Indiana Centinel, Volume 3, Number 12, Vincennes, Knox County, 26 June 1819 — Page 2
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purposes of private malevolence anil nation- j Low intolerably odious i3 th;s British out-
AboL t
THE. CENTINEL.
THURSDAY, June 4. .V7r PAPEB.W'c have receivcl the three first numbers of the 44 EDtVAHDSV1LLE SPECTATOR? recently established at Kdwardsvillc, Illinois, by Hooper IV ah res. Those specimens augur well to the editor's ability, aril we heartily wish him success. He must necessarily encounter many inconveniences in rearing an infant establishment in a new country; but he roav find that all difficulties arc not evil?,
and that all evils are not distresses. Venations and crosses are attendant on his profession. lie. v. ill have to grapple or eludc the hatred of some he never injured or saw the envy cf others with whom his business can in no wise interfere ; and the jealous malice of many with whom his conduct can never clash, and his pretensions never influence. Ho will have to sustain the designing flatteries of able ambition, the shallow intrigues of pretenders, arid the hardy effrontery cf unblushing presumption, lie will be pestered by false friendships, harassed by idiotism, chagrined by arrogance, end mortified by self-sufficiency. He will be obliged to endure the efficiousness of those whose whole value is exterior, who (he is confident) do not possess two good qualities, but who, being raised to some petty station by the help of all-pon-erful BRASS, can affect to despise him and his calling, and gaze Upon their own sweet selves with the utmost self-complacency. He will be tcazed by intolerable vanity, and perple.red by incorrigible ignorance; and these, too, very often united in one frail atomy, that will he mortally oOendcd if it is not knuckled to with resvect. Wc are free in these anticipations, because t.c know that Edicardsville is like every othcr new town in the quality of its population ; and because we know that printers generally have human organs and human sensations. Beisg certified of these facts, wc
will further advise Mr. IVabres, that, being
al hostilitr. May lie never become an En
glishman's scavenger, nor a purveyor of filth for. any foreign desperado but may his conduct be moral and uniformly patriotic, as becomes an American ; and may he paas alr.ng the uneven palhs rf life, without erring fiom choice, or stumbling through inattention, meeting the praises of those whose opinion is valuable, and enjoying without alloy the love and gratitude, instead of the contempt and curses of his countrymen.
quite a young man. if he continues his paper he will be fifty times astonished before he is feix months older. He will sc? glaring before his eyes, and hear thundering in his cars, what he never expected to sec or hear; and which his previous situations did not permit him to witness in its now opening broad and undisguised display. And again it he continues so long, he . will become acquainted with people who will patronise him for ten years without putting a cent in his pocket; and who will be highly aftVonted if dunned for a dollar ; and others who will pay in advance for one year, with a laudable resolution not to pay him another cent for twenty: and more who will kindly take his paper from its birth to its exit w ithout any intention of paying at all. And he will find that any one man of these three classes cf customers, will find more fault with ids paper, and will raise more noise and clamor against him for any inadvertence or unavoidable omission on his part, than will i'il'ty punctual, honest, s?lid, well meaning subscribers. Mr. Wjrres is a good printer : he issues a handsome sheet, with beautiful type njid eicoUent paper; and he appear to be decently patronised. As we said before, we heartily wish him success, and hope he wilt escape the trials we have predicted, altho' we fear that exemption is impracticable. At all events, let his mind be his own, and let industry be his right-hand companion. Let him reflect that one of the first foreign journalists of the age has lately observed, that "Americans can afford to live for fifty years on the fame cf their FHAYA'Lhy9 and he should often call to mind that Franklin, when a printer in Philadelphia, did not disdain to be seen trundling his wheelbarrow through the streets, loaded with books or papers, and would sometimes rest himself at a crner, to converse for a moment with the politicians, wits, and literati of that city, to the greatest of whom he was not in the least inferior. Let him consider that show is not a passport to wealth or celebrity that, with a sensible man, or discreet woman, the flash of a coxcomb begets nothingbut contempt; and that it is peculiarly injurious to a voun man in business ; while perseverance, frugal Hty, and modesty, under the even hand'of heaven, never fail to meet their reward. Above all thing, may his press be free : may it never be polluted by the accursed touch of British influence, of which so often "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." lay no brazen emissary mark him tor his victim, and open his ac-,and tempt him with baubles to slander his country, her laws and institutions. May necessity never sway his better feelings so as to induce him to listen to any political serpent. May no John Pull (ami we have no doubt there is one stationed at Edwardsville) may nnJohn Bull seduce hi ni from his duty, arid obtain the direction cf his pres.;, for tha blackest
To the Printer of the Indiana Cenlinel. SIR, There is not a bolder insult to the understanding of the public, nor a more darirg outrage on the feelings of a decent and well
ordered community, titan the continued publication of the paper called the JVesterr. Sun. It is in defiance of the wishes of the untight and good, and in contempt of the opinion of the wise. It cast3 a daily cdium on the name of Vinccnnes, aud is the foulest blot on the character of its borough. As our country b hourly becoming more respectable in population, in agriculture, and the peaceful arts of social life, and the rude possessors of these fertile plains are giving place to more enlightened, enterprising and polished inhabitants, while the baibaiism of former times is succeeded by the charm of amiahlc manners and unsuspicious intcrccuise, it is full time thai the Western Sun, that corrupted and corrupting print, (the relic of the brutality of those times when it served to make the 'darkness more visible' and hideous,) should crumble into oblivion with its mouldering companions. Savage ferocity and obscenity are passing away, and are only kept lingering on the threshold by the accursed influence of that paper, whose tainted columns supply the infernal miasma which infects and diseases our moral and political atmosphere. Iludcness and bestiality are yielding to the pleasing courtesies which sv. eeten conversation and adorn societv; and frank and
easy politeness of address is supplanting the brutish ignorance of ruffian preemptionThe day of the tomahawk is rapidly declining, and may no disciple of the breech-cltut be forgotten in its transit! Should you notice all the depravity you witness in the debauched Sun, von would offer insults to the delicacy and understandings of your readers, and materially violate the terms of their subscription. These are weighty reasons, and you need no other, eaxept it be, the endless duration of the task, and the ustdessness and folly of e.rpostulating with animals lost to compunction and impenetrable to shame.
Many well-meaning strangers have naturally enquiied who is it that pours into Stout's paper such a continued stream of ribaldry and filth? and many well meaning citizens have given the answer : That one of them is a being without country and without rectitude ; having no pretensions to either, and obnoxious to both: that he is ambitious, and that to his great venation ; as his vanity keeps him in a state of constant flatulence, and continually exploding by his habitual self-inflation. That he has read much, and profited little often musing,
and seldom thinking: an Englishman by birth, and constitutionally a tyrant, he came to this country to assist in the good work cf civil commotion, by inspiring Americans with a distaste for liberal principles, disaffection, to rulers, and resistance to the laws ; and, like thousands of other emissaries commissioned for the. same purposes, with Btittish goods and British principles, To assail the fabric fair, by heroes reared, By every covert and insidious means. Some cankered knave, from that corrupted Isle, Is lodg'd in every hamlet ; and is task'd To undermine, to fret and clip away JFhat all Britannia's thunder faWd to shake. Such is one 'f the creatures who weekly contributes the largest part of that abominable trash which e.vhales such a 4i compound of villainous smells," to the insufferable annoyance ct the respectable part of the community. Such is the man who ridiculed the IIt.Ro cf Erie, and deplored, in pathetic strains, the hard fate of the incendiary tiossJ Such is this universal slanderer this enemy cf the upright, but protector and patron of the low, the false, and sycophantic, in proportion as they cringe to his caprices, and subserve his views. This is the man whose breast is the seat of all those passions which degrade cur nature, and disturb our reason and there they rage in perpetual conflict. It has been remaiked by a competent observer, that mankind are generally kind in proportion as they are happy ; and it is said even of the devil, that he is good humored when he is pleased then what a double plated devil must that fellow be, who is only good humored when engaged in contention, and only pleased, while abusing his neighbors ? -'Nothing (says Dr. Johnson) degrades human nature mere than detraction; and nothing more disgraces conversation. The slanderer, as he is the bweit moral character, reflects more disgrace upon his company than the hangman ; and he, whose disposition is a scandal to his species, should be more diligent! v .iv.nld th.n i..
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cast, who, while his heart is the fountain of every demoniac passion, is inexpressibly detestable in bis actions at the amc time ? Since 1 have traversed the stage of life. I have sometimes felt the miseiies cf bodily and mental sorrows : Rut, Sir, believe me, I had rather suffer all the evils which poverty, disease, and violence can inflict, than endure, for one moment, one of the piercing stints which the guilty nassior.s of that man dart into his vital?. tor amidst the com
mon trials ot this lite, the ininrl can often give relief, and mitigate the pangs of r(Hiction ; the mind, as the ancients say, hein properly the ma:i ; and 0e sufferer, and his sufferings, can be distinguished. Cut thoe shocking disorders of passion, which torment
this miserahie wretch, by seizing uaccuy on his viir.d, attack human nature in its strong hold, and cut oiTits last resource : They penetrate to the very seat of sensation, and convert all his powers of thought into instruments of his torture. I can 2sk, Sir, without the charge of bigotry, what must the future prospects ff thafman he, who, in this world, carries such a hell in his bosom ? As for his printer, he "n more useful and necessary to his public existence, than the rein deer is to the Laplander, or the camel to the wild Arab of Zahara. Take Stout and his ricketty press away, and what will become of this British hireling ? Is there another printer in the state of Indiana who would prostitute himself and his noble art to purposes so mean, so low, so vile, aud so" contemptible ? Is there another who would so. shamelessly prostrate his dignity as a man, and for such paltry r.iesses'of pottage sell his birthright as an American? V ho would yield himself as clay into the hands of such a fo eign unprincipled poller ? no would crouch like a spaniel at a renegado's mandate, and prepare the lash, and lick the hand that abuses his countrymen ? I tiust in God, there is not. Deprived of Stout, sir, that British tr.ider would be insulated: he would either return to hii employers, or wander with the mark of Cain in his Sorehead, deserted and abhorred, over the blooming country he i endeavot ing to mildew, meeting his long deserved fat1, with no heart to pity and no arm to save, shunned, loathed, and detested, a moving pestilence r lie would seek some solitary den, far from human footsteps, pasHn hi. summers in churning consanguinity with wolves, and his winters in congenial intercourse with iners ; where they minht mu-
4 ' mf tually renew their exhausted stores of venom, and hiss in concert at the society which outlaws them. As fcr Stout, sir, he who has ever inspected his conduct, viewed his character, and examined the man, is forcibly reminded cf that gclden line of the immortal lard of Avon : " !? man r.iay simile, ainl smile, and U a villain." It needs no shrewd physiognomist to trace the emblems of all t he meaner passions in the crooked lineaments of his hypocritical countenauce. That crippled smile, continually hobbling on crutches over his face, is too aukward ar.d flimsy to conceal the
"compunctious visitings of nature." And dos it cause our wonder? Were I a printer, with my press mortgaged L) a foreigner, and myself shackled hand and foot in his service-iis obiequicuj slave his necessary shoe-black his fawning toad eater his pimp his scape-goat his officious drudge, cringing for dirty business his kneeling beast of burden, and Worst of all, his flatterer ! were I all this, and more, could
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I look my indignant fellow citizens in the
tace, with the serene, unruffled front cf honesty ? Vvith my press under the controul of that unprincipled minion.should I be continually endeavoring to blast the reputation of amiable men, to weaken the confidence of the people in their most faithful public servants, and to cause commotion in the state which has harbored me i:i peace ; should I slander t'.iose who had been my kindest friend?, and sting the very bosoms m which I was warmed and cherished ; should I beg charity today, and to-morrow insult my benefactors ; should I whine for assistance, and have it lavishly bestowed, then turn and defame those whose pity I had implored, at the moment too, when I was battening on their bounty; and should I even ArrrUto. !-
-cry 'dollar which had bought my bread, I
rrr-iflfn:!- and hnrhiritv trulf hnr;ib!e
two hours ago the following named ocer3 entered my house : brigadier general Ordonnez, colonel J. P. do Rivera Antonio Mcrgardo, licut. col. L. Morla, capt. Garreiera and lic-ut. J. liurguillo, and alter common, civilities thy suddenly and sp.intaneou,!r arose and Carratero, assuming the onice of spokesman, addressed me to this cfcect Well, vou scoundrel the moment is .it u length "arrived when you perish! Ail South-America is fallen; and you sl.uli not now escape" at which expression Carratero, Uurgui'Io, and Kivera attacked me with poignards and called upon the rest io f.!!mv their example ; I evaded their first asrault and retiring a few paces reached an elevated position in the apat tment, repe!'cd them by inflicting a blow on Mergado, which prostrated him to the floor; but at the jams intant the others followed up their assault, after receiving several wounds in my face and several parts-of my body, I fdl beneath ; their blows : but vtt retained S"j;c:er.t
strength to resume my feet; at that moment the report of rausnuctry v. as heard in V. e
streets this I too!: as an indication of the determination of the people to defend the post that had been assaulted. I must say ta
your excellency that the very encumstance from which they expected to accomplish their conspiracy proved to be the caue of their destruction ; their simultaneous attack on various points; because tire people and the troops beingall put in motion at the same instant, as by an electric impulsion, the alarm was every where felt at the same time. The people in the streets observing what was unusual, that the doors of my house wrc closed, at once assailed them "and forced an entrance ; and the conspirators within, found at this critical moment that the people were aroused, aud apprehensive of the oonse quences, they suddenly changed their assault ti supplication and prayed me to spare their lives. Taking advantage of this occurrence aud with a view tj pacify the people, 1 passed tv the front djor, when immediately .without affording me time to address them, the people forced their way im, and attacked rhe conspirators, who made some resistance ; liurgiiilla, had already attacked and mortally wounded my secretary lliveros the moment had now arrived when I could not longer forbear to exercise with energy, my duty, which was in accord with the indignation of the people I ordered the assassins to bo put to death cn the spot, and they expiated their crimes in uy presence, and that of an indignant people, whne hospitality and generosity they had violated. Cclcncl -Morga-uo 1 pat to death with my own hands. Jut 1 want words to express to you tho dastardly conduct of those six assaSiins, who had thus abruptly entered my house and deprived me of my arms, leaving me no ether hope than the confidence which I had repwsed cn the people, and the precautionary measures which I had previously taken. Indeed my expectations fi r in the people were not disappointed for at every point they have conducted themselves with mure moderation than could have Keen expected under such
; provocation?, which seemed to exempt na j life from dang:r. j 1 hose who were prisoners in the Provost guard, and who were acting in concert with j the cons; irators experienced the fate of their associates; notwithstanding, that in the first moment of the tumult they had succeeded in
; possessing themselves of the arms of ths
.garrison ; but this advantage they soon lost ; although here, they defended themselves with the utmost despair till they all perished. Those who displayed the nu.st courage werethe inter.dant Banxeta, and eolone? Aras : the first with a sweri and the latter with a mu?ket. Eesides the unfortunate loss cf my secretary Riveros wc have had two more mea wounded very dangerously. I shall immediately institutz an enquiry into the conspiracy, and shall advise you of the result4 r-f the examination. Tranquility has been restored ; I have taken ail the precautionary measures which the exigency called for, and I hive every way cxpeiienced confidence in the generosity and fidelity of the people. I enclose to you a list cf "those whohive been put to death in this commotion by the people and by the troops ; all the survivors are in arrest, waiting the result of the inves
tigation now about to be commenced.
could not, unmoved, meet the gaze of those I had so basely injured, unless, like my British patron, I was fortified with a double portion of thrice distilled impudence. Mr. Printer this must suffice for the present; but I cannot so abruptly bid farewell to this brace of worthies : they ami other members of the corps merit particular civilities, and they shall not reproach me with want of attention. Yours respectfull v, L. JUNIUS BRUTUS. incenne?, June Z2. PROM SOUTH AMERICA. Copy of a letter from thz Lieutenant Gr,v. ernor of St. Luis up Pnr.t?. to the zvernjr intendant of th: province of Cuija. The city of St. Luis has tiu4 moment given a signal example cf its heroism and fidelity, at the same time that the European Spaniards havs presented a spec?-- rf ;
A return of the Snaivh nlTi.'prs. r-'Inar,
j who have been killed in this public suir.motion.
Brigadier General Jose Ordonnez, Two Colonels, two Lieut. Colonels, f ive Captains, four Lieutenants Une brevet Captain, two do. L-euterar., Seven sub-Lieutenants, 1 Army Intendant, Assistant d. uocl preserve voj, &c. Y ' VINCENT DUPUV. St. Louis, 8th Feb. 1319.
A letter dated at Franklin, Ilcvard county -Missouri, states, that the Ltn 1 which took place last April, produced ab.mt seven millions to the government. The ppnlatiun of this country according ti a Lt census, amounts to thre. thousand s.uU. 'ihe crowd of emigrants and purchasers at the sales, was wholly unexpected and unexampled. Keel Boats already dc-crnd th Missouri with produce from Franklin to Ne;r C.-Iean:.
