Star.
London, England, 1829-09-03 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

sta—The moral influence of The Tines upon the sentiments and
opinions of the country exhibits a striking instance of the utility of
an Independent press. It is by means of that stupendous engine
that Kings are taught to respect the rights and privileges of their
subjects, and the national mind is unfolded, instructed, and ma-
tured. But the eery liberty of the press, so essential to the liber-
ties of the people, contains within itself the germ of its own de-
gradation. A popular journal is a source of individual wealth, and
a channel of appeal to the passions of the community. Hence the
numerous venal journals, reared on the principle of gainful calcu-
lation, and circulated under the protection of party influence.
klinisterial support is a tolerably safe basis on which to conduct
an intelligent Paper, especially if the Government happen to be
popular; but the utility of an able Journal is most extensive, whin
it takes its place on the side of the opposition. The party in power
will never want advocates to defend their measures, not column.
tsxors to expound their doctrines.

A highly-talented and constitutional Journal, like The Tuna,
should ever be the jealous watchman of the people, to warn thee
of the encroachments of their rulers ; aid, by keeping aloof from
the Ministry, should stand above the reach of suspicion.

The readers of that journal, who constititte, or did constkute,
a large majority of the newspaper readers of England, still remem-
ber the force and influence of its leading articles, when dictated by

anti-ministerial principles ; but now, that it labours to support the
Government, its talent is obscured, and its usefulness suspended,
by the application of its power to objects on which, happily, its
force is not calculated to act.

Its present laborious and abortive efforts to support the views
of a Ministry form • stfiking contrast to the and
cacy with which it long advocated the principles of constitu-
tional right. Who that had not seen it could imagine that the
same Journal which, under the influence of a jealous apprehension

of military domination, opposed the advancement of the Duke of
. Wellington to the Premiership of England, and en the additional
ground alas declaration of incapacity, now attempts to uphold the
appointment of the traitor Bourmont to a high station in, the French
Ministry ! Had the friends of the Duke supported his advancemeit
by urging us to* wait till he had committed himself" before we
rejected hint, The Tines would have torn such ribaldry to rags by
a single stroke of its inimitable pen.
Let me, Sir, entreat you, on behalf of the nation whom yen serve,
to forbear devoting your invaluable talents to the support of any
Ministry, however constituted. The Government are the servants

of the country ; the nation have long looked up to you as the
guardian of their liberties, and the champion of their rights. Your
proper station is in the front of the people ; but if you enlist an Ad.
ministration under your banners, they will question the sincerity of
your patriotism, and undervalue the blessings of a free press.
I am. Sir, with the greatest respect, your very obedient servant,
A READER OF THE TIMES.