The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1870-05-21
SIahder.

EDITOR REGISTER Sir-I send You an article
on slander, by Rev. F. S. Cassidy, which think
certain gentlemen (excuse the expressonl writing
for the s. r. Democrat might find it profitable
to carefully peruse
Human nature discovers its deep moral virus
in no one thing than its fearful capabiitv
of SANDER; and on the record Of its moral oblio-
uty this vice is undoubtedly its deepest and
darkest stain. Slandcr lives by feedine on hu-
man charaeter and marvel is it that its despica--
BILE agent is considered, the world over as a mon
ster in human flesh. and yet in almost every
takes bodily shape before our eyes and is seen in
tall walks in life. Representativ.ly, at least he
is ubiquitous, and therefore absolutely unescap-
able. In the analysis of SANDER several vices are
found to enter into the composition. It's first ele-
ment is faisehood. A man can never be slaacercd
by the truth, however much he may be DAMAGED
by it. As his reputation should never be more
than his real character be must stand of right on
his personal record; and if the truth hurts in that
case, the fault lies at his own door. But not to
speak of the sheer fabrication frequently invented
by the eents of this vice. it is patent TO anv
mind of ordinary perception that the truth itself
may be so represented to convey an actual
falsehood Nor is the tongue, the ordinary in
strument of slander. always necessary to q lie ::
indircctton is often the most efficient method of
accomplishing this result. Swift portrays to the
very life this species of SANDER in the following
lines:
Nor do they trust their tongues alone
Can read nod, shrug, look,
Far better than printed book
Convey a libel in frown,
And wink reputation down;
Or by the Tossing of fan
Describe the lady and the man."
Another essential element of slander is theft.
The moral enormify of the slanderer is seen in
what he steals attempts to steal and iud Q ed
by this standard he is the meanest kind of thief
What is more valuable precious to a man than
his character? Is it not his life in a sense most
! important and such worth everything to him ?
| Life, without that honorable recognition which
character gives to man, is hardly worth the pos
session and yet it is after this precious jewel,
| his very life, that ths 11nderer hunts. There is
a keen edge and pungent truth in the oft repeated
words of Shakespeare
Good name, in or woman,
Is the Immediate jewel of their souls.
| Who steals my purse, steals trash;
'Tis something, nothing but he
Who hiches from me my good name
! Robs of that which not enriehes him
But makes me poor indeed.
The sianderer, whether successful or not in his
desperate work, is always thief in motive and
design. Often there is not elasticity enough in
the bow to send the to the mark. but that is
| not the fault of the archer. If the sandercr fail
to wrest the diadem from the brow of virtuous
merit, it is from sheer impotency that his purpose
miscarries. He aimed to do so, and is per con-
! sequence q moral hightraynian. The limitation
of his influence. as expressed by Uervey, is not
without its comfort to every true character:
''Slander-that work of poison only finds
An entrance to ignoble minds"
i Another vice which enters largely into III,
character Of SANDER is malice 'Malice is dspo
sition injure others without cause for mere per
sonal qualification says Webster. If thes
terms describe the character of slanderer. how
despicable, beyond all utterance, is he? To b
capable of hating virtue and of seeking to wron:
moral excellenee-and all this from pure malevo
lence of heart--argues aspirit that better beht
pandemonium than the pale of human society
And yet there such spirits abroad all over th
face of civilization. Where are they not reader
Who has not them In his portraiture O
the DIABoLUs of detraction the great bard ha
forcibly as truthfully said:
ISLANDER Whose edge
Is sharper than the sword whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile: whose
Breath rides the frosting winds, and
Doth belle all the corners of the world:
Kings, Queens, and States maids and matrons
Nay, the secrets of the grave, this riPerous
Slander enters"
We complete our analysis of slander by remark
ing that, in addition to falsehood, theft and mai
ice, by which it is characterized, its antart
Is especially mean and dasta1 dty. The most des
pieabie of all towards is the slanderer. lie need
to wrap about him the inyestiturc of night befor
he can essay his demou-like work. Not unfre
queutly, under the sacred name of Friendship
does he coyertly aim blow at the virtue an
purity which stamp him by comparison with III
! yillainy. He does not take the responsibility {
open opposition but must needs strike, coward
like, in the dark the serpent bites In the grass
W hen most friend in profession, then is he mo
fend in reality. His love is that of Iago
Othilo-Ruin. Pope throws the character OF th
dastardly slanderer in trne coiors upon the car
vas when, in speaking of the method he observe
in doing his work, he says of him
''He damns with faint praises. assents with civ
leer,
And, without sneering, teaches the rest to snee
Willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike,
Just hints fault and hesitates dislike
But the real man--that man who rcars the 81
E perstructure of character high enough for tt
world to gaze upon its noble proportions-wl
have enemies. 1t cannot be otherwise. The e.
cellencies and virtues which adorn his charact
in themselves a silent rebuke to the ignoo
> and vulgar herd and that which cannot be I'm
tated will be most certainly traduced b. then
2 So it has been all along the history of the ag
and so it is now. These human cormorants fo
low in the wake of manly excellence and virtuo'
merit.
n "As ravenous fishes do vessel follow
That is trimmed; but beneht
Nc farther than vainly longing"