is independent of governmental restrictions at home, and inaccessible to foreign influence from abroad. No people can be free, whose press is not free; no country can be said to enjoy liberty, where leading and influential men, who give tone to opinion, and character to the masses, are not permitted to act freely and without restraint on the popular mind; and in this country, such, we are confident, is emphatically the case. The Press in America is Constitutionally free ; our fellow citizens, who conduct it, are born freemen, and live and die such; and its broad impress every where bears upon it the deep and indelible stamp of the free American mind. If it were true, that a large proportion of our journals, on leading questions, actually followed in the wake of the London newspapers, it would be a burning shame, and we might well blush for the character of our country and of its citizens. Such language, however, on the part of British writers, is mere bravado. It is not true in any sense. Is it true of the Church? Not at all. We have no Establishment in the United States. Religion, with us, is voluntarily supported, and depends for its success on a deep and living sense of duty, and not on political enactments. Is it true of the State? It is equally idle to imagine so, even for a moment. We have no monarchy among us,-no titled orders, -no hereditary peerage. Ours is the government of the people,-wholly popular, a free representative republic. The whole social system of the two countries is widely different, and can scarcely be said to have any features in common. The rights of Americans and their privileges, are different from the rights and privileges of British subjects; and we are as well satisfied as we wish to be, that they are better protected among us, and that they are greater in number here. We are altogether a freer people; individuals are freer; the masses are freer; freer to pursue their own interests,-freer to better their own condition. Human nature is more respected among us; and the artificial distinctions of an imperfect social organization, which minister to the pride of a few, while they occasion mortification to the majority, do not exist in America. This being the case, the leading questions arising out of our peculiar condition and circumstances, are essentially different from those that occupy the minds of Englishmen; our thoughts run in altogether different channels; the machi

nery of government which we are called upon to sustain by. popular opinion is, as we have already remarked, quite different; the wants and interests of the people are different; the evils that are to be guarded against are so; the reforms that, from time to time, are essential to the health of the body politic, and the improvements that are to be introduced into various branches of legislation, are all diverse from those which either mark the progress, or indicate the decay or weakness, of an ancient monarchy. We occupy our own soil; our duties are peculiarly American, and, in their proper performance, we require not the assistance of foreigners, nor are we disposed to tolerate patiently their interference.

The question has been sometimes asked, whether the Newspaper Press creates, or whether it only follows and represents, popular opinion? The answer to this question is, that it may, and sometimes does, perform both these functions. If the Newspaper Press creates opinion for the mass of society, it can only be when it is under the control of men of commanding powers of mind and genius, and great experience and sagacity. There are such men to be found in every community, who lead and direct, to a considerable extent, the opinions of the people; and if such men have the management of a free press, there is no means of calculating the amount of influence which, in an age of light and inquiry, they may exert on public sentiment. Public opinion is usually nothing more than private opinion, which, after having been first conceived in some master mind, is made public, and is finally incorporated into the popular creed, simply because it is true, and because the truth of it has been brought home forcibly to the understandings of the people. When it becomes current, it is then material in which all may claim a common property, and may be used, at second hand, by the conductors of the press, as well as by all other persons, and is employed advantageously for the common purposes of life and business, by all those who are not particularly inventive, and who cannot minister to the appetite for novelty, that pervades the world, by striking out, new, bold, and original views of things, which, as soon as published, are seized on with avidity, and become, in their turn, popular opinions. The most independent thinkers are liable to be borne down by the influence of party, particularly in times of political excitement; and men are so

constituted, and society so organized, that in great emergencies, and even in the ordinary course of affairs, we depend on each other very much for the opinions we ourselves entertain and support. Mind acts on mind, and, in its turn, is reacted upon; principles are thus elicited and established. Our maxim, it is true, is, "measures, not men;" but measures do not create themselves; they are first suggested by men; they are introduced to public notice by men; they are supported by men, and men claim the honor and regard it as no slight distinction, that, they have been instrumental in originating plans which are subsequently acted on by a whole party, or by the government itself, and are finally incorporated into the settled policy of the country. Sometimes the conductors of our public presses,―men of strong mind and inventive intellect, who have studied the science of government with care, and witnessed the progress of affairs at home and abroad, with a view to public interests, during a long succession of years, take the lead in an important crisis, as they are well qualified to do, and by strong appeals to the good sense of the community, bring about reforms of existing abuses, that have obtained a foothold in some department or other of the body politic, and introduce changes in popular opinion, and the action of whole masses, whose influence is sensibly felt throughout the entire framework of society, even by rulers and legislators. In the majority of cases, however, the opinions supported by the leading newspapers, are, in a political point of view, the opinions of the statesmen of the country, who are elevated to the stations they fill, on account of the superiority of their moral and mental endowments, and the extensive influence they exert, in consequence, over all the relations of society. These are men, who will, and who must be heard, not only in the State Legislatures and halls of Congress, but also through the popular organ, the Press, which often, accordingly, does little more than echo their opinions, employ their arguments, and enforce their favorite measures, which, being always the measures of the party to which the statesman belongs, the Press, as a matter of course, becomes the agent or organ of a party, in maintaining a certain set of political opinions or principles in preference to another,--a state of things which cannot be said to detract from the personal in

dependence of the conductor of a press; for if the head of the party, whose organ his paper professes to be, is stronger witted and better informed than himself, which may sometimes certainly chance to be the case, it is his duty, as a man of sense and as a true patriot, to yield a becoming deference to his opinions ;-besides that the representative of the people or of a party, is really the representative, not merely of power delegated, but of opinions that are supposed to be true, and in acknowledging the authority of a superior mind, to this extent, the editor is only paying homage to the truth, or what he considers such, and in doing so, he is neither tame, imbecile or servile; he neither barters away his principles, nor wounds his conscience.

The leading journals of the United States,-such, we mean, as are published at the seats of government, and in our large commercial emporiums,--are usually conducted with much spirit and ability. Their editors are often men of fine talents and extensive information, capable of exerting a decided influence; and the writers who appear in their columns, when any subject of exciting interest is before the public, are among the leading and most influential minds in the country. That some of our journals are conducted with far greater ability than others, cannot be doubted; but what some of them lack in the way of racy and original speculation, is frequently made up by a more sacred regard to truth and principle, by greater industry in seeking out and obtaining correct information, and by the general prevalence of a better and less erratic judgment of men and things. Upon the whole, the Newspaper metropolitan Press of the United States, will bear a favorable comparison with that of Great Britain, as an engine of party opinion, and a vehicle of intelligence, not only in the amount, variety and character of its matter, but in the good sense, sound principles, and high, manly and generous tone of feeling by which it is usually characterised; in the tact, information and literary qualifications of its editors, in their respect for religion, for truth, for moral principle, for liberty, for the rights of man. If it is chargeable sometimes with want of courtesy, and exhibits the ascendency of party spirit and personal bitterness, and it certainly does, and we regret to admit the fact, yet these are faults incidental to human infirmity under such circumstances; they belong to the race of men,

when engaged in the maintenance and support of favorite views and theories, which they deem all important, and which are contradicted and opposed, as they think, without reason, and in an unceremonious manner,-faults from which the English Newspaper Press is no more exempt than the American; indeed the latter is, in our opinion, a purer organ, equally dignified, and less hemmed in by ancient prejudices and prescriptive errors. It is a free press,emphatically the Free Press of the American people; for although scholars and men of letters are at liberty to publish their speculations in any other form that they choose, yet it is the peculiar province of the Newspaper Press, in this country, to maintain the principles of a free government; to advocate popular rights; to be, in a word, in all respects, the champiou of the people; its chosen protector from internal and external foes; its pioneer in removing difficulties and leading the way to peace, happiness and

national fame.

There are some advantages which Great Britain has over us, in the circulation of its newspapers, owing to the wide extent and sparsely settled character of our country. The compactness of the British population enables editors to concentrate their patronage within a narrower compass, which brings them nearer to their readers, aids them in acquiring a more intimate knowledge of their interests, opinions, wishes and feelings, and places more readily within their reach, those pecuniary returns, upon which the existence of the Press, as well as of every art, trade and profession essentially depends; while, on the other hand, their modes of intercommunication ensure despatch and safety to the circulation of important intelligence. The lively, and even fierce, competition that exists between the leading newspapers of London, enhances greatly their value, as mere vehicles of news;-in proof of which emulation, we would mention their establishment of expresses at a large expense, whose business it is, to place at the disposal of editors, within the least possible time consistent with the nature of the case, reports of the latest, rarest, and most important information that occurs in the country, near and remote,- -a practice which was first commenced by the "London Times," but which has been followed advantageously, and with great perseverance and