The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-05-13
Public and Private Character.

Public and Private Character.
mot selected from the n. Y. Journal of Commerce.
What constitutes the difference, in a journal.
istic view. between public and private character ?
This, it strikes US, is a very simple matter, and
one that hardly admits of argument. There is a
rule which is as infexible as the principle that
law is Fixed and the chain of sequences indissolu-
BILE, or that the law Of gravitation brings all heavy
bodies to the earth-and that rule is that public
men are public property, and that all their acts,
when brought to public view, are fair subjects
for criticism. When men accept public positions
of honor and trust. removed thus above the
mass, they become at once : shining marks -
their every movement-social as well as political
or executives closely noted, and their every
action is criticised. That which would pass
almost unnoticed in the conduct Of a person in
private station, is in a public man, from his very
position, at once made the subject of comment
and discussion, and opinions are freely expressed
and sides taken as to the right or wrong, the pro-
priety or improperly involved. The higher the
position held, the more certain is this to be the
case, and the more keen-eyed will be the scrutiny.
What imperative reasons for circumspection :
And as the character of a public man, thus
exposed under the microscopic examination of the
general eye, stands the test of public opinion, so
will he rise in worth and usefulness in his posi-
ton, or fall to the level to which he properly
belongs. This rule is as fixed and memorable as it
is right and just. TO attempt to ignore it argues
ignorance to defy it is madness.
By a sort of natural instinct of selE representation,
the people look for high qualities in their rulers.
Confidence In those in power is the true basis of
the wel-being of society and public security. On
the principle of tine familiar adage, " Like master,
like man." good rulers make good people. A
course of strict moral rectitude, and an elevated
sense of duty and ~propriety exhibited in the
conduct of those in authority, always reacts and
produces like consequences for good upon the
governed. And the reverse of the case will be
alike remarkable for disastrous results. 1t is, we
hold, the bounden duty Of an independent journal,
wherever there are evident signs of a tendency in
the latter direction, to give utterance to the
voice of warning, seriously, kindly and temper
ately, but firmly and undinchingly. Otherwise
it would be recreant to its high trust.
To more fOrcibly illustrate our position regard
ing the influence of Individual character upon
society, let us quote from Emerson's admirable
essay on 90 Wealth ="
The 50 Bank-Note Detector > is a useful publica-
ton. But the current dollar, silver or paper, is
itself the detector of the right and wrong where it
c~irculates. Is it not instantly enhanced by the in
crease of equity? If n trader refuses to sell his vote,
or adheres to some odious right, he makes so much
more equity in Massachusetts, and every acre in the
State is more worth, in the hour of his action. If
you take out of State-street the ten honestest mer-
chants, and put in ten roguish persons, controlling
tho cafua aunnunfn f capital tho ,ataC of incur,pao
will indicate it the soundness of banks will show it
the highways will be less secure the schools will feel
it the children will bring home their little dose of
the poison the judge will sit less firmly on the
bench, and his decisions be less upright he has lost
so much support and constraint, which all need
and the pulpit will betray it, III Il laxer rule of life. !
An apple-tree, if you take out every day for a num-
Der of days, a load of loan, and put in a load of
and about its roots,-will find it out An apple-tree
3 2 stupid kind of creature, but if this treatment be
pursued for a short time, L think it would begin to
nistrust something. And if you should take out Of
he powerful class engaged in trade n hundred good
and put in a hundred bad, or, what is just the
thing, introduce q demoraliZing institution,
7ould not the dollar, which is not much stupider
han an apple-tree, presently find it out? The value
f a dollar is social. as it is created by society. Every
ian who removes into this city, with any purchase
lie talent or skill in him, gives to every mans labor
the city, a new worth. If q talent is anywhere
orn into the world, the community of nations is en-
ched and, much more, with a new degree of
robity.
Another equally right and just principle per-
ldes society, by which private character is held
be sacred from the inquisition of public criti-
SIN and attack. 1t is a rule in Courts, that no
ans private character shall be assaulted until he
mself puts it in question and so in every day
Fairs, the sanctity of privacy should shroud the
'me and the family. No condemnation can be
o severe for the speaker or the writer who
tempts to invade these bounds, with either
urient curiosity, malignant spite or reckless
relessness. .
The course of an independent public journalist
these matters is plain and unmistakable- ,
ither on the one hand shrinking from giving ,
terance to the temperate expression of a sound 9
lblic opinion, nor on the other prostituting his :
eet to the purposes of personal interest or +
aleyolence. =