Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1852-06-17
From the Spartanburg Spartan.
THE PRESS

THE PRESS.
The Pulpit has duties, obligations and re-
spohsibilities peculiar to its department, and
the vocation of its Ministers. These duties
can be discharged, and these responsibilities
assumed, by no other laborers, and in no
other field of human labor. The accom-
plishment of its mission involves the moral
we'll being and spiritual destinies of world.
And yet it is field of human labor-of
human agencies and instrumentalitics.
Legislation has its peculiar labors to per-
form, and purposes to accomplish, involving
the physical, and to some extent, the intel
lectual, progress of civilized man.
The administration Of justice-the judicial
application of Law, calling into requisition
to labors of the Bench and the Bar, is an
other distinct department Of duty in the
economy of civilization.
These several departments of duty; these
fields of labor, demanding rational exertion,
and high intellectual endowments, in con-
nection with many others, are all important,
nay, they are indispensable, to the moral and
physical progress Of society; to the main.
tainance of order, and the preservation of
the institutions Of civilized communities.
Among these departments of rational la
Bor-these agencies for the advancement Of
Intellectual man, and the perfection of So
eiety, We place the Periodical Press, as be-
ing not the least in importance and signif-
canoe, nor the least worthy of consideration.
1t has duties and responsibilities peculiar
;ly its own. 1t has to deal with forces per-
petually operating in the dominion of mind
1t is intimately associated wit! all the moral
influences operating upon man as a social,
moral and intellectual being. 1t is great
moral lever, in its power and effects, the
Pulpit alone excepted, without a parallel.
Its great primary purpose is The dissemination
Of intelligence. 1t is faithful record of
passing events. These are gathered up and
preserved that nothing lin the harvest of
observation and experienced be lost"
1t is by a just comparison of truths OBJ
served and ascertained that knowledge is
acquired; from these alone can the Philoso-
pher properly and safely make his deduc..
tions. A man Of observation and intell5
gence is reported to have remarked, thst of
twenty things he had learned, hs had ac.
quired nineteen from PERIODICAL Literature
The difference between the most enlightened
End zetlpssss community, and the most savage
and degraded, is exactly the difference lie.
tween the relative intelligence of the two
communities.
The Press not onl ly exercises most im-
portant and happy influence upon the intel
lectual advancement of people, but it takes
hold of the great physical enterprises of the
age and rolls them onward. 1t has done
more to build Railroads, to dig Canals, to
rear Monuments, to erect Manufactures,
than any machine of which Archimedes ever
dreamed. 1t helps to build up Towns and
Cities. 1t adds incalculable value to proper
ty. 1t aids the Professions; and sends Gus
toners, operating secretly and silently, to
the Merchants counter. 1t spreads fertility
over the once barren fields of the Husband
man, by unlocking natures secrets and dis
closing them to all who choose to read. 1t
is the medium through which the public
mind converscs with ITSELF Armed with
truth and right purposes it is invincible. 1t
is more than the "Irhird Estate" in the realm.
Napoleon never manifested his penetration
more clearly than when he avowed, that, he
feared two Newspapers in Paris more than a
Hundred Thousand bayonets!
The Press is sensitively identified with all
that affects the prosperity and well,beiug of
the body polite.
In view of these truths thus hastily glanced
at, we infer moral, social and civil duty,
binding upon every intelligent and response
bic member of society, to sustain The Press.
IF an individual differs from an opinion-a
tenet-a theory-that may be advocated by
the Press, he ought not therefore to oppose
the Press, but to labor to correct the error,
or determine the truth by fair and candid dis
eussion. The Press is equally the friend Of
all-the advocate of the public veal. Then
sustain, build up, support, assist the Press.
Without the aid of the Press, our present
improved condition never could have been
attained. To conduct it requires success
sion, without end, of incessant and laborious
toll.
Difficulties, inseparable from that position
of duty and responsibility, obstruct the path
way. The Press may not swerve to the
right hand or to the left, in the advocacy of
truth and right, as truth and right are hon.
estly conceived: otherwise it must prove
false and recreant to its duties and its mis-.
sion.
Without reference to the peculiar, or con-
trary opinions, views or prejudices, of indi-
viduals, the Press must speak the truth, or
what is honestly and conscientiously be-
lieved to be true; and advocate what is con-
ceiFed to be right and just, tending to de.
vefope the greatest good of the greatest
number:
"Her steady course of honor keep;
Nor fear the rocks-nor seek the shore''
ALABAMA Wharf.-The wheat culture, as
general thing, was introduced into South Ala
bama more than ten years ago, and no crop,
not even corn has nraEed uniformly more cor