. Hawley at the seventieth annual dinner of the
New England Society in the City of New York, December 22, 1875. The
President, Isaac H. Bailey, said by way of introduction: "Gentlemen, I
will now give you the tenth regular toast: 'The Press.' This toast,
gentlemen, will be responded to by a member of the press who has
always adorned his profession--General Hawley, of Connecticut."]

GENTLEMEN:--Our distinguished President paid the very highest
compliment to the Press to-night; for, while he has given at least a
fortnight's notice to every other gentleman, he only told me to-night
that I had to respond to the toast of "The Press." But as I have
attended a good many dinners of the New England Society, and never knew
"The Press" to be called upon before midnight, I felt entirely safe.
[Laughter.] Now, sir, I have spent an evening--some six hours--here,
enjoying all the festivities and hospitalities of this occasion to the
utmost, and at last I am called upon, at an hour when we are all full of
jollity and mirth, to respond to a toast that in reality calls upon me
for my most serious effort. [Applause.] I assure you that, had I known
that I was to speak upon this subject to-night, I would, contrary to my
usual custom, have been deliberately prepared [laughter]; for I, in
reality, have a great deal to say upon that matter; and permit me to add
that I have a somewhat peculiar qualification, for I have been a man
within the press, "a chiel amang ye takin' notes, an' prentin' them;"
and I have been again a man altogether outside of the press, not writing
for months to his own people, and subject to receive all the gibes and
criticisms and attacks of the press. [Applause.] "I know how it is
myself." [Laughter.]

"The Press of the Republic" is a text worthy of the noblest oration. It
has a great, a high, and a holy duty. It is at once the leader and
educator, and, on the other hand, the representative of the people. I
can only touch on some points that I have in my mind, upon this
occasion. It seems to me that we are passing through a period of
peculiar importance regarding the value and influence of the press of
the American Republic. There are times when I join with them in the most
indignant denunciation, in the warmest appeal. There are times when I
feel the cutting, cruel, stinging injustice of the American press.
[Applause.] It is the duty of an editor, sitting, as he does, as a
judge--and I mean all that the w