Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/166

160 to a denial of justice. Another, and a still graver result, is to give an unrestrained supremacy to an engine that is quite as able, and perhaps more likely, to corrupt and destroy society than to reform it. This fearful state of things, which is better adapted than any other, to restrain good, and to prefer bold and bad men, has been brought about by the action of the press, itself, on publick opinion, and is an example of the manner in which this tremendous agent can be perverted to evil, in a popular government. It follows, that publick opinion should be watched and protected from receiving a wrong bias, as we would protect and overlook the first impressions of a child.

Publick opinion in America is exposed to another danger, growing out of the recent colonial origin of the country. There is no question that the people of this country defer in an unusual manner to foreign opinions, more particularly to those of the nation from which they are derived. The proof of this is ample, but one may constantly see quotations from English journals, in support of the pretensions of politicians, writers, artists, and all others, who are liable to the decisions of their fellow citizens for the estimation in which they are held. An opinion is seldom given in Europe, of any thing American, unless from impure motives. The country attracts too little attention in the other hemisphere, to be included in the ordinary comments of the civilized world. There are, and may be, an occasional exception, but this is the rule. As many of the interests of this country are opposed to the interests of European nations, efforts are constantly made to influence opinion here, in favor of interests there. The doctrine of free trade, as it is called, has this origin, having been got up by English writers, to prevent other states from resorting to the same expedients to foster industry, that have so well