The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-01-26
PARTISAN JOURNALISM-TH LATE
MIR. PRENTICE.
From the ". Y. Times.

Mn. PRENI1CE.
From the NJ Y. Times.
1t is not much that we have to say of the
late Mr.. Prentice. He was not an old man
when he died, but he had been an editor since
the time of the younger Adams. His work
ing days numbered forty-five years It is
said that his latter years were clouded by mis-
fortune. How gently his death falls upon
the country how soon he is forgotten. Yet
the time was when the contemplation of the
death of Prentice would have been like the
going out of some particular star. This man
filled great place in the journalism of his
day, and had d vast influence in American
politics. Probably no man has made SO deep
an iuTression on the Southwest as the editor
of The Louisville Journal
What was the nature of that influence
Mr.. Prentice was not merely a man of pecu-
liar and rare gifts he was a partisan. He
held great personal and political power
because he surrendered his influence as an
editor. He joined the Whig party and re-
mained its staunch and loyal supporter. He
was among the followers of Henry Clay, and
was in journalism very much what Henry
Clay was in craftsmanship. In the character
of the two men there were many elements in
common-an SnS0ucjance, an elan, fire and
aggressiveness which was attractive in those
easy, rough, generous Western countries
There is much extravaganza in such charac-
man has written and yet it was his nature to
write such things without malice, or deep
grounded anger. Such men took their cue
from the times. They became editors Just as
other men become actors. And if it were set
down for them to denounce Whig or Demo-
crat, they did it just as Mr.. Booth decaims
against honor in ''Iago, and in favor of
murder in Macbeth.
We can more correctly define the position
of 1ra Mr hx, l.;
partisan chief. He fought under Clay Just as
Colonel Mosby did under General Lee, and
did much the same service. While the great
statesman remained aloof in the dignity of
sacred individuality forgetting social
grace and courtesy and the amenities of Sena-
torial and political life-the humber and less
scrupulous writer was busy with defamation,
Misrepresentation, satire, and invective. This
was the editors function in those DAYS. Every
great man had his editor, very much as the
old-fashioned English country squire had his
clergyman tosay grace, drink glass of ale, and
leave the table before the custards came The
editor was a retainer. He was the Gregory
or Balthazar of the far-removed political Mon
tague, and did the biting of the thumbs He
had little voice in greater concerns The
honors, and dignities, and emoluments of po-
litical victories were never shared with him
An occasional clerkship or local dignity was
his abundant reward.
Mr.. Prentice did this Office in the West, and
in his day he was the most powerful and most
brilliant of our partisan editors. But in later
years the press has grown beyond such par
tisanship, and with its growth the influence
of Mr.. Prentice and men of his class has de-
clined. The true journal is no longer per-
sonal organ. Personal journalism has limited
mission. When a man considers that because
he is the editor of powerful newspaper he
must, of necessity, make it the echo of his
anger, his hopes, his ambitions and his dis
appointments, his influence is feeble and
purposeless. An editor is to his paper what
the Governor is to the Commonwealth. He
is its minister, not its MASTER and must gov
ern it with wisdom and prudent considera-
ton for the rights of others, remembering
that there are always higher and nobler aims
than any individual whim or prejudice. We
see in England, and the time has come when
we are beginning to see in America, that
there can be no powerful and respected Jour
nalism that is not impersonal, and that no
editor can fully do his work unless he is Jude
pendent, untrammeled, and above all party
influences The editor sees that his mission
is infinitely superior to that of any other pro-
fession, and instead of being the squire or
adjutant of political leaders like Clay, it is his
privilege to compel even from them respect
and obedience.
Mr.. Prentice was the last remaining parti-
san editor of the West. Mr. Greeley is, per-
haps, the only one of any prominence in the
East; and experience has 80 tanned and chas-
! tened our Eastern colleague that he is mora