' Liberty and the press in England are convertible terms, and
this is the true reason of the success and power it enjoys. It is also
the cause of the persecutions it has had to undergo. Tyranny and the
press are as necessarily opposed to each other as are the principles of
good and evil. The word 'tyranny' is not here intended to refer only to
the despotic rulers of states and kingdoms, but to include the
oppression practiced by the strong upon the weak, the rich upon the
poor, the great upon the small, whether nations or individuals. The
press, moreover, is the guardian of social, political, and religious
morality. The greatest as well as the most trifling affairs which
conduce to the well-being and comfort of the multitude are eagerly
canvassed. The faults and vices which disfigure and disgrace even the
most advanced forms of civilization are unshrinkingly laid bare, and the
proper remedies prescribed. The political conduct of nations and of
public men is carefully scrutinized, and every false step that they may
make is immediately noted, commented upon, and held up to public
reprobation. Religious questions, although, ever since the world began,
they have been approached in a very different spirit to those of any
other description, and have been debated with greater heat and passion
than the bitterest political disputes, and with a lamentable disregard
of logic and common sense, are now-a-days treated with a candor and
fairness that has never yet characterized them.
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