Justice and Truth
essential Elements of History--"Forgery"--The Editor, &c._

Whatever motives may have actuated "Valley Forge" to the publication of
documents affecting the revolutionary services and fame of General Joseph
Reed, and we pretend not either to scan them, or doubt their honorable
complexion--for truth, when on the side of country and patriotism, admits
not of suspicion or mistrust--whatever motive, we say, may have impelled
him to the revelation of these important historical documents, there can
exist no doubt as it respects the principle which sustains the ransacking
of the grave, for the sake of _truth_. Begin at any period of history,
however early, and it will be found that _public men_ have always been
considered as public property--their characters, their conduct and their
opinions, belonging to the world, with no privilege of sanctuary, either in
life or in the _tomb_. It was so with the Hebrews, it was so with Persians,
the Babylonians, the Grecians, the Romans, the French, the English, and
even the Chinese. Indeed, so obvious is the principle, as almost to
dispense with argument. It bears on its very face, the irresistible force
of a first principle; for if the grave cannot cover up the _good_ deeds of
men, it never can be made to conceal their evil ones. The lessons of
history, like the lessons of life, are derived more from the wicked than
the good. The striking contrast of example, comes from the man who has
perpetuated deeds that curdle the blood with fear, or crimson the cheeks
with shame. Virtue is negative, quiet, undismayed--but vice rides aloft on
the back of desecrated principles and violated laws, accompanied by the
tumultuous rush of a moral whirlwind, overturning the fruits, blossoms and
harvest of life; bearing blasts upon its brow, and leaving havoc in its
train. And so do the laws of all well governed countries dispose of the
remains of notorious felons, who, instead of being suffered to repose in
the grave, are denied all interment; their bodies being delivered over to
the surgeons for the benefit of science, or exposed on a gibbet, till the
crows, eagles and vultures, devour their flesh, and then, even their bones
are left to blacken in the winter's blast, as a warning to man, to shun the
deeds that led them to their doom.

Where is the sepulchral sanctuary for Buonaparte? or for Nero? or for
Marius, Sylla, Otho, Galba, Charles of Burgundy, or Ferdinand of Spain? How
many patriot