The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-09-28
DEGRADATION Of enc Newspaper Pross-'The
Lie Direct.

Lie Direct.
"The surest criterion" rays an eminent writer,
"of the civilization and rs6oement Of people, IL
the tone Of its periodical press" Serviity in the
ne uspsper columns, he adds does not more truly
indicate age Of despotism. shan want of gentle
manly courtesy ON the part Of the editor bstokens
vulgar taste among his readers Ephemeral fters
ture is the reflection Of the public mind If the for
mer be debased, it may be taken for granted that
the attic polish 10 wanting in the latter
Such 10 the opisiOn Of one sho. from his vas'
capacity and lorg experience. vas we'll able to form
Judgment on the subject The Sentence has been
universally accepted by modern philosophers The
state Of society in foreign countries, generally, Is
inferred from the style and language Of the news
papers in the leading cities.
Let US suppose such q test applied to America.
Let us fancy FrenehmsD, or a German, or Rus
sian, an Eoglishman, nov. among "a, collecting
materials for social anatomy Of the Yankees, and
carefully fling the lsadog journals rs vouchers for
his assertions. He arrives /, the country on the
eve Of great political movemeut-a tune when
| every reads the papers, and feels persona
| interest in their couenss The appDintmeDt of .
chief ruler il The event ia Amerc. IN 8 ife be he
democrat or be he wing. he casoot look the con.
test with indifference, refuse to participate in the
polemc in which his daily paper is engaged
! At this period, above all others, is the press
! identified with society. The foreign psilo
opher will confidently expect to find sober
discussion and deep thought in the Journals
he receives He will, on this oecssion, be pre-
| pared for q calm review of the late whig poll.
y, and IN nsairy into the exp dien,y of cbsnge
He will look forward to q searching analysis Of the
benefits promised by free traders, and full ssser
| ton Of the rights Of the manufacturing aud agricu
| tu,al interests He will feel certain thss the
influential journals will contain dispassionate
argument in favor of, or against, the extension of
| be posers of the federal goserDmsnt de will ex-
pect essay from all sides the free soil policy, tho
| canal las. and the 9th noDeDtOus political ques
tons Of the day. Above all, remembering that the
Americans are enlightened and highly intellec-
tual people, he will d. Of the newspaper war
berg waged in Any but the most gentlemanly tone
and the most courteous language
| To what conclusion he come, when he fuds
that with one or two ptioDs the only weapons Of
debate used by the are gross personalities and
| low vituIeration What estimate will he form OF
| the American character, when, instead of paral
| 'el between wbigism and 0enocrary, he sees the
leading journals bent on outstippipg each other in
foul libes the private character of the rival can
didates? What opinion Of American politics must
be his, when be discovers the controversy reduced
TO sesnds'aus or siy anecdotes respecting the do
mest1 habits of General Scott ard Pierce, and the
merits Of the rival policies entirely forgotten And
At what standard will he rate the refinement Of the
American people, when be reads the lamensable OK
amples of vulgar scurriity with which cotenpo-
| raIies abound 7
God forbid for the honor of our country, that the
task we have suggested should De seriously un
dertaken while the state ofthe press remains az 1t
! is Warm though our indignation aud keen our
rdcule Mt the faults and follies of neighbors.
! We could never hold up our heads if Germany,
| France or Britain were familiar with newspaper
| literature. The disgrace would Overwhelm US. Let
| us closely hide the blemish our fair fame, and
| concentrate all our energies the means of re-
| moving it.
We have collected during the past three or four
montbs, and purpose publishing, few SCRAPS
| ON the leading journals Of both parties,
| calm perusal of which will probably call
| he blush to the cheek of every American.
| We hardly know how to classify or arrange them,
their nature and character differ 80 widely. Coin
cioirg oil in one vulgarity, each editor has
bis peculiar ode Of showing to the world no small
bis preteDsions to the rank Of gentleman; each
| loves to charge his antagonists with peculiar
wee. One accusation seems familiar to the pen, and
We presume to the lips Of many of these editors;
they illuminate it all occasions where they differ
in opinion from q contemporary, regardless Of age,
| sex, or decorum it comes naturally to them, and
seems-sO perverted has our taste become-a matter
Of course in their columns; in fact, they could not
satisfactorily deny given assertion without bold
| You told lie odous. dannable lie
Upon my soul lie . wicked lie.
They repudiate all milder forms of contradiction
! The equip modest" the "retort churlsh," the
| sreproof valiant" the "countercheck quarrel
some" and even the 8 lie with circumstance" ~
| tame and weak-potbing but the lie Direct
hurled in the teeth Of an adversary, repeated and
aggravated with opprobrious epthets, is to their
mind We hasten to add that no more unpleasant
consequences follow the charge than retort Of the
| lie like honest Touchstone, they avoid it, with
an IT," In other countries, the open imputation
Of the most disgraceful vice which depravity has
invented-the epit bet of " liar'-would lead to a
hostile meeting, and doubtless the calumniator
would dearly expiate the outrage. We see plainly,
that "yng is the crime of cowards;' for the reply
to the epithet is seldom more than Sosies candid
confession =
Pour des scttses dis m en- tant que tn voudras:
&c sont leseres bier sures,
TT je ne men fache pas.
In hone st truth, our public men have become
customed to be told they '.li.rs''-addcted to
the ''accursed vice" which Plato considered the
greatest Of crimes, and Montaigne would have
punished with the ftaks-th the vice which, If preva.
lent, would rot society its core-thst their pulse
does not beat stroke the faster when they hear
the atrocious epithet.
Thus, the wings laugh when the Southern Demo.
Graf says che has been trying to count the whg lies
uttered during the canvass Nobody feels aggrieved
when the Morning Express (July Ath) charges
the National Democrat with ..foul falsehood." The
latter paper, not to be ousdone in strong language
pours forth voley of coarse abuse on a whg