Des Arc citizen., 1866-04-28
] NEWSPAPERS.

bbIuCllOuc, tuuS Udl1uAo diiN4 VI tttAiblOuftiJ chronicles, were the first vehicles of infor-. nation and intellectual pleasure To these succeeded scrolls and the tedious manipu- shtions of peniansliip The invention of printing myriadized the facilities for attain ing knowledge; but even books have be- come to slow for this fast age. They have subsided into heavy artillery, while news papers are Roman short swords whose execution is as instantaneous as the electric flash. They answer the universal wants of mankind; they conflict not with the requisition of business. When sipping his brown beverage at the breakfast table, the merchant, mechanic, or agricuiturist is ,glancing over the current of human cvents---the course. of trade---the rumors of War--the inventions of art--the dis coveries of science--all that makes up the sum and substance of what we con cretely call life, stretches before him with panoramic distinctness.
 Newspapers have become separate power--they have throncdom of their own-they are inightiest among the prin- cipalities of earth. From the king down to the two-penny demagogue and scrub race of politicians, none are above their rcach--all drink their censure. They are equal to the highest argument, such as may influence good, pure minds; yet they willstoop from this elevated status to the flthiest styles of humanity, to weep over the unfortunate, or to seek the wilfully wicked with the billingsgatc of their own mephitic atmosphere Courted by the polite and feared by the timid in land of liberty and free discussion, they are Cmnipotent. But while their power is unlimited, they are omniscient, they are not always just, they are not always mag nanimous. We say mot always-they are generally just and generous. In an unwise moment they sometimes strike down the good and great but this rarely happens. When 1t does, if misfortune is borne as the truly great bear it, the same power that ruined will hasten to reward and to exalt them again. They are some times tyrants, but never so long.
 How is the power and the general cor ! rectness of newspapers to be accounted for? Why is 1t that they are more efficient and potent, and at the same time less tyranical and more just, the more independent they become? Make them rich in resources and strong in intellect, and they only re. fleet with more powerful lens the sterling sense of the times The answer to both interrogations is to be found in the signif- cant fact that newspapers are not the re- Aections. of editorial wisdom. It is not the <>p %xxrr> fho4 potency. Its power lies deeper-its foun- dation more,solid Relying on the masses for suppprt5it also looks to them for the index of it's course. It is the representa- tive'of democracy. It but gives ..'name and local habitationo to thoughts that have been nurtured in the bosom of the people, Dealing less in sophism than the dema- gogue, it's sympathies arc still with the masses, Erratic and nasty at times, its ssober second thought" gravitates to the poles of truth, and conservatism. It is well known that the London Times, truth fully called tho @great thunder --divides with the King and Parliament the denomi- nation of England. In periods of greatest excitement, as we'll aswhen danger ab- breaches under the peaceful semblance off law, it has everbeen equal to the emer- gency. When the balance of power is in jeopardy; when some fierce comet of war blazes out on the horizon--it is the first Moloch denouncing
 ,.ssDesperate revenge and battle dangerous
 To less than Gods.''
 When the rights secured by the Magma Ehorfo .pl law are infringed upon some spacious coll oring, it is the spear of Ithurie, before whose charmed touch error starts up from its covert hiding. Yet this great poten- tate-this Jupiter tonins-has it's bitter enemies. When it holds England in the isEhollow of its hand 2 defying enemies from without and danger from within, it is de nounced as a tyrant by disappointed au- thors and droyeIing clapstrap politicians. Nevertheless it is sustained and supported by the good sense of the sturdy English nations. 1t has the same manliness and reliability which distinguishes the national character lt,is their best exponent. It is strong, for its strength is in the hearts of the people. aa
 z; Beauty attracts us men but if, like an armed magnet, it is pointed with gold or silver, besides attached with ten fold power
 -Despots are hostile to liberty as though, among men as with geese, the wild ,ones were more cunning than the tame
 Ss----The following definition of the rights of fworsian IS given ina Vermont paper "To love her lordwithall her heart, and her baby asherselfrTaad to make good bread
 sTsEl wsporting journal has boen started mLQRdonunder thetitle of sI.and and Water: ltstlkes us a more attractive title for fhe sports wepld baTe been .iBrsndx and Water.