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Americans all the Sfcdft they deserve for their furBraranCe uti ^ er injnries , which , if this country had suffered them in a similar manner , we fear would bave xcited an earlier spirit
of revenge . But war is so dreadful an evil , so abhorrent to all the feelings of human nature , when not overcome by evil habits , and the prejudices of a bad education , that we hoped the inhabitants of the new world would
have prefered peace to the disgraceful state into which the nations of Europe art so ready , and seem so happy to plunge themselves , Little did we expect that the Americans would betray a disposition in the parties of either side which brings them on a level with the savages of Europe :
that they would tear to pieces their countrymen for differing in opiliidn , and make war against the liberty of the press with outrageous fury , and ¦ hew as much malice against it as if they had been brought up td fle e test it under the tyranny of a French or a Spanish court .
The press indeed of America is not on either side under that controul which good breeding requires . They give way to their passions ,, and express their sentiments with a virulence highly disgraceful . In a political question , often certainly of great
difficulty , the worthiest men may entertain opposite opinonB * and it ' is a great abuse of the prels to load with contumelious language every one # ho does not agree with the writer This is too much the custom , and is
too much encouraged in this country . We do not wish to see it checked by ff ° ffic ^ ° informations , but by a spirit in the people , which will effectually cpntroul the baseness of a licentious press . But in America they carry things still farther , and Baltimore has exhibited a scene unparalleled we relieve in the annals of the civilized
world . Presses have been destroyed and printers' executed , but none with uch horrible circumstances as have attended the fury of the American mbb . ' *
A paper was published at Baltimore , called the Federal Republican , which gare great offence to the opposite i > arty , who raised a mob to 4 « stroy the bous * # f the « 4 ) tor . Tb «
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attack was anticipated , and several friends of the paper wferVfcolledted together l&defend ttte hoftse , and from within they fired upjn the assailants , of whom two were killed and several wounded . This happened during the night , aud in the morning the party within surrendered to the
civil power , and were conveyed to prison . Here they were attacked on the following night by the mob , who broke into the prison ; and of those confined seventeen only forced their way through and escaped , though not without many wounds , whilst
nine fell , beaten with clubs , stabbed and left for dead on the gaol steps . Of these a General Lin gam , about seventy years of age , expired , and the rest were lingering , expecting to die df the horrible wounds they had received . *
Sudi is the fruit of civil discord ^ of the unfettered passions of man . The injiiry to the press by such an act is , less than the usual attack upon it by a sovereign prince or an inquisition , . Here universal indignation is excited , land we hope that the United States are not so lost to
humanity , that any numbers should be found to abet the atrocious deed * Let it be made of use also in the courts of princes and of judges , of all men who wish to make war with the press . The prince who restrains the press hy cruel laws , and the judge who corrects by too severe penalties any occasional excess must rank with the mob of Baltimore in
baseness of heart . It is the same influence that guides them , the same want of a dispassionate and discriminating spirit , which would teach them to grant to others what they
wish for themselves . The Americans have begun their war by an attack on Canada , in which nothing material has occurred 4 Their general has issued a proclamation in which he exhorts the natives
to withdraw from their allegiance to this country , and promises them protection s * nd liberty in a new alliance * The Americans have also fitted out a great number of privateers to annoy our commerce * Hopes however are ftill entertained of conciliation , and we wish they may bs rcMiwd . Bft
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State of Public Affairs . 5 ^ 5
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1812, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1752/page/63/
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