Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1861-03-01
Communications
LETTER FROM MISSOURI

We cheertully give place to the following
the second letter Of Chas G. Spalding ESQ,
Of Kansas City, Mo-, to his father, Hon. John
Spalding, Of this place. We relish the frank
and forcble manner in which Mr. Spalding
states his positions, and the clearness with
which he draws his conclusions In this let
ter he so far explains the positions that were
taken in his first letter, that we can but COM
mend it to the careful perusal Of our readers,
and recommend il TO the consideration Of the
editorial fraternity. There can be no more
potent agency for good or evil than the press ;
and when in The hands Of unprincipled and
designing men, we may well be jealous of its
effects upon the country This unprincipled
use Of the press Mr. Spalding deprecates, in
distinction from wcll-directed aud properly
cultivated independence Of free press In
this we can but give our assent to his letter.
KANSAS Crry. Jan. 20. 1861
Ny dear and osueraiis Faher - Last
nights mail put me in receipt of the Watch
man 81 State Journal of the llth inst, in
which find my letter of the 5th ult, ad-
dressed to yourself published beneath a very
complimentary editorial paragraph for which
kindness and courtesy, much thanks. That
letter was written very hastily, and contained
many crude reflections that | should have
more fully considered had been writing for
the Wafchmai, as "our own correspondent 20
read that paper weekly-my family and
neighbors read IL, and it both interests and
instructs as. 1t is emphatcsly newspaper.
nrI aa .ftfh saf I.. D. . t..l ak
throne as a candid, rchectiug, cdhcatcd and
honest mind ought TO u-e 10. was there
fore. as you may well suppose. pleased to see
such paper publishing, aud in the main en-
dorsing, my own sentiments concerning the
present. and as believe, f,oi crisis in the
political administration of this nation.
The position took was new, and to some
extent novel one and | wish now to be
true to my promise 10 relation TO "details '-
such details as will fortify my position, and
to some extent provide for the essential
qualifications alluded to in the remarks Of
the editor OF the lPo,clmaa
told you in substance that the licentious-
ness OF the American Newspaper was at the
bottom of our present troubles-that the p9,r-
er Of a corrupt and s1ijagate3 press 'could ouer-
hro,o any gDrpamepf-that no o'boy goucrn-
meHt erer had sHci p0irer TO contend uiH-
that this people was the first nation to battle
with the mightiest power on earth, the press
and that man or men cannot Jrrite a constitu-
ton that this all-potent and ali-perlous pow
er cannot undermine in a twenty years cam
paign of subtle attack and open blasphemy.-
also told YOU that everything sacred to man
a citizen, or to man as a christian. would
totter or fall if once embraced in its malignant
arms and, in this connection, asked YOU TO
consider for yourself the influence that such a
press would exert If it was srrayed against
the Gospel and the Prophets, the same as it
has been against the teachings of the const-
tuition and the inspiration OF the declaration.
now direct our attention to "the same sub
iect continued"
! must however, in Justice to myself and
while the " essential qualifications are on
my mind, provide for item.
| make no charges, as You and the Watch.
man perhaps suppose, against 1.-THE freedom
of the press Let me then be correctly under
stood, and no editor who conducts his paper
with the same ability integrity and dignity
that the WatcAmaa is conducted will ask for
anything more essential in the shape Of
qualifications,
Notwithstanding all that have or that
may yet say on this subject, it would be a fol-
ly and crime not to count the newspaper as
first among our chief and choicest blessings
and no man who is correctly informed will
ever be SO imprudent and unwisc as to Ycn-
ture to interfere with the priUiieges aud pe,iis
incident to the freedom Of the press. Without
il, life itself would become still and stagnanl
stream, while the affairs and intercourse of So
ciety would, as it were, be closed up. and the
operations and transactions of men who "buy
and sell aud get gain, would be showed OF
from the commercial balance of an enlightened
age. The freedom of the press, as surh, is to
man as a citizen what faith is TO man as a
christlan-the one protects him from the
"wles of the devil, the other from the heel
of the tyrant. As a real, intrinsic, genuine
power, it at once awakens hope and ambition
in the breasts of patriots, and enkindles graf
itude, charity and humility in all christian
hearts.
As such power, it was recognized by the
great trainers Of the Constitution-a middle
pillar and tower Of strength beneath the gov
ernment "where liberty dwells, the bull
~ark and great stronghold of all men in the
pursuit of "tle, liberty and happiness the
only power among men at all akin to that
creative will that said "to Jerusalem, thou
shat be built; and to the temple, thy foun-
datlon shall be laid" This is 'the freedom
of the press, the olive branch, the ballad, and
the fortress of the nation its HcentiousRess is
another and different thing, same foun-
tain but different streams.
| The same licentiousness, while it corrupts
the purity and subsidies the independence of
a free press, also endangers the peace, stigma
/ tizes the character undermines the security
and blasts the honor of the government 1t
does more than this. 1t corrupts the morals
drugs the intelligence, and enervates the pub
lie spirit of the country and, sir, so secure and