Du Buque visitor. [volume] (Dubuque, Lead Mines, Wisconsin Territory) 1836-1837, 1836-11-16
FMn ,hcar4nossse Journal.
EDITORIAL FINE.

bC3n INC e3t1SSSSS journal.
EDITORIAL FINE.
Others may worship Che noisy god
dess of fame, but an edi Tor has nothing
to hope from her, and, therefore, owes
her no devotion.-No:Ia mere editor
of newspaper, as such has never, in
any age or country, enjoyed any of the
babbling worlds applause called fame,
properly SO speaking. rpt even doctor
Franklin, the master geeins of the age
in which he lived. And, ifthe whole
power of his gigantic mind had been
poured into the columns of his newspa-
per, the result would have been the
same-he would have lived and died
like other editors, and his name been
forgotten.
Editors of newspapers write for eff
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 wieI-
ded by busy politicians, from the giant
whose influence controls the destinies
of nation, down to mere demagogue
who pirates upon an election ground;
they answer the end for which they
were designed, and sink, as J ohm Quin-
cy Adams would say, into the great re-
ceptacle of things lost upon earth; or,
they write for the qualification and a.
musement of their patrons. Their rea-
ders laugh alike at their wit and their
folly; are interested, for the time, with
the bursts of genius or the display Of
learning, which they occasionally put
forth; are edited with the deep and
wide-spreading knowledge Of the af-
fairs of the world which adorn their CO.
lumns. They read-throw down the
papcr-in an hourit is torn into thou
sand tatters, and straightway the read
er forgets what manner Of man the ed
itor is.
Such is the ephemeral renown of the
most useful, and the most dangerous
class of men that inhabt this lower
world. A fool may write book and
perpetuate his name; but though an
editor should suggest and advocate that
which establishes government or o.
verturns an empire, he is soon forgot
ten. He is the man behind the screen.
True, he moves the wires that set the
puppets in motion, but they run of
with the fame.
Is this fiction, or is it fact? Look
back to the stream of history upon the
vanquished gelds of time, and you will
behold its verification. You will see
On the right hand and on the left, the
fading plumes of fallen warriors, and
decaying monuments Of the founders
and destroyers of empires-every where
strewn along your path, lie, in splend-
id ruins, the time-wOrn memorials OF
the genius and talent Of the historian,
thepoet and the philosopher; but where
is to be found a single 'memento of the
achievements, the talent or the useful
ness of an editor? o.where-unless
it be in the edict of some despot who
muzzled the press to protect the crown
that bedecked his silly and ambitious
head. Yet you will find, ever since the
art of printing has been known, the
press denominated the great lever OF
public opinion. Yes, the press is the
great leverby which the political world
is moved; but without conductor it
would be as useless as the wild Buce-
phalus before he was tanned by Alex
ander, and taught to bear, with pride,
his exalted burthen, amid the din OF
battle and over crimsoned fields OF blood
and slaughter. The names Of both A
lexander and his famous war-horse az
known-the press, the great leve eyhn
public opinion, is known-b DDat are
were its conductors in time,,.
past?-AH! THERE'S THE
The editor of foreig Jou, 1a, ~ ~.
ting upon the value oflne' ; s.eSa ;
Lord IL Bf T.. gRhanmn;,..d, often does not
quit a'm his study tue Dr.. Cotton Marther,
w vs. blM knew W ,ie value Of time in every
~. nv A ,.as1ever willing to lose a mo-