Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1871-02-10

the cant and Wit operation Of black
guard. And it is the part Of the mean
est of towards, when his instincts impeI
him to public defamation, to conceal his
identity behind an anonymous signature.
Such a concealment is a confession Of
the shame and meanness of the attack,
and a means Of evasion of responsible
" as cheap as It is disreputable. There
IS nothing IN it that is either smart or
ma My. On the contrary, the person
who practices it is next door neighbor
to the assassin who steals upon you un-
awares to strike a fatal blow, or ambus-
caties you in the dark.
We have been tempted to make these
on several occasions when
by anonymous squibs of
character. We now apply
them to about column Of slop which
some one calling himself Il. c. u" has
attempted to cast upon US from the Dem
ocratic vessel Of this village. Were the
object Of this effusion argument or dis
cussion we would treat it with respect,
Notwithstanding its anonymous charac-
ter; but such is plainly not its purpose.
Its leading element is defamation, its IN
spiration malice, its character one which
no gentlemen could help being asham-
ed Of. We therefore propose to deal
with its author according to his folly.
The occasion Of this attack is alleged
to be an editorial article Which appeared
in this paper last week on the Franco
Prussian war, which I. c. u. informs the
public was an attack upon the Roman
Catholics intended exclusively against
them on account of their religious be-
lief" and emanating from zone Of their
bitterest enemies in Delaware" who
docs not neglect an opportunity to ca
lumniate and abuse them" To give
force to his feeble observations he calls
the author of the editorial internal
Revenue, (" which is certainly both witty
and withering. Dean Swift could scarce
ly have Perpeuated more pungent re-
mark. There must be something aw-
fully disreputable in being connected
with the Internal Revenue service. In
what undiscovered and unreaIzed depths
of iniquity have we CROPPED! 1t all
comes over us now as though a spell of
enchantment had been broken.
But not yet has the reader reached
the fruition of wrath or the climax of Sc
verify. 1t is alleged, with degree of
solemnity which is appalling. that we
are publishing a "Religo Temperance
paper, and are therefore proPhetically
foredoomed 10 financial, nplitical and
dreadful ruin Moreover, e if to put
a climax upon climax, and pile hyper
bole upon hyperbole. like Ossa over
Pelion. the GAZETTE is denounced as an
organ of the Young Mems Christian
Association This is too, too much
What must our paper be and what must
the Young Mems Christian Association
be! That it is dreadful thing to be an
organ, our assailant knows. being him
self an organ, though we forbear to say
what organ. Itwouldn't be polite. But
then to be-the organ of a Young Mems
Christian Association Here invective
exhausts itself and exclamation points
utterly fail Of their effect.
And now as to the counts of 81. c.
U.s. indictment. It is true that an edi-
torial on the European war appeared in
our last paper and for that editorial we
assume the entire responsibility. We ex-
pressed our views on that subject as any
other citizen has right to do. assailing
nobody and treating no one with disre-
pect. We spolze-in behalf of religious and
political freedom reviling no sect and
mentioning none. Nor shall we hesi-
tate to speak again in behalf of the
same cause whether related to the
French war or any other war, to the
French people, Spanish people, Italian
people or any other people, whenever it
shall suit our. convenience to do SO and
no matter whose wrath it may incur.
We believe all mankind of whatever
race. creed or complexion have the
right to think as they please in refer
ence to all matters of politics and relig-
ion and that no agency. whether relig-
ious or secular, has, nor by the
grace of God. shall it have any power
in this country to deny. restrict or in
timidate such freedom of thought.
We believe, furthermore. that France
ought to have a republic now; that she is /
ripe for it; that with a free press
and unrestricted suffrage she may rise
from the depths other presenthumiliation
and despair, repair the mistakes of the
Second and eclipse the palmiest period
of the First Empire, and that what the
French people need above all things is
what they have never had, FREEDOM
They have it no more now than they had
under RobespieTe, even less than they
had under Charles x. or Louis Philippe,
and the latest official act of Gambetta,
himself a usurper, has been to issue a
proclamation denying to more than half
of the French people. guilty ofno crime,
any voice in the reconstruction of the
government. Is that the spirit of re-
publican freedom7 ?
AS to the charge that we are an
enemy of Catholics, which is
as false as it is coarsely made we
might easily retort that our assail-
ant seems to be an enemy of Protes-
tants and particularly of German Prot
estants, of the most malignant character.
Why is this thus? Doesn't he believe
in religious federation Does he repu-
diate Daniel O'ConneIl and array him
self with Disraeli and other champions
of religious oppression For our own
part we believe in Catholic freedom