The New Hampshire Gazette

COMMUNICATED.

THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

Messrs. Back & Foster—Through the medium of your paper, which has been remarkably free from personal abuse, we request the privilege of correcting a few errors, which appeared in the last N.H. Patriot, respecting the establishment of a new republican paper in Concord, to be called the New Hampshire Statesman. You may have an interest, as well as the editors of the Patriot, to prevent the Statesman from going into operation: but will you not look to the public good, rather than private pecuniary considerations? It is true, that lawyers, merchants and mechanics, as well as printers, do not very earnestly pray for an increase of those of the same profession—This is human nature. But is it not derogatory to the character of gentlemen, illiberal and ungenerous to attempt to run down any thing before it is known what it is? Self-interest lies nearest the human heart, and self preservation is said to be the first law of nature. But would any rule of morality justify the strangling the infant Hercules in his cradle, merely from fear that he might, when he attained to manhood, prove too powerful for his adversaries?—If a fortune of thirty or forty thousand could have satisfied the ambition of the senior editor of the Patriot, he might perhaps have spared himself the trouble of a premature attack upon the proposed new paper and its respectable editor. But the wise man has said, that "money is the root of all evil," or as the poet has more emphatically said—

"O, gold, thou charming, fascinating evil,
Say with what heart thou hast not play'd the devil."

The editors of the Patriot intimate that the Hon. Josiah Butler with his corps of Janissaries at Portsmouth, "are about re-establishing by subscription the "People's Advocate." We know that this is false in the worst sense of the word. It is equally untrue, that "the object is as the Patriot alleges to obtain such a man for Governor as will appoint Mr. B. Sheriff of Buckingham, &c." Mr. B. who has ever been a uniform and an inflexible republican, will neither own any part of the proposed new Press, or have the control of it, and we confess our surprise that the Patriot should bring his name in question. Nor is it true, that the Statesman has determined to support any particular person as a candidate for Governor, but in respect to this, as well as other important matters, it will act in unison with the general voice of the people. Do the editors of the Patriot intend to promote "the interests of Portsmouth," by stigmatizing its citizens with the appellation of "corps of Janissaries!" Is this ancient and respectable town to be forever doomed to passively submit to all the slander and billingsgate abuse, which the evil propensities of the editors of that paper, prompt them, without cause or provocation, to pour forth! Mr. Roby, in his prospectus, which we have received and read with pleasure, correctly remarks, that "in this free and enlightened country, there is little to fear from a licentious newspaper." "Adhering to real republicanism and the political doctrines of Washington and Jefferson, the Statesman will endeavor to maintain and defend the rights of the people against the encroachments of aristocracy, and against the wiles of false and wicked partisans.—And while it resists every attempt to control and restrain the freedom of the Press, it will guard against licentiousness, and shut its columns against the effusions of personal malice, and malignant insinuations." Should it adhere to the general principles in the prospectus, we wish it success. From what thus far appears, we see no justification for censuring, persecuting, or condemning it. We understand that Mr. R. is an active, industrious and intelligent young gentleman of uniform republican character, a printer by profession, and that he will be the sole proprietor of the Press, Mr. Hill's declaration to the contrary notwithstanding—Before Mr. H. commences a second attack upon Mr. R. (and he probably will many that may pass unnoticed) let him, for a moment, reflect what he (Mr. H.) was in 1809; that, in the language of Napoleon, he "rose from being a private person to the astonishing height of power" he now possesses. Calculating upon his mighty influence, he now fondly flatters himself, that a single dash of his pen will completely defeat the proposed new establishment, and that falsehood will prove more effectual than the truth. Delusive hope! We know of no law that prohibits Mr. R. from pursuing his lawful business, in this land of liberty. He has selected Concord as the most central place for the distribution of his papers. Should he not in all things take Mr. H. for his model, that circumstance may not sink him in the public estimation. It may be unnecessary to notice the concluding remark in the Patriot respecting Mr. R. as it is believed it is well known, that he issued proposals, about two years since for publishing a republican paper in Amherst and obtained a very respectable number of subscribers.

FAIR PLAY.

The Editors of Newspapers in this State, are requested to insert the above in their papers.