The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1852-09-28

To The Editor of The Republic:

To the Editor of The Republic:
Sir: 1t has often been said and probabilities JUS
tify the remark, that the English language ia des-
tined to be spoken and written by larger portion
of the world than any other language ever has been.
If such is TO be the high destiny Of the language
speak, it seems to me that it is duty incumbent
upon all who use il sedulously avoid introducing
into it any impurities or yugarities, and to hand
it down to those who are to follow US interrupted,
and in all its original purity and elegance. a
But 10 this duty felt? Are preserving the pu-
rity of the language? On the contrary is there
not a strong and prevailing tendency to introduce
corruptions and vugariues into our vernacular
tongue? 1t strikes me that there ID, both in
versation and i'll writing it.. There is kind Of
siang-considered by some to be wit, though, if it
be, il is very base and spurious sort-very com
mon in bar rooms and groggeries, and which even
finds its way into some OF our newspapers, that ia
equally offensive TO good taste and propriety. The
same slang ID not unirequently heard "upon the
stump IN political speeches; and again when
those speeches reproduced In the Halls OF Con-
gress, as they sometimes are.
The is also continually offended. even in those
halls by the Of such phrases as 81 done ,'"l
him." al haze saU it, - al have hearn tell"
&c, Sc. which set at defiance every rule of Eng
lish grammar, and treat Lindley Murray, and
every other gramma rian, with scorn and contempt.
But il ia not in the OF slang, and Of ingram
NAUTICAL phrases alone, that we have reason to com
plain Of the language being corrupted it is also in
the use Of words in sense wholly foreign to them.
allude especially to the use by those who either
do not know better, or who are too careless and in
different to prevent themselves from falling into
bad habits of the word g balance" in the sense
of remainder, rest. The word has such
meaning, and it Is a gross pervcrsion to use
it in this sense; ii is heard every hour in the
day. and is frequently seen in newspaper para:
graphs and dvertisements-especiay in tele-
graphic reports and daily letters from permanent
correspondents showing that some of those thus
engaged are not at least very critical scholars,
however industrious they may be in gathering and
transmitting news.
"The purpose of words is to communicate our
thoughts that is, to make one and the same thought
at the same time common to both speaker and
nearer; and il u word cannot do this it is unin-
teiligible word" Now, tried by this rule, the
word " balance" when used for &" the rest"
"the reuainder,"i ia 'an unintelligible word, and
it conveys no meaning 10 the mind of any one not
accustomed to this corruption of the language.
Let us take some examples: Speaking of the mar
riages negotiated for the children of Ferdinand
and Isabella, the accurate aud classic Prescott
says g IL was willie Charles the Eighth was vast
ing his time at Naples that the marriages were ar.
ranged between The royal houses OF Spain and
Austria, by which the weight of these great pow
ers was thrown into the same scale, and the balance
Of Europe THAT is, the equilibrium unsettled for the
greater part Of the following century"
Lord Hervey, in his memoirs, says: cit was o
treaty only explanatory Of that article OF the treaty
of Utrecht relating to the neutrality of Italy, and
necessary to settle the balance [of powerl OF Eu-
rope"
The same writer, speaking of "the balance of
power Of Europe" says: 81 cannot it 10 Of any
great Importance to England in particular, or to
the balance Of Europe in general, THAT is, the
equilibrium, balance of power,'1 whether
Italy be in the hands of the emperor not"
In each Of these extracts the word is used GER
rectly; that ID to say, in the sense OF OH equit-
Grtum; but how would a western a southern man,
a synonym for remainder, unde rstand it? Why,
that Mr.. Prescott and Lord Hcrvey meant all the
rest instead Of the balance Of po,oer Of Europe.
Allow me to give another extract in which the
word is used:
-"Theres courage, wisdom,
And skill enough, live in one leader here,
As flung into the balance [scael might avail
TO counterpoise the odds 'twixt that ruled host
And our wild multitude. "-ScOtcs Halid0n Hull.
AS used above, the corrupt American sense of
the word would lead to suppose that Scott in
tended to say that il the courage, wisdom, and
skill, which live in one leader were given to the
rts or, they would cay, the balance, then. &C.;
but no such idea is in his mind. Fling weight
into the balance, and it will counterpoise, if it be
jus, heavy enough, what is in the other scale.
There ia one instance where the word balance ia
applied correctly, though inetaphorically, to the
remainder. We speak Of balance due, &c. Here
one sum-my account against you-is taken from
another, your account against me, and the re-
mainder, or difference, ID called "the balance"
why, because this difference, when added to the
smaller account, makes the tive balance, or be-
come exactly equal; hence, by metonomy, we ap-
ply the term to the thing which will produce the
effect But it does not by any means follow that,
because call the remainder in this case the ball
ancc, all rcmainders are balances.
1.-The use of Words" Gays Mr.. MADISON in the
,7th number Of the Federast, sis to express ideas.
Perspicuity, therefore, requires not only that tho
ideas should be distinctly formed, but that they
should be expressed by words distinctly and ex-
clusvely appropriated to them" Let writer's and
speakers observe this rule and the English lam
guage will be in far less danger Of corruption than
Il now is NOAH WEBSTER.