The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1852-05-04

: assaults.
Sir, whenever the struggle shall come
whenever the question shall arise before u
which calls for sacrifice or exposure; wheneve
wrong shall be inflicted upon our country S
long as the stars and stripes wave over us, ther
: will be such response made as shall satisfy tn
Judgment of all men that patriotic llaarts ar
In their bosoms, which are at the servic4 Of thei
country. -
Mr.. PARKER, Of Indiana, Gnterrupting,
IT the gentleman will allow me, wish to re
move difficulty. The gentleman places me il
the same category with the Committee on Print
ing, when he says there was an universal cry al
over the House to refer it back to that com
mittee. Such was the fact ; but il was 10. ra5e
1t back with instructions. That is Whist ",
have been struggling to do. Let the committe,
act in the Independent manner iii which the Law
places them, and not control them with nstruc
tions which we have no right to give. Tha
committee WAS created by the law of this Con
gress, and Of a former Congress. 1t is not !
tribunal which belongs to this House, and thai
is the difficulty to which the gentleman refers
| say now, as | have said uniformly, that this
matter belongs to the Committee on Printing
and we have no more right to instruct that com
mittee, than we have to instruct the President
or to instruct the Mexican Commissioners
There is the difficulty which the House is in
and which the gentleman does not understand
Mr.. VENABLE, (resuming) The gentle.
man does me great injustice, when he says do
not understand it, | think, with great respect
he does not understand it. ] had intended to
discuss that point. find it upon my notes OF
the gcnhemans remarks, made on Friday.
There was no exception made. The nstruc
tons were annexed TO the motion to refer to
the Committee on Printing. But, sir, will
confess that there were feelings in my heart,
which am unwilling to describe here, when |
WAS told by gentlemen that eighty-nne gentle
men in this House, including gentlemen North
and South, had entered into petty combina-
ton with Freesoilers, Disunionists, and Adolf.
tionists--for what? For the purpose of break
ing down two little newspapers. Why, sir,
would just as soon have believed that Bonaparte
would have brought together his fourteen hun.
dred cannon at Leipsc, for tho purpose of bat
terng down peasants cottage. | would lust
as soon suppose that all the materials of war of
Europe would be paraded for the purpose of
destroying a little petty tribe upon the Barbary
coast. What is a newspaper? What are one
or two newspapers, in this great country, if
separated from the government! And would
here remark, that the party which owes its or
ganizaton to the influence of newspaper, that
derives all its IDEAS of harmony from melodies
ground out by party organ, is composed of
bad Judges of music, and unworthy to exist
Sir, we shall never be able to clean the Augean
stable of our government from the foul cor
ruption that smells rank to heaven, until we
have delivered the party Iress from the treasury.
AS long as the press is fed by the party who
| control the Administration, there will be skillful
| an N for nd oku ;I,t
they can put their suckers into that pond, and
draw out the means of life and vigor, so long
as they can clutch the money earned by hard
working people, the sources of public opinion
will be corrupted and polluted, the public mind
| mlsinformed, and the continuance of evil admin
istrat,on in high places secured The press that
feeds upon the treasury will become so corrupt
that all the water Of the ocean cannot cleanse
it, and all the spices of Arabia cannot preserve
| TOR 1t the fragrance of good name.
| The press must be free to be pure-independ.
ent in order to be spectable-hOnest in order
to be useful Those who control it should look
to the appreciation of good men as their reward,
the consciousness of patriotic motives as their
consolation; and then they will speak from an
eminence which will insure them hearing from
posterity, and the gratitude of the great and the
good. Contrast sir, this position with the mis-
chief which corrupt and hireIng press infiicts
upon the world. From it current of thought
and opinion continually issues flowing from
great generator Of miasma and filth, poured
upon the country to deluge all who have the in
dependence to withstand its denominations and
assert the rights of the people. Approaching
this condition as it is, all patriots desire that It
should be rendered powerless and nerveless
The eyes of the public have been opened, and
they begin to learn that they have been mised
by the guidance of dependent and mercenary
manufacturers both of facts and opinions. Such
is the feeling spreading widely amongst the yeo-
many of the country, and they will arise and
put things right. The press, sir, which cannot
live witho t being fed from the public treasury,
ought to die, and the party which cannot live
without the aid of such an organ ought also to
die. Such vitality sustains a moral monster,
an unmixed, unmitgated evil There is no
greater fallacy than to suppose it necessary to
sustain party organ at the seat of government
by public patronage. They party in power has
usually sustained its organ in this way. but rival
organs are at the same time sustained by their
subscription lists Although pampcred lion
feeds from the treasury storehouse of provisions,
yet other lions equally formidable range in the
adjoining forest repeat, that party who can
live and prosper only by subsidiziDg the press
by support from the public treasury, has no de-
srable vitality; and no good man ought to sigh
when the supply is cut off, and the doom of
death comes upon it. This matter, sir, lies deep.
Here we may learn the reason of the increased
and increasing expenses of our government
why there is demand for more money in time
of peace than in a time Of WARMLY an army
of 10000 in peace costs more than $4,000 in
time of war; Here we may learn the reason of
the want of harmony.
Mr.. FREEMAN. Will the gentleman allow
me to put question to him? Does the gentle
man propose to convey the idea to this House
that Wings and Democrats, and the editors of
all party newspapers in the United States, are
to be excluded from entering into fair compe-
tition for the public printing, by lawfully con
tracing for the same!
Mr.. VENABLE Not at all, sir. confess
myself surprised at the question. The resolu
ton proposed by me looks only to a printing lob
intended for all of those who work upon types,
whether printers of a higher or lower degree,
all are invited to come in and bid for the mechan
ical work but il is 20 be done at the lowest bid,
and therefore they are not under'any particular
obligation to the party who piycs IL In them