He, who, at the
present time, is favorable or even fair to that system, must act towards
it as towards a friend with frailties who is under the prosecution of
implacable foes. I think it a duty, in that case, not to inflame the
public mind against the obnoxious person by any exaggeration of his
faults. It is our duty rather to palliate his errors and defects, or to
cast them into the shade, and industriously to bring forward any good
qualities that he may happen to possess. But when the man is to be
amended, and by amendment to be preserved, then the line of duty takes
another direction. When his safety is effectually provided for, it then
becomes the office of a friend to urge his faults and vices with all the
energy of enlightened affection, to paint them in their most vivid
colors, and to bring the moral patient to a better habit. Thus I think
with regard to individuals; thus I think with regard to ancient and
respected governments and orders of men. A spirit of reformation is
never more consistent with itself than when it refuses to be rendered
the means of destruction.
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