The Evening Star. PUBLISHID DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1880.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3564, 29 May 1880, Page 2

The Evening Star. PUBLISHID DAILY AT FOUR P.M. Resurrexi. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1880.

Junivs in the preface to his celebrated j letters speaks thus of the Press:—" Good men to whom alone I address myself, appear to me to consult their piety as little as their judgment and experience, when they admit the great and essential* advantages accruing to society from the freedom of the Press, yet indulge themselves in peevish or passionate exclamations against the abuses of it As the indulgence of private malice and pesonal slander should be checked and resisted by every legal means, so a constant examination into the characters and conduct of Ministers and Magistrates should be equally promoted and encouraged. They who can see that our newspapers are no restraint upon bad men, or impediment to the execution of bad measures know nothing of this country. . . . . Had there been no Star Chamber, there would have been no rebellion against Charles the First The constant censure and admonition of the Press would have corrected his j conduct, and prevented a civil war and saved him from an ignominious death. . . . .In short, whoever considers what it is that constitutes the moving principle of what we call Great Affairs and the invincible sensibility of man to the opinion of his fellow creatures, will not hesitate to affirm that if it were possible for the liberty of the Press to exist in despotic governments, and (what is not less difficult) for it to exist without changing the constitution,—this liberty of the Press would alone form a counterpoise to the power of the Prince. For example, in an empire of the East a sanctuary could be found which, rendered respectable by the ancient religion of the people, might ensure safety to those who should bring thither their ob- j servations of any kind, and that from thence printed papers should issue, which, under certain seal might '. be equally respected, and which in their daily appearance should examine and freely discuss the conduct of the Cadis, the Bashaws, the Viziers, the Divan, and the Sultan himself—that would introduce immediately some degree of liberty." Thus spoke Junius over a hundred years, ago, and since that time the functions of the Press have become greatly enlarged, and we do not now labour under the dis. advantage of the newspapers of a century ago. The duty of a newspaper should be to disseminate items of public interest, to redress public wrongs, to further the cause of local industries, and to use all its efforts' in aiding those individuals who have the welfare of the town at heart in which it is published. A glaring evil, or public swindle contemplated, should be exposed and sternly suppressed. -The publication of certain doubtful transactions often deters men from committing grare sins against the community for their own self aggrandisement, and there are not a few individuals connected with various industries on the Thames, who would not scruple to bribe the Press in order to gain a mean advantage over the unsophisticated public on the principle of "throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel." This is a certain and recognised fact, and gentlemen connected with goldmining have before now given members of the Press shares in their mines, ostensibly as free gifts, but which may readily bear another construction. We do not want to impute unworthy motives to these gentlemen, but the gifts were evidently intended to make the recipients entertain favorable opinions of the donors. A case has happened in our midst not many days ago, but the enterprising managers may be forgiven, as a flagrant case was before their eyes where a certain section of the/ Press forgetting its high mission appeared to allow 7 personai interests to influence its action in speakiDg of a certain property. If any of the gentlemen interested in mining think they can bias the members of the Press by the present of a few trumpery shares they entertain, but a sordid and unworthy idea of the rectitude of that grand institution. If anyone of them wishes to perpetrate a cunning swindle on the community, they will have to run the gauntlet of the Press, the organ through which the voice of the public proclaims its wrongs, wishes, disgust and displeasure. :