404 
ANONYMOUS CONTRIBUTIONS, 
ruffian that attempts to stab character in the dark, is permitted 
to skulk off from his crime; and the man whom he has wounded 
is obliged either to suffer on or to prosecute one whom he knows 
to be ignorant of the criminal deed, and whose avocations are 
of such exigency that he cannot give that care to a guilty para¬ 
graph which he otherwise would do, especially when the venom 
of it is congenial to his own party virulence. 
If the case were properly estimated, that is to say, the hurry 
properly considered, and the seductive influence of party spirit, 
much might be said for the errors of the newspapers ; for of all the 
productions of the press, they are the most liable to be imposed 
upon, and, at the same time, the readiest vehicles of malignity. 
Is there no remedy for this ? 
“Next to the daily papers, the ephemeral class of periodicals 
deserve castigation; they have not the apology to plead which 
the editors of the former undoubtedly have, nor, perhaps, are 
they so much to blame for the commission of the offence. But 
are their editors a whit better than those of the daily journals ? 
It will at once be answered in the negative. It may be said, 
that they are less delinquents, because they belong to a class 
in which the criminals do not bear so heavy a proportion to the 
whole as in the other; but if the matter were rightly considered, 
the guilt of a libel is grosser in them, when proven, than it is in 
the editors of the daily papers, for they have more time to medi¬ 
tate over an objectionable paragraph before they allow it to be 
inserted in their publications. We know, however, from human 
nature, that the editors of a weekly paper are just as much 
pressed for time as those of quicker preparation. 
“ After the weekly publications come the monthly. Criminal 
libels in them are but seldom detected, because, for the most 
part, few papers are published in them of which the authors are 
unknown—a clear proof that the being known is itself a great 
check on the indulgence of malice ; but although they are com¬ 
paratively, in a great degree, beyond the reach of the law, so as to 
be amenable to punishment, they are yet not altogether blame¬ 
less. By them the minds of many individuals are often exco¬ 
riated : wc would ask from what the right is derived bv which 
