PAULAR MERINOS.—NO. VI. 
271 
actly what the poet calls “damning with faint 
praise.” Of coarse the committee must say 
something ; they felt bound in courtesy to do it. 
They could not in conscience express a favorable 
opinion, nor say anything more than they did. 
How could they have penned a sentence, which 
would say any less ! If possible to do it, it 
could only be done by some use of language, 
which I have not learned. Their notice is truly 
“ a caution.” They were judges, and knew 
what they were talking about. They did not 
mean to be led into endorsing (as Mr. Jewett 
probably intended they should do) the weight of 
the fleeces, and the story of the breed. “ Said 
by him, to be Paulars .” That was safe. The 
committee was not quite “ so green,” as to let the 
Vermonter “ use ” them, and thus “ come Yankee 
over ’em.” They knew too much for that, by a 
good deal. I fancy that Mr. Jewett could hardly 
have made much capital out of the report of 
that committee, on the strength of which to sell 
spurious Paular bucks, last fall. The committee 
very properly would not consent to lend the offi- 
cial imprimatur and influence of the N. Y. State 
Society, in praise of his sheep, and in furtherance 
of his views of speculation on the public credu¬ 
lity, though it is hardly to be wondered at, that 
Mr. Jewett should have expected almost, any¬ 
thing of them, after what he had previously ex¬ 
perienced from the kind and obliging temper of 
his two friends, Mr. Randall, and the other Sec¬ 
retary of the State Society, Mr. Luther Tucker 
of the Albany Cultivator, in giving place for two 
succeeding years to his pictures and ram letters 
(i. e., advertisements in disguise,) in the publish¬ 
ed volumes of “ Transactious of the N. Y. State 
Ag. Society thus making profitable use of the 
State Society, as a medium of special advertising 
for him through its publications, as he had pre¬ 
viously been in the habit of using the columns 
of the Albany Cultivator, on which I have al¬ 
ready animadverted, in my last communication. 
The thought strikes me forcibly, that hajl Mr. 
Jewett (in the homely, but expressive words of 
the old saying,) “ known which side his bread 
was buttered on,” he would have left his sheep 
at home, sooner than have taken them to the 
Rochester exhibition. If he is a wise man, a 
Solomon indeed, he will in future avoid showing 
his sheep before a committee composed of such 
shrewd and skilful judges, as Mr. Morrell and 
others, who were on the Merino sheep commit¬ 
tee at Rochester last year. Indeed, to do him 
justice, Mr. J. seems not to have been very slow 
to learn by experience, the lesson of wisdom ; 
for though we expected him to come out and 
show some of his sheep at the exhibition of our 
American Institute last fall, (held in this city, 
shortly after the State Society fair at Rochester,) 
yet we saw nothing of either him or his sheep. 
He had grown wiser than to come. He had not 
forgotten Rochester ; notwithstanding he had ex¬ 
pressed, and given strong assurance, of his inten¬ 
tion to come and exhibit his sheep at the city of 
New York, he disappointed us. But it admitted 
of easy explanation, and therefore his failing to 
come, excited but little surprise. For one, I was 
not disposed to blame him for not coming. I 
could understand his feelings, and he was right. 
It would have done him no good. To show his 
sheep before good judges at a few more such 
places, would have been well nigh “ a finisher” 
to his profitable game of selling “ pure Paular 
bucks.” The business of ram selling, would soon 
be, as they say, at a discount with him. 
I have not remarked on Mr. J’s personality , in 
sneering at me as being a “ city gentleman,” who 
therefore could not have handled many sheep with 
his own hands. It is true, I have dwelt some in 
cities, but more and earlier in the country; and 
though I do not think to imitate his example in 
making a boast of the fact, yet (as you Mr. Editor, 
well know,) my hands in time past, have been and 
still are , not wnused, nor wholly unfamiliar with 
the fleeces of sheep, and with the animals that 
produce them. 
In order to prevent misunderstanding, I would 
here remark, that I do not wish needlessly and 
sweepinglv, to disparage and call in question the 
motives of any or all who have had a hand or agen¬ 
cy in giving currency to the “Paular” humbug, 
which I presume must, by this time, be considered 
as pretty well “ used up” and exploded. 
Even Mr. Jewett, (as I have before said,) may 
himself have been deceived, as well as have been 
the instrument of misleading others, as to the ex¬ 
istence of “ pure Paular” sheep in the country, at 
the present day, and in his possession. 
I wish most particularly to be understood as not 
impeaching, by anything I have said, the motives 
or character of Mr. Randall, who I have no doubt, 
has been sincere in what he has written and pub¬ 
lished in praise and defence of Mr. Jewett’s (and 
his own) spurious, jor Vermont Paulars. Messrs. 
Jewett, Avery, &; Co., in puffing their sheep, were 
certainly very fortunate in obtaining, or enjoying 
the benefit, of the pen and services of a writer so 
gifted and popular as Mr. R. But I do not for a 
moment suppose that a man so respectable, and 
honorable as Mr. Henry S. Randall, would have 
thus consented to act as puff-writer, or trump¬ 
eter to such a concern, had he not himself in 
some way been so far imposed upon and deceived, 
as honestly to believe in the purity of blood of 
those spurious or mongrel sheep, and that they 
were fairly entitled to the specific name of Paular , 
which was so improperly claimed for them by 
their owners, and whose claims to that high name, 
it is believed had in truth no foundation whatever. 
But with the light which they now have, I do not 
see why Mr. Randall and all other honest and fair- 
minded men, who have endorsed, or been instru¬ 
mental in giving aid and currency to the Paular 
humbug, should not at once, and promptly, come 
out, and in a spirit of candor, publicly renounce 
their error, and admit that they have been deceiv¬ 
ed, and cannot maintain their ground. This would 
now be the frank and manly thing. I commend it 
to their attention. The earlier they do it, the 
better the thing will appear for them. 
I cannot promise when you shall again hear 
from me, but remain, as ever, yours faithfully. 
Examiner. 
New York, February 1st, 1844. 
