There is one Piece of Sophistry practised by both
Sides, and that is the taking any scandalous Story
that has been ever whispered or invented of a Private
Man, for a known undoubted Truth, and raising suitable
Speculations upon it. Calumnies that have been
never proved, or have been often refuted, are the
ordinary Postulatums of these infamous Scriblers,
upon which they proceed as upon first Principles granted
by all Men, though in their Hearts they know they
are false, or at best very doubtful. When they
have laid these Foundations of Scurrility, it is no
wonder that their Superstructure is every way answerable
to them. If this shameless Practice of the present
Age endures much longer, Praise and Reproach will
cease to be Motives of Action in good Men.
There are certain Periods of Time in all Governments
when this inhuman Spirit prevails. Italy was
long torn in Pieces by the Guelfes and Gibellines,
and France by those who were for and against
the League: But it is very unhappy for a Man
to be born in such a stormy and tempestuous Season.
It is the restless Ambition of artful Men that thus
breaks a People into Factions, and draws several well-meaning
[Persons [5]] to their Interest by a Specious Concern
for their Country. How many honest Minds are
filled with uncharitable and barbarous Notions, out
of their Zeal for the Publick Good? What Cruelties
and Outrages would they not commit against Men of
an adverse Party, whom they would honour and esteem,
if instead of considering them as they are represented,
they knew them as they are? Thus are Persons
of the greatest Probity seduced into shameful Errors
and Prejudices, and made bad Men even by that noblest
of Principles, the Love of their Country. I cannot
here forbear mentioning the famous Spanish
Proverb, If there were neither Fools nor Knaves
in the World, all People would be of one Mind.
For my own part, I could heartily wish that all honest
Men would enter into an Association, for the Support
of one another against the Endeavours of those whom
they ought to look upon as their Common Enemies, whatsoever
Side they may belong to. Were there such an honest
[Body of Neutral [6]] Forces, we should never see the
worst of Men in great Figures of Life, because they
are useful to a Party; nor the best unregarded, because
they are above practising those Methods which would
be grateful to their Faction. We should then single
every Criminal out of the Herd, and hunt him down,
however formidable and overgrown he might appear:
On the contrary, we should shelter distressed Innocence,
and defend Virtue, however beset with Contempt or Ridicule,
Envy or Defamation. In short, we should not any
longer regard our Fellow Subjects as Whigs or Tories,
but should make the Man of Merit our Friend, and the
Villain our Enemy.
C.
[Footnote 1: Among his Moral Essays is that showing
’How one shall be helped by Enemies.’
In his ‘Lives,’ also, Plutarch applauds
in Pericles the noble sentiment which led him to think
it his most excellent attainment never to have given
way to envy or anger, notwithstanding the greatness
of his power, nor to have nourished an implacable hatred
against his greatest foe. This, he says, was his
only real title to the name of Olympius.]
