Southern pioneer, and Carroll, Choctaw and Tallahatchie Counties advertiser. (Carrollton, Miss.) 1840-1842, 1841-05-08

| HE LIST SYSTEM AND THE SENTINEL-Our
contemporary of the Vicks burg Sentinel is ex-
hibiting in bold relief, the perfdy and rascality
of many of the New Orleans Merchants to-
ward their confding country customers, and
shows in his history of the prominent "drama-
tbs Persona" how long and grossly Mssissip-
pi has been swindled by means of this odious
"List system" Go on, Doctor, in your patri-
otto course, and hold up to detestation in all
| its disgusting and disgraceful details, this in
famous continuance for defrauding the honest
planter. But while we sincerely applaud a
course that has for its object the exposure of
dishonest practices-we by no means desire
to be understood as justilying the Sentinel in
all the means which it chooses to employ to
effect that end. We think that the STYLE of
the Sentinel might be very sensibly improved
and suffer no diminution of its effect or useful
|ness;-believing as we do, that the use Of
strong personal language is not of itself suffi-
clent to constitute strong writer, and that
vehement defamation or passionate abuse
lends no cogency to argument. Nor do we
believe such style at all necessary to arouse
public indignation against dishonest men and
their nefarious schemes-since the moral sense
of the community must be indeed obtuse, if it
can only be aroused by tissue of scurrility
SO gross as to make fish woman stare or en-
title its author to diploma for the most elo-
|quent effusion in billingsgate vernacular. On
the contrary, the employment of such a style
L II al l. L
writer, as it is evident that the indiscriminate
use of language weakens its force and destroys
its effect.
The Doctor then does not surely wish to
impress us with the sincerity of his warfare
against the List system-no doubt that will be
readily conceded with many thanks by gen.
erous public. Nor can he, wish to appeal to
passion and excite prejudice, when he can
more effectually and safely rely upon appeals
10 the reason of his readers. 1t must spring
then from false conception of the refinement
and taste of the age, which supposes that the
public eye would gaze upon the pages of the
Sentinel as the Romans did upon bull fight
or gladatorial engagement. The press must
have some restraints, or it will degenerate in
TO Righteousness in proportion as we
value it, should we be cautious how we les
sened its influence by abusing its power. We
We therefore give it as our decided conviction
"a conviction to which we have arrived after
much careful consideration; say, we un-
hesitatingly state it as our most deliberate O.
pinion, that the simple statement of facts with
the unadorned reasoning of the Sentinel would
be as fully ineligible. and we trust as accep-
table TO the minds of its readers, as when elab.
o:aely ornamented with the choicest specimens
culled from the stores of fish-market oratory.
Golf, the pirate, used an oath for almost every
adjectiye-indeed he filled his sentences so
completely with these explosives, that he had |
an oath for almost every word he uttered, and
this he called Shooting his DISCOURSE" vainly
DecsmDsr END, IslD -,