If Mr. Draper had had the least
Inclination to have ascertained the Falsehood of the Paragraph
inserted in his Paper of the 26th of November, it was so
notorious, that without giving the Selectmen the Trouble of it, he
might have done it himself, by enquiring of perhaps the first
honest Man he had met in the Street: But it was calculated to
mislead the Reader into a Belief, that "not ten Persons voted for
sending the Letter of Correspondence" into the Country, and
therefore it must, to answer so good a Purpose, be inserted in that
"circulating" Gazette, whether true or false; and the Publisher, very
demurely, by Way of Atonement, after the Falsehood is detected,
promises the injur'd Publick " to enquire into the Foundation
of it."-!!!
In his last Gazette he informs his Readers that he had accordingly
apply'd to his Author; who, he says, "does not deny the Number
present" at the Meeting "as declared by the Selectmen when the
first Vote pass'd." Now the Selectmen declare, "that a respectable
Number of the Inhabitants attended the Meeting through the Day,
and when the Letter, after being twice read and amended in the
Meeting was voted, and accepted to be sent, it appeared to them,
and they are well satisfied, that there was not less than three
Hundred Inhabitants present, and in the Opinion of others the
Number was much larger"; which is undoubtedly the Fact.
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