is or that, the reply has
invariably been, that they dare not. In fact, to keep their station in
society, they must be slaves--not merely slaves, for we are all so far
slaves, that if we do that which is not right, we must be expelled from
it; but abject and cowardly slaves, who dare not do that which is
innocent, lest they should be misrepresented. This is the cause by
there is such an attention to the _outward_ forms of religion in the
United States, and which has induced some travellers to suppose them a
religious people, as if it were possible that any real religion could
exist, where morality is at so low an ebb. When I first went to Boston,
I did not go to church on the following day. An elderly gentleman
called upon and pointed out to me that I had omitted this duty; "but,"
continued he, "I have had it put into one of the newspapers that you
attended divine service at such a church, so all is right." All was
right; yes, all was right, according to the American's ideas of "all was
right." But I thought at the time, that my sin of omission was much
more venial than his of commission.

When at Detroit, I was attacked in the papers because I returned a few
calls on a Sunday. I mention this, not because I was justified in so
doing, but because I wish to show the censorship exercised in this very
moral country.

The prevalence of this evil acts most unfortunately upon society in
other ways. It is the occasion of your hardly ever knowing whom you
may, or whom you may not, be on terms of intimacy with, and of the
introduction of many people into society, who ought to be wholly
excluded. Where slander is so general, when in the space of five
minutes you will be informed by one party, that Mr So and So is an
excellent person, and by another that he is a great scoundrel, just as
he may happen to be on their side or the opposite, in politics, or from
any other cause, it is certain that you must be embarrassed as to the
person's real character; and as a really good man may be vituperated, so
the reports against one who is unworthy, are as little credited: the
fact is, you never know who you are in company with.

Almost all the duels which are so frequent in America, and I may add all
the assassinations in the western country, arise principally from
defamation. The law gives no redress, and there is no other way of
checking slander, than calling the parties to account for it. Every man
is therefore ready and arme