Year: 1866

Congressional D5trlct. fOr lttlc "niIo tH'io "oo


no newspapers in Richmond; and, strange to say, the
deficiency does not seem to have been reshed even
by the most ow-spirted admirers Of that byeone age
which both created and consoled Mr.. Wise In the
absence of definite information, rumor had it all
its own wild way CanardS flew as tMckly as
Homers flies around milkng.pa; the rural
districts were feyerish with falsehoods for which
nobody was responsible; the city swarmed with
peripaetc retailers Of quite ideal intelligence and
he who could talk the lOudcst and the longest aud
tell the toughest story, became the great man OF
the groggery and the reyerej prophet of the baTbers
shop. To bewildered people, il was as II printing


had never been invented; and. whatever may have
heretofore been the sublime indifference Of Richmond
to the existence of the nineteenth century il was not
little embarrassed By this sudden revival of middle
age wants and monkish e1pedients and, when Oh al-


ustment of their difficulties enabled the newspapers
once more to appear, we may be sure that they


brought a sense of relief and papable promotion of
the public serenity. And this little event reminds us
Of what would be the condition Of ouI. own beloved
city and its environs if morning and and evening
publications should 20 a sudden sand-still, and


the calter Of Mr.. Hoes machines be longer
heard in Printing-Hou5c Square. There arc hyper
critical gentlemen who not only flsii1iou8y condemn
the literary execution Of newspapers (oi the dcul.
ties attending which they know and can know moth


ng) but who 90 further and insinuate solemn doubts
of their moral n1uence-gho regard them as at best


necessary evil but who nevertheless take them, pay
for them and read them who are unhappy with them,
but would be still more unhappy without them. II


is only the man who pleases to diyest himself Of all
social relations and responsibilities who would wish
to remain in ignorance of events. hermit living
fifty miles from a respectable cookshop upon parched
peas and messe Of herbs who never changes bis shirt
and goes always bare-fooed is naturally indifferent


to tho fluctuations Of the catlemarke cares nothing


for the rise or fall Of cotton, and has spirit elevated
far above the vcisstudes Of leather Having satisfied
himself that his soul is to be saved by frequent hage


lations and inlrequent abutons, he no more wants
even a religious journal than he wants soap or fine
toothed comb. Convinced that the world il rushing
to ultimate perdition bis only caro- is not to
be swept along by the current, while from
his high and dry point of advantage, he looks into an
unearthly future and iorget far possible that he
has many millions of ielow-creatures. We cannot
imagine Saint Simeon Stytes taking in Tng TRIBUNE
or any other newspaper; but men who differ from
that worthy, who do not live by themselves upon the
tops of pillars, do not shun the sight Of the human
face and the sound OF the human voice.
do not ignore common duties and are ra.onally
gregarlous, will need a newspaper as much as they
need a towel a tailor. There are some things
which, solitary and alone, we can do for ourseyes but
the majority of human enterprises depend for their
success upon an enlightened knowledge of what the
world has done or is doing in the same field and d.
recton. This alone can prevent constant mistakes
the msdrecon Of energy, tho repetition Of obsolete
experiments most lamentable failures or clumsy
and roundabout achievements SO, too, if
man pleases TO accept relations to goyernment and
to put himself and his family and his property under
its protection, he is directly interested in the omis
sions and commissions of that government in the
outgongs and ncomings Of his householdseryants or
of his journeymen. He SHOULD be ashamed not to vote;
but he should be still ashamed to vote gnOrany
or blindy, or the mere tool Of sharper-eyed man
than himself. Voting pre-supposeS the maklng-up OF
ones mind and that in turn pre-supposes basis of
facts for the decision. This it is tho business Of the
newspaper to furnish. But this is not all. Newspa-
pers are naturally advocates The statement and the
defense of opinion necessarily follow the widest pos
session of facts and the largest survey Of public affairs


In this respe newspapers should be the helpers but
never the masters of their readers, the vehicles Of
suggestive discussion, the wiHnowers of truth from
falsehood, the vehement antagonists Of error, the
earnest defenders of the right. This is what they
are if not in practice most certainly in theory; and
il is just in proportion they are true to this high
standard that they useful or otherwise. But they
have no protection against the influences Of passion,
of prejudice, or of venality. As they mechani.
cally the masterpieces of human ingenuity, some
thing Of human infrmty attaches to them in their
best estate; and they must DO accepted by the public
which depends so much upon them not as oracles in
capable of mistake but as entitled to that credit
which, by an average Of sagacty and of honest deal


ing with their readers, they may have spent
many years in earning. 1t is emphatieslly its
general character which gives the news
paper public influence. 1t Is true that,
either from habit or some other adventitous croum-
stance men will long continue to read newspaper
for which they have very lively respect; but they
laugh at it in their sleeves or in their speech, and risk
neither their money nor their reputation for sagacity
upon its soundness. .-.,...


Nobody can be better aware Of the deficiencies Of
the daily newspapers than We are; but will our worst
critics be pleased to imagine the country without
newspapers at all 1.-THE doubts, the nervous ankle
ties, the blind ignorance the thick'thronging blum.
ders, the misapprehensions tho purposeless activity,
the indecisiye inertia, which would follow. The pub
lie journal is the public memory the diary Of society
everybody's ledger and commonplace BOOK and |
almanac, and Withont IL unt a suls.itute hid been |