Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1810-07-27
PROSPECTUS
OF
~ Jnuntblp Inaga3ins,
TO BE PUBLISHED IN MARrISssURcH,
BIZ
JOHN ALBURTIS.


THERE is no reflection more painful to men of
L a free and republican spirit, than one too for
c;hlv suggested by the history of mankind, that free
governments have ever been ephemeral and short
lived that they have ever been prematurely des-
tro,ed. either By the slow but certain operation of
internal corruption, or by the furious assaults OF ex-
ter,al violence. The proud structures of Grecian
and Of Roman liberty, whose apparent strength gave
promise Of millenial duration, after exciting for a
few years the wonder and admiration of the world
were sappei and oTerthrown. Their short and bril-
liant day of liberty has been succeeded by a long and
gloomy night. For nigh two thousand years, the
banners of despotism have sulenly waved over the
majestic ruins of tile Capitol the monuments of
Atherian greatness are overthrown and scarce a
vestige IS left, to remind the degenerate sons of the
heroes who conquered at Marathon, at Salamis and
at Platea, that their fathers were free.
Such too has been the fate of the modern Europe
an republics Our own eyes. have seen them all Pc
IRISH in succession Holland, Venice and Genoa have
bowed their heads to a despot and Switzerland, a
name dear to freedom and virtue, Switzerland too
has fallen.
Would we avoid the fate of the republics, which
have PASSED down the troubled stream of time before
us III we would, let us diligently use the means of
giving durability TO our republican, institutions. OF
these means, the diffusion ofuseful knowledge among
the people. has been considered by the wisest politi-
clans, as the safest and the best An enlightened
and well informed people. only, can duly appreciate
the blessings of liberty and unless the inestimable
value fthat rich bon from Heaven, be known to
the Mass of the people, it is vain to hope that they
will venture their lives and their fortunes in its de-
fence.
Until a system Of Irrational education be adopted and
carried into execution, that general diffusion ofknow-
ledge, SO essential to the preservation of our liberty,
can be effected only thro' the medium Of a free, I'M
shackled Press II is the pride and the glory of our
country, that the Press is, here, as free and unres-
trained as the wind on our mountains. To the free
dom of the Press do the people OF United America
owe their independence for it was this which ena-
bed the enlightened Patriots of rs, to excite in the
mass of the people that unconquerablc love oe liberty
which supported them under all the privations and
calamiles OF a seven years tTar-whch infused into
every soul that grand evolutionary sentiment, sit is
better to perish than to live in slavery"
An institution like this cannot be too much cherish
ed or extended: 1t were well for our country, if
every town, ifevery village, if every hamlet contain
ed one of these fountains of knowledge, pouring forth
s%aubrious streams to refresh and animate the people.
Nor let it be objected, that the Press disserninates
pernicious, as well as wholesome principles that,
tho it frequently aids he cause oftruth, IL sometimes
extends the dominion of error. Establish the princi-
pie, that we should cease to use all those things which
are emirently liable to ab4se, and you overtrrn, at
once, all that is useful, all that is venerable, all that
shOly among human institutions. The Christian re-
iglon Itself, sacred tho it is, and divine as wa its
author, would be banished from the earth by the re-
cosntion of such a principle for the, most odious,
black and detestable crimes have been perpetrated, in
the sacred, but abused, name of the Saviour of man.
kind.
Instead, therefore, of wishing to see the influence
OF the Press diminished in our country, we should
endeavour, at the same time, to purify it, and to
widen the sphere of its operation. Into the purest of
those Gazettes which make the domestic politics of
our country their principal theme, party-vioience,
rancour and Talsehood, will sometimes intrude. A Pc
rlodlcal publication, whose object is the diffusion of
useful knowledge, and the dissemination ofsound prn-
clples of morality, among all classes, degrees and
denominations of men, should avoid the discussion of
topics, which arouse all the turbulent passions of the
hcman breast.