Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1858-05-06
CCoMMUN1cATED.1

AIcI KNOW IL Is OF no odTCLly
to the merits of the controversy between Indepen-
dence and myself, howa 6race man falls or how
crares dies. know too we are taught in the good
book answer fool according to his folly, lest
thou be made like him - but then we are taught
by the same oracle ssanswer fool according to
his folly, lest he imagine himself to be wise. p
And again, sShast thou seen man wise in his
own conceit, there shall be more hope of a fool
than of him." Acting in this spirit, beg par
don of you, Mr.. Editor, and your readers, for
noticing little in detail one or two of these
outside taiags in the last communication Of In
dependence. Let us examine then for mo-
ment, according to has oon shooing, what sort
of a notion Independence has of a ~brave man"
and of a s'craven, in order that we may have.
a proper appreciation of his talk about those in
teresting specimens Of animated nature. take
1t for granted that he always acts in conformity
with his idea of the manner in which brave
man should act. presume therefore that do
him no injustice when by. just inference from his
acts, conclude what is his idea of a brave man.
I said in my communication Of the 18th inst
eft is one thing to discorer and derelope truth,
and another and very diff rent thing to aptrehend
truth when discovered. Few of us are genius
es to discover and derelope truth, how then could
the mass of US attain the truth unless some one
or more take the lead who are qualified by ed
u cation, By intellectual and moral qualities, and
expound it to us 2" Now what do you suppose
Independence says mean by that all but self
evident proposition? Why, he says mean
'sthat man who is ignorant of the rules Of
grammatical construction has no right to re-
spectfu consideration" and in order to provei it,
he quotes the above passage from my commu-
nication as follows: ssfew of us are geniuses to
discover and develope truth. How then could
the mass of us attain the truth unless some one
or more take the lead, who are qualified by ed
ucation to expound it to u.s." l leave this in
stance of the chivalric frankness of the brdve
Independence without comment to your readers,
Mr.. Editor, satisfied that their sense of honor
5 will recoil from such a garbling of my language
and perversion of its evident meaning as from
the cold contact of snake. Again, I said in
my communication of the 18th that in the world
of common sense eff nobody else does it, will
dispute him has right to rule in that latitude,
&C." This he CONSTITUTES with that fairness and
nodesty, which are the essence of true bravery,
into an intimation on my part ''that in that la
titude no one shall wear the crown, that y reign
shall be supreme &c. And after all this, he
says with shameless complacency, f'the best EVIL
0ence that the arrow has been true to its aim
and is doing its work, is the writings of the
victim" Yes, Mr.. Editor, we have the best of
authority for saying that .'the man that bear
eth false witness against his neighbor is dart,
and sword and sharp arrow" and claim
for myself no immunity from those high instincts
of our species which make every generous man
writhe as much in sorrow as in indignation UNI
der the wounds of such an arrow. Moreover
6raoe man, as understand him, makes prieci-
pile the foundation of his moral conduct. But it
isdfficult to conceive how Independence can
do this, when he acknowledges that the distinc-
1ok~x
$le beyond his reach" and as corollary, that
Z & 3D.
fairness, If conclude after all this that accord
ing to the idea of Independence, bravery is made
up, partly at least, of that stiff necked freedom
of thought" which will not bow its head even
before the altar of truth, and of that reckless
independent will" which defes even the pow
ers of eternal Justice Such exhibitions of "bold
badness may contain something of the fearful
ly sablime for Young Americans of the stamp
of independence, but Old Fogies like myself re-
gard them as melancholy examples of human
folly.
BY reasoning re converse" as the mathema-
tlcans say, it is fair now to infer that in the es
timation of Independence craven, as the oppo-
site OF brdue man, is one who does know what
principles are, and who, acting up to their re-
quirements, acknowledges in all humility the
laws of fair-dealing and consequently will not
misquote the language of another, and pervert
ITS meaning. Of the two, confess had rath-
er be c7aUen in the estimation of Independence
than traoe man, but do not recognize his
authority to confer degrees either of bravery, or
c;avenness, or ge'aaus, and SO beg leave re-
spectfully to decline his profered favors in that
regard. Besides, I rather think the diplomas
which he could grant in amy department, even
when conferred by authority and with first hon.
ors, would be at best equivocal compliments.
1regret that Independence has put me to the
necessity of exposing him thus to the public
l assure him that do it more in sorrow than
in anger. And therefore, Mr.. Editor, though |
forced by the laws of sef-respect and moral
propriety, to condemn his uiescs as well as his |
conduct, nevertheless recommend him to the |
mercy of your readers, and beg them to forgive |
him as do, for really believe che knows not
what he does" | would say to them in his be- /
half that his ignorance of correct principles APP
pears to be no less misfortune with him than
his ignorance Of grammar, and that in all pro-
liability he belongs to that class of antos1unates
over whom humanity weeps in humiliation and I
tenderness too, whilst she draws over them the
shield of just exemption from the penalties
and responsibilities ordinarily attached to the
mfractions Of her laws. "Where ignorance is
bliss it is folly to be WISE" and it would seem
to be cruel to disturb such bliss especially where
the ignorance is SO profound as not even to sus-
pect its own existence; still, to instruct the ig-
norant is one of the spiritual works Of mercy,
and if you and your readers will bear with me, I
Mr. Editor, will endeavor to show Indepen-
dence by one illustration what is the difference
between principles and measures. A principle |
in science is truth which is either self-evident,
as that two and two make four; or else, so well
proven as to be undeniable, as that all the an
gels Of a triangle are equal to two right angles.
"A measure, in morals, is a means to an end, an I
expedient, &c. Thus, it is a principle in this
country that the majority shall rule IN popular /
elections. If it be right, which presume INDIE
pendence will hardly gainsay, I defy him or any