Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-02-04

system-a system by which a few member
OF Congress, organized into committee
could elect a President of the United
States. 1t was a piece of machinery in.
geniously devised by him to carry out his
own political aspirations. This was followed
by the convention system, a much more
popular, a much more Just, and much
more equitable system of representation;
and the author and fnisher of that was
Martin Van Buren,. Both of these sys-
TENS, in theiricorrupt days, taught the same
lessons that the old school of partisan
journalists taught them, and to which
they still adhere, that the party can do no
wrong, that the platform is infallible, that
everything done by the party must be
ratlned-I say it was this spirit, and the
adoption of these maxims and the policy
which flowed from them, that led to the
destruction of the Democratic party be-
fore the war; and the same thing is going
to bring about the destruction of the
present Republican party. Now, if
the press is not permitted to com
ment upon crime and criminals; if the
press Is not permitted to pursue those who
do wrong; if the press is not permitted to
give light to the people, what is its mis-
sion? 1t has none.
The leadership of men in this country,
as it existed twenty five years ago, has
passed away. lido not expect, in my day,
to see a public man in this country who
will have one-hslf of the political power
which was possessed by Andrew Jack
son. The attempt to assume the
one man power, or the leadership,
has been made recently within the
last six or eight years In this country; but
1t has resulted in the overthrow of the
party that attempted ii; and the pow r
which will not permit the exercise on
the part of any one man over the minds
of the American people or over the politi-
cal destinies of this country, is the press
When Andrew johnson attempted this
power and the assumption of it, Git is not
necessary now to discuss whether he was
right or whether he was wrong,) say that
wnen he attempted to exercise something
OF the political power which Andrew Jack
son IN his day successfully used, the thur
derbolts from thousand FORCES were
hurled at him every day, and hurled at him
until they drove him from political power.
President Grant is travelling the same road,
and the thousand currents that are washing
against him are sweeping the foundations
of his political house from under him.
This very power which the press has, that
streams in thousand daily currents, is so
great, whenever it is concentrated upon
sny one thing, that there is no leader in
this country that can successfully resist it.
If that be so, how important is it for those
who are the managers of the
press, those who are the conductors
of the newspapers CT the day to avoid
those crimes and faults which resulted in
the destruction of the old political leaders
or managers of public opinion In the
days Of John G. Calhoun, during his whole
life, although he ruled South Carolina as
never monarch ruled a people; yet it is a
remarkable fact that during his whole ca
reer he did not deliver three speeches to
the people. You cannot find half dozen
letters which he addressed to them on po-
litical subjects. He never stumped the
State. Why was the supremacy of John
G. Calhoun's mind over the people of
South Carolina so absolute? 1t could not
be SO to-day; but why was it
50 absolute? It was because, if
there ever was a statesman in this
country who possessed the very highest de-
gree of integrity of thought, it was Cal
houn, of South Carolina. With his politi-
cal opinions, his theory of this government,
We have nothing now to do. We may all
differ from him, perhaps most of Us did;
q for one did, but his power was founded
oa that integrity of thought, and that hon
est and broad sympathy with the people,
which made his rule ever the minds of that
people absolute.
II is these things of which the conductors
of the newspaper press must be masters
before they can have the power to which
the press can justly and rightly aspire. 1t
is not the few rich, nor is it the select few
of intellectual beings, for whom we print
newspapers. 1t is for the great body of
the people. We must deal with pub
lie opinion, and public opinion
rules everything in this country,
but we must not delude ourselves with the
idea that the press by its own mere power
can create public opinion. No one man
nor any set of men are as wise as the peo-
pie. There is no man who is as infallibly
right as the people in their sober second
thought; and the ancients were not very
far wrong when they said ''The voice of
the people is the voice of God" for upon
that doctrine rests our belief in the authsn-
tieity of Christianity and in the truths of
religion, because a majority of intelligent
men and women believe in them. Hence
we all believe that they are true, because
we cannot believe that majority of intel
Iigent beings, of intellectual men and
women, who are following their convic-
tons, who preserve their integrity of
thought, can believe in an error. So, no
one man is as wise as the people nor are
any set of men infalhble; and the press of
its own power cannot create public opin-
ion, but it can reflect it. And how
can you get at the sober second
thought of the people unless you have a
sympathy with them, unless you stand on
a level with them. So, it is not the organ
of the caucus, it is not the mouthpiece
of a ring of men, it is not the spokesman
of this set or of that set that a newspaper
ought to be, but the educator of the popu-
lar heart, and of the popular mind. The
press is the handmade of Christianity,
which was preached not to the few with
embroidered garments, but to the multi
tude; and the press breaches its daily ser
mon to millions, and it is a striking and
wonderful fact, that the history of every
day, when the sun sets, is written accu-
rately, not as it used to be, left to tradi-
ton aud memory.
Aud in this connection, l may be per
mitted to say that when l am talking to
you, the members of the press, l am not
talking to a dozen, 1 am not talking to
forty, but am talking to these with whom
you communicate, your thousands of sub
scribers. It is that impressive and aston
ishing fact which we ought to carry with
us every day, that what we write and what
we print is not for our own qualification,
but that we are speaking to thousands Of
people and that what we print to-day is ir
reyocable. 1t is these things that ought
to restrain US from doing things with hasty
thought, with too rapid impulses, but that
everything that We give to the people
ought to be as much as possible run
through the crucible of sober second
thought.
ANY one can censure an humble alder
man or a guilty representative; but the
duty of the press goes far beyond that. Its
duty is to drag the rich and the powerful
before the bar of public opinion whose
Judgment no man can disregard. 1t Is
our duty as conductors of the press, duty
from which we cannot escape, to sssail Pc
litical wickedness in high places, if need
be in our households, and to, baye something
of the spirit of the prophet who said to his
royal master either in his private chamber
or on his throne, Thou art the man" It