Southern sentinel. [volume] (Plaquemine, Parish of Iberville [La.]) 1848-1858, 1854-07-01
sNNyMENM sEMTAAEAs
PLAQUEMINE:
Saturday, July l, 1854.
arWe invite the attention of our readers

-
signed by two among the Oldest and most es'
teemed of our fellow-citizens of this place. II
relates to a report which has long been in eli.
~culation here, which few perhaps have moi
heard, but save and except those whose eager
ears are ever willing ~receptacles for stories
which stain and destroy, has been dscred'ted
MS calumnious and ridiculous, and cast aside q:
the absurd and Vicious emanation Of some pol
luted and wicked mind, to further lis own sell
fish views, or to satiatc an implicable and das>
tardly revenge. Thus, this report, scorned and
~trampled upon as a yillainous libel BY those
who were best acquainted and most in compa'
ny with the gentlemen whose regulations it was
aimed to destroy--deemed, indeed, too absurd
TO repeat to them-was the cause of its not get
ting to their knowledge until very recently, al
though vague hints may have reached their ears
occasionally, which they could not account for.
Another reason, doubtless, why the knowledge
Of This report was not sooner acquired, arose
from the fact that no one could point to the
author Of il! And, doubtless, there is not now
one m this community who could say how or
with whom il did originate! But it is thus
from the most incohceiyahle trife, a misapplied
conversation. a passing and wrongly interpreted
word, a mere breath as it were-that calumnics
arise, gather strength from the nature of the
soil in which their seeds are first planted, and
refreshed and cultivated as time progresses,
they glow into giant proportions at last, and
like the shade Of the fatal Upas, sicken and
destroy al who come within their influence
There is no evil more g'aring and more great,
nor more general, than Calumny. Its pestif-
erous breath is peculiar to no particular cline,
nor soil, nor people. Amidst the crowded
marts Of civilization as among the demi-sava-
ges Of the desert and the wilderness, in the
crowded capitals as ia the rural and peaceful
retreats of the country and the humble village,
within the quiet homes of the virtuous, the
happy and the unp-etcnding, as in the man.
sions of opulence and power-all, all are sub
ject to the silent and i~nsatiatc approaches of
this witty and insduous enemy. The less in.
clined one may be to court the notice of the
world-the less glaring and bold may be his
actions and his dec!arations-the more certain
viii he be a target for Calumny's poisoned
shaft. The ~virtuoas and the good, whose cha
racters were stainless yesterday. may the fol-
day become the victim Of Islander and
uendacity, through a mean and lurking malice,
which, after the lapse of many, many years,
as in the above case, rises up to mar the qui.
etuess of him whose happiness is linked and
.iuseparable from the honor and good standing
Of those whom he has reared up around him,
in Intelligence and truth, to transmit his good
name and u~nblemished reputation to the pos
aerity which is to follow, and which he suppos-
ed was stainless, till circumstances bring to
hight a charge, vile and Infamous in its origin,
bat now t~raceless through the lapse of time.
These voluntary and hasty remarks-to
csosh the offspring of a wanton heart--will
not be thought assuming on our part, or out of
place, when we assure the public that the re-
port alluded to in the card, so soon as it came
to the ears Of Mr.. DEsoBRY in some tangible
was cleared up by him in a manner as to
the minds of the most credulous that
there was not the least foundation for it, and
that no baser ealumny was ever invented to
the fair fame and prospects Of a family.
The falsity of this report was thus made man.
ifest by the aaidavits of aged persons (Which
aaye read) taken but a few days since, who
acquainted with the history not only of
present Mr. DEsosRY, since bis early youth,
but with that also Of his father and family
Without entering into a recital of any particu.
lara rslatsdin these afidayits, we will merely |
they are full, conclusive and indispu.
tabs, il the evidence and oaths of honorable
witnesses are worth anything, and not
merely fhlly establish the high character and
responsibility Of the DEsoBRy family, as far
back ~ il is possible for any living evidence to
establish, but denies that there was ever any
such report as here alluded to respecting that
and stamps with the seal of truth too
to be misunderstood, their earnestness
and their sincerity. And did we allow ourself
to 60 beyond the subject in point, we might
Of an incident in his youth Of high integ.
and noble example, when misfortunes over.
took his family, which would put to the blush
and crush even with its single strength the
wanton calumny that has now assailed him in
The .seas and yellow leaf" Of his earthly days.
We have heightened these remarks much
shan we intended. But when injustice
is d~one--when wrongs 60 unpunished--when
arises and spreads its fntid breath to
poison and 70 Observation-Disclosures it is the poor
man or the rich man, the humble man or the
proud man. who becomes the unsuspecting
it is peculiarly the duty Of the Editor
to search fos the truth for. Truths sake, and
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