Weekly Trinity journal., 1861-12-28
The Ne wspnpcr.

An eminent statesman once said, Let me
make the songs of nation, and | care not who
make its laws :" and this remark has been
applauded to the echo. But though all truth
is eternal, many partial truths are only tempo
rary, and this is one of them. The day has
gone by when this saying was. authentic and
oracuar, because the day of the potentality OF
song has passed away. The music OF mime
singer and bard and ballad singer is no longer
the only medium of conveying truth the popular
heart. The press-the free press-has assumed
! this mission, aud now stands forth the great
teacher of the 10Th century, Hume said, the
liberty of the press and the liberties of the peo-
Pile must stand or fall together - and Napoleon
! |. declared that one free press was more than
match for n million of bayonets The power of
the press is recognized 10y every ruler of the
people, whether he wear the crown of despot
or the robes of an elective magstracy. We have
only to compare the press of Austria, Russia
and France with that of England and America
| to understand the difference between n scrvile
! tool and the great instrument OF popular Will.
In England, the press is scarcely inferior in pow
er to the throne itself. During the Crimean war,
when sickness and privation were thinning the
ranks of the British army in their miserable
winter environments before Sebastopo it was
enough for the London Times to say reprOach
| fully, that ii i'll became the sovereign of Great
Britain to be spending her time in the frivoliies
of Balmoral while her subjects were dying by
hundreds in foreign land, to bring the queen
back to London by the next express train. Such
is the power welded by single influential press.
In this country the power of the press is fully
recognized. Its institution accompanies the har-
dy pioneer as he hews his way through the pri-
meva forest and the van of the victorious army
as it pcrces the enemys country. The press
and the banner of our country moved side by
side from Vera Cruz to Mexico, when, in 1917,
the veteran of two wars led our gallant country
men into the capital of the Aztecs ; the very
same hands that welded the warriors sword
grasped the pen editorial, and the same brave
fellows who handled the musket and sabre, set up
types in the halls of the MonteZumas. A great
portion of our newspapers are devoted to politics,
aud very many OF these are conducted with more
loyalty to party than to patriotism. But, as the
medium is open to all, errors and misstatemcnts
are neutralized if we are furnished with the
| antidotc.
| But the newspaper literature of this country
is not to be judged by its political presses. They
have their character and their mission but then
every interest has its Organ--thcOiogy, science,
education, commerce, agriculture art, literature.
The most successful ournals are those which
ignore politics and polemcs, and are devoted to
those topics in which all men are deeply inter.
ested, journals which present the sunny side of
life, balanced by due consideration of it's grav-
ties anl which aim TO amusc, to instruct to
enliven and strengthen their readers Such
journals are the hands Of all readers, of all ages
and of both sexes, and this universalty OF the
taste for newspaper reading is one Of the most
striking characteristics OF our countrymen.