Fowle's New Hampshire Gazette And General Advertiser

ON PREJUDICE.

PREJUDICE is a little narrow contracted quality, the offspring of ignorance, and the parent of baseness; this property may be distinguished from impartiality, by a rashness of judgment in any matter, before it's being duly considered or weighed, and when applied to men, by prepossession in favour of any party, and although in most instances, it may be pernicious in the highest degree, and especially where power is lodged and falls in with this infection, yet it is a happiness, that prejudice cannot escape the notice of the most common observer; even those who are almost blinded with this disease in themselves, have light enough left, if they had but honesty to detect it in others: As ignorance is an ingredient of tyranny, so are both ingredients of prejudice, for while the designing are practising their arts on the former, it's operations are attended with a degree of acrimony in the latter. In all ages, and amongst all orders of men, this quality is more or less lurking in a just proportion to our wisdom and virtue. It carries its destructive tendencies into legislative bodies, but unhappy that people where its baneful influence reaches Executives. how often have we seen prejudice with its concomitants, iniquity and havoc reign triumphant in Judiciary capacities, to the destruction of property, and terror of the subject, in the face of day, and to the astonishment of listening spectators, involving the fatherless and the orphan in one general ruin; but in this day when the times of ignorance are seemingly over, our judges are not as at the first, nor our Counsellors as at the beginning, the scale of justice is held in each hand, and such are the decisions of our Judiciary Courts, that after an impartial examination of evidences, and a full hearing of the parties by their council, the nicest criticism may be challenged to discern the double headed monster, prejudice; or the scale to preponderate but on the side of justice.