Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1830-09-08


defiance and hostility against govern
ment, and seeks every where to sow the
seeds of discord and of civil war.
| And Sire, recent events have already
proved that political feelings confined
heretofore to the higher ranks of society
arc beginning to be more generally felt,
and to excite the popular mass. They
have proved also that this mass is not al
ways agitated without danger to those
even who strive to secure its repose.
! A multitude of facts collected during
the course of the late electoral opera
tons, confirm these statements, and af-
ford too certain prcsage Of new com
motions, did not your majesty possess a
power of remedying the evil.
H To an attentive observer, there every
where exists necessity for order, force
and pcrmancncy, and the disturbances
which appear the most opposed to such
necessity, are in reality but the express
sion and testimony it.
These agitations WHICH cannot be in
creased without great peril, are almost
exclusively produced and excited by the
liberty allowed to the press. A law of c.
ections not less prolific in disorders, has
without doubt concurred assisted to main
tain them, but we must deny the evi-
dence of our senses not to see in the pc
riodicals the principal focus of corrup-
ton, the progress of which becomes dai-
ly more sensible as the origin of the ca
lamtics which threaten the kingdom.
Experience, Sire, speaks louder than
theory, enlightened even without doubt,
whose patriotism cannot be suspected, =,
carried away by the, example of neigh
boring people, have believed that the
advantages of the periodical press would
be neutralized by contrary excesses. 1t
is not so-the proof is decisive and the
question is now determined
AT all epochs the periodical press has
only been, and from it's nature must ever
be, an instrument of disorder and sedi-
ton.
How numerous and irrefutablc are the
proofs that may be brought to support this
truth 1t is by the violent and uninter-
rupted action Of the press that we are to
attribute those too sudden and too fre-
quent changes in our internal policy.
1t has not permitted a regular and stable
| system of government to be established in
! France, nor that continued and strenuous
efforts should be made to introduce into
the various branches of public admins
tration those ameliorations of which they
are susceptible. Every ministry since
1914, though formed under different cir
cumstances, and actuatcd by different
impulses, have been exposed to the same
unbridled expressions of passion. Sacri
fees of every kind, concessions ofpowcr,
alliances of party, nothing has been able
to protect them from this common destiny.
This fact alone, so fertile in reflections,
sutlices to assign to the press its true and
unvariablc character. 1t labors by con-
tinuous and pcrsevering efforts, daily re-
pcatcd, to loosen all the bonds of obedi-
cnce and subordination, to weaken the
springs Of public authority, to sink and
debase it in the opinion Of the people,
and to create for it every where cmbar-
rassmcnts and resistance.
Its art consists not in substituting for a
crcdulous submission of the mind the
healthy liberty of examination, but to re-
duce the most positive truths to problems;
not to invite frank and useful controver-
sy upon political questions, but TO present
them in false light and to resolve them
by sophisms.
The press has thus disordcrcd the
most upright minds, shaken the tirmcst
convictions, and produced in the bosoms
of society a confusion of principles which
favors the most disasterous attempts
Anarchy in doctrines is prelude to an,
archy in the state.
Ii is worthy of remark, Sire, that the
periodical press has never fulfilled its
most essential condition, namely, public
ity. 1t may appear strange but is no less
true, that there is no publicity in France
taking his word in its ust and rigorous
acceptation. In the actual state otthing:
facts when they arc not entirely supposi.
tons, are only presented to many millions
of readers curailed, disiigurcd, and mu'
tilatcd in a most odious manner. "A thick
cloud raised by the Journals disguise:
the truth, and in measure prevents q
perfect understanding between the Gov
ernment and the people. The kings
your predecessors, Sire, have been de-
sirous freely to communicate with then
subjects, but this is satisfaction which
the press is not willing that your MaJcs-
ty should enjoy.
A liccnt,ousncss which has outstrip-
ped all bounds, even upon the most So
Tenn occasions, and neither respected
the express wishes of the king nor the
addresses made to them from the throne.
The one has been mistaken or perverted
and the others have been the subject OF
pcrfidious commentary or bitter derision.
IL is thus that the last act ofroyal autho-