P,\PERS OF MIRABEAU BuoNAP.\RTE LAMAR
471
ments of an opponent, we have no right to retort upon him vindicative personalities; and if we have no evidence to su tain the charge of venality apd corruption, it is ba enes in the extreme to impute to him any unworthy motives of action. A well regulated mind never will do it. \Ve are all prone to err, and the same indulgence which we would claim for ourselve , a generous temper will ever extend to others. Who shall decide whether an error proceeds from the head or the heart Y 1'o none has God imparted the gift of scrutinizing the secret workings of the intellect; neither has he impowered any to dive into the rece ses of the soul, and pass unerring judgment on the purity of its prompting . Why then shoulo we be so ready to ascribe the deductions of the mind to guilty aberrations of the heart 1 This high prerogative of arraigning upon suspicion and condemning without evidence, should be abandoned by tl1e ll'ise and good, to the exclusive ex'erci e of those, who, conscious of the instability of their own prin- ciple , would estimate the rest of mankind by themselves. Perhaps there may be some propriety in that individual's denying the exist- ence qf a virtue which he never felt, and it may be allowed to him to a cribe .to his neighbor such degenerate influences as eomport with hi o,\m expet·iencc. nctif to this lofty privilege be added the en- viable accomplishment of insulting without provocation and ov9r- whelming who he in ult with a flood of rhetorical billings-gate, the character is at once completed, of a oulless defamer, whose darin,.,. licentionsne s, however admired by the vulgar and vicious, cannot fail to be heart-sickening to the man of refinement as well as the con, siderate patriot who feels the lea t concern for the welfare of society and the preservation of public morals. I£ any member of this honorable body ~hould he disposed to induJ"e in a cour e so inconsistent with the dignity of hi station, I would respectfully remind uch, that he who daubs his neighbor with mud, must fir -t soil bis own hand ; antl so with the infuriated and intolerant debatant. In pouring upon his antagonist the venom of his spite, he spatters himself with a portion of his own .poison. He may utter • truth; but truth in the foul language of malice, ceases to be lovely; and to clotho it in such disgusting and revolting habilament.s, is as criminal a' violation of its purity. I know very well, that it is not always in the power of a patriot and good man, when warring against what he conceive to be dangerous error or political enormity, to temper his speech to the .frigid canons of Platonic philosophy. I blame no honest warmth. ~ut to express in strong terms, our deep abhor- rence of crime; and to gibbet its convicted votaries up to public infamy and scorn, is altogether a different thing, to that habitual crimination and indiscriminate vituperation, , hich hate inspires, when argwncnt is wanting. It is against this, that I \\·onld remonstrate. Intemperate language, bold assertion and personal inyective, can never be pro- ductive of any good in debate. It cannot elucidate truth-it cannot dethrone error-it -cannot enlighten the understanding; but it may enkindle the devouring fires of bate and discord, and arouse all those demoniac passions which convert the heart where they riot into a tur- bulent and remorsele pandemonium. Let me entreat you then, to indulge in no habit so hostile, to justice and dangerous to tranquillity. I invite you to cultivate harmony; indulge in mutual confidence, .and
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