THE PRESS.

New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 53, 19 February 1842, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PRESS.

[from THE BENGAL HURKARU.] We have it on very excellent authority, that there is a time for all things; but, as many discoveries in art and science have taken place since the days of King Solomon, among the rest that of printing, we are still left to our own discretion to determine what are the precise times most proper, for most properly performing, divers acts of duty, respecting which the book of wisdom is silent. In the exercise of such involuntarily discretion, we have fixed upon the present period of quiet and inertness in the political world, as a very proper season, to expound to that large and respectable portion of the public, who range themselves under the title of the “ aggrieved,” the real scope and (unctions of the Press, and to explain, as clearly as may be in our power, when, and in what cases, the Press may be successfully or advantageously appealed to, as a redresser of wrougs; and when and in what cases such appeals, instead of conducing to good will, if listened to, be found productive of most mischievous consequences, chiefly to those who unadvisedly have recourse to the Press, when their remedy was to be sought in another quarter. First, then and foremost, let it be understood, that the Press is not a Court of first instance ; on the contrary, it is a court of appeal, of last resort; and in fact can seldom be addressed in another capacity, without ' n jury to the complaining party. In defiance, however, of this truth, which we have given utterance to, a thousand times, we are constantly receiving letters from every quarter lar and near, in which subordinates complain, not unfre. quently, in the most exaggerated terms, of the unjust or tyrannical conduct of their superiors, and very coolly request us to publish a libel in the first instance, before the party alleging his grievances, has even thought of applying for redress, at the hands of those under whose controul and supervision, (heir asserted persecutor is officially placed. Let these, and similar parties, who appear inclined to invest the Press with attributes far superior to those of a heathen deily, recollect that it was deemed unbecoming even in a heathen deity to interpose, unless in a case of ditficulty, that none but a deity could resolve. Nec deus intersit, ni«i dignus vindice nodus, If this fundamental maxim, as respects the interposition of the Press, in cases which as yet have not been brought before their appropriate tribunal, were generally bone- in mind, we should be spared the trouble of perusing.-Innumerable long cases of unredressed grievances and the pain of disappointing many who, perhaps, although they do not expect, redress, yet find some consolation in laying their complaints before the public. It is undoubtedly the privilege of the aggrieved to complain, but the Press, when it is powerless to work redress, does not consider if consistent with its dignity to become the mtre organ of impotent lamentation. Another great and vital maxim that we would most strenuously impress upon all who communicate with the public Press, with whatever object, is the necessity of a strict and rigid adherence to fact—neither extenuated or exaggerated—a single instance will afford a striking evidence, of the fatal effects, which an apparently venial departure from the rigid fact, may occasion. We some Ji<tie time since received a communication from a party in the Mofussil complaining of certain grievances, very plainly set forth, and of the existence ot which there existed not the shadow of a doubt—and we, therefore, published the letter in question. The party who wro.e the letter, however, probably from some app ehension of becoming a marked man, had he given the real station at which he was placed, dated ,hi 3 communication from a remote district. The consequence was, that when he again ventured to remonstrate with his superior upon the subject of his grievances, the latter informed him, that his objections had a great deal of reason in them, but that the matter could not be altered, as it was the practice of the service, as he might see by a precisely similar case in a remote district, published in the Hurkaru; and thus our unfortunate correspondent, had his own particular case brought forward as a precedent, which at once decided the question against him. We doubt not that he mentally exclaimed, “ magna est veritas etprosoalebit.” Another crying evil to which the press is grievously exposed, is that of anonymous assailers of private character, or accusers of public functionaries. We wish these gentry specifically to understand, that we can only regard their communications, as an insolent as well as cowardly attempt, to convert the Press into an evii instrument, the tool of their secret envy or malign ty. It is impossible for us to deduce any ottiei inference, from long letters of five or six sheets of close writing, teeming with gross and libellous charges against whole boeies of men; and appears to us the height of arrogant presumption, to suppose that we will give publication to such communications, oo the evidence of a hackneyed Roman name, or a trite sentiment.

ihe»e prodigal coiners of libel seem to think that all that is necessary to make their fabrications pass current, is to stamp them with the name of Brutus, or Aristides, or of a Lover of Justice, or a Hater of Oppression, We would emphatically desire these communicants with the public press, : to fotego their odious occupation. We will willingly receive and publish anonymous wit, and anonymous instructions, — anonymous contributions to charitable institutions, and anonymous restitution of wrongly appropriated goods ; but we wish, if possible, once for all, to renounce and disdain anonymous accusations. And in making this declaration, we by no means wish to discourage the complaints of those who are really the victims of injustice or oppression. In their case, | the Press has a double duty to perform, equally sacred in j each separate character. While it demands the name of the ! accuser, as a warranty for taking up his cause, we trust that we may confidently appeal to their universally honourable dealing of the Press, with regard to the trust reposed in it, by those who seek its aid, and confide in its discretion. In fact, were the public Press deficient in this respect, it would be a house divided against itself, and must cea-e to exist. The interest of the Press and its bona fide correspondents are in this particular identical; and such being the case, the j lolly, as well as the impertinence, of attempting to make a cat’s paw of the press, by the instrumentality of an anony mous libel, is the more conspicuous and unpardonable. | We trust that what we have thus considered to be said in j due season upon this subject, may like other seed, timely i sown, produce fruit beneficial alike to that portion of the public for whose edification our remarks are intended, and to our own particular^ ditorial selves.