Spirit of the Press.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 304, 7 September 1865, Page 1

Spirit of the Press.

ON BEING INDEPENDENT. ; ["From the Arbroath Guide]. It is about the greatest of possible truisms to say that there is an independence which is utterly unattainable, inasmuch as from the first step of life to its last, none of us can go through the world alone and unaided. There is also an independence which it is possible to attain to, but which no well-conditioned person can desire. Who has not in society met with an independent man of this sort, and beenmade painfully to feel bispresence? Weal! of us have reminiscences of some self-willed, liighsouled individual, who is never witfaunt a great principle to uphold, or a great wrong to denounce, or a noble protest to enter; who is constantly thrusting the bard angularities of his crotchetty cnaracter upon his neighbors, and is doing his best to convey the general impression that he, even he, is left alone in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. All men who have any respect to their peace of mind, or to the comfort of their social being, do as much as possible, avoid such a character as this, leaving him alone in Ids independence. It is part and parcel of the very idea of society that its members shall endeavor to accommodate themselves to each other, and that they shall not repel the proper influences which friend and neighbor exert. When society has exacted its fair claims, there will always remain to every man of any force or strength of character as much individuality as will entitle him to be called an independent man, in the proper sense of the word.

' But it may be as well now at once to say that our little discourse at present, on the subject of independence, is not desiged to relate so much to men as to newspapers. After the truth and accuracy of its reports, the thing which is most essential in a newspaper is the independence of its opinions, everybody believes that. Indeed the virtue of independence is even more sought after in newspapers than among men. This is most reasonable. A well-conducted newspaper cannot fail to have considerable influence in the community in which it is published, and if that influence is to be for good the conductors of the newspapers must be men who have the faculty of : saying;;No. Eor this monosyllable does, we fancy, more than any other, represent the idea of independence. It is not necessary, indeed, that a newspaper should be such a character as we have briefly sketched in the first paragraph of the article-—a ‘ man forbid’; but whenever a question arises as between the public/with whose interests hejs in a sort intrusted, and private feelings or interests, of whatever kind, he must, if he is an honest man, having any right devotion to his r work,.not hesitate as to the course which he ought to take. This course may involve the sacrifice of a friend, or it may necessitate the saying of something disagreeable to the public itself, but the course must be taken notwithstanding. That speaking generally, it is taken by journals of any influence, Whether that influence be of local or of wider extent, nobody questions, and in this way we have the reason why the press of this country is, as'n, matter of fact, one of its most important institutions. There are, indeed, some newspapers—to be found principally, we are sorry to say, among our country contemporaries—that- escape the difficulty of being’independent, by systematically publishing articles which nobody reads. These journals are very free with their opinions about Kamstchatka and Japan, Earl Russell and the French Emperor ; but local abuses or mismanagement are passed over in silence. In this way it is possible to be very independent—about: politics a thousand or ten thousand usiles away, and, at the same time, very dull. But a newspaper of this sort must be regarded as exceptional, for. were it otherwise, the press of the country could not occupy that.high position which it unquestionably does. Journalists, as a rule, do say No a great many times, audit is of the very essence of their duty to be every now and again treading upon some person’s corns. It might be concluded from this necessity of his work, that an editor must be the very impersonatituv of th.e Blighted. Being,’, inas ■ much' as he" musthave" to .say thiqgs . for.

which friends will not thank him, and for the saying of which they cease to be friends.' Something'of that does happen, but common sense, which, as its name implies, is happily one of the most usual endowments of humanity, prevent things from being so bad as they might otherwise be. Yet that the risk of the sacrifice being required occurs frequently is perhaps one of the things which are generally known. Indeed, it must be inconceivable to an outsider the number of people who have corns, and whose corns come in the editorial way. We are aware that it is a common notion that journalistic independence can be assailed only by great persons, and for the promotion of grand objects. There cannot, however, be a greater mistake. From a pretty close observation we have been led to conclude that the possession of corns is not a peculiarity of great persons. The public, in its collective capacity,' has a pretty large corn of its own, and one which is fully as sensitive to the touch as any. Kay, more ; we question if there are many corns which are wore carefully avoided than that of the Collective public; at least, we cannot otherwise account for the ridiculous praise which is sometimes heaped by their newspapers upon whole communities, which communities, as is obvious to all other communities, are no way deserving of the special commendations bestowed upon them, and may possibly be the reverse. Then, in how many unsuspected ways and quarters does one come upon a tendency to abridge that liberty of the press which your true Britisher never omits to toast at his true British dinner ; only he has got it into his truly British head that the proper place on his toast list for the institution which he glories in regarding as about the most important in his country is the tail a place, it is but fair to add, which it usually shares with the toast of ‘ The Ladies. 5 Men will respend with much warmth and enthusiasm to the toast of ‘ The Liberty of the Press, 5 when they recognise under that name a liberty to criticise and censure the conduct of kings, prime ministers, parliaments, provosts, mayors, and all authority whatever may be its title ; but they may all the while never imagine that ‘liberty of the press 5 includes a liberty to take cognisance of interests with which they themselves are more or less directly associated. Most journalists, we dare say, could unfold a tale illustrative of the curious instances of obtuseness to which we have just referred.

For ourselves, if we may be allowed the little bit of egotism, it is right to say, in coneluding, that we generally find people reasonable, and as a rule, endowed with a cuticle which is not morbidly thin. It is not fur us to speak of our own independence, but we may say, without being guilty of improper selfassertion, that we do not shrink from canvassing aud discussing all sorts of local interests, as they present themselves. That course, which we have followed in the past, we intend to continue in the future.

THE EARLY NEWSPAPER PRESS OE THE COLONY. fProm the Nelson Examiner.] The Wellington Advertiser ot the Bth inst., says, “ It is with great pain we have to announce the decease of the New Zealand Spectator and Cook Strait Guardian, the oldest journal in the colony of New Zealand.” The' Advertiser is not:well informed regarding the early history of the Press of New Zealand, So far from the Spectator having been the oldest journal in the colony, there are now two papers existing which were its seniors. The first number of the New Zealand Spectator appeared on the 12th October, ; 1844, but the Southern Oyoss had then; for some time been published in Auckland, where it was started about the early part of the year 1843. The publication of this journal was however suspended on one occasion for nearly two years, during the absence of its proprietor from the colony, but it was re.surued on the return of Mr Brown from England. The Nelson Examiner was first published on the 12th of March, 1842, and" is now the' oldest paper in New Zealand^ The Gazette,, issued at Wellington immediately after .the arrival of the . first body of colonials, was the first newspaper . published, in New Zealand, and, when it was ‘discontinued, in 1844, the Spectator waa started. 7

The second newspaper which made its appearance in New Zealand was the Herald, published in Auckland. This journal lived but a short time, and was succeeded by the Times, andanother Auckland paper,called the Advertiser. The former of the two, was the most singular newspaper we ever saw, as in the absence of a press, it was printed at a mangle. It had a remarkable appearance, the type used being a mixture of all kinds of founts, and capitals and small letters were jumbled up together. Yet the Auckland Times contained good and vigorous writing, the proprietor and editor, a Mr Fahvasser, being a man who would always speak his thoughts boldly, and for this he was once threatened by Captain Fitzßoy (late Admiral Fitzßoy, whose death werecentiy chronicled), the then Governor of New Zealand, that he would put him on board of a man-of-war, and send him to England—after the manner in which a certain Governor at the Cape of Good Hope once treated a troublesome newspaper editor at Cape Town. The sturdy editor of the Times defied the Governor’s power, and Captain Fitzßoy, though entertaining an overweening idea of his own authority, was wise enough not to attempt the committal of so foolish an act. It was before these two last-named journals appeared, that the Nelson Examiner was first issued, so that in order of publication, we were the third newspaper in New Zealand. Ihe New Zealauaer is another Auckland journal which dates its existence several years hack, it having made its first appearance on the 7th of Jane, 1845,

Prior to the issue of the defunct Spectator in Wellington, a journal styled the Colonist, was started there by Mr D. Hanson, who now, we believe, is Chief Justice in South Australia. This journal lived only some eighteen months. Shortly after the Spectator appeared, the Wellington Independent came into existence, and that paper is now the oldest-established journal in Wellington. It will be observed, that both in Auckland and Wellington, the newspapers first started ia these places did not take root and succeed, hut were given up at an early period. In this island, on the contrary, the papers started with the settlements of Nelson, Otago, and Canterbury (the Examiner, Witness and Lyttelton Times) have all maintained their footing, though the Otago Witness since the starting of the Daily Times by the same proprietors, has filled only the somewhat subordinate position of a weekly paper. These scraps of newspaper history may possess little interest for general readers, but we have been led to give them through reading the misstatement mentioned at the commencement of this article.

THE MASTERS’ AND SERVANTS’ ACT. [From, the New Zealander.} We have not before us the provisions of Mr Sewell’s bill for the better regulations between master and servant. From the information afforded by the debate, however, and from our general objections to measures of this specific nature, we see strong grounds for hoping that the select committee to which this bill has been referred will maintain the usual character of select committees, it being a pretty well understood thing in England that a select committee constitutes a sort of “ limbo,” from which no bill returns during the current session. When we see the second reading of the bill supported by a man of such well-known liberal principles as Mr John Williamson, we. scarcely feel justified in pronouncing a sweeping condemnation of the measure, without an examination into all its details. Eat we must confess that Mr Fitzgerald carries us with him throughout iu his remarks.. When there is no object of political ambition to be sought, no parly end to he gained, no provincial battle to bo fought, we can generally count upon Mr Fitzgerald as a liberal; and when he has a good case to argue, he generally succeeds iu carrying conviction. It is so in the present case, and we think public opinion will agree with Mr Fitzgerald that it would be a step in the direction in which the General Assembly should not go, a step back into the dark ages, to pass a measure taking the contracts made ueiwccn musters and servants out of the category of contracts, and providbig for them liy a special enactment. We

may be pretty sure that this bill is proposed by those who represent masters, and not by those who represent servants. But the legislators who have introduced this bill have mistaken the age and the country in which their lot is thrown. We fail to see in the arguments advanced in favor of this measure a valid reason for excepting the particular contracts made between masters and servants from the general rules that govern ordinary contracts. If those rules are not sufficiently general, broad, or comprehensive, let them be carefully considered, with a view to amendment; but let us have no class legislation, and particularly none of so invidious and retrogressive a character as the measure now proposed. That this measure is both invidious and retrogressive, will appear plainly when we say that it proposes to give to masters the power of proceeding criminally against servants for breach of”contract. bpon what principle of Justice can such an enactment be defended ? Mr Carleton says that the servant is a man of straw and that it is of no use to proceed against him civilly. We do not see the force of tha argument. Not only is the case, as Mr Fitzgerald says, often reversed, the master being the uiau of straw, and the servant tha man of subiiauce, but granting Mr Carleton’s premises, we deny bis conclusion. Is it intended to assert the priuc'ple that men of straw may always be proceeded against criminally for breach of contract; but if not iu all cases, why in those particular cases that arise between masters and servants ? Let the masters protect themselves, just as shopkeepers and other classes of the community protect themselves, against fraud, aud let them not attempt to obtain from the legislature an enactment which encourages a man to cajole a servant to como out herefrom England, at, perhaps, less than the proper rate of wages, and then to proceed criminally against him for breaking liis engagement. Modern economy, reco.° aises one way, and one only, for securing the labor of human beings, and that way i a to give the market rate of wages. Any measure for doing this in a different way is an approach to the feudal system, and the feudal system will not be tolerated in New Zealand.

[From tlia Wanganui Times, August 22.] When Mr Wilson’s Master and Servants Act was thrown over last session, and when his constituents at Canterbury, and the entire colonial press denounced it as a disreputable piece of class legislation, we thought that we had heard the. last of it. Not so, however; it has been read a second time, and is likely iu become law. When our representatives take an old Act passed many years ago in a convict colony, and adapted to the circumstances of a convict population, and with a few trifling amendments declare that Act to be suitable to the present state of society in this colony, how are we to characterise their proceedings ? Every Act of the House of liepresentatives during the present session is undergoing, and for some months to come will continue to undergo, the severest criticism, not only in Great Britain, but throughout all British colonies. We are brought face to face with the civilised world, and this is no time to indulge Mr Wilson’s whims at the expense of the reputation of the colony. That Act will, within a few months, be paraded in all its naked deformity before the working men of Great Britain as a further weapon iu the hands of those who malign and caiumaiatethe colonists and their representatives. Hus the Government viewed that obnoxious Act in this ihdit or have they allowed it to pass into committee to propitiate the Canterbury members ? Canterbury disclaims the connection, and the Press” calls upon the people to be avenged during the next general election upon such recreant members as may vote for it. Let us hope that the House will devise some means of decently undoing the mischief they have done by countenancing the introduction of the Bill, THE FATE OF JEFFEESOS DAYISL HTrom tbe Times.] We confess it is with much anxiety that ws look forward to the of .tire Southern President. The utterances of Mr

fiava for earns time been such as to #@#se tfia liveliest uneasiness in tbs minds of #ii who am anxious to see this gfrsat strife lerflaingtteij tritbogt the effusion of pjorp fclaod, Jf slaughter can heal the wounds of ibo Republic, ooongh of human hegatombs JSjtvg been offered at its shrine} there needs ffuf another life to establish the fortune of tha victors. But the President 'has, ever fines his accession, continually talked of the jgutit of treason, and we fear he has determined to conciliate the extreme party of his supporters at whatever expense of policy or of mercy. We beg we may not be misunderstood. The inhabitants of these Islands have little reason to sympathise with Mr Jefferson Davis. He is known to us as one of the most inveterate calumniators of this Oountry, whose policy it was to stir up the feelings of every class of his countrymen fgainst us. We also remember him as the author and originator of the famous Mississippi scheme of repudiation. His plan of Rebellion was founded on the idea that the deprivation of cotton would be intolerable and that, driven by bard necessity, we Should find ourselves compelled to support the Sooth with the whole force of the Empire. For the person who can thus speculate as his means of success on the miseries he can jnflict on bis neighbors we have little respect, and if we plead for the life of Mr Jefferson Paris it is uot from any esteem for his motives or sympathy with b|s character. It is purely in the cause and for the credit of the American Union that we urge its statesmen, jf there is yet time, to consider again the extreme impolicy of shedding the blood of a man whom a little success would have transformed from an attained traitor into something very like a successful monarch. The Stake has been played fairly, it has been lost entirely, and the victor should be content With his success.

(From the Morning Post.) JT js satisfactory to learn by the present Wail that Mr Johnson admits that he was Dot Justified in accusing Mr Davis of complicity in the murder of Mr Lincoln; ami we may therefore assnme that the Federal Government will not venture to arraign the pXtConfederate President on so odious a charge, "We would also venture to hope that, content with extinguishing what they termed the rebellion in the Southern States, gnd with having made their Chief Magistrate fi prisoner, the Government at Washington W - i|l not sully a great victory by an act which-=-on this side of the Atlantic at least rrr-wouJd he regarded as ope of paltry revenge. Jf the American nation declare Jefferson Pavis worthy of death, they will by implication admit that George Washington would justly have been hanged by us if he had fallen into our hands.