ed, is a potent power in promoting the
well-being of universal man. It is also a highly moral power--for it
quickens mind everywhere, and puts in force those principles which tend to
lessen human woe, and to exalt and dignify our common humanity. The daily
press, for the most part, aims to correct error--whether senatorial,
theological, or legal. It pleads in earnest tones for the removal of public
wrong, and watches with a keen eye the rise and fall of great interests. It
teaches with commanding power, and makes its influence felt in the palace
of the monarch, as well as through all classes of the community. It helps
on, in the path of honorable ambition, the virtuous and the good. It never
hesitates or falters, however formidable the foe. It never crouches,
however injurious to itself the free and undisguised utterance of some
truths may be. It is outspoken. When the nation requires them, it is bold
and fearless in propounding great changes, though they may clash with the
expectations of a powerful class. It heeds the reverses to which a nation
is subjected, and turns them to good account. It does not abuse its power,
and is never menaced. It is unshackled, and therefore has a native growth.
It looks on the movements of the wide world calmly, deliberately, and
intelligently. We believe the independency of the daily press can never be
bribed, or its patronage won by unlawful means. Its mission is noble, and
the presiding sentiment of the varied intellect employed upon it is "the
greatest good to the greatest number." It never ceases in its operations.
It is a perpetual thing: always the same in many of its aspects, and yet
always new. It is untiring in its efforts, and unimpeded in its career. We
look for it every day with an unwavering confidence, with an almost
absolute certainty. Power and freshness are its principal characteristics;
and with these it combines a healthy tone, a fearless courage, and an
invincible determination. That it has its imperfections, we do not
deny--and what agency is {334} without them? It is not free from error, and
no estate of the realm can be. The purity of the public press will be
increased as Christianity advances. There is no nation in the world which
can boast of a press so moral, and so just, as the daily newspaper press of
Great Britain. The victories it achieves are seen and felt by all: and when
compared with the newspaper press of other countries, it has superior
claims to our adm