The Lancaster ledger. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1852-1905, 1854-01-11
By Thomas J, Warren, Esq.
Editor of the Camden journal.
.PuBLIsIrED ny RESOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATION, I

published ny RESOLUTION OF THE ASSOCIATIONS I
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of The Press
Association:
lhe Press has been called the vast engine
OF civilization. We cannot doubt the an
preparedness OF the remark, when we con-
template the wonderful results which have
lolIowed IN Its train "as the promulpator of
freedom to man, in the glorious strife of So
clal organization, in the pursuits of life. ill.,
erty, and happiness"
The Press, rs the fulcrum and lever of the
intellectual and moral world, In. accom-
| plished mnch for its elevation, and stands
! confessedly this day, among tho first and
! greatest means for the preservation of our
| highest privileges on earth"
| Where would the world be, at this time.
without the Press?
Let ms contrast the condition oftbose who
now ENJOY the exalted privileges and bene-
hts which the press affords, with others upon
whom Its genial light has never dawncd, and
we have satisfactory answer to this INQUIRY.
The present social and political condition of
france, I'm many respects polite and re-
hned naton,) will serve TO give us some idea
! OF what the world would be without the
privileges of free press.
Austria is glaring evidence of what or
preston dares to do where the press il fet.
! tered There its freedom of uttero,co il
kept at bay u St drmis. There an hundred
thousand g; aNning swords and Jristllng bay
onets tremble before its power There the
! press IS obhged TO conform to the capricious
notions of unreasonable tyrants, whose gov
! ernmcnts are precarious, and whose thrones
. tha ipl n
! sword is the arbiter Of the peonle's riobis
J liberty hangs upon a brittle thread: When
the press is awed into silence by the force of
arms, the tyrant holds his power by an nm
certain tenure. The sword may conouer n
| peace but the press must preserve or DESTROY
it; for the pen is mighticr than the sword.
Their relative influence is aptly illustrated
IN figure which represents the Cap of Lib
!, erty poised above the scales of Justice; i,
:, one side Of the balance is laid ponderous
sword, in the other simple pen, but the ar
list has made it appear that the smaller in
strument, the pen, outwcighs the larger. the
sword. Is the Illustration not a good one /,
= Does not our experience and that of the past
bear testimony tlNt the press is the glorious
palladium of our civil and religious liberties!
The strong arm and support of man in the
defence and maintenance of his inhcrent
rights, as II member of the social comnact ::
! the vindicator of his claims to the exalted
station of one stamped in the express image
OF God" Ii IS emphaticaly '.man's charter
OF freedom, and holds the intcgrit, of our
highest privileges on earth: freedom of en-
( quiry, freedom of utterance. and the yasts
6ehests OF civil communion with the KIN
drsd OF every nation and the tongues of ev-
cry speooh."
a curious instance we have seen stated
OF the involuntary homage which the sword
VIII sometimes pay to the pen, even in coun-
. tries the most despotically ruled, is given
IN that OF a Mtanese journal, whose editor
had published in its columns some articles
on the question of capital punishment Ar
I tcles breathing something Of the mild and
philosophical spirit of the great Milan Ju-
rst, Beccaria.
! Inc military commander, though he had
: an hundred thousand men under arms in
! Milan and its neighborhood, said he would
, not answer for the results, If such questions
were to be publicly discussed, and he sent
and Informed the editor that if any more ar
garments were printed in his journal against
the punishment Of death, that jonrnal should
nt once be suppressed. This is at least one
admission of the fIct that the pen is NIGH
tier than the sword.
Where Is the world now with the press?
The imagination is not called upon, nor Is
the mind taxed with difficulty in answering
! thls enquiry. IL we contemplate the condi-
ton OF the civilized world this day, where
the liberty of the press is Acknowledged,
. where freedom of thought and of speech is
alike guaranteed 10 the rich and to the Door.
where an enlightened and Liberal public mind
accords to the pen its triumph over the
sword, where reason and Justice have their
perfect work, we have the complete and sat
isfactory answers to this question.
Take, for illustration, England and Amer
lea, thc two greatest, proudest, and best gov
crnments upon earth, in which the freedom
OF the press is now unquestionabe
it is not enough that we ask what has the
press done for man! But We should rather
ask, what haS the press not done for the
woFd!
u is stated of the illustrieus Webster.
whose friends by common consent have
gwen the appellation of the Great Defender
OF the Constitution, tnat when he delivered
the oration at Bunker Hill, he pointed TO tho
just completed monument and exclaimed
"there stands the orator osthe day," or tho
press, with its benefcent result.. ,ye tool
may say, there it stands demonstratinfr r,
glowfng language th..t knowledge is power.
That the press has aided, and Is aidins
vastly, in the distribution of knowledge
9.hong the masses of the world can scarcely
bt questioned. Christian enterprise, with
the ngh Of reason and religion, is forcing
the powers Of darkness to. give back, and
throngh the ginmerings of approaching
day, we espy the dawning Of brighter and
more glorious era upon the world The nd.
yancement Of Christianity b preparing the
way for the approach Of the vast engine of
civilization, the press, and soon,
where the golden gates Of day
Open on the palmy cast = -