Evening star., 1941-09-26
The Hidden Press

It Is a fact often remarked upon
that the art of printing never was
intended to languish in chains. BY
It's very nature the communication
of knowledge by means of movable
type is free. The principle of the
press exempt from arbitrary control
is merely a formal expression of a
circumstance necessarily recognized
by all men competent to reason. If
it were otherwise, the monumental
invention of Gutenberg would be an
affliction to the human race. Only as
it remains untrammeled by oppreS-
sion can the fruit of his genius serve
the high purposes of civilized life
Yet from the beginning the
printers craft has been an object of
repreSSive action on the part of ty-
rannical authority. 1t is matter
of history that not much over CEN
tury after the first publishing plant
was established in England, under
license of the crown, there began to
dRPCoA SCI vain CIlS SSuly
broadSides and pamphlets which
Queen Elizabeth most StrenuouSly
diSapproved. The Jesuit mission
aries at Stonors Park near Henley
were charged with the mischief, and
they may have been guilty of it.
Driven underground as they were,
they had logical excuse for continu-
ing their propaganda subterrane-
ouSly.
Under somewhat similar condi-
tions Protestant writer's produced
and circulated forbidden literature
in the Catholic countries of the
continent. The Jansenists were ener-
getic operators of secret printing
shops. More radical sects made still
commoner use of the facilities of
graphic reproduction for the diSSem-
ination of their peculiar doctrines.
The Reformation was, in effect, a
result of the hidden press. In like
manner the French Revolution was
/ stimulated if not actually created by
Marat's newspaper L'Ami du Peuple,
issued virtually from the sewers of
Paris" The example of his infam-
matory sheets inspired the sponsors
of the Russian revolutions of 1917
and 1918
Meanwhile, La Libre Belgique came
into existence in Brussels as an i'm
perative answer to the challenge of
German tyranny. Printed in def
anCe of official diSapprObation, that
famous periodical was edited with
great spirit and wit. The German
authorities were sensitive beyond
expectation to its stingS and made
ludicrously earnest efforts to run its
authors to earth. Large rewards
were offered, inoffensive people-in-
cluding girls and boys and priests
were arrested on suspicion and in
many cases condemned, but
the Germans never knew whether
they had merely missed the culprits
altogether or caught them only to
see their work pass on into other
equally courageous hands" 1t was
in an endeavor to find Philippe
Bancq, an architect who was acting
as substitute editor, that the agents
of Baron Won der Goltz discovered
Edith Cavell, the English nurse whose
execution, october IL, 1915, created
a revulsion which contributed to the
final defeat of the Kaiser's armies
three years afterward.
La Libre Belgique survived the
struggle, emerging at the time of
the Armistice as a daily. Something
of the same destiny may be the lot
of those publications which now are
being circulated furtively in the un-
happy lands held by Hitler. The
Free World for October reports
three underground journals cur
rently being issued in France-Les
Petites Allies, Liberte and Liberation.
On the title page of the first of these
appears the dictum of Napoleon: ITO
live in defeat is to die every day."