The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-10-14
Decline and Fall OF the Party Press-The
Union and the Times Correspondent.

one against the other, were not content with
the stump and the platform, and felt i'm
PEELED to abuse each other on paper. Ac-
cordingly party organs were ushercd into ex-
stence Their position and character were
curious: on the one side enjoying degree OF
freedom not exceled in our own day, on the
other manacled by as despotic chain as that
which now enthralls the press of France. In
speaking of their political antagonists, neither
law. nor custom, nor good manners imposed any
restraint on their licenses in abiding to their
own party, they were under the closest and
most tyrannical censorship. What opinions
they should express, what men they should sup
port what doctrines they should expound, and
even what facts they should promulgate with
respect to their own party, were all carefully
dictated by its leaders. The party editor was
in fact, in this branch of his duties, mere tool
in the hands of his chiefs. Such may be said to
States press at the birth of our two great polit-
cal parties; for the five or six commercial jour
nails which appeared about the same time IN the
| large cities, and confined themselves to report
| ing trade and shipping intelligence, possessed
neither circulation nor influence enough to en-
title them to separate consideration.
Some thirty-ive to forty years elapsed before
the experiment of Independent political news
papers was attempted. The public were at first
surprised at the phenomenon; but in very short
while, the utility of journals whose mission it
was to keep watch over the political concerns
of the country, Independent Of party ties, and
to distribute praise or censure, when merited,
alike to all factions began to be generally re-
cognized. Soon these sheets received share
of support whieh had never been conceded to
any party organ; and as the country advanced
| in wealth and population, they assumed a re-
spected and commanding rank. During the last
two Presidential elections, a far greater share
of influence has been welded by the independ-
ent press than by its contemporaries of either
faction: not little Of the success of General
Taylor and President Pierce was due to its
support.
Still, the thorough substitution of indepen-
dent for party journalism has not yet been ef
fected We are still in the transition period.
Independent newspapers are rapidly taking the
not entirely succumbed They struggle still
violently and desperately. Their present char
acter and condition are well illustrated by the
course of the Washington Union, and more es-
pecially by its recent attack on the correspon-
dent of the London Times.
An independent journal, had it deemed the
letters Of this correspondent worthy of special
har tal-n tba In fo IL,
the statements they contained on their own
merits, and concur with or reflte them as they
appeared in conformity or at variance with the
truth. Not so the Union. It's mission was not
to seek the truth at all, but merely to defend
the Cabinet. This arduous task it endeavors
to fulfil according to the best of its judgment
and ability not by showing the falsehood of the
charges brought against its masters, but by
assailing the private character of the CORES
pendent with gross and malignant ISLANDERS.
1t launches volley Of personal abuse against
one Mr. Lester-tells us long stories about
what he did and what he did not do at Genoa
describes his demeanor during the last canvas
-retails old gossip worn threadbare long ago
| in the Sunday press-and altogether serves
IL
have envied. Not word more. Is this the sort
OF reply that might have been expected from
the organ of the United States government!
When the administration which rules this great
country is accused of faults, will tissue OF
antechamber scandal satisfy the people that
the charge is false? All question of propriety
apart, can the Cabinet organ find no better re-
To ,fafin cfn
than a parcel of gossip unworthy the pages OF
an after-dinner story book? What matters it
to the public what sort of man Mr. Lester be?
What care we about his private life at Genoa?
What concern have we with his journeys to
Concord? Had he been ten times worse than
the Union pretends, his structures on the course
of the administration-ifw worthy of reply at all
ought to have been judged on their own mer
its and answered with reason logic. and modera-
ton; not with groundless assertion. scandal
and angry calumny.
The Union has Judged differently, and per-
hars it was one of the inherent Inconvenience
of its position as an organ TO do so. Bound by its
party shackles, it could not reasonably be ex-
pected to pursue straightforward manly
course. The only practical inference from the
fact must be general conviction that the gov
eminent editors and advisers OF the President
are totally unconscious Of the changes that time
is effecting around them. They seem to view
the world as though it had not changed during
the last twenty years, and attempt to deal with
the people as they would then have done. They
live in happy unconsciousness Of the revolution
that is slowly progressing in the press of this
country, and are ignorant of the approach of
the wave that will sweep away all party organs
For them it is enough that newspaper, pam
pered on public ofal, should periodically abuse
the private character of the conscientious oppo-
nents Of the course Of the government; and fan
cy, in their stolid ignorance, that so scnseless
proceeding will weigh with the people, and that
no objection will be made, when the wages Of
en- dieUrocpfn1 n nrostitntiop of all that Ia hon.