The central gazette. [volume] (Charlottesville, Va.) 1820-1827, 1825-08-20

stand. We take it to be impossible that any people,
vi nun whose reach good newspapers are brought,
Gao resist the temptation to letters. In America
where alone the thing has been tried, a native who
cannot read is not to be found. 1t ia in this way
mat the miscellaneous character OF newspaper
makes 1t more valuable Than il it contained DO
occurrences and political dssc tations The under.
standings oil its readers led by degrees FROM
the simplest domestic occurrences to those which
affect their remotcst interest appeal to their no
biest symPathies from the overturning of coach
TO the overturning of an empire. II is impossible
that a'"an, however narrow may be his views can
cast about IN such 4 mass of ioformaton for that
which particularly concerns his own interest pur.
suits, without stumbling something which en-
larges his IDEAS exercises his reason il is neces
sary to have seen people ameng whom ncwspa
pers have not penetrated to know the mass of mis-
chierous prcjudices which these prodnc tions in
stantly and necessarily dissipate. We may instance
the belief in witcb"rult and the rage wiiah was for
mcry on the approach of scarcity, directed against
all the dealers in provisions. No man who is ac
custuned to watch tho accounts of the orops the
state OF the markets, the specuations on the ade-
quacy OF the supply for the wants OF the con
sumets, on the deficiency surplus of mfl!ious
OF quarters. can tor q momcpt suppose that "Ve,-
city plenty depends upon the bTkers mi
ers Of his district, or that violence towards them
can produce any effect bat bad one. This is am
example Of the general effects of newspapers. The
instruction is conveyed, not by the direct incnlca
ton Of opinions, but by the habit OF looking Beyond
the narrow circle Of ones personal observation 10
The results OF a more enlarged observation. news
paper is in fact, the instrument which enables an
individual TO avail hms ELF OF the experience OF the
whole community.
1t favourite assertion ith few noisy persons
who find the Inconvenience OF the check which the
newspapers hold their political conduct that
the press is dangerous individual character they
insinuate that the press does nothing individual
character but to its injury, and that character is
injured hut by the press, and that this IL set
which perhaps more than countcrbalances its sup.
posed political utility Nothing is more completely
the OF the truth. II is diic to 50 whether
the press is more useful in affordng correction to
absurd general opinions, to false and injurious
| rumours respecting private characters. We give
their i"i weight TO the Instances which have be-
fore alluded to in the Of this article which
from party motives the most detestable calumnies
have been spread AGAINST some OF the private con-
nexions OF political men. \ rational system Of law
might easily repress these calumnies but at any
'ate, how exceedingly narrow is their range, how
trhing they compared with The protection
which the press affords to the character of hun
dreds and thousands of individuals me, ely BY the
correct report of judicial proceedings But for these
ports every man who appears in court Of justice
as plaintiff or defendant is at the mercy Of his
IfhIcs. Casual listeners msaPprehend the oil
proceeding and in conversation facts n,isrepre
scented at pleasure 1t is utterly vain for the victim
OF such calamitics to attempt to rcute them. They
are not tangible, they are not punishable. Against
this evil, newspaper reports afford complete secu
Iity, they bring back from tradition scripture
They arc always taken under guarantees for their
he -
est particular, the correction be made widely
known as the mistake.
The habit of discussion and the caution in DELHI
Grating, which newspapers create, can, perhaps
scarcely be produced in any other way Let us Ia
THIS same and most important instance, judicial pro.
ceeding' u we suppose people to be without
newspapers, the only manner in which the mass o.
people can form opinion, is not from any thing
approaching to reports Tut from the colored repre-
sensations OF hearers, the traditions Of those repr
sensations. The old maxim OF listening to both
sides may be followed by few, but even the hearing
OF both sides informs in such merely Of the
conflicting opinions upon the evidence, not OF the
evidence itself The necessary consequence OF CHI
state of things s that the opinions Of the mass are
by habit formed additionally, and that when once
formed, however absurd they may be, however up.
just towards an individual, they be altered
iii IT IS Zoo late to remedy the evil they produce
Hence, in those times when trials were strictly or
substantially secret for without newspapers they
must be substantially secre) the numerous instances
oil Judicial murders effected amidst popular applause
IL IS scarcely TO be doubted, that If newspapers had
existed IN their pr esent perfection in the reign o.
Charles ~ the victims OF the pretended popish plot
would never have suffered; IL they had existed in
France in the reign Of Louis XIV Lally could ne
yer have been hurried TO the scafold, overwhelmed
by the execraons of the people The security viii
u thus IN the present times afforded to innocence
and justice, we have attributed, To the freedom
OF 49, press in ge"vIa', because 1t depends not on
TIC h6eIty OF controversy but power of exam
1"aiion IL Is strictly the result of ithose newspa
PerS which commercial ingenuity has perfected and
which the taxation, which in so many other yvavs
imPedes the public welfare, has sought in vain to re
press.
' This assertion is not correct IN the extent
though sufficiently so, perhaps, for purposes gen.
ie's'ressonInS. Ed.
On Monday evening Dublin Theatre was
scene OF uprOar and alarm. II commenced
by voice III the gallery and vocifcraling
n clan for fhc TluEo Of XorL II