Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-08-14
PROFESSION AND rRAorlcn.

Under the above head the New York
Epening Poa, of Saturday last, exposes one
Of the most Inconsistent, not to say hypocriti-
cal, productions that has appeared in the
New York Tribune for some time, and thst
Is saying good deal. We give the article
entire, rs the Tribune referred alike to the
REPUBLICAN and the Post, from the fact that
We published Mr.. srEScER's able article
about the outrages to our prisoners at An
dersonville. II says: -
There Is an old story Of wild parson, who
replid to the remonstrances Of psrishoner :
'0h you must do as 1 sdy--dont do as 1
do" ..........
We are reminded Of this old fish by little
passage in the Tribune this morning, That
journal lectures the press generally for bad
habit Of giving such reports Of persons about
to be tried on charge Of criminal conduct
as persuade the public Of their guilt, and
"bias public opinion" against the prisoner
1t says:
1--WE ask the IAmerican press to abandon q
course that seems to be very fashionable, and
come back to the time when tho newspaper W %
as just its relations with offenders against shs
law as the magistrate upon the bonch. II has
been rule Of newspaper ethics In England and
America during the present generation that no
Journalist should ever stand between the accused
and his country by printing opinions as to his
guilt or innocence. All such comments were re-
served until the jury had announced the verdict.
Then, as public oensors, editors might comment
upon the evidence and express any judgment
they formed. This Is right. IL the press pro-
fessed to decide the guilt or innocence OF every
citiI N, and use Its tremendous power to bias
public opinion, law would become imperative,
and Its machinery powerless-the jury would be
a farce, and Its Judgments the mere expression
Of partisanship aud prejudice. -
There Is good deal more of virtuous in
dignstion in the same article, especially lev
eled at a correspondent Of ours, a citizen Of
Georgia, who has recently told the sad and
cruel story Of Andersonyille in our columns
Well, we turned over to another page Of the
same Tribune, and there found-what3 Day
before yesterday one jenkins, officer Of o
bank, was arrested for embezzling some Of its
funds. He is in prison awaiting trial. To use
the words of the Tribune, "in the eye of the
law he is person, and entitled to every priv
ilege accorded to one charged with heinous
crimes" But what does the Tribune do in
his case? While he is awaiting trial, when
he is but just arrested II prints about him
such sentences as the following:
"Not only has II become known that Mr.. Jen-
kins, the paying teller, did not possess the moral
character with which he was accredited, but that
Of infamy In the city, known as concert saloons,
and at last became the plant dupe Of one Of the
pretty waiter girls, supporting both himself and
paramour In richly furnished apartments In
Bleecker street. "
There is perhaps half column Of this kind
of matter about jenkins. Now, to quote
once more from the editorial part Of the same
journal, How do we know all this Before
what court has this person been tried? If
newspapers will open their columns and allow
anonymous assaults upon people, we shall
have reporters in every township ready to
print calumnes about the best and purest Of
people"
Having convicted the Tribune of doing
what it declares to be very wrong and most
atrocious, we shall now clear our skirts Of the
fault it insinuates against us. The Georgia
planter"-or farmer, as he modostly prefers
TO call himselE-whose account Of the cruel
ties perpetrated upon our poor fellows at An
dersonville we printed is Mr.. Ambrose Spen-
Ger, of Americus, Sumter county, Georgia, q
son of the late John c. Spencer, Of this State,
a resident of Georgia for the last twenty five
years, known as Union man in all his Sec
tion of country during the war, and known
also to many of the best citizens Of this State.
Concerning him we had written, some days
before his first communication appeared in
our columns: "Mr. Spencer has been n Union
man during the whole war; has lived in the
neighborhood Of Andersonville, and has been
kind and of service to many of the prisoners
confined in that place. He was n witness to
many of the outrages and cruelties suffered
by our prisoners at the hands of Winder and
Wertz, and he has come North, voluntarily,
to bear witness against Wertz, on his trial in
Washington. This conduct, so characteristic
Of a son Of John @. Spencer, and honorable
to him, will help to secure the ends Of justice
upon one Of the most cruel of wretches."
Mr.. Spencer's story Of the cruelties and
brutalities practised at Andersonville we
had heard q number Of days before we re-
quested him 10 put it upon paper for the
public. We refrainod at first, content to
await the development OF facts upon the
trial. But the friends Of WertE were not
content to wait. They began in the Daily
NeWS Of this city systematic attempt to
whitewash his character, and secure for him
the sympathies of the public rs n persecuted
man. Thereupon, we felt it our duty to
make known the facts, in order that the pub
lie should not be misled. But in doing this,
we expressly said: 1--WE had not intended to
say anything upon this case beforehand, but
as we find morning journal, the Daily
NeioS, making an attempt to whitewash him,
and induce public sympathy for him and for
Hog Winder as persecuted and misrepre.
sented individuals, we feel ourselves at lib,
erty to mention some Of the matters which
would be proved on the trial"
1t thus appears that while the Tribune
did the Evening Post did not, forget whGt
both hold to be sound rule for journalists