The Virginia Gazette

Please to give the following a Place in your Paper,
Mr. Parks,
and you'll oblige
Your old Friend and constant Reader,
TOM TELL-TRUTH.

Nam si currunt, bene bonis fit, male
Malis, quod nunquid abest.
Cic. de Nat. Deorum.
Vol. III.

The other Day calling
at a
Public
House, a Box of Letters came
from
on Board a Ship lately arrived from
England; they were no sooner spread
upon the Table, but the busy Crowd,
anxious for themselves and Friends,
made a Circle round it; having no
Concern myself (from the Misfortune of out-living my
Friends) I took my Place in a Corner of the Room,
when of a sudden a Person snatches up a Letter, reads
the Superscription, To ---....- Egad, says he, I must
know the Contents of this, and made off.

A. I have formerly been a Sufferer by having had
my Letters intercepted, I was inclin'd to upset this
worthy Gentleman of opening what he had no Right to.
I remember my poor old Father us'd to say, that Mala
praxis was for ever contemned by Physicians ; if so,
why should it be allow'd in any other Respect? 'Tis
true, from an ignorant Pretender in Physic, a Man may
run the Hazard, nay lose his Life ; and from the open-
ing and destroying of Letters, the Consequences may be
as bad.

This is the falsest and basest Way of betraying Man-
kind, and as great a Breach of Duty to our Neighbour
as Man can be guilty of : And 'tis my firm Opinion, he
that will open and destroy another Man's Letter, will
open his Chest, or stab him in the Dark, as Opportunity
Shall favour his Design.

The Advantage a base Man proposes to himself from the
intercepting and opening of Letters, is undoubtedly
with the Design to make himself Master of the little
Secrets of Family or private Affairs; and upon the
Basis of a Letter or Letters, abets, contrives, and plots, to
bring his wicked Purposes to bear, to the Ruin of him
he intends it for. This is an external Evil that Europe
is unacquainted with. The Power of opening Letters
is invested in the Crown ; but that only regards the State,
for the Preservation of his Majesty's Royal Person, and to
Secure the Peace and Tranquility of the Government :
but even in this Case, 'tis seldom executed but upon the
Suspicion of High-Treason, and then 'tis held sacred,
and us'd with the utmost Caution.

Let us only suppose the opening of Letters to proceed
in general from a curious Motive, (which is putting the
most favourable Construction it will bear) it will be at-
tended with Difficulty to keep the Secrets (if any) that
are imparted to them; if design'd to pry into their
Neighbours Affairs, they must infallibly have a Mix-
ture of Pain as well as Pleasure. What a poor degene-
rate Spirit! but when the Devil prevails upon Man, he
does it by mimicking the Truth, and raising erroneous and
wicked Superstructures upon a good and sound Bottom ;
and he that thrusts himself into these Scrapes, entangles
more than he is aware ; for the constant Guard he must
have upon his Tongue that none of these Secrets make
their Escape, brings him under a Necessity often Times
of Lying, or disowning what he knows in a Manner ir-
reconcilable with Sincerity or a good Conscience.

I am confident such evil Actions must be obnoxious
to every Man of Honour, and am persuaded the Publi-
cation of this Epistle cannot give Offence, but to the
Guilty ; and am therefore under some Surprize that our
Men of Letters should lie Dormant upon this Subject so
long, without ever having given a Hint to the Public of
such vile and scandalous Proceedings.