Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1866-06-22
THE s1ANDERER.


er. His putrid presence is discovered,
though for a time perhaps bodily conceal
ed from sight. He taints the atmosphere
| everywhere he moves, and the blight of
Decentralization follows in his tracks. In
sidiousIy victims fall by his poison, and
all others, perhaps, are injuriOusIy affect
ed within the radius of his influence and
observation. While some are startled and
appalled, by results, others are morbidly
excited with prurient interest, and thus
the vicious effects are spread. The evil
grows by what it feeds on, and only a
sturdy and magnanimOus sense of right,
resisting the balefuI influence, finally ex-
Oreises it, and expels the slanderer from
the path which he has polluted.
But the misehiefs which in the mean
time may have been brought upon society
can scarcely be measured. We bow to the
preeept Of the Divine law declaring sThOu
shalt not bear false witness against thy
neighbOr;" and we respect those provis-
ions of the positive law which visit by Pc
nal sanctions and civil damages punish
ment for certain aspersiOns upon individ-
uaI reputation. But while the one law
prescribes the standard of right, the i'm
perfections of the other are such that it
/ reaches a very small part of the evil against
which both are aimed. Society requires
| that those whom the sting Of conscience
cannot restrain, nor the laws of the land
keep within the bounds of right, should
be repeIled from mischief by a just intol-
erance of public sentiment. When we
read the story Of Haman, instigated by
the evil passions of envy and mortiica-
ton, whispering into the ear of the king
base calumnies against a whole people,
and stirring him up to have them exter-
minated, in order that himself may be
revenged upon the man who has not bow
ed and done him reverence, we feel all our
indignation aroused, and recognize in
his tragic punishment the proper judg-
ment against the wholesale slanderer.-
The man who, from like impulses, whis-
pers detraction among the people, who
stirs up strife among his neighbors, and
destroys the fair fame OF a Fellow DeIng5
is criminal like Haman. The difference
between the two is in their power and
opportunities Of evil, not in the moral
qualities which characterize their ac-
tions. VenOmous as the serpent, SLAM
der is equally cunning; it DISCUSSES its
real motives under the speei0us show
of zeal for the public good to assail
the character and motives of the public
servant; under the pretence of vindicatiOu
| of personal honor, it calls in question the
sincerity and fair dealing of other men;
under the guise Of friendship, it betrays
! the secrets and perverts the condolences of
social life; but chiefly, with professed so
licitude for the welfare of society, does it
delight to insinuate dark hints against the
fair fame of matron and of maid. These
sensitive plants, which recOil from the
touch which rude breath may sully, feel
the approach of the slanderer as death
! agony. They cannot meet guilt upon
/ equal terms; they cannot endure the rude
encounter of the public gaze; they are not
suited to the harsh inquiries of a court and
/ jury. Innocent and unsuspecting, they
cannot go about to baffle the wiIes by
/ which malice, or even vain charlatanry at
times, tries to weave dark cloud of sus-
picion around the sunlight of their purity.
\ All this the sIanderer understands too
we'll. He can enjoy the luxury of his ma
lignant spirit at the cheapest rate.
Society seems not to comprehend the
enormity of the vice or guilt of this sort
of criminals whom it tolerates. Did it
/ hold to the same inezorabIe judgment the
i sIanderer as is visited upon his victim-did
it regard Haman as the type of the maIig-
uant towards who for thousands of years,
as well as in the present time, have imi-
| tated his example, without, however, re-
I ceiving his punishment, and, according to
degree and kind, visited upon the criminal
the consequences which his poisoned
tongue tries to bring upon the objects OF
his attack, the measure of it's justice would
be no less exact than salutary.
In all its degrees sIander is the most dan
gerous, as it is the most cowardly, Of all
the vices. The freedom of speech which
in this country we encourage in public an6
private affairs has advantages which can
not be exaggerated but its value would b.
much enhanced if a nice discrimination
were cultivated in thepublie mind, so thR
while truth and honor are guarded, and
timely warning shall be given Of depart
ures from public and private virtue, thert
shall be in the social circle, or before tn,
public Judgment, no charge or whisper o
evil which truth does not warrant and
which justice does not require at the hand
Of charity shall be made known. Beside
. this, society has its own rights of repose
1t has just grounds to complain wheneve
its ears are assailed by frivolous or un
! founded charges against its members
There are matters of legitimate and whole
some concern which each day demand tn
thoughts and attention of the public; Their
are cares and duties belonging to ever!
social circle, and to every neighborhood
These are all broken in upon by the dis
turbing whispers Of the slanderer. Dis
trust, jealousies, chickering's, misunder
standings without number, have thei
source in the malignant or iII-considereC
false report; the peace of familiesSthe har
mony of connexions and friends are dis
turbed; in short, evils which may not b.
mum bered, but of which the daily expe
rience Of every Individual will furnisl
him a thousand instances, are the fruits 0
unbridIed speech and intrusive and self
seeking or egotisticaI viciousness. Societl
has the right to insist that no individua
shall violate his own duty and trampl
upon its right instincts by a disregard 0
these manifold considerations. 1t is intol
erable, indeed. that-the public taste shoult
be offended by dragging before it tha
I which true manhood would not unvsN sv
en- II it were real, rather than imaginary.