The Portland daily press., 1863-05-23
"Thou shalt not bear False Witness y

cACuIputc DcNtHs. lie dCCuSdtiOEo Vi SuCIl a
writer are powerless for harm.
ssThou shalt not bear False Witness
Whether human depravity is "total,' or
otherwise, we will not discuss, but leave it to
be settled or unsettled by the theologians
That there is a great deal of it in the world
may be safely asserted. 1t seems to be the
maxim practically adopted by some people,
that lie well stuck to is better than the truth
told in wavering manner. But there is an
old proyerb, not found in the collection from
Solomon, though its morality would do no dis
credit to that sacred book of wisdom, which
says" Tel the truth though il shame the Devil"
We commend this admontion to the gentle
man who takes charge of the columes of the
Advertiser. To show that this friendly sug-
gestion is demanded by our neighbours loose
habit of neutrality-suspicious. we should say his
economical way of using the truth-we give
an example. In his paper of Thursday, he
said
The Press having proclaimed its ignorance of the
fact that Lieut. Edgerly. OF New Hampshire Regi.
ment, dismissed from the mitar, service be-
cause he voted the Democratic ticket and for 9th
er reason as appears IN the order disnlissing him.
New Hampshire correspondent inioi ms the Press
that such ras the fact.
Now the order dismissing Lieut. Edgerly,
as given in the copperhead journals, and by
the n. II. State copperhead committee, gave
no such reason. 1t made no allus:on to the
rotiag of Edgerly; and the New Hampshire
correspondent referred to, used this language:
Permit me to say, that here in New Hampshire we
do know that he is dismissed and why. Not be-
cause he DOted any ticket he pleased but the order
said, for 'distri6afing Copperhead tickets" lis
brother officers OF the same regiment. with only one
exception, have dpprored OF the dismission, and
given a good reason tor il, viz: that Edgerley
sent home to New Hampshire a recruiting officer
but carried on Copperhead electioneerng-tbus do
ing exactly what would tend TO prevent enlistmenis
The reader will see what special pains seems
to have been taken by the Advertiser to mis-
represent and prevent the statement of our
correspondent, and to make him affirm what
he was very emphatic in denying. The cor
respondent might have said, what would have
been strictly true, that the order referred to
charged Edgerly with "laboring to promote
the rebel cause" when it was his special duty,
for which he had been detailed and for which
the government was paying him hundred
dollars month or more. to labor to promote
the loyal cause by keeping open and attending
to the business of the recruiting office of his
regiment. But We drop this matter, as the OBJ
ject OF this article is not to discuss the rightnl
ness or the wrongfnlness, the wisdom or the
folly of Edgerlys dismissal, but simply to show
how easy it is for the human heart, decetIul
above all things and desperately wicked" to
pervert the plainest statements of facts.
OF the same character is the statement in
the Advertiser of yesterday morning, that
The Press of this city takes open ground against
the restoration of the Union without the abolition
of slavery.
This is one of the loose assertions of the
editor of that paper. The Press has uttered
no word justitying any such assertion. The
Presidents proclamation even, does not pro-
pose the abolition of slavery as such. 1t sim
ply proposes-after three months notice of
how to escape the operation OF the proclama-
tion-to emancipate, not all the slaves in the
Union, but the slaves of the persistent rebel
States, providing that they shall be recognized
by the Government and all its agents as free
men, and inviting them to take refuge beneath
the flag borne by our loyal troops. We don't
believe the Union ever will be restored with
slavery existing as political power in the
land; We believe the legitimate operation OF
the war, and the subjugation of the South to
the rightiul authority of the Constitution
and the Federal Government, will result in
wiping the foul curse of slavery from the ma
ton; but We are not disposed to cry "hold
enoughw simply because such seems to be
one of the inevitable results that will follow
from the prosecution of the war. And here
precisely, is where the Advertiser strikes of
into the inextricable labyrinths of confusion
and disloyalty. Regarding slavery as an ordi-
nation of God-as dirine insttuton-and
therefore, to be consistent and logical, believ-
ing it to be superior to and above the Consti-
tuition, which is mere human instrument,
the editor Of that paper is driven to the ne
cessity of Directing to any aud all means used
to restore the Union-which is mere crea-
ture of the Constitution-'that threatens dan
ger to his sable God-work. He is consistent
in this, at all events. No reasonable man
"ouiu uishohof pou W sahcthy MS eartniy
temple. No man would burn his house to kill
the rats. No one would cut OF his child's
head to cure it of the toothache. Upon the
same principle, regarding slavery-the work
of God, a divine ordination-above all hui
man devices, why should not the editor of the
Advertiser defend it at the expense of all
things else, though worlds be crushed and
matter becomes wreck!