Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1857-01-08

the Senate Chamber, that Constitution wa:
his guiding star.
Nor is South Carolina now without hel
representatives in this fidelity. That vener
able Senator, whose patriotism and devotion
to the constitutional rights of the South sc
recently aroused the hate of the abolition
horde and furnished a pretext for the viru'
lent denuncation of shameless slanderer-
that statesman who bears a name indellibly
written on the historic p9ge of Carolina
patriotism and valor, whose locks have be.
come snowy-white in the service of his State
is known at Washington by the honorable
distinction of the "guardian of the Constitu-
ton" He has justly won the title and
wears it deservedly. Before closing this di-
gression 1 may remark, and it is with pride
and pleasure I do SO, that fidelity to the Con-
stitution and unwavering loyalty to the
South and their own State in these day Of
wild fauaticism and fury, have characterized
the public conduct of all the representatives
of Carolina in the councils of the Confeder-
acy.
Why is the Constitution so carefully guar
ded by our public men? Because they
know that it is alone under its saving infu-
ences the rights and liberties of their constit-
uents can be. secure. This is especially true
with regard to the political interests of the
South; without the Constitution, its restric-
tions and limitations, they would be at the
mercy of an irresponsible majority, ma
jority, too, whose aim and purpose, whether
inspired by fanaticism, or dictated by more
unworthy or unpatriotic motives, is their
prostration and ruin. 1t behooves the Sou
thern press, then, to battle for the Constisu-
ton, to be ever found among its defenders,
and to cling to it with uuwavering devotion,
so that in the day of the final struggle,
which I believe from present indications
must arrive, the people of the South may
come out of the contest with their honor un-
furnished, their rights and institutions main
tanned and vindicated, and that in the form
alton of new Confederacy, they may still
claim as their own that unerring chart Of
republican liberty.
There are other duties devolving upon
the conductors of the press which more
Immediately relate to the welfare, virtue
and happiness of the community. Edi-
tors, by all means, should jealously watch
over their columns, lest the slightest faint of
immortality or impurity should be found
there. The newspaper once a luxury has
become a necessity to every family, and no
matter how attractive may be the garb in
which wrong teachings arc clothed, they
should be rigidly excluded from its pages
Flash nooelcttcs, highly colored descriptions
of fashionable vices, thrilling accounts Of
murders, robbery and other crimes, constant
publications of the foibles and failings of
human nature, all tend to the decentralization
of the taste, especially of the young reader.
If we desire to see our children grow up
virtuous, the purity of our magazine and
newspaper literature must be assidiously
watched over and cultivated. And this must
be done, for the reason that it counts its
thousand readers among the young, while
works of higher standard of literature are
totally neglected by them. In this respect,
then, the conductors of the press have res
possibility resting upon them which cannot
be measured
1t is reasonable to suppose that in this day
of universal reading the peace and happiness
of very many must be affected and acted up
on by what may be called their daily mental
food. 1t is much easier to pull down than
build up, and all history teaches US that
among the peoples who have passetaway,
the seeds of decay first germinated in the
corruption of licentiousuess, and that the
first steps towards the destruction and down.
fall of ruined nations were those taken from
the paths of religion and morality. Then,
as brotherhood of teachers, whose influence
penetrates into the domestic circle of every
6reside in the land; as patriots, who de-
sire to transmit TO those who come after
us our heritage of liberty; as men, as faith
ers, and as brothers, we cannot be held justi-
fable in the sight of God or man if We fail
to discharge our duty in this respect with
the utmost fidelity. Happily for the South,
and it speaks volumes in her favor, the style
and matter of some flash licentious prints we
have seen emanate from Boston and New
York, are not initiated in her latitude They
could not exist, because within her borders
they would find neither patronage nor en-
couragement.
\ very offensive feature of the journalism
of the day is the system of universal and
indiscriminate ''pufiug" of every person and
thing for which some slight equivalent may
have been given. The public are fast losing
confidence in editors notices of exhibitions,
books, quack medicines, charlatans and hum
bugs; and, until the press shakes off the
habit, and abandons the idea that everything
good bad or indifferent, has to be commend
ed, for a notice of which they have been
slightly complimented, the readers q journ-
ais will think the space devoted to such no.
tices very poorly occupied, and will very
properly give up paying any attention to
them
Another unfortunate characteristic of mod
ern political journalism is growing tenden-
cy to personalities, iuvective and abuse of
those who differ from US. This is really in
furious, not perhaps so much to the public,
as to journalists themselves. Our own ex-
perience, and that of others we have been