n, any interference
with which must of necessity be an injury to the public. Everything
done at the office of the _People's Banner_ was done in the interest
of the People,--and, even though individuals might occasionally be
made to suffer by the severity with which their names were handled
in its columns, the general result was good. What are the sufferings
of the few to the advantage of the many? If there be fault in
high places, it is proper that it be exposed. If there be fraud,
adulteries, gambling, and lasciviousness,--or even quarrels and
indiscretions among those whose names are known, let every detail be
laid open to the light, so that the people may have a warning. That
such details will make a paper "pay" Mr. Slide knew also; but it is
not only in Mr. Slide's path of life that the bias of a man's mind
may lead him to find that virtue and profit are compatible. An
unprofitable newspaper cannot long continue its existence, and,
while existing, cannot be widely beneficial. It is the circulation,
the profitable circulation,--of forty, fifty, sixty, or a hundred
thousand copies through all the arteries and veins of the public body
which is beneficent. And how can such circulation be effected unless
the taste of the public be consulted? Mr. Quintus Slide, as he walked
up Westminster Hall, in search of that wicked member of Parliament,
did not at all doubt the goodness of his cause. He could not contest
the Vice-Chancellor's injunction, but he was firm in his opinion that
the Vice-Chancellor's injunction had inflicted an evil on the public
at large, and he was unhappy within himself in that the power and
majesty and goodness of the press should still be hampered by
ignorance, prejudice, and favour for the great. He was quite sure
that no injunction would have been granted in favour of Mr. Joseph
Smith and Mr. John Jones.

He went boldly up to one of the policemen who sit guarding the door
of the lobby of our House of Commons, and asked for Mr. Finn. The
Cerberus on the left was not sure whether Mr. Finn was in the House,
but would send in a card if Mr. Slide would stand on one side. For
the next quarter of an hour Mr. Slide heard no more of his message,
and then applied again to the Cerberus. The Cerberus shook his head,
and again desired the applicant to stand on one side. He had done all
that in him lay. The other watchful Cerberus standing on the right,
observing that the intruder was not accommodated with any me