Nelson A. Pryor: Guest Columnist
Nothing is free! Just ask John Peter Zanger, a Colonial newspaper man, who had to go to court against the charge of telling a lie. An article in his paper, disliked by the English government of that day, caused his arrest. His appeal to the courts on that article was: the truth is my defense! Since what he wrote was true, the court said he was free to say it, and was thus released.
Shine the light
Have we ever lost the right to freedom of the press? Yes, for instance, in New England, in 1861.
In Maine, two newspaper printing offices were destroyed. That was Bangor, and Belfast. Another was destroyed in Connecticut. In New Hampshire, the Boston Journal reported on Aug. 9, 1861, that the Democratic Standard office, of Concord, the State Capitol, was destroyed by the union soldiers of the First Regiment.
Defenders of the Constitution
These newspapers took the Southern point of view, during the War Between the States, a traditional view, one not controversial, but constitutionalist, in the early days of our Republic.
When things go wrong
Under Abraham Lincoln, the Writ of Habeas Corpus was suspended. That is, Americans were put in jail without knowing what they were charged with, nor have the ability to secure an attorney. People like newspaper editors, attorneys, and judges, were sent to, what was called, a Bastille. Like Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor.
Even though New England was not even close to the front lines of that war, Lincoln had declared Martial law, in those States.
Standing up
“Great Excitement in Haverhill, The Editor of the Essex County Democrat, Tarred and Feathered by a Mob, the Authorities Overpowered, Citizens Disarmed” ran the headline of the Aug. 20, 1861 Boston Evening Traveller.
The Massachusetts editor, Ambrose L. Kimbull, at 8:30 in the evening, had a mob assemble, outside his home. The mob of soldiers went in and took him to the center of Haverhill, and asked him “if he regretted what he had published, to which he made no reply.”
“He was then asked to lay off his clothing…every article of clothing but his drawers. He was then completely covered with a coat of tar and feathers, after which, being mounted on a rail, or pole, was conveyed to Merrimac Street, in front of the office of the Democrat, and directly under the American flag which, as with a ‘masked battery,’ he has bombarded the government of his country, in the publication of the speeches of Vallandigham and Breckinridge; while in editorials of much violence, he has advocated and defended the cause of the rebels.”
Forced to ride the rail all over town, in his coat of tar and feathers, he was again submitted the question of regret of his conduct. The editor replied in the affirmative, when, by request, he knelt down, and raising his hand, repeated in substance the following confession and affirmation:- “I am sorry that I have published what I have, and I promise that I will never again write or publish articles against the North, and in favor of secession, so help me God.”
Do we need a free press? Yes!