s continually sowing discord in society,
is an angel. Slander is but the infectious breath or a foul spirit,
that poisons the healthful atmosphere wherever it is breathed, and
breaks the quiet repose--the calm serenity of neighborhoods and
families, as it were, with an electric shock.

Political slander is as infectious and destructive to the harmony of
the nation, and the security of our government, as private slander is
to neighborhoods and societies. No sooner is a candidate held up for
office, than all the party dogs of war on both sides are let loose and
set to barking. Immaterial how fair may be his character, how
inviolable his veracity, or how unsullied his honor and integrity,
they will make him appear to be an outcast from society, covered with
the darkest blots of infamy. Immaterial how great may be his
qualifications, or how splendid his talents, they will, by that
species of logic for which slanderers are famous, prove him to be a
fool. These dissentions do not expire when the candidates are elected.
They are carried to the capitol of our common country and blown out in
more than wordy war. There, we have reason to fear, the volcano is
gathering, and that the day is not distant when it will disembogue in
more than the thunders of Etna, wrap our political heavens in a blaze,
and melt its elements with fervent heat. Anarchy and confusion will
seize the reins of government, and drive us to the oblivious shades of
departed empires. If we continue to go on in our political slanders as
a nation, losing sight of our common welfare, and sacrificing the
_general_, on the altar of _partial_ interest, the day of our ruin is
not remote. Its awful morn, has, already, it seems, dawned with
streaks of malignant _light_, and (like ill fated Troy) ominous of the
purple streams, the crimson blood, that watered the Trojan plains
where mighty Sarpedon fell, where Hector lay slain by the sword of
Achilles. Heaven forbid that our national sun, that rose so fair,
should go down in blood, and shroud our temple of Liberty in
everlasting night! To avert such a catastrophe let us reform, and do
our duty as individuals. The safety of any body politic depends on the
conduct of the individuals that compose it. And God grant that these
dissentions may cease, that political peace and harmony may become
perfect, and our government may stand immoveable on its basis, like
the rock that remains unshaken by the furious storms that agitate the