The Carolina Spartan. [volume] (Spartanburg, S.C.) 1852-1896, 1864-03-17
From the Daily South Cmolinian.

mate his business joke.-Ricltmond En-
uBltner
-s---. Ss+
Prom the Daily South Carolinian.
THE PRESS
Z The mission OF the press is very aoble
one, aud, Ill general, it has been nobly full
filled
Count It's many services to mankind, and
compare the,n with the services of every
other existing instirtioG, and it will be
found that not one OF them, pot even the
pulpit itscli, has been more widely benef-
cial in its action aud influence
First Of all, it has ever bcsu the watchful
guardian Of the liberties Of the people In
the broad light OF knowledge which it DIFF
fuses through the land. tyranny, which.
loves the darkness, cannot exists Hence
it is, that one of the first steps which des.
pots take, in their stride towards power, is
It's complete suppression, or the destruction
of its freedom.
1t has also been the reformer of innum.
cradle abuses, and the author or suggester
OF countless improvements. 1t has built
railwaPe, opened ports, aud founded chari-
ties. BY means of the information which
1t has ditfllsed among the people, it has ell
cvated their character, humanized their
sentiments, aud reined their tastes. Some.
times familarizing, science, sometimes ex-
pounding ethics, now defending religion,
and how discussing politics, or collecting
news, it hNs minis.ered to avery interest,
aud co operated in every lofty aim of
christiauized society.
The history of what the Confederate
press has achieved during this war would
al VI vain In ska lnn e
| the contest it aroused the spirits of volun.
teering, aud siuce that time it has further
ed every public aud private plan for the
benefit of the army and the country. With
| out its assistance the former would have
been only half fed aud clothed, aud the
latter lett In almost utter darkness as to its
own tortues aud prospects
| Such Is the institution which our panic
stricken and anwise legislators would de-
stroy, for the sake of the few men who
could. be Withdrawn from il tor the field.
There are forty-one daily newspapers in
the Confederacy, aud upon each of which
an average oil iftcen men are employed.
| Of these, not less than two hundred are ex-
cmpted on other grounds tlIan their capaci-
! ty as editors or printers. Little more than
four hundred are left as subjects of con.
scription
The presence of so small force in the
field would not bo felt ior moment Tt
woaid scarcely be sutEe;6ut to turn thstide
! OF fortune in a skimish On the other
hand, its absence FROM the business in
which 1t is at pl eSent occupied would be .
! public misfortune, aad would be regretted
| irom one end of the Coufederacy to the
other. Every iGterc noald suffer, and 70
u degree which people who have never
information closed upon thein cannot con-
| ccive.
y Ii may be said that il is not the end Of
the measure to abolish newspapers altogeth-
er. No, the journals are 10 be continued
by detailed soldiers, subject to the will of
| the Government. We need not inform our
readers how this scheme would completely
deprive the press of its independence, and,
consequently, oi its usefulness. What edi-
tor, under the circumstances, would dare to
point out a single aouse, or question sip.
gls act oil the administration. And what
sort of Guardian OF the public liberty
would he be, wiose utterance could be
scaled at a momeat hy the tvuch Of bag
onet.
We know that it has been charged
against the press, that it has occasionally
done harm 10 the cause by imprudcnt rev.
| ella ions. 1t Is our conviction, however,
4 that the press. on tho wboIe, has been re.
markably pradent during this war and,
certainly, whatever Objectionable infarma-
ton 1t may have occasionally published, it
has never given half so much comfort to
the enemy, as the memorial which prota-
bly, suggested the wholesale measure under
discussion That memorial, over tie sig
nature ,of General llarIeo aud other officers
OF high rank, fprished the public Of both
North and South with such descripionfoi
the state oi our armies, as no editor would
have permitted, of his own accord, to ap-
pear in his columns
The Sabbah isa quiet bend in the rivsr
/ of Inc. which rcnocts the Eues ef beaveo