The Weekly Register

The newspapers as they are now improved are indeed miscellanies of literature, of history, of criticism, of biography, of politics, of philosophy, of religion, and of everything busy minds pursue with ardor and solicitude.

Their original object was the communication of political news; they have increased in numbers, and size, to such a degree, that to fill them all with a due variety of news, properly so called, is impossible. That source was soon dry, and other fountains, were, therefore, broken up.

There can indeed be no good objection to the deviation of the original purpose of political news, for the intention of that was to amuse by the gratification of curiosity, and if no innocent amusement, of a similar kind, can be obtained in the heterogeneous matter which they exhibit, they are still valuable and worthy of encouragement. But in pursuit of distinction and variety, in the gratification of party resentment. and as the tools of faction, many of them have displayed a foul mass of falsehood, malignity and folly--such personal calumny and detraction, as degrades human nature, and could only have been expected from the agency of infernal spirits supplying the press of Pandemonium.

It is, therefore, desirable to turn the eye from the waste in which nettles and winds, at once poisonous and putrid, vegetate, to cultivate gardens and enclosures. The undertaking may be thought to resemble the cleansing of an Augean stable, and to require an Herculean strength, else one might endeavor to produce that desirable object, a reformation of venal and corrupt newspapers. The channels which convey polluted waters might be taught to devolve a pleasant and salubrious stream.

The conductors of newspapers, as many of them are respectable men, would probably rejoice to see such a reform, as might enable them to pursue their useful occupations, and promote their private interest, without the necessity of being instrumental to the effusion of poison through the various ranks of society.

Suppose then, that by mutual agreement they should oblige themselves to admit nothing that could degrade well earned dignity, or injure reputation, or interrupt the peace of families, without ascertaining the truth of it; by requiring its authority to be confirmed by the name of all parties, who should desire to insert a defamatory letter or paragraph.

The President for the time being, and all our rulers, the church and all its ministers, as well as all religious institutions, of whatever denomination, should be mentioned in respectful terms.

It should be considered that newspapers go into the hands of the vulgar, the ignorant, the idle the profligate, the thievish and the abandoned, of every degree and species-and that once these are taught to speak disrespectfully of their superiors, whether ecclesiastical or civil, much of that subordination is disturbed, which was settled for the benefit of all-and much of that restraint infringed, which tended to keep them within due limits for the general advantage-lawless principles naturally produce lawless actions--and there is every reason to believe that much of the dishonesty of the lower orders, much of the riotous spirit of modern times, has been caused by the corruption of newspapers.

Affairs of gallantry, as they are called, should be mentioned at all with great delicacy. The mention of them at all, unless in cases of notoriety, tends only to confirm the impudence of the parties concerned, and to increase debauchery by the seduction of example.

If manners do not effect the reformation of newspapers, laws may hereafter intervene to supply the defect. But with all their imperfections on their heads, they are upon the whole the best bulwarks of our liberty, and the surest defense of the helpless against the proud man's contumely and the oppressor's wrong.-They sound the clarion bell throughout an empire, and no influence is great enough to stifle the sound before the people examine into its cause.

Let us bear all their evils, rather than endanger the liberty of the press.