ergy of men in this free government, all
concurred in enforcing the necessity of this latest wonder of human
ingenuity--the telegraph,--yet the newspaper, with its boundless
circulation and power of distribution, was indispensable to make it
available and to give it all its inestimable value.

But, after all, the prodigious influence of the press, aided by its
great instrument, the telegraph, derives its moral and political value
chiefly from the lessons it teaches, and the good purposes it aims to
accomplish. Unhappily, if the newspaper may be the means of doing
incalculable good, it may also be instrumental in doing infinite
mischief. If it may multiply the power of the community, by promoting
harmony of thought and feeling, it may direct this concentrated energy
to the wrong end, as well as to the right. Being a great vehicle for the
communication of ideas on all subjects, it becomes a mighty instrument
of education; entering almost every house in the land, and reaching the
eye of every man, woman, and child who can read, it exercises almost
supreme control over the sentiments of the masses. It is a tremendous
intellectual engine, radiating the light of knowledge to the extremities
of the land, and, in its turn, wielding, to some extent, the
incalculable power which that knowledge imparts to its recipients.

Like every other human agency, the press is liable to be controlled by
sinister influences. Perhaps, from the entire absence of all direct
responsibility, from its usual entire devotion to public affairs, and
the acknowledged influence of its representations on the popular mind,
it is peculiarly exposed to the seductions of patronage, and to the
temptations of personal and mercenary interests. A mere party journal,
involved in a perpetual conflict for power, and for the accompanying
spoils, is, of all the depositaries of moral power, at once the most
dangerous and the most contemptible. To it, truth is of secondary
importance; having satisfied itself that no prosperity, or even liberty,
can exist without the success of its men and measures, it makes
everything bend to this purpose. The end justifies the means. Impartial
statement or rational investigation is seldom to be found in its
columns. Nevertheless, in the general competition which arises where the
press is free, the _tendency_ will always be toward the true and the
good. Rival journals will advocate different theories and maintain
opposite systems; but f