470 MR. " PUBLIC INSTRUCTOR" ROEBUCK. 



paper; applying, also, to that gentleman, the epithet? "cowardice," ""base- 

 ness," "skulking," "charlatanism," and "depravity" \vorsethanthat of an 

 assassin !" For this the pamphleteer was brought to a most abject apology, 

 and sheltered himself under the plea of " misapprehension !" 



Setting aside the excessive inconsistency of an instructor in morals, 

 putting forth such expressions as those above quoted, that, too, in an 

 article on the depravity and coarseness of the Stamped Press, we ought 

 to award the uttermost excess of contempt to a man, who pre- 

 tends to teach others that of which he is himself totally ignorant. Snp- 

 posing it to be essential that " the people" should be made acquainted 

 with the private character of Mr. Stirling, our " public instructor" pre- 

 tended to tell them ; and stated things, for which, as he afterwards owned 

 in his apology, he had not the slightest foundation : namely, that 

 Mr. Stirling was editor of " the Times," a charlatan, a coward, &c. &c. 

 What is the word by which such asseverations deserve to be designated ? 

 We would rather not use it. 



But the "public instructor" misapprehended. Be it so. And view- 

 ing his conduct in this, its most favourable light, it sadly detracts from 

 the character of a teacher ; for he must have been either so obtuse as to 

 "misapprehend" matters which are, with the least possible trouble, 

 comprehended ; or, understanding them, so dishonest, as wilfully to mis- 

 represent the truth. If, then, he be found guilty of deceiving his multi- 

 tudinous pupil, the public, in matters involving the character of a private 

 gentleman, and consequently, in some shape, at his own personal risk ; 

 how are his instructions to he depended on, when applied to the great 

 principles of "government and morality ?" 



Again : the absence of that moral rectitude which ought to be the 

 chief attribute of such a character as Mr. Roebuck has chosen to assume, 

 is glaringly evident in the fact of a legislator a man chosen by a body 

 of constituents to enforce and revise the laws wickedly betraying the 

 trust reposed in him, and instead of supporting the legal institutions of 

 his country, basely, deliberately breaking them ! The pamphlets under 

 consideration are according to Mr. Roebuck's own showing, in the 

 commencement of his first publication as unequivocally liable to the 

 imposts of the stamp-act, as any newspaper in the kingdom ; and, having 

 boastingly shown so much, he proceeds to discuss " the means by 

 which its enactments might be legally avoided," with the effrontery of a 

 logical smuggler, who might argue to pro^ j the legality of defrauding 

 the revenue. 



And here we cannot help digressing, to point out the extreme par- 

 tiality with which the stamp laws have, of late, been administered. Why 

 should a poor wretch, who, for vending an unstamped publication 

 possibly to escape the horrors of starvation why should he be sent to 

 jail, for merely distributing papers, with the compilation of which he 

 had nothing to do, arid with the contents of which he is, in all proba- 

 bility, entirely ignorant ? punished for only being accessory to an 

 offence, of which, morally, he is entirely innocent ? 



Why ? Because it is perfectly proper that law-breakers should be 

 punished " the law allows it, and the court awards it." The question 

 then naturally arises Why should one legislative trespasser be punished, 

 and another escape ? We leaye the first interrogatory with the readers 



