The whole practice
of his life had taught him to be confident that the editor of a
newspaper must be the best possible judge,--indeed the only possible
good judge,--whether any statement or story should or should not
be published. Not altogether without a conscience, and intensely
conscious of such conscience as did constrain him, Mr. Quintus
Slide imagined that no law of libel, no injunction from any
Vice-Chancellor, no outward power or pressure whatever was needed to
keep his energies within their proper limits. He and his newspaper
formed together a simply beneficent institution, any interference
with which must of necessity be an injury to the public. Everything
done at the office of the _People's Banner_ was done in the interest
of the People,--and, even though individuals might occasionally be
made to suffer by the severity with which their names were handled
in its columns, the general result was good. What are the sufferings
of the few to the advantage of the many? If there be fault in
high places, it is proper that it be exposed.
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