The record-union., 1893-05-27
TIE PUBLIC PRESS.
Advocate and Champion of Human
Rights.
William Henry Smiths Address Be-
fore the Press Congress in
Chicago, Illinois.

The following address. delivered by
William Henry Smith before the Press
Congress in Chicago, May I'D, is well
worthy the perusal of every lover of lib
erty:
Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen g.:
am invited to make an excursion into
the past and to draw therefrom a lesson
Tor the future. That past is but a brief
space measured by time, but of mighty
extent when the achievements of science
and the progress of man intellectually,
morally, socially and politically are con-
sidered IN their relations to the whole of
recorded history. The part that has been
played by the press in this development,
as an educational force, has a profound
interest for US; and doubtless we presume
upon this unduly at times, in the procla-
nation Of opinions and the advocacy Of
public measures. But we may not forget
that men lived and died-poured out
their blood in streams until the very
earth was ensanguIned, herolcalIy en-
braced the flames, or miserably perished
IN dungeons-tor freedom of opinion be-
fore newspapers were printed, and that
the spirit of Intolerance not unfrequently
hnds a congenial home i'll the human
heart still. Much yet remains to be ac
cOmpIlShed before man shall be truly
Iree, but the future is full OF promise.
only few hundred years ago priests
were interposing to lesson the rigors of
the slavery in which men of the best
races-our ancestors mayhap-were held;
and emancipation from thraldOm made
little change in the conditions of life.
Mans progress since then has been due
to many agencies enlisted by Provi-
dence in the secret service of the world"
the most potent of which has been the
press. Ancient philosopers extolled lib
erty; its principles were embodied in the
laws of rRome, but its realization by the
mass has been possible only in recent
times. There was lacking the opportu-
nifty. New conditions were necessary to
ut men for the enjoyment Of liberty. We
are celebrating the decisive act that re-
Vealed the conditions, created the oppor-
tUnity and invited men TO embrace them.
More than a century was required for
the preparation. Finally in the seven
teenth century, Liberty, standing upon
that strip of sand which a hardy people
had wreSted from the ocean, with face
turned toward the Hesperian, held aloft
the torch to light the way across the At
lantic for those who risked all the free
dom. o most marvellous changei To-
day she stands upon the shores of New
Netherland with face toward the rising
sun, and with torch still upraised light
ing the way for the eXpectant multitudeS
of other lands.
The use Of the press for the enlighten-
ment of the people began almost stimuli
taneously with the settlements made by
the English in \ orth America. The first
newspaper was printed in London, May
), 1922, and called the Weekly NelUS.
Since then the press in establishing its
liberty, has had TO contest every inch of
ground with arbitrary power. Its wri-
ters and publishers have endured the
dungeon, the pillOry, mutilation, brand
ing, transportation, and even death itself
with sublime devotion. When Henry
VIII. established a State Church the
function of censorship of the press passed
To the Crown, and was administered
with as much rigor as under ecclesiasti-
cal authority. 1t would seem that this
was accepted as the proper thing IN that
age. In the reign of Elizabeth the Privy
Council required the registration OF all
printing presses, the prohibition of all
printing except in London, Oxford and
Cambridge, No one was permitted to
put type to paper without first obtaining
the consent OF the Archbishop of Canter-
bury or Bishop of London. Any one
dealing in unauthorized writings in
CURED the risk of Imprisonment; and
lest this should not prove sufficient to
deter reckless printers, the Stationers'
Company was given the right of vista
ton, and the authority to destroy presses,
and arrest offenders to be dealt with by
the Privy Council. The Charleses sur
passed all that had been done before in
tyrannical regulation ofthe press, through
the terrible Star Chamber Court, and even
the Long Parliament held regulation to
be consistent with the principles of the
commonwealth. Better things, however,
fell TO the lot of the English people under
the great descendant of William the Silent,
and i'll 1884 censorship was abolished.
The bright wits of the classic days of
Queen Anne, having no longer the ter
rOrs of Imprisonment before them, made
merry with the emancipated press, and,
under the impulse given by this new born
freedom, were carried beyond the line of
legitimate journalism. They divided into
parties, and in the warfare between Wing
and Tory, in which wit was too often
confounded with lampoon, they invited a
renewal of legislative interference The
Tory Ministers finding that the brilliant
writers for the Wing press were creating
a public opinion inimical to their admin
: istratiOn of the Government, and that
their own writers had not equal ability,