Washington sentinel., 1854-04-23
THE PRESS SHOULD BE FREE IN A
FREE COUNTRY.

The proper business Of the press is TO serve
not as an organ Of particular persons or inter
ests, but as the organ of public opinion. The
press ought to be the mirror of the public mind
alfer it has done its duty IN presenting facts a.
they &c ually occur, neither adding to them nor
suppressing what it is necessary to enable the
public to exercise its Judgment upon them.
This is what the press ought to be in free
and enlightened country"
Western Democratic Rerieic.
Organs have been weighed in the balance
and found wanting. They have fallen into
disrepute. Nobody has faith in them. Men
have found out that they are either paid or
compelled to utter the sentiments of those in
whose service they are employed They have
to repeat, like parrots, the words that are
taught them. Now dainty morsel and now
blow, now promise and now threat, are
the means by which they are managed. The
opinions they express and the arguments they
use are not the opinions and the arguments OF
honest and independent men ; they are not
SO received by the people ofthe country. Like
bribed witnesses, their testimony is universally
discredited If the organ of an individual,
they are bound by contract to uphold that par
ticular individual in all that he says and does.
1t may be right, or it may be wrong, but wheth
er right or wrong, they must swear that it is
right. That stipulation is in the bond.
Nor are the censures or the praises Of such o
concern either to be avoided or sought. They
are valueless. With whatever apparent enthu
siasm their encomiums may be bestowed, with
whatever apparent honesty their indignant cen
sures may be expressed, they are, alas, but tn,
unfelt, purchased praises or censures of merce
nary men. They are now the hireling Indian
of the press, who are paid so much for eacl
enemy's scalp, and now the dependent min
strels, who are fed, clothed, and protected fo
the fulsome laudations they bestow on thei
employers.
The only proper organ is one that truly re
presents the creed and the principles of its
party then it is the honest and faithful organ
or exponent of that party. The organ of man
or of rulers, in case of disagreement between
that man or those rulers and the people, will
always take the part of the former for it hath
respect. unto the recompense Of the reward.
1t is hired to declare that the people are wrong.
and that the other party is right. Such an
organ IS the worst foe that truth, honesty, and
popular institutions can have. It is all right
afforded them Of rerelling unjust attacks ant
exposing misrepresentation. All the homes
journals of their party are open for such pur
pose, but it is certainly unjust, wrong, and anti
republican that the patronage and the plundeI
of the government should be heaped on one
paper, or distributed between dozen papers, in
order to make such paper or papers subservient
and tributary. In corrupt times such means
might be employed to demoralize the leading
presses throughout the country-to silence cen.
sure, to extort praise, and to turn the great
thunders Of an outraged peoples wrath into the
melodious notes Of honeyed adulation.
In the most virtuous and enlightened coun-
tries even, there will always be jealousy be-
tween the rulers and the ruled-those in au-
thority and the people. The first will desire to
increase their power; the last TO limit it. And,
execration who would ueedlessy seekto infame
the jealousy of the people, and thus lead them
into wrong, he yet does not deserve stronger
condemnation than the wretched parasite, who
pampers the pride and infames the ambition OF
those in authority.
But the press must be very circumspect to
escape censure. Indeed, it can hardly escape
it. no matter what it does. If it suppre sses any
thing that ought to be told, it is blamed if ii
tells anything that is unpleasant, no matter
how true, it will also be blamed 1t is often in
the predicament Of the duellist, who is con-
demned by many whether he fights or makes
friends. But one thing is certain, and that is
that in a free country, the press should be
free.
PARTY DISCIPLINE.