Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1855-05-24

throw contemp. on the enforcement OF 81
laws where offenders are unable or unwilloe
to pay fines Though aimed at the friend79l
temperance they apply equally TO all W
wish to enforce our statutes, that enion a.
prisonment for refusal to pay fines. If en-
ors. instead of being friends Of order, ohoo4
20 encourage iawlessness and disorder, thz
have no claim to the patronage of the. paf
uf community to which I claim to belouz
As the instance is by no means asolitary %
you will please stop my paper and advertising
and send nv bill, and / will pay il
Yours. s. MERRILL.
IyDIANAPoLIs, May 18th, 1855.
"Oh, for forty-ParsoH power TO chant
Thy praise, hypoerisy:"
1t would be qualification to us to speak of
Mr.. MERRILL, as an individual, man of
wealth, gentleman of intellect, sn Aboli-
ZIONIST and Know Nothing in terms Of
greater respect than the above letter will JUS
tify.
All communities are beset with few con-
ceited meddlers-the self-consttuted guar
dians of the public morals and supervisors of
the public press, who, in the exercise of their
divinely inherited rights, attempt the lroscrp-
ton of those with whom they disagree, and
now and then the anhilation of the latter class
OF their immagined wards. The religious en-
thusiast will perceive line that tends to inf
deity, and forthwith the edict will issue. "stoD
my paper p' The iniidel will see too much
in commendation of Christianity, and he
Announces to the carrier that "nly paper must
Be stopped % One aspirant imagines the per-
sonal interest of a rival is 10 much promoted,
magines that tho genius of friend is slight
ed and he informs us that this H.ing shall not
be :" All newspapers are the subjects of this
proscription--all editors of this annoyance,
and, Of course, they both are repeateHyrmnea !
The class Of individuals mentioned are self.
deluded dupes-''thcmselvcs the fools of
those they fool" possessing, withall at least
one redeeming quality. that of stupid can
dor
This however, in consideration of his in
telligence, cannot be said Of Mr. MERRiLL.-
He belongs rather to that larger society, of
which BYRON speaks when he says
"Few dare show their thoughts, OF worst or best;
Dissim ulation always sets apart
corner for herselfi and therefore 3etion
Is that which passes With least contradiction
A most piiable pretext indeed, is Mr.. MER-
RIL's ostensible reason for disseminating the
Sentinel We censured, By the publication of
a floating item, that portion of law In the
State of Maine which imprisons a poor man
who is unable to pay his fine, whose chill
dren perish for bread in his absence, during
twice as long a term as the man Of wealth
who can discharge those judgme4ts<te whics
the violation Of the law subjects him Such
an enactment would disgrace the age which
sanctioned to its fullest extent the doctrine OF
impr isonnse'at for deJt; and yet the censuring
of such law is made the pretsxt for the justi-
fcation of an attempted prescription of an in
dependent journal
The charge insinusted through Mr. MER-
RILL's note, to the effect that the editors oi
the Sentinel have encouraged la.0lessness ana
disorder, is utterly and maliciously false To
advise the alteration or modification of law
by legislative enactment, is lot TO encourage
the resistance of its execution. We have a:
yet done neither, in reference to any statute
of the State of Indiana relating to temper.
ance or norals-we may 10 the oae, we never
Will do the other! The individual who
charges the Seatiael with stimulating a spirit
of ''lawlessness and disorder We care no
who he is, or what his station in life NAV
be, is a liar and scoundrel
/ If Mr. MERRILL had said that our encour
| agement of submission to the execution o
the laws under which we live-that ou
rebukes, repeatedly administered agains
the acts of lawless outrage which find thei
root in deep-seated hatred TO the Constitu
ton and receive their vitality from the hot
beds of Know Nothing conclaves, stung hin
to the quick, as they should every seif-sacri
feed victim of sectional prejudice and bigo
paSslon:-had be openly acknowledged tha
our indiscriminate condemnation of ''lawless
ness and disorier'--that our free and repeat
ed expressions of sentiment and censure hav
had tendency to withdraw the midnight vel
which hides from public scrutiny an,
seofn the vile conuptions of the hyPocrite-
had nc done this, and thus acknowledged tn
true cause of the SentdaePs offense, he woul,
have shown himself more man and less
l,lare.