The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-01-03


Under the title of " Libelers," the New Or
leans Advocate publishes the following arti-
Gle, which it requests the CRESCENT to copy,
and which the CRESCENT copies very willing
ly, as promise of improvement on the part
OF journal which, for proficiency in the fine
art of libel, has, probably, no equal in the
State. 1t is gratifying to find that the Advo-
cate, which has so vilely slandered the people
ofLouisiana, which has persistently attempted
to arouse against them the resentment and
the yindictive passions of more than half of
a great people, and which has even perverted
the holy precepts of Christianity to this igno-
BILE work, has resolved, at last, to abandon so
the following article deals with Islander and
the slanderer, although it manifests so pro-
found a contrition for past misdeeds, that we
take pleasure in reproducing it as an example
to all carpet-baggers and scalawags:
Newspaper libelers are litersry braves, SUD.
ported by iterate towards. If the receiver of
stolen goods be worse than the thief so must the
urchasher Of lbels be more eulpable than their
author. As the peruser of a slanderous journal
would write what he reads, had he the talent SO
the actual mallgner would become a malefactor,
had be the opportunity and the courage. Qdin.
titan truly says: Mdlidicus a Dadliico nisi Occd-
stone, non diteTt-" An evil sayer differs only
from an evil doer in the want of opportunity or
what 10 q better translation: " He who stabs you
in the dark with pen would do the same with
penknfe, were he equally safe from detection and
law.n
A libsler's mouth has been compared to that of
a vOlcano-the lighter portions it vomits forth are
disspated by the winds; the heavier ones fall
back into the throat whence they were disgorged.
bQ nfH al whono H.. l..
compared to fuIler's earth, which, though it may
seem to dirty you at first, only leaves you more
pure and spotless, when il is rubbed of. The old
Greeks showed their due appreciation of the
slanderer by making the word synonymous with
devil. SlandereTs are at all events economical
for they make little scandal go q great way,
and rarely open their mouths except at the ex-
pense of other people. We must allow that they
have good excuse for being defamatory, if it be
their object to bring others down to their level
II may be further urged in their extenuation that
they are driven to their trade by necessity they
flch the fair characters of others, because they
have none of their own; and with this advantage,
that the stolen property can nere be found upon
hem.
There Is defense also for their covert and
cowardly mode of attacking you, for how can Won /
expect that backbiters should meet you face to |
face. Nay, they have even a valid plea for being |
10 foul-mouthed, considering how often they have
been compelled TO eat their own words. How |
Shakespeare squeeZes them into a nutshell, when |
he describes them thus:
Past all shame so past all truth"
And Byron holds them up to contempt, thus:
" SANDER,
That sbominable title. tattIe,
The cud eschewed by human cattle"
And anon:
SANDER meets no regard from noble minds;
Only the base believe what the base only utter.n
And Cowper is even more emphatic:
" The man that dares traduce because he can
With safety to himself. is not man."
(Times, CRESCENT and Pieayune please copy,
With credit