The weekly mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado County, Calif.) 1861-1862, 1862-09-13
Tr MOUNTAIN DEMOCRAT.
TUE FREEDOM or TIE PRESS.

NnuAs
.. TIE News As We QRT IT-The Lon.
don TIRes says, and with truth too, that
Il is impossible to obtain any correct ac-
vount Of battle from Northern papers.
But the truth is not Oh the side assigned
to it by the Times"
Trhe editor then reasons that we cheat
ourselves by oar own ''cxaggerations" and
"SensatiOns.
"The principal newspapers have 'pe-
cial correspondents Of their Own-mrn o.
ability aud reliabiiity-and through these
sources the people might know the truth
at once, Of every action that tranSpireS'
hut, unfortunately, the War Department
has succeeded in etfectually closing IhIS
door of communication. aud they are Ob-
lised to gather up and publish all the ire
SpOnsible gossip floating about, Instead.
This farce has been PLAYED hong enough.
The idea that our correspondents, through
the columns Of their several papers, can
give any information to the enemy, Is get
ling to look rather absurd, when every
- c.zC&s.1 G2'3w4 l6IAI eGe enemy is
fully appraised Of every thing going on
within our lines much better than the com
Gnanders off regiments arc, for they don't
know before orders are given. but the enc
Inv does. The same amount OF talent anu
ability that has been used to muzzle the
(,ress aud unystify the people, might have
beeu sevviceable 10 ~FYMe other employ
Anent, while in this. it has been decidedly
worse than wasted"
1.-The editor then shows how the mnZ
Zling Of the press from General McCiel-
lan'x army, confused and c"rtonndcd the
Nublic, while he was necessarily, but sue
ressfully changing the base of his opera
lions.
IFrOu tho Neuburyport Herad.l
AIN nothing have We more miScrahly
Failed than in our estimate of the extent
vi this rebellion and the means that would
SIC required To put it down. Men in the
North who have seen something OF the
ITHc state Of the ca~c-though few have
realized it fully -hare not ddre'i 10 sag
1chat they MoWyht to be tie truth, because
the .fooLS a4d tie .ft"ati'" ~o"tf de"0u~ce
such ~ cO1Irds, .SscGHs'0hists, trdtt0'S, Dr..
so far as appears, theVe has been far less
Freedom Of expression in such matters
here than IN the South The papers III
the very heart Of rcLeldom have conm, mt
I'd more freely on their condition. aud the
action Of the public men. than any body
in this section has been allowed 10 do il
regard to their own affairs. Not that we
have been restrained hy legislative acts,
10y fines ,r ilnpri>onm ut. but hy tie stern
decrets ~ public 0pimjoa M0t has htW
h. IA he "A a,U1ryOf tFhO aOEf
tAat zee c0au crush the .SJHh us easily as
tremfy men could chip SIR; 6"dd"y toot
to be % mss man, ,chO GUirmSi hhdf me
Yankee nas cgult 10 ~ren S'utherHTFS,
aud ~e neeer couu he dcT;Htet az any
battle. becdusS ii ted1 Lir ~ hdtVre thAt
Northern people ShOud orercome .>"qfh'
rrn people, az much a. IL wds that "dtr
shoUtd run dorm hiW On the other ha'.d
those who thought the rebels were really
in earnest, that Inosl Of their populsti"n
were for the war, sid that one man might
he about cqual to another man M thiN
-'oun;ty, and VI he was lighting AZ home
among his lends, and where his supplies
acre, ~ lar had an advantage, was treated
as though he lacked III: p!n'k nnd com
inDn SENSE 81 man. Very we'll; year
and half Of war have been la with the
AragsarIS and h"l> upPtrmusl; ani a.
". zee what has been sun red, and a-k
when thu thing viii cml, cool pruiv''cc
and Judgment begin % attain control once
'mnr,, a. tiny always will III the long ran,
AVhiIe all affirm that the rebellion must
aud shat, TIC put down, and whale none
doubt that in the cnd It will he put d"Nn
and thoroughly cru size out, nil begin t.
think ~ith Mr. I.rncnln, that it is Il big
Job : amd tn universal cry i fr more
mrn and for means adequate to thc work
ON hand"
What we have put in itdiics is to"
solemn truth. The ErYreSs has often,
TN often. been re'lcti when iorctrt'ins
results certain To hrrPcn, b .can>- 81 the
utter inadrquasy vi the preparations t.
meet them.
And the fact is now and it is a fact
the Administration Will profit IN stuiNInS
that the freedom Of the press is ="
xhackled in this country at this moment
that the President aud his advisers can not
&no~ OF or hear Of any of the real pub
lie opinion" that il ahnat nr that Is wins,
pere,l in social circles. The Presidents
IoadieS talk one way in private but alto
Krthcr another way in public, and he"ce
that Salutary public opinion, or disc =
sion, which is the lifr and prop of free
government. is. in the United States, near
Ny gone. Between the suppression OF
Journals, the Imprisonment; Of edH6FS a"d
the censorship upon and over the press,
al ~ tho vitality
OF that d" free discussion" has been nearly
Crushed out, which is the life, even if 1t
he from an opposition, TO any Admnist'a'
tion Of the Government.
Another means Of crushing out the
press, and crushing down public opinion,
is, to pronounce all traitors" seces'
RiOnists," &C., who differ from the mere
administration Of the Government We
know, for example, that the three hundred
thousand men called for, to till up the
losses Of war. are not enough TO meet the
d-ias-6ut wc say so heSitasiDg'y, trem
blingly. We see, and feel, that the three
hundred thousand volunteers are not to
be got in season, to be really useful, be-
fore next spring-but we hesitate to pub
1ish the opinion. We are very, very cer-
tain. that banding together all the South,
by = general condscation, is not the way
10 divide the South, or to foster Union
opinion in the Sonth-but what is the use
Of saying SO? Others think differently, and
Others, who so think, pronounce all to be
- traitors" or secessiOnists," who differ
from them in opinion. BY next April,
whit is now our opinion, will, probably,
'l.s Republican oFidiOn-as what was En-
pres Spinion, a year ago, Ofthe magnitude
of the war, is Republican opinion, now.
But we can not afford to wait a year for
the vindication of our opinions, though
uttered in patriotism, when it attaches to
ns the charge Of " secession, " or "sympa-
thy with secession" during that year.
This species of attack, censorship, sup
preston, &C., have nearly crushed out
the " free press" of the United States, and