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PAPEr.s OF MIRABEAU BuoNAPARTE LAMAR
secret denunciation of the spartan band of Mier as a bandit, (who had done credit to themselves, and honor to their Country) whilst in the hands, as it were, of their malignant and inexorible executioner, thereby rendering them liable to be shot, as some of them were, and the balance condemed to ignominious chains and servitude - leaving them to their· fate by closing the door of hope, by armistice, without conditions for their release Is there a patriot, - is there a rational man, who posesses a solitary remaining spark of humanity, that does not shudder with horror and contempt at the perpetration of such unholy, unprincipled,. such unjust, and unwarranted acts, of fiend-like inhumanity! If mis- ery be the effect of virtue, as in this case, it should be reverenced; if of ill fortune, as in this case, it ought to be pitied and assisted; and if of vice, not to be insulted; because it is, perhaps, itself, a punishment adequate to the crime by which it was produced; and the humanity of that man can deserve no panegyric who is capable of repro!).ching an unfortunate prisoner in the hands of the executioner. Hence the smouldering smoke which so obscures the political horizon? It is the exhalations from the wigwams ---'- the smoke arising from the altars of this modern Moloch; on which he immolates the patriots of his Coun- try; - like sweet incense, may it smell to Heaven! Delivering them up a sacrifice, to sordid ambition, avarice and cupidity I thank my God there is one thing which the immolater cannot destroy; which is immutable and eternal justice;- which will sooner or later claim its victim Have..these unfortunate sufferers, no fathers, no sons, no brothers no mothers, no sisters, no daughters, no relatives to rouse slumbering hu- manity to a sense of justice? And finally are there no patriots, who have escaped the poisonous fangs of this modern Moloch; - none who have escaped the poisons concealed in the nostrums, which breed blight, blast, mildew and death!- If any let them rouse en-mass and in a voice like three-fold-thunder, demand that justice be done to their in- jured country, and its persecuted patriots; - and at -least endeavor to relieve suffering humanity! I wait for a reply Interrogatory 3rd. Interrogatory 3d. Why are those evils thrown upon us and wfrnt are the incentives Answer- Things may be seen differently and dif- ferently shown, but actions are visible though motives are secret. And the scriptures say by their actions shall ye know them? In the inves- tigation of the foregoing interrogatories it will appear that the first: proposition of (why are these evils thrown upon ue) has been already- answered, in the main, in the investigation of the foregoing interroga- tories? As it clearly appears that his Excellency could not have been prompted by any of the ennobling.principles, or passions, of the human mind; but by the ignoble ones, such as vanity, sordid ambition avarice and cupidity The most degrading, demoralizing and damning pal!- sions that can possibly infest the human heart. It clearly appears then, that governed as he was, by those diabolical passions has been the cause of the evils which have been so unjustly thrown upon us It now remains to answer the last proposition;- and shew the incentives which prompted his Excellency to commit those mighty enormities. In doing this, I flatter myself that I will make the matter so plain, that
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