Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-10-13
From the Tennessee Journal

From the Tennessee Journal.
EDITORIAL FAmE.-Others may wor-
ship the noisy Goddess oeFame, but
an editor has nothing to hope from her,
and, therefore, owes her no devotion.
No: a mere editor of newspaper, as
such, has never, In any age or country
enjoyed any portion of the babbling
worlds applause, called fame, properly
so speaking, not even DIR. Franklin, the
master genius of the age in which he
lived. And, if the whole power of his
gigantic mind had been poured into the
columns of his newspaper, the result
would have been the same-he would
have lived and died like other editors,
and his name been forgotten.
Editors ofnewspapers, write for ef-
feet and not for fame. Their efforts
are directed to the passing events of the
day. AS the arguments TEEN from
their pens, they are caught up and
welded by busy politicians, from the
giant whose influence controls the des-
TIMES of a nation down to a mere DEM
agogue who PIRATES upon an election
ground ; they answer the end for which
they were designed, and sink, as John
Quincy Adams would say, into the
great receptacle of things lost upon
earth,-or they write for the gratifca-
ton and amusement of their patrons.
Their readers laugh alike at their wit
and their folly are interested, for the
time, with the bursts OF genius or dis
plays of learning which they occasion
ally put forth are edited with the
deep and wide spreading knowledge of
the affairs Of the world which adorn
their columns. They read-throw
down the paper-in an hour it is orr
into a thousand t%atters, and straight
way the reader forgets what manner of
mar the editor is.
Such is the ephemeral renown ofthe
most useful, and the most dangerous
class of men that inhabit this lower
world. A fool may write a book and
perpetuate his name; but though an ed
itor should suggest and advocate that
which establishes a government or
overthows an empire, he is soon for
gotten.-He is the man behind the
screen. True, he moves the wires
hat set the puppets in motion, but they
run off with the fame.
Is this fiction or is it fact? Look
back the stream Of history upon the
vanished fields of time, and you will
behold its notification. You will see
on the right hand and on the left, the
fading plumes of fallen warriors, and
the ~decaying monuments of the found
ers and ~destroyers of empircs-every
where, strewn along your path, lie, in
splendid ruins, the time worn memoir.
ais of the genius and talent of the histo-
rian, the poet, and the Philosopher; but
where is to be found a single memento
of the achievements, the talent, or uss-
fitness Of an editor? No where: un.
less it be in the edict of ONE despot
who muzzled the press to protect the
crown that bedecked his silly ambi-
tious head. Yet you find ever since
the art ofprinting has been known, the
press denominated the great lever Of
public opinion. Yes, the press is the
great lever by which the world is mo.
we'd but without a conductor it would
be as useless as the wild Bucephalus
before he was tanned by Alexander,
and taught to bear with pride his ex-
allied burthen, amid the din of battle,
and over the crimsoned fields of blood
and slaughter. The names of both
| Alexander and his famous war-horse
are kpown-the press, the great lever
of public opinion is known-but who
were its conductors in times that are
past All! there's The rub
EFFECTS OF INTEMPERANCE.-A
young man, the only male representa-
iino Of a highly respectable family, was
killed on Saturday last in Jefferson co.
Mississippi, by a very harmless youth
on whom the wretched inebriate was