The Russellville Democrat., 1891-05-28
A GREAT ADDRESS.
HPersonai and Prejudices''--fsy Col. J. N. Heating, of The Memphis
 Commercial,
Delivered Before the Arkansas Press Asso
 citation May 21, 1891.


 things, has driven the pulpiieer out with the pamphleteer, who, in his day, 1 ouiriyaled the most scurrilous and venomous of the personal journalists.
 Before he revolution and during that
 period personal journalism reaped
 some of it's most fruitful haryests. The lampoon was then in vogue, and the | public delighted in the tilthie st mud
 slinger'' as the best man. No one esl
 capped, not even Washington, who Is to
 us almost as sacred personality. Epi- 1 thet was the order of the day, and duels I were frequent. The rivalry between | Hamilton, the Federalist, and Burr, the l Republican, which ended in the death ! of the former at the hands of the latter, ! affords fair illustration of the condi- | ton that prevailed during the post revolutionary period. Even these great
 men acted as if they thought that dif- | ference of opinion and divergence of | thought was crime. The Federalist could not coneede love of country to the | Republican, and the latter belle ed that l Federalism was the sum of all yillainies, | that it was monarchism in disguise. | Religious people, at the same time, had l their passions constantly inflamed by | controversy that no one now reads or
 cares anything about.
 | THE CONTROVERSIAL PREACHER, | like the william in the play, was the big
 man in the pulpit, and the sober, de- corous "Man of God" who, ''more skilled to raise the wretched than to | ssprayed and felt for all," and "whose | failings lean'd to virtues side" was regarded withi indifference, obscured as he was by the dust kicked up by his | belligerent brother. The nearer he
 was to Chris. the closer he patterned after ssthe meeek and lowly Jesus," | the more of milk sop he was con sidered. There were fighting parsons | in those days, afew of whom fingered even to our own. The most extraordi- nary beliefs were prevalent. Hell and | damnation seasoned most of the ser mons, and fne law of love was banished from among pu pit themes. Brutality prevailed everywhere, and kicks and cuffs were more current than half- pennies. On he stage there was to be seen 'sThe Ra1e Progress" and "The Road to Ruin.'' Even forty years after this Dr. Francis, writing of Cole man, who would have fought any man | who doubted that he was a gentleman, l who preceded the poet Bryant as the | editor of The New York Eyen- | ing Post, said, He would underrate the | best services to the Republic, if rem | dered by & political opponent" And | even the author of s'Thanatopsis, | poem that will always hold it's place in | English literature, had his bitter side, and as political editor, bore his share I of the heat and burden of the day. He l was challenged by a Whig editor named | Holland, who was, in 1S40, editing a paper named the Times, but the poet | responded that when Holland had ac- l commodated Leggett, by whom he had
 been challenged, he would be ready for him. This Leggett, who had been an l officer in the navy, had notions about
 the profession of journalism that were very much at variance with his conduct, l though it is to be aid that he was one among the pest ] of the craft. He wrote, treat | ing of the responsibilities of the editor, | that, ssto discharge fully the duties of
 public journalist would be to elevate l the vocation to the loftiest summit of | tinuing, he said, the journalist "should
 have 8 mind filled with great variety of human learning, and ready com- mand of all it's stores. He should have
 head, cool, clear and ssgacious; heart | warm and benevolent; nice sense | of justice; honesty tbat no temptations | could corrupt; inirepidiy, that no dan- | ger could intimidate; and independence superior tG every consideration of meres | interest, enmity or friendship, He l should possess the power Of diliigent | application, and be capable of enduring | great fatigue. He should have tenn | perament so happily mingled that, while he easily kintled at public error | or injustice, his Indignation should never transgress the bounds of judg- ment, but, in it's strongest expressions, | show that smoothness and amenity | which the language of choler always l lacks.'
 TO THIS PORTRAIT
 | we cannot add much. It is almost AS | complete as the most exacting could | exact. It embraces learning, diligence, | industry, perseverance and courage, honor and honesty, dignity, discrimina- | tion and weli-balanced judgment, | fairness and justice, and it of course carries decency with it. Compassion 1 for the unfortunate and the erring alone | is wanting. In this day this quality is often made manifest in the columns of | the best and most widely circulated mag azlnes and papers, in the funds they | gather to send the poor women and | children to the mountains or the seaside | to recuperate their failing physical powers. The history of the newspapers | of this country has many pages illumin- ated by good deeds of loving kindness. | But returning 10 our theme, we find l that the political organs established | from time 10 time in Washington were noted for their personalities. their blt- | terness, their revilinSs aud their d nun | citations. but few duels. The bully ed | itor with the handy double barre led | shotgun or handler revolver never put | in his appearance there. Brains was in | rt quisition by the states men who | cked | thilber as members of congress, foreign ministers. cabinet officers, or as expect ant office holders hanging on the tagged edge. Strong editorial writers were | ere in dema d, and found full recom- D use in ample pay, and were further | rewarded by public distinction. The elder Blair set the pace there as Rltehie | did in Richmond. They changed the
 old orter of things when newspapers
 were conducted by printers who had
 more tas te than talent, and filled their
 pages with anything sent them by | poets and story writers, essayists and | politicians who had fish of their own to | fry. Blair paid his writers and got the best, and his newspaper was consistent
 because it was conducted by him on a
 basis of principle looking to the ac-
 complishment of partisan ends. But generally about the 'l0s the anonymous | contributor was the great writer, and he