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Unfounded rumors.

We have often endeavored to put the public upon their guard against unfounded rumor. We believe that some of the myriads of improbable fictions which are every day set-afloat must be deliberately invented either by domestic enemies of the South, for the sake of injuring our cause, or by mischievous wage, to impose on the public credulity. In the midst of such serious events as the present, we know not which class of these romancers is most to be reprehended. The first are knaves and the last idiots. To circulate false hoods in such times as these for the sake of a joke, exhibits a levity which is almost as shocking as deliberate treason. If the fiction set-afloat be an invention or exaggeration of disaster, it depresses the public mind at a time when it needs the support of patriotism, fortitude. and hope; if the story be of good news, it elevates it only to sink it to a still deeper depression. The old punishment for gossipping might be revived again with advantage to the public welfare, and a ducking pond be the reward of every one who willfully deceives the community.

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