The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-10-05
DAILY PRESS.
ND.
Friday Morning. 0ctobr s, 1866.
AhOHf Mnl,s.
PORTLAND,


Public journals, that do not condemn mobs,
encourage and favor them. The Press did not
condemn the disgraceful mobs at Cleveland
and~Rlttsburg nor the murderous one at Indi-
anapolls; it therefore encouraged and favored
the mob spirit. When leading jouanal of a
political party takes such position, the COM
munity is not far from serious danger. Mob
rule is the worst of calamities.-Argus.
There are two or three serious faults in the
logic of this deliberately drawn Indictment of
the Press. For instance the Argus did not
condemn the Rebel mobs at Memphis and
New Orleans, nor the Copperhead mob at
Somerville in this State; by its own showing
therefore, it encouraged and favored the mob
spirit. The reasoning is as conclusive in the
one case as in the other. What it comes to is,
that journal which fails explicitly to con-
denim every riotous demonstration which oc'
ours in the country, not to say in the world
encourages and favors riot. That position
hardly needs continuation. 1t is VIGOROUSLY
rogue's trlck to den0tnce the species OIL ras-
cality to which he is most addicted; honest
men do not feel the necessity of vindieating
themselves by denunciation of crime. 1t is
sufficient to report the fact, and the common
Judgment of all good msn will find name
for it. II this were so, we should be obliged
to accuse the Argus of encouraging thieving,
for we have not seen in its columns any
whitening rebuke" ofretty larceny of late;
we might suppose the Argus favored lying, for
it certainly has not copied any of the publica-
lions Of the American Tract Society on that
interesting topic we should be compelled to re-
gard the Argus as upholding the social sys-
tenn of Mr.. Brigham Young, since our neigh
Dor has never condemned polygamy nay, by
the same token the Argus favors murder, az
son, incest -procrastination. ao. -egsi
Now we don't believe the Argus Intends to
encourage any of these crimes. We do not
believe the Argus favLrs mobs, and we can
hardly suppose that the Argus seriously in
tends to represent the Press as favoring mobs.
Such absurd accusations react upon the accu-
sers. The plain interest Of every good citizen
isso clearly on the side of law and order, to say
nothing of any higher motive, that the chagre
OF favoring and encouraging disorder will not
lie, as the lawyers say. What we complain
OF in the Argus, Is not encouragement of ri
OTIS, but its ostrich-like conceaIments, its hab-
it of suppressing accounts of Democratic riot
ing. 1t is the notion of the Press, that the
business Of a newspaper is first of all to furn-
ish the news, and if our theories will not
square with the facts then so much the worse
for the theories; they must be modified, and
the sooner the better. The Argus has never
intimated that Stewart, who was killed at In
dianapolis, was shot down bya Copperhead
bullet, for calling out General Grant before
johnson had finished swinging round the cir
Gle. That was the kind Of shooting affray
which occurred at indianapolis: it can be
proved by many witnesses, that every shot
was fred by the Presidents friends and guar
dams The. Argus has never alluded to the
Copperhcad mob which broke up meeting
in Somerville in this State, ten days before
the recent election. 1t was the Argus which
cooked" the Pittsburg dispatch, so as to con-
ceal the fact that Mr.. johnson was silenced
in those streets where the soldiers of the Uni
on have since been gloriously welcomed
What we said, in commenting upon the
Pittsburg disturbance, and what we stand by,
is this: @es,5
The President has brought this disgrace up
on himself The shameful conduct Of the mob
is only part and parcel of the disgrace which
his vanity and spleen have brought upon the
country.
We do not justify the mob Ear from it
But we do, without hesitation, say that
speeches so undigniied as Mr.. Johnson's
tended to break down the respect which the
people naturally feel for the President; that
speeches SO ill-tempered could hardly fail to
excite angry passion; that Mr.. Johnson's as
sumption that every demonstration of respect
for his Office was an endorsement of his poll
cy, almost compelled some disclosure Of the
real feelings Of his hearers. The course he
was unwise enough to take tended directly to
the end he reached. In stating this fact, we
no more justify the Pittsburg riot than we
justify incendiarism when we say that light
ed fire cracker thrown into the mass of shay
ings in cooper's shop will be likely to cause
a confagration. 1t is said that DR.. Dostie
made an Incorporate speech in New Orleans
a few days before he was murdered. If that
were true, it would not palliate the crime of
the Both July President Johnson's Offensive
attacks upon the representatives of the peo-
pie he addressed do not excuse the disgraceful
scenes at Pittsburg. 1t would nevertheless be
a gain of consistency if those journals which
are SO much exercised by the naughty words
which greeted the Presidents ears, would
show some sensibility respecting the whole.
sale murder planned and executed by Mayor
Monroe and his confederates. IS .4 IT'D "a