Madison Whig advocate. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1839-1841, 1839-06-15

to the world, IN the present state u lever
Iisb excitement of the community when
every whisper assumes the form of &C
cusation, and every accusation amounts
to proof of guilt. Such a concentrated
compound of human malignity, when, by
his own Acknowledgements, he knew the
charges were false when he made them
public, must himself have heart black
and diabolcal as that of demon from
the Internal regions. What other mo-
tive could he have had for publishing a
charge of the highest grade, which he
knew 10 be false when he published 1t,
but to inf1ict an injury, of the deepest
die, too, upon a man he knew to be inno-
cent? | can conceive of no other posi-
ble motive which could have actuated
the editor, unless il be that of vanity.
Having prepared his article, which no
doubt cost his lillipution intellect many
agonizing throes of mental torture-and
which he doubtless imagined, required
the putting forth of the mightiest ener-
gies of the human mind-his philanthro-
pic spirit could not, perhaps, brook the
thought of smothering amidst the rub
Dish of a printing office, so beautiful a
homily upon the ''feelings of the widow
and the fatherless, reduced to want by
the very individual whose province it
should have been to guard with Jealous
care their interests, and protect them
from the wintry storm of oppression and
want;'' and therefore reckless of all
consequences which might result to the
individual whose character he was thus
wontonly and ruthlessly assailing he
commissioned the four winds of Heaven to
tell the tale of infamy to a kissing world.
His dolorous lamentations over the
supposed losses of the "poor widow and
fatherless Orphan" remind one of the
heartless tears of the northern abolition
lists over the ''sufferings of the poor AT
rican'' of the south, when the system of
tChite SlaUery in their manufactures is
ten-fold more oppressive upon free born
children, than ours upon the poor Afri-
can. 1t is true the editor aPpends to the
bottom of his long article, a short contra
diction--but instead of doing away the
force Of the charges-in my estimation,
the only purpose it serves is to prove
that he was governed by
some malignant motive, by cutting him
off from all possible excuse for making
the publication; for if he received the
refutation in time to append 1t to the
charge, it is conclusive that he received
it in time to have suppressed it altogeth
err But then his beautiful homily would
never have seen the light: aye, there S
the rub.
As to Mr.. FIournoy, the Sheriff, it is
needless to say much about HMM this
where he is known, such
statements cannot effect his standing
it is only at a distance that such slam
ders may injure him, otherwise he would
need no defence. He was one of the
earliest pioneers of this country-hav-
ing lived here more than twenty years.
He came to the country when it was
emphatically a bowling wilderness =
when the yell of the savage-the howl
of the wolf, and the shrek of the wild
beast were the only sounds that were
heard to break the deep silence of the
gloomy forest-he has passed with the
country, through all the different stages,
from that state of savage rudeness, to
its present highly cultivated and refined
During all this period, and
amidst many commissions and revolu-
tons of fortune, he had uniformly sus-
tanned the character of an honest man.
Should he, after having toiled through
so many difficulties and privations, have
a character thus acquired, blasted by the |
foul breath of ruthless slander--it will |
afford but poor encouragement to the |
hardy pioneer in future to encounter the |
incident to the settlement of
new country, with view to growing up
with the community, and enjoying the
benefits usually resulting to first settlers.
Mr.. Flournoy has served in his pre-
sent Office number of years, with hon
or to himself and benefit to the commu- !
nifty, and now for the first time, the
charge of swindling and peculation is
made against him. He has collected
more money, with less injury to the peo-
pie, than any other officer in the State
and he is a man around whose heart the
milk of human kindness flows as warm
ly as that of any other man living.
He is now gone to Natchez on business
that will detain him some ten DAYS or
two weeks, and should not be surprised
to see the same charge reiterated in a