The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-04-02

The Philadelphia Inquirer has the follow


The responsibilities of those con nected with the
prees are second to no others known to society
Thew are not circumscribed by any narrow limits
They are % broad aud full as the world, and as
numer rs as facts themselves. Tho tyro 10 iiter-
ature may fancy that he can comprehend them In.
tuitiveIy but he will discover bis mistake, when
he is Obliged from day to day - bend all the pow.
ere Of his mind to the self-sAcrihcing task OF
weighing and judging rumors and facts, OF apply.
ing The precepts OF moral and political philosophy
copscisntiousiy to new propositions and sugges-
lions, and OF surveying the wnoie helu OF aai'y
history With the patience and importantly OF
Judge sustained by no other forces than those OF
truth and stice. II requires lifetime OF opsef'
walton TO become toiersble journalist, and there
are few minds swift enough 10 action, or liberal
enough in constitution or spirit, even 10 Iean Tue
public journals with judgment to make selections
for reproduction, to say noting OF enunciating
opinions which may have serious results upon the
happiness Of individuals or society.
The duties OF an editor, az We view them, are az
numerous as they important. AT times tney
try every energy OF mind and body, absorbing the
entire powers OF the former necessarily during
the day and night, aud taxing the latter to suoh
an extent that the most careful study 10 requisite
20 preserve health even in Q vigorous constitution
Yet, arduous as the labors which thus make their
exacfons upon the intellectual and physical sJs-
tenn, 10 IL not strange that men who have never
prepared themselves for the tasks and RESPONSE
blities Of journalism, should hatter themselves
that they are such pa.times as may DC inonae 70
necessity for daily breadf
There il scarcely q field OF human labor which
has not peculiar tolls and trials; In which the
man who fills it IL not disposed to think he is
harder worked and less appreciated than anybody
else. We have no doubt there are some vocations
and positions in life which involve extraordinary
pains and privations. 1t has always seemed to US
that the profession of physician in full practice,
we mean of course a man Of sensibility as well
IS intelligence, and of humane, domestic and 500
eial affections-must be one of peculiar hardship
and trial. We would rather be any thing in the
world than physician, except patient.
But for editors to be talking of their terrible
tolls and perplexties seems to us, with all respect
quite absurd. The division of labor 10 city news'
papers, whereby the preparation of editorial arts
cles IL in one more hands. the selection of news
in another, local intelligence in another, CONNER
csI intelligence In another, &c, lightens the labor
Of each, while it adds to the general efficiency Of
the whole. Some persons suppose that every thing
which appears in q newspaper is from the hands
Of ono maI--the editor, as the writer of editorial
articles is generally called-whereas, in paper
like the Dispatch for example, or any other city
paper, the editor is usually ignorant of what 10
TO appear among the selections, or other matter OF
the paper, the next morning, rs any of the read.
ers. We once heard of an old lady, who called at
a certain store in Richmond and inquired for a
particular kind Of goods. The shopkeepcr said DO
did not have it, but abe insisted that be must have
1t, and gave as her authority Rev DIR. Plumer who,
she said, had stated in the last "Wdtchman of the
South" that those goods we're to be had at that
store. In the simplicity of her soul, she had sad
died the reverend gentleman with the assertions
of the advertising public, burthen which, broad
~ his shoulders are, We doubt whether they are
able to bear.
Of the great influence ofthe press, however, and
of the responsibility which its conductors ought
TO feel there can be no doubt. Yet how often that
influence is exerted to corrupt the public mind,
in1ame evil passions, and pander to the narrow
prejudices and low tastes of the coarse, Ignorant
and besotted How often is Ii "a blind leader of
the blind" strrer up Of sedition and discomfort,
an organ of self.glorihcation and vanity, gossip
Of such tales rs man cannot read aloud in his
family, an instrument Of personal detraction
ard revenge, an engine of political, civil and
ecclesiastical envy, hatred, malice, and all un-
charitableness. How weighty its powers Of
beuencence, if rightly directed! There is no sit.
uation In life, In which man can do as much good
with - little trouble as 10 the newspaper press-
The useful intelligence ell subjects; the aid TO
educational, benevolent, industrial enterprises:
the valuable political information disseminated by
an able energetic, and self.respecting newspaper
who can over estimate it! A single pure thought
breathed through this magic medium ,multiplies it
self In inuumerabe minds, and its glittering i'm
age is reflected, brighter and more multitudinous
than the dew drops Of morning, from the souls OF
men Of high and low degree. A single charitable
invocation, on behalf of the poor, the oppressed
and the suffering, and over how wide a field of hu
mainly Is Its quickening influence shed, causing
even 10 desert some green spot of charity to show
tseif, some fountain of refreshment, with shelter.
Ing palm trees OF sympathy and protection, where,
Tor while, the weary may ind rest and gather
strength, consolation and hope, for the future.