many father far hence gave utter ance,
when 1t was exhibited to his view; well could he
imagine, at this moment, that father taking 1t up
and thus addressing his son-'flere, my son,loo
at this-see what a monster man may become,
when unbridled passion carries him headlonS-
see what monster the Senate have now before
them-in this free country where 1t Is possible
YOU NAV one dav rise to the same statlon-iake
warning, my son, by this eXample-sbun that
lock, and bring no disgrace on my g'ey lars
probably this same Peck has honorable relations
probably he, himself, was once respectable,
but see how he has now disgraced them,& what
wretch he has become How long, continued
Mr.. Writ, will it be before this error can be COR
rected, how long before it can be known to the
world, that many witnesses from Missouri, gen
tlemen of responsibility. have borne ample testi-
mony that this s0-named monster is one OF the
most mild, courteous, and patient OF human be-
ings-in the language Of one OF the witnesses SO
amable that he was endeared to all who knew
him. But how long before this could be known!
And with all his respect for the honorable mana
ger, could he ascribe the horrid picture which
has been drawn. to other than the cause to which
he had already alluded?
But there was something more, which it was
necessary he should notice, IN the distorted view
which had been given The respondent had also
been represented as an enemy to the freedom OF
the press-he Knocked at it--this petty provin.
cial Judge, forsooth, thought to sheer the sacred
liberty of the press out of the country. But
where had he said so? where had he uttered any
thing disrespectful of it, Not in pubic-not here
NOT in Missouri, no; but in his defence before
the House Of Representatives, we were told. But
the lust way is to look at that defence to let the
language in that book speak for itself, and it is as
follows:
"It is said, that, in furnishing this publication
as contempt, the Judge has invaded the liberty
of the Pressi- What is the Liberty of the Press?
And in what does it consist? Does it consist in
right to Willy the tribunals of the country, and
to bring them into contempt, by gross anu wan
ton Misrepresentation of their proceedings?-
Does it consist in right to obstruct and corrupt
the streams Of justice. by poisoning the public
mind with regard to causes in these tribunals,
before they are heards Is this correct idea OF
the Liberty OF the Press. If SO. the de!amer has
charter as free as the winds, provided he resort
to the Press for the propagation of his SANDER;
and, under the prostituted sanction of the liberty
of the press hoary age and virgin innocence lie at
his mercy. This is not the idea of the liberty OF
the press which prevails in courts of justice, or
which exists in any sober or we'll regulated mind.
The Liberty of the Press is among the greatest OF
blessings, civil and political, so long as it is di-
rected to its proper object. that Of disseminating
correct and useful information among the people.
But this greatest of blessings may become the
greatest ofcurses if it shall be permitted to burst
tie proper barriers. The river Mississippi is a
blessing to the country through which it flows, so
long as it keeps within its banks; but it becomes
scourge and destroyer when it breaks them. y
The liberty ofthe press has always been the favor
its watchword of those who live by its licentous-
ness. Ii has been from time immemoral, Is still
and ever will be, the perpetual decantnatoan on
the lips of all libellers. Oswald attempted to
screen himself from its agis in the case which
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