1824.] 



Golden Rules for Honest Men. 



483 



of its a{!;cnts; and, above all, Bckcl 

 responsiblo and respectable men for the 

 oflicc, wl)o, from principle as well as 

 competency of circunistanees, would be 

 jibove tlie temptation and necessity of 

 compromising witii offenders and defeat- 

 ing justice. To dissociate two classes 

 of men, tlic officer and the culprit, whom 

 habit has accustomed ns to sec asso- 

 ciated, not only without surprise, but 

 even without much disa;ust, would be a 

 most important advantage. It would 

 lend to dry up a very abundant source of 

 immorality ; for such a custom is calcu- 

 lated to lower respect for the law, as it 

 is to abate its terrors and encourage its 

 violation. 'I'he two classes ought to bo 

 rendered as distinct as good and evil. 

 The inspection of their several districts 

 by the police officers should be fair and 

 impartial, and no longer nominal, iiut 

 real. They siiould watch, with lynx- 

 eyed jealousy, the flash i)ul)lic-l)ou.<es, 

 oyster-rooms, and cofTee-sliops. Above 

 all, they should double their vigilance to 

 seal up that bottomless pit of depravity, 

 the receiving system. 



For the Movth/y Magasine. 



GOLDtN RVLF.S for HONEST MEN. 



kO no act which )ou feel any 

 repugnance to have seen or 

 known by otliers; for the nocrcssity of 

 being secret implies some vice in the 

 act, or some error in the reasoning 

 which b'ads to its self-justification. 



2. Do nothing to any sentient or suf- 

 fering being, %vliich you would feel to bo 

 cruel or unjust towards yourself, if your 

 beings or situations were changed; and 

 mark, that, although liiis rule is errone- 

 ously limited to the relalions of man to 

 man, and is therefore practised too often 

 with a view to reciprocal advantage ; 

 yet it is gemn'nc virtue only, when prac- 

 tised towards those from whom no reci- 

 procal advantage can be derived, as 

 when applied to the meanest animals, 

 and <'very helpless sentient object. 



3. To live and let live, applies to all 

 social and ph^siiMJ relations: for the 

 world is the common property of all the 

 beings who have been evolved by the 

 progress of creative power, and all are 

 necessary parts of a great and harmoni- 

 ous scheme, to which it is our duty to 

 submit, while the happiness of all ought, 

 as far as possible, to be rendered accord- 

 ant with our own. 



4. Hesitate, doubt, enquire, and if 

 possible forbear, whenever your inten- 

 tion i^ dangerous or fatal lo the welfare 



1. 



of another : for it is too late lo correct ao 

 error of judgment after any mischief to 

 another has been perpetrated. 



5. Give countenance to no slander 

 relative to another in his absence ; and, 

 if obliged to hear slanders, discharge 

 your own responsibility by the early 

 communication of them to the slan- 

 dered: for he who hears any slander, 

 who takes no measures to procure its 

 contradiction, and who, from any sini.s- 

 ter motive, declines to bring the slan- 

 derer and slandered face to face, is an 

 accessory, and as culpable as the 

 propagator; while the baseness and mis- 

 chief of slander would be rooted from 

 society, if hearers forebore to be quies- 

 cent accessories. 



6. Beware of envy, and of a practice 

 of detracting from the merit of those 

 whom you iiave not the industry, the 

 inclination, or the talent, to imitate ; for 

 it is your duty either to admire or emu- 

 late others, or to be content with the 

 station in which your birtii, talents, or 

 industry, have placed you. 



7. Be as useful as possible in tiie so- 

 cial sphere which you fill : for a man in 

 society does not Ifvc for himself alone ; 

 and, as he derives benefits from others, 

 so he ought to confer them as often as he 

 has the opportunity and the power. 



8. Remember that all wealth and 

 grandeur is sustained by the industry 

 and privations of others : for money is 

 but the representative of products, and 

 products are the results of labour: thus 

 income from interest of money is drawn 

 from the industry or privations of the 

 l)orrower ; that from rent, from the indus- 

 try or privations of the tenant; and that 

 from manufacturing products, from the 

 industry or privations of the workman. 



9. Reward and encourage virtue in 

 every station, and discountenance vice 

 and bad passions, however adventitiously 

 exalted: for, unless the good draw a 

 strong line between the worthy and the 

 unworthy, and, by association and sub- 

 .scription, combine to sustain tlie adver- 

 sity and the <dd age of virtue, unprin- 

 cipled vice will eagerly trample it in the 

 dust. 



10. Avoid all those insanities of the 

 human minil engendered by unwise 

 authors, and early errors, — such as the 

 passion after posthumous fame, whicli 

 can seldom be realized, and can never 

 be felt, — as the love of wealth beyond 

 the means of comfortable enjoyment, — 

 as the love of renown among beings who 

 forget you in sleep, and in death,— as the 



love 



