Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1862-1865, 1865-04-26
From the New Yo-k Tnbune.l
THE PRESS AND THE PUBLIC.

IhE PkESS AND The PUBLIC.
one Of many letters of similar recently received
says in perfect simplicity assure you that what you
say in favor of and of enity to rebels does not
represent the sentiments OF yonr subscr bers in this
quarter We haven't the least doubt CT II. represent
ing-that is rejecting, conformi to-the changing
opinion Of the hour, may not be dihcult bat surely
canno be achieved by those who do not ty end we
never attempted the task finding It unsdspted 20 onr
mental habits and tastes. We might hoe cotton fOr
peck Of corn and couple Of pounds of bacon per week
with few cuts OF horsewh thrown in az intervals
We can certainly chop cord ocd dig potatoes for
living for We have tried but 10 represent pGhc opn-
Ion in the ed t)rial columns Of a newspaper is task
quite outside Of our capacity. The physi al possibility
Of dol Nc may or may not inhere in faculties the
moral does not.
We are sometimes inspr with intense disgust for a
vocation whereof the popular estimate appears be
sordi and low We have quite often received epstles
grayely informing u that what we think and say on
certain topic unpOpu ar in the evident presumption
at We only need 10 know this 10 make wear ship at
once and come short rou on the other tack The no.
ton that writer should ever undertake to resist correct
and improve public sentiment seems incon cevable 70
mentors as that man should practice law with a
the promotion Of justice rather than fer the sake
Of the money he might earn by II.
II the public is to be made sny better il must have in
strucors who DO not represent" its rage views but
are wiser better profounder than they ere journal
t who uniformly repre- ens the popular opinion may
make his Tspaper profitable to its publishers but what
can he possibly have do o,e for his readers As vehicle
of news, his sheet my be valuable but his editorials
considered as lamps along the public HIGHWAYS and
guides 70 correct thinking be Of no use whatever
The idea which seems to lie at the bottom of the de-
grading conc ption our calling which find preys-
lent seems be not far fom this An editor is an intel
ctua gladiator, whom we hire pay 20 find invent
reasons for the which have predetermined 70
take He is like the lawyer who being paid his fee does
his best his client whether that clients be good
or bad. He cannot always win but he must ascertain
what his clients want and represent it as well as he
Now we know and could name journals that always
mean 10 ego with the tide" and generally succeed in
this we e'ume that they also SUCCEED in n king
ney but tey have more Influence on public opinion
than the weathelcock has on the recon ocs Oft the
wind. They may be consulted as evidence OF what is
popular and may, in that view have certain value but
Ia no other are they worth straw.
Sometimes we are addressed by person who SO ys,
have taken your paper fifteen twenty years and
have never agreed with il till now. We are sorry TO
hear it for in the course Of so many years We must
have cen many times wrong and you ought 10 have
detected Of those errors The end and aim Of this
journal are not 90 make its readers think in all as
we do but teach them to think for themselves. We
state orr opinions freely and frankly ask for
them fair consideration and candid judgment bU!
We he yer dreamed that every o3c would make them hin
own In fact: If we supposed every one united in the
belief of certain proposition, We should waste no
words in is defence II is precisely because pre-
sumo opinion rot generally entertained LaI we show
cause for chersling II.
Ona single po.nt we insist on being bette under
stood. Several have writte1 Us. protesting against
.sentimentaity,' tenderness IN criminals &c. They
tirey mistake our position 1t in the Interest not OF
the criminal but OF tie yet undeprayed that resist
renal infections that tend 10 barbariZe the community.
II is in the crest OF Human Liberty that we resist all
that tends invest the defeated champions oi Slavery
with the honors OF mlrtyrdom We cannot we'll agree
with those who hold that eat criminal Escapes pun
ishmen unless the law takes his life or nj N him
some kind oi hysical torture io ur7r ..}r ,tand
points are rot within hail ,f 'a,h. oiLe but we
possibly make students of history and Of human nature
comprehend ths; party triumph mt in great civil
war ever vet suffered from treating its yangghed op
ponents with too much lenity. The danger J. sli the
other way for there will always be hundred Toicee
crying Sme for every ole which pleads 'Np'Tep IN
fact they who would lence the only eyiH- nm
EASY Consciousness thai hei SIDE Of the qges Ton
not abide dis .uss Better l3t all be fay heard
crisis are most unlikely even ifuupromp:ed gor %
bear il N vain