Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1864-11-16

class Of crimes of which free press is the only
possible corrective because it is the only instru.
ment by which they can be exposed. If SO, then
adopt the scheme Of the message-detail editors
and printers make them dependent for their daily
bread upon President Davis The object will have
been completely accomplished You will have no
editor who dare whisper a complaint of those high
in ofce-no printer will venture to set up line or
sentence which does not celebrate the virtues and
the glory of the Executive.
To put printers and editors in the same class with
farmers, shoemakers, tanners, and other necessary
trades and occupations, is simply ridiculous There
is no analogy between these cases. There is no
temptation for the Executive to Cypress any of these
classes, He can gain nothing by restricting the ex
ercse of their trades and professions to his own
tools and parasites. 1t is dangerous to give him
command of the press, because it enables him to
corrupt the fountain of intelligence. Because it en-
abes bin to blind the people as to his own acts
Because it places him in q cloud, which the people
cannot penetrate.
We vi i'll not say anything about the impol lance
stands and feels it. We hope this monstrous pro-
position will receive such blow will convince its
author that there is no use in prolonging its exis.
tence or experimenting with it any farther upon the
docility of Congress.-Rieh. Why.
We are now, and have been from the first, among
the 6rmest supporters of President Davis admins
tration from the belief that any administration
placed in the direction Of affairs at this critical
period, needed cordial support, and from the fur
Their belief that President Davis DESCRIBED such sup
port as an honest able, and patriotic administrator
Of the affairs of the Cdhfederacy, although by no
means perfect one Who could be?
1t is therefore in factious spirit that we enter
nfnfSp
it seems to US, must be the suppression of the
Southern press the forfeiture of its independence
If the press is to be conducted by the detailed ap
pointees of the Confederate Executive, then, Of
course it to be free press or the press OF
free people; and yet such is the inference to be
drawn from the Presidents endorsement of the re-
commentators of the Secretary Of War, as we'll as
from subsequent debates in Congress.
Some gentlemen in Congress, and other gentle
men in official position, though not in Congress,
may think lightly Of the press and take pleasure in
showing that they do so. We do not say that the
conductors of the press are all that they ought to
be- all that the responsibility of their positions
would seem TO require that they should be. We
| suppose they not much better and not much
worse than their neighbors As individuals they
are entitled to neither exemption nor immunity
They appear in representative capacity. They
give utterance to public opinion, they combine and
chcISiSe puoHC enOTt Lucy aIo Iuo ueid AUS VI Jul
modern civilization, and as such their office is sa
cred, and the preservation of its purity and indie.
| pendence matter of far more moment to people
jealous of their rights, than the smiles Of executive
favor or the frowns Of executive wrath Of far
more moment than the irritation of some honest
but exctable Datinet or the contemplate wrath Of
some fourth-rate politician elevated suddenly into
into the title of an L. G. and the dignity Of al
honorable
We shall have some further remarks to offer up
on this subject when it is more properly before
We do not doubt the President, but this power Of
annihiating free press in the Confederate States
is power that ought to be conferred upon no man
that breathed; and of course the press ceases
to be free when Its thinking and speaking is done
by detailed men. We would not give the right o.
appointing and removing the editors Of the South
to an inspired Apostle, much less to man like un
| to ourselves. tits dangerous Well we are taught
in the prayer of prayers to pray to be led not into
| temptation but delivered from evil.
If papers are to be published; if editors are to
be independent if the press is to be Free let their
independence and its freedom be placed under the
| sanction Of the lan-WiL. Journal