ON THE MORAL POWER OF I^HE PRESS. « 



The British pencil and chisel are first in modem fame. British 

 manufactures defy competition. British commerce knows no 

 limits but the boundaries of the universe. British Valour, by- 

 sea and land, is wedded to Victory. The dominions of his 

 Majesty, William the IVth, exceed those of Rome in the utmost 

 extent of her colossal power ; and the British Monarchy, at this 

 eventful crisis, holds the scales, which are to decide the destinies 

 of the world. It is too true, that those brilliant lights are not 

 without clouds and dark shadows; those rich and pre-eminent 

 points of elevation without headlong and sterile precipices, the 

 descents of Poverty and Sorrow. But Hope looks forward with 

 cheering animation to the wisdom of the King and Parliament, 

 and the happy continuance of peace. The tranquil refinements 

 of civilization are constantly progressive, and the sun of know- 

 ledge calmly ascends to its meridian glory. 



The free press has been more extensively employed in this» 

 than any other country. It is, therefore, only reasonable, without 

 any extravagant estimate, and without extenuation of their 

 faults or exaggeration of their virtues, to attribute, in a liberal 

 degree, the superiority of the British people and their unparalleled 

 wealth, commerce, and dominion, to that cause, in co-operation 

 with the influence of religion, the laws, and constitution. 



When we look abroad we find a striking contrast, where the 

 press has not been introduced. Such is the general conviction, 

 in all countries, of its irresistible power, that the enemies of 

 public freedom and improvement have, every where, exerted 

 themselves to restrict, or if possible, destroy, its free agency ; 

 the friends of liberty and science, to display its true character 

 and lawfully extend its salutary influence. 



Mahmoud, the present Sultan, in Turkey, after the weakness 

 and disorganization, produced by ages of misrule and darkness, 

 has only, in the last scenes of a great tragedy, to no purpose, 

 invoked the aid of that powerful ally, the press, which Peter the 

 Great resorted to for the instruction and civilization of his 

 subjects, in the commencement of his glorious career. To 

 convert his savages into men, he caused types, in the Muscovite 

 character, to be cast, and printing-presses constructed in Holland; 

 these, with French types, printers, designers, painters, architects, 

 and engravers, men of learning and science, and ingenious 

 artificers, he established in Petersburgh ; set the artists to paint 

 and engrave; the architects to build; the artificers to teach 

 apprentices ; and caused a number of books in the Russian and 

 French languages, to be printed and widely circulated among 

 his nobles and wealthy boyars. 



Mehemet Ali has pursued a similar course. To raise fallen 

 Egypt again into an empire, he has not only levied armies and 

 equipped fleets, but he has called in the more powerful aid of 

 literature, the sciences, and fine arts. He has brought painters, 

 engravers, printers, and the press into his dominions. If the 



