Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1844-02-02
THE REV. SYDNEY SMITH UPON RE.
DIATTON.

The Rev. Sydney Smith, whose petition tc
Congress on the subject of reputation, excited
so much interest on both sides of the Atlantic
from its tierceness and point, has addressed a
letter to the London Morning Chronicle on the
same subject, which is distinguished by the all.
thor's we'll known characteristics of style. 1t
may be Of some service to regulators to know
what is thought and said of them BY such a
man as the Rev. Sydney. Among other things
he says:
81 am no enemy to America. loved and
admired honest America when she respected
the law Of pounds, shillings and nence: and |
thought the United States the mos, magnificent
picture of human happiness. / NEEDLE now in
these matters because | hate raud--becaus !
pity the misery it has Observation-Disclosures
mourn over the hatred it has excited against
free institutions.
Among the discussions to which the moral
lubrlcities OF this i~nsolvent people have given
birth, they have arrogated 10 themselves the
right OF sitting in judgment upon the property
Of their creditors-of deciding who among them
is rich, and who is poor, and who are proper
objects OF compassionate payment but in the
name OF Mercury, the great god of thieves, did
any man ever hear Of debtors alledging the
wealth OF the lender as a reason for eludinp the
payment of the loan! Is the Stock EXCHANGE
a place for The tables Of the money lenders; or
Is 1t a school for moralis,s, who may amerce the
rich, exalt the poor, aud correct the inequalities
of fortune ?"
But the only good part Of this bad morality is
not acted upon. The rich are robbed, but the
poor are not paid they growl agains, the divi-
dends OF Dives, and don't lick the sores Of Lag.
arus. They seize, with loud acclamations, on
the money bags of Jones, Lloyd, Ro,hschild and
Barring, but they do not give back the p"lttance
OF the widow, and the bread of the child
Those knaves of the setting sun may call me
rich, for ] have a twentieth part of the income
OF the Archbishop of Canterbury; but the Gu.
rate of the next parish is a wretched soul,
bruised by adversely; and the three hundred
pounds for his children, which it has taken his
life to save, is eaten and drunken by the mean
men of Pennsylvania--by men who are always
talking of the honor and virtue of the United
States--by men who soar above others in what
they say, and sink below all nations in what
they d~o--who, after floating on the heaven of
defamation, fall down to feed on the ofial and
garbage Of the earth"
The following passages are as severe as Ian.
guage can well make them--whether more Sc
we're than just we leave the reader to Judge. Ii
may be observed, however, that it is quite time
to have things called by their right names
since under the euphonius, reputation, some
may lose sight of the enormi,y Of an act of
swindling perpctrated by Commonwealth. II
additional iiagrancy can be added to dishonesty
beyond its own inherent turpitude, such aggra.
vatlon is exhibited when a State, exercising the
functions of legislation and Of Jurisprudence in
the name of justice, and claiming to be one
among the civilized and christian communities
Of the world, deliberately violates its faith, and
by its voluntary act dedlcs the fountain of its
own justice at the source of legislation. But
we leave the English s%atirist to speak:
Pennsylvania at a London dinner without a dis.
position TO seize and divide him ITO allot his
beaver TO one sufferer and his coat to another
to appropriate his pocket handkerchief to the
orphan, and to comfort the widow with his silver
watch, D;oad~ay rings, and the London Guide,
winch he always carries in his pockets. How
such a man can set himself down to an ENGLISH
table, without feeling that he owcs two or three
pounds TO each man in company,I am at a loss to
conceive he has no more right 10 cat with
honest people than a lcper has to eat with clean
men. Ii he has a particle of honor in his com.
position, he should shut himself up, and say "
cannot minglc with you, | belong 10 a degraded
people, must hide myself, ! am a plunderer
from Pennsylvania"
Figure to yourself a Pennsylvania receiving
fore gners in his own country, walking over the
public works with them, and showing them
Larcenous Lake, Swindling Swamp, Crafty Ca
nal, and Rogues Railway; and other dishoncs,
works. "This swamp we gained (says the
patriotic borrower) by the repudiaied loan o!
1928. Our canal robbery was in 1880: we
%pocketed your good peoples money for the rail.
road only last year" All this may seem very
smart to the Americans, but if | had the misfor.
tune TO be born among such a people, the land
OF my fathers should not retain me a single mo.
ment after the act of reputation. would ap-
peal from my fathers to my iorefathcrs. ] would
fly to Ncwgate for greater purity of thought,
and seek in the prisons Of England for better
rules of lie"
SYDNEY SMITH, AGAIN.-The following