Page:History of American Journalism.djvu/189



to newspapers which favored a new charter for the Bank, he pointed to a number of papers to which loans had been made and which, when the notes were given, were opposed to rechartering the Bank. Among these were The Washington Telegraph, edited by General Duff Green, and The New York Courier and En- quirer, edited by Mordecai Manuel Noah and James Watson Webb.

At the time Green applied for the loan to The Telegraph he intimated that the accommodation should carry with it no change in the editorial policy of his paper. To this Biddle re- plied: "The Bank is glad to have friends from conviction; but seeks none from interest. For myself, I love the freedom of the press too much to complain of its occasional injustice to me." He even went so far as to indicate that he would be willing to write on the notes, "Editorial indorsement of the Bank not necessary."

Nevertheless, after the loan The Telegraph did change its policy and came out for the Bank. When word of the change was taken to President Jackson he wrote in an unpublished letter: "I have barely time to remark that the conduct of Gen- eral D. Green is such as I suspected. . . . The truth is he has professed to me to be heart and soul against the Bank but his idol" John C. Calhoun to whom Green owed his position on The Telegraph "controls him as much as the shewman does his puppets, and we must get another organ to announce the policy and defend the administration, in his hands it is more injured than by all the opposition." The new "organ" was The Washington Globe started December 7, 1830, and edited by Francis P. Blair. Political office-holders, in a none too delicate way were given to understand that they should subscribe to The Globe and to do everything in their power to promote its circulation.

No sooner was The Globe revolving nicely than one of the offi- cers of the Bank offered to pay Mr. Blair whatever might be the charge for the insertion of a report prepared by Biddle. Blair refused to accept any compensation, but did print, as a public document, the statement prepared by the Bank. Later a friend of the Bank left with a member of Presi