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¬wish to reform our manners, it would have been strangely inconsistent to excite an appetite for slander. — The reader will not therefore iind a single sentence that can be tortured into a defa- matory application ; and I publish this even in the Preface, though it may ruin the sale of my book. ¬General remarks upon laws and government cannot be thought to be within the scope of this forbearance ; national councils may be mis- taken and even disastrous, though their authors may be intelligent and upright. — Neither should the public interests be compromised by silence when the publication of truth may be useful ; but there is not a word even upon such subjects, that can be construed into personal reproach ! ¬Although I have to thank the public for a more favourable reception of what has been already published than it was at all entitled to command, yet I cannot but be severely mor- tified to find that it is generally thought to be ¬a ro- ¬
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