New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1861-01-21
THE PRESS AND Ink PARSONS, AND
GA DIsTINGUIsHED SENATOR"

Princeton and III Philadelphia, nave, with, as we
believe, the most amlabe motives, published a
Circular Letter to the Southern Churches. Of
this letter, so far as it relates to ecclesiastical
polity, we have nothing at present to say. We
take it for granted that the writers understand
their profession, and that they are conscientious
We will not question tbeI pety, but We are re-
uctantly compelled to question their polteness.
We will be more civil to them than i'll the fol-
owing extract they have been to us:
TOO much this ctcid work has gndenably been done
by tn puit IA by the press dn suhed Sena-
tor hen recently asserting In bis place that nnee9h. OF the
a. to 81 pr 81. Whee bs Is
fecoa strife and excitement tnere seems to DO ponege'.
so s;,r every lao. which would nFsae the PssOns p
section og,inst another l that way partial ana
der apprehension Of the other"
We do not Know who the I" distinguished
" Senator is, who is here quoted with such
\ great clerical Endorsement Had it not been for
the newspapers which he so gratuitously SANDERS
it is probable that "the distinguished Senator
would have been an UudistinguIshed Nobody,
FOurth-rate Lawyer in some country town. III
he be no cleyerer than this bit Of his speech OK
hibits hun to be, the press, in his elevation at
least. has much to answer for, and no very good
answer to make.
"The proneness on the part Of the press to
collect and give every fact ia, certainly, con-
siderng that such is Id business, not e1traor-
binary; nor do We see how We or our
brethren are to be held responsible in any
way for TIE results Of facts; nor do we see
how the results Of the facts are at all
affected by their publication. If poor North
ern mechanic is waylad and watched; II his
simplest words are caught up and their purport
strained BY jealous and malicious men; If his
lawful avocations are interrupted by la@lcss
mobe; if his property is destroyed; if no il igno
unanimously assaulted, and finally, to his worldly
ruin, banirhed, We do not think 1t at all remark
able that the newspapers should publish the
facts. II the distinguished Senator" happened
TO be treated in that way he would think 1t
hard indeed if the newspapers should entirely
abstain from mentioning the circumstances Bat
under the Constitution, We respectfully submit
that a common carpenter has just as many eyes
ard ears ard natural aud social rights Us the
most distinguished Senator, and is just as much
entitled to have his injuries published. IL is the
fact that "mhames aud pTcjudces,' a. We
humbly, and with consciousness OF our theo-
logical ignorance and undistinguished position
venture 10 submit.
But mark, in passing, the logic of the dis
tuguished Senator. 1.-The newspaper press col
" lect aud give every fact. In that way partial
" and unfair statements are given" l. e., partial
aud unfair statements are given by giving the
facts. This may be the way they chop logic IN
the New.York University, under the Chancellor
ship Of Dr. Ferris, one Of the signers Of this e1
teuely circuitous circular; but it is such fine
way Of doing IT, that the pieces hardly visible
to the naked, or even the microscopic eye.
Take another class of facts. Sometimes a
correspondent at the South sends US an instance
Of extreme cruelty or wo find the details and
comment upon them as We find them, IN the
Southern newspapers. Sometimes Deacon ilogs
his slave half mortally, and does II behind the
meeting house; sometimes planter and his fam
rs, IN the course of one fatal forenoon, shoot
another planter and his iamly; sometimes we
hive authority for stating that father has sold
ibtd Slavery his whole brood of yellow children;
sometimes a church receives bequest of negroes,
sells them, and applies the money 10 the propa-
CATION of the gospel. These are specimens of
particular class Of facts. We print them and
We have all the right in the world to print them;
because they 70 directly 10 the general argument
sQain,t the extension Of Slavery. IL is not our
fault that we have been forced to collect and
apply them. II the South viii insist upon the
extension Of Slavery, then we have right, by
such facts, to show what Slavery is. How can
We otherwise have any argument worth men
tionng upon the subject Slavery is the sys-
TEN under which such atrocities are possible, aud
that 10 enough TO condemn 1t.
Again: il Southern Senators are coarse in their
manners, arrogant in their demeanor, ielonlous IN
their acts absurd in their arguments We exhibit
them to the world as they are; or rather, We
make them exhibit themselves. Very Often, In
deed, the seyerest thing we can do to cover them
wifi the contempt Of the courteous, the rldleule
of the humorous, the wounds OF the witty, the
pity of the benevolent, the scorn of the honora-
bic, and the displeasure of the good, is to quote
their own witess words their sncwess argu-
ments, and their fustian rhetoric without com
mrnt of our own They do not like this method
of warfare, and there is reason why they should
not, though that renson does not in the least al
feet the question Of its Legitimacy. When Dr.
Bethune one Of the circular sgners, dllates, rs
he does 60 ably upon sin, all the sinners think
TO use his own words) that he pursues " n sys-
TEN of gross and persistent misrepresentation"
There may be errors in Mr. Helpers book: but
does the Rev. Joel Parker, circular-signer, think
the tyrors Of that volume created the wrath