GhaP. XXII.] Political Journals. 9^ 



the great body of the people, even a large por- 

 tion of that class of the community which is des- 

 tined to daily labour having free and constant 

 access to public prints, receiving regular infor- 

 mation of every occurrence, attending to the 

 course of political affairs, discussing public mea- 

 sures, and having thus presented to them con- 

 stant excitements to the acquisition of knowledge, 

 and continual means of obtaining it. Never, it 

 may be safely asserted, was the numl)er of poli- 

 tical journals so great, in proportion to the popu- 

 lation of a country, as at present in America : 

 never were they, all things considered, so cheap, 

 so universally diffused, and so easy of access * : 

 and never were they actually perused by so large 

 a majority of all classes, since the art of printing 

 was discovered. 



The general effects of this unprecedented mul- 

 tiplication and diffusion of public prints form a 

 subject of the most interesting and complex calcula- 

 tion. On the one hand, when well conducted, 

 they have a tendency to disseminate useful infor- 

 mation ; to keep the public mind awake and ac- 

 tive ; to confirm and extend the love of freedom ; 

 to correct the mistakes of the ignorant, and tlie i^i- 

 positions of the crafty j to tear off the mask from 

 corrupt and designing politicians ; and finally to 

 promote union of spirit and of action among the 

 ;nost distant members of an extended community. 



* The extreme clieapness with which newspapers are con- 

 veyed by the mail, in the United States, added to the circuni- 

 stance of their being altogether unencumbered with a stamp 

 duty, or any other public restriction, renders their circulation 

 ffiore coQyenient and general than in any other country. 



