The freeman. (Fremont [Ohio]) 1849-1850, 1849-12-15
M / iseellaneous 8
Sanctity of Private Life.

" BE thou as chaste as ice, pure snow,
Thou shalt not escape caiumny.n
"Fhat thou art blamed shall not he thy defect;
For SANDERS mark ever yet the fair:
So thou be good, siander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater"
We notice with true pleasure the manifestation
of disposition by several of our leading Journals
and journalists to discountenance practice which
of late years has disfgured the character of por-
ton of the press of this country. We aude to a
propensity, on the part of certain correspondents
to contribute to morbid taste and a corrupt curl
osy, by introducing to the public, details of
and circumstances of strictly social and private
character and concerning which the world at large
have no direct interest whatever. Often too, these
details the wanton fabricatons of the idle the
gossiping, the scandal loving or the malignant; and
thus, the injury to the parties whose names or char
acters are introduced is of the most painful, nay,
sometimes of the most fearful kind. The press is
mighty engine for good or for evil A leading
public journal, when governed by proper principles
and aiming at audable objects, not only exercises
a vast influence upon society, but is at once a
source of pleasure profit moral asd mental instruc-
ton. And yet, when journal that is either pow
erful by talent or circulation, forgets its lofty posi-
ton and high responsibilities, and becomes vehic-
lie for the utterance of calumny, the expression of
prejudice, or the indulgence of personalities, it de-
generates into public curse, and should be dis
couraged and denounced by all good men. For
tunately there few, very few such prints in the
United States. And these few are limited in cir
culation or confined to a comparatively narrow
sphere and by the very fact of their propensity to
scandal and Misrepresentation, deserve and receive
the contempt of intelligent and virtuous society,"
But, we occasionally find violation of good taste
on the part of worthy contemporary, which arises
less from disposition to injure than from misap-
prehenson of the propriees of life and the sancti-
ties of the domestic circle little reflection, and
we are sure that all this would be avoided. We
fully of all the deeacies and responsible
tiles. If indeed journalist would give utterance
to one tenth of the stories that are circulated in pri
vate e circulated too, on apparently well authen-
ticated data-he would commit fearful amount
of wrong and injustice, and nfiict wounds which
no apology, no recantation, no contradiction, would
wholly heal.
| The curious. the envious, and the malicious, are
always on tptoe' for some novelty in the way OF
scandal, or some rumor by which they may soil the
character or blackan the fame of some fellow crea-
ture. And many of these pests of society require
only the most indirect hint the slightest whisper,
the most trifiing incident to induce them to n1ag
ine thousand circumstances of error and guilt,
which exist only in their vivid and calumny teemng
! hearts. Hence the necessity of cauton-caution
not only the part of public journals but private
individuals
A scandal vile and unfounded calumny has
as we doubt not, in hundreds of cases. struck death
to the heart of some gentle and sensitive being
just as effectuayas the dagger Of an assassin, In
our country, there is nothing SO sensitive, moth
| ing so precious as female reputation. Like dowr
on the bloom and beauty of IA peach-touch it aild
it is gone The tale of the sanderer, although
conceived in jealousy, in envy or malevoence, has
its effect. 1t has passed from lip to lip, the major
ity expressing incredulty, and sometimes indigna
ton-but at the same time circulating the foul sto
ry. Ever and anon, too, some malignant spirit al
ways ready to blacken the character or exult ovel
the downfall of another will detail plausible the
org calculated to give force to the vile mlsrepre
sentaton, and thus the innocent, the pure, the en-
We'd are made to suffer. Language is sinadequate
to express the attrocous nature of conduct like
this Earth does not contain being more dispic
able than the deliberate and habitual slanderer-
the wretch who delights in staining and darkening
what is white and pure,-in disturbing the peace
of mind of the kind and gentle-hearted,-n chang
ing to bitterness and anguish, the breast that was
before calm, quiet and happy. And when too, the
Press, with its multiplied voices, and its capacity
of transmitting fact or falsehood to the ends o
the earth, is made minister to this baseness ano
wickedness it indeed falls from it's high estate anC
IS pEoSlttuteu 10 al uHiiolg puFpoSe- CtiA We Ie
peat, the instances are rare of such unworthy de
reelection from honor propriety and duty
We can imaging nothing SO dis picabe as an in
dividual gifted with talents in the enjoyment o
position, and yet willing to prostitute either to the
purposes of wanton and malignant calumny. The
highwayman on the road is a mild offender compar
ed with sucha miscreant The subject is trite. anc
yet the evils of SANDER cannot be expiated upon il
language too strong. We have known so many
gentle spirits wounded, 50 many men of sensibility
nfiamed and maddened by subtle. carefully devised
and cautiously circulated inuendos and misrepre
sentations that we have imhibed not only an antip
athy but a horror for the habitual slanderer-th'
envious malignant who, dissatisfied with himsel
and the whole world only seems in his element
when seeking to destroy the happiness to sap th'
character of those whose virtue and worth, he ha
not the steady principles or the moral courage tt
emulate. How beautifully and forcibly has th'
poet expressed the sentment-and sketched th'
Portrait
"Wih that malignant envy, which grows pale
Aud sickens. if a friend prevail,
Which merit and success pntSuAs with hate,
And damns the worth it cannot mmitate.''