81
WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1827
new beginner, just set out in the wor!d, and that it ought, there- fore, to be given to him, though another Editor of twenty years' standing, whose paper has a very extensive circulation, and has so long been connected with Government that its intelligence is considered as authentic, and the People will wait to receive through its columns the real state of the country- who is a man of sound principle- and whose principles have suffered no change in twenty or thirty years, is thereby to be deprived of it. But it may happen that such an Editor as this last may have acquired extensive influence and may not be disposed to bow or bend his principles for the sake of supporting a particular Administration or individual. It may be necessary to certain plans and interests, that such a ?1an as this should be gagged or prostrated. In that case, a very politic course would be to start a new paper some few months before patronage is to be conferred; to use every exer- tion to obtain for it a sufficient number of subscribers; to take measures that, at all hazards, the paper be sustained; then, to get for the editor, some true and trusty fellow, a fellow that will "go the whole," who is troubled with no principles on any subject, but who will support a certain interest "through thick and thin;" who will pursue no course of his own, but will ever be ready to take his cue from a certain quarter. After getting him some one or two hundred supscribers, and using every expedient to make him some character, he must then have the printing of the laws, as a token of the ~onfidence of the Government, and then all will be ready for action. Sir, I will not say that such a press is to be established and paid for out of the contingent fund. I am not warranted in such an assertion-but I say that such a new beginner must have patronage, although it be in direct opposition to the interest and the wishes of the People. It must be bestowed, if for no other reason, than on the sublime principle of charity- yes, Sir, of charity. Having tried the old editor, and having found that he is faithful to his principles, and consistent in his conduct, and will not prostitute himself to my purposes, I must take away the printing from him, and out of charity, bestow it on a new beginner. I like his beginning; and, peradventure, I anticipated his beginning. But it has been said by the gentleman from Ohio, yesterday, and the gentleman from Kentucky; this morning, that such a sum as $30,000 can have no influence whatever, in directing the politics of this country. Sir, I do not say that it will direct the
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