To call a man a liar is not actionable; but the offensive words charged upon Rogers do not necessarily impute as much as this. There might have been a mistake or a misunderstanding on both sides, or Mr. Saltonstall may, for good reason, have changed his purpose. No crime was charged upon him, which we have seen is necessary to support the action. “Where the words are not actionable in themselves and the only ground of action is the special damage, such damage must be proved as alleged.” In this case no special damage, is alleged and of course none proved. The causes of the suit were too trifling for further discussion. Falsehood need not rest upon either. Duplicity was no part of Roger’s character, and, since we have spoken a word for him, we will let the Rev. Gurdon Saltonstall speak for himself, as quoted by Mr. McEwen in his “Bi-Centennial Discourse”:—
“There never was,” said Gov. Saltonstall in a letter to Sir Henry Ashurst, “for this twenty years that I have resided in this government, any one, Quaker or other person, that suffered on account of his different persuasion in religious matters from the body of this people.”
We may suppose that Mr. Saltonstall thought he had done a brilliant act, to recover from John Rogers a sum equal to about six year’s salary. But there are scales that never grow rusty and dials that do not tire. Time, the great adjuster of all things, will have its avenges.
While the least peccadilloes of the Rogerenes have been searched out as with candles and published from pulpit and from press, no one of their enemies has ever found it convenient to name this high-handed act of oppression, as shown in the suit referred to. Perhaps they have viewed it in the light that the Scotchman did his text, when he said, “Brethren, this is a very difficult text; let us look it square in the face and pass on.” They may not even have looked it in the face.
Last, if not least, of the unauthenticated anecdotes narrated by Mr. McEwen of the Rogerenes, in his half-century sermon, which we would not care to unearth, but which has recently been republished in The Outlook, is here given:—
One of this sect, who was employed to pave the gutters of the streets, prepared himself with piles of small stones, by the wayside, that when Mr. Adams was passing to church, he might dash them into the slough, to soil the minister’s black dress. But, getting no attention from the object of his rudeness, who simply turned to avoid the splash, the nonplussed persecutor cried out, “Woe unto thee, Theophilus, Theophilus, when all men speak well of thee!”
When we remember that Mr. Adam’s name was not Theophilus, and that, if it was on Sunday that the preacher was going to church, the gutters would not have been in process of paving, a shadow of doubt falls upon this story.
But Mr. McEwen throws heavier stones at the Rogerenes, which we are compelled to notice, and shall see what virtue there is in them.
Why, in speaking of the Rogerenes, in his half-century sermon, does he say: “To pay taxes of any sort grieved their souls”? when they were so exact to render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s? Miss Caulkins fully exonerates them from this charge. We repeat her words:—
He (John Rogers) maintained also obedience to the civil government, except in matters of conscience and religion. A town or county rate the Rogerenes always considered themselves bound to pay; but the minister’s rate they abhorred.