’AndnowsupposeforamomentthatIhadthispower，anduseditasyouwish:isn’titclearthatitwouldbeagreatabuse？Certainmenareemployedinwritingforthepublicpress；andiftheyareinducedeithertowriteortoabstainfromwritingbyprivatemotives，surelythepublicpresswouldsoonbeoflittlevalue。Lookattherecognisedworthofdifferentnewspapers，andseeifitdoesnotmainlydependontheassurancewhichthepublicfeelthatsuchapaperis，orisnot，independent。YoualludedtoTheJupiter:surelyyoucannotbutseethattheweightofTheJupiteristoogreattobemovedbyanyprivaterequest，eventhoughitshouldbemadetoamuchmoreinfluentialpersonthanmyself:you’veonlytothinkofthis，andyou’llseethatIamright。’

　　ThediscretionofTomTowerswasboundless:therewasnocontradictingwhathesaid，noarguingagainstsuchpropositions。

　　Hetooksuchhighgroundthattherewasnogettingonit。’Thepublicisdefrauded，’saidhe，’wheneverprivateconsiderationsareallowedtohaveweight。’Quitetrue，thougreatestoracleofthemiddleofthenineteenthcentury，thousententiousproclaimerofthepurityofthepress——thepublicisdefraudedwhenitispurposelymisled。Poorpublic！howoftenisitmisled！againstwhataworldoffraudhasittocontend！

　　Boldtookhisleave，andgotoutoftheroomasquicklyashecould，inwardlydenouncinghisfriendTomTowersasaprigandahumbug。’Iknowhewrotethosearticles，’saidBoldtohimself。’Iknowhegothisinformationfromme。Hewasreadyenoughtotakemywordforgospelwhenitsuitedhisownviews，andtosetMrHardingupbeforethepublicasanimpostoronnoothertestimonythanmychanceconversation；

　　butwhenIofferhimrealevidenceopposedtohisownviews，hetellsmethatprivatemotivesaredetrimentaltopublicjustice！Confoundhisarrogance！Whatisanypublicquestionbutaconglomerationofprivateinterests？Whatisanynewspaperarticlebutanexpressionoftheviewstakenbyoneside？Truth！ittakesanagetoascertainthetruthofanyquestion！TheideaofTomTowerstalkingofpublicmotivesandpurityofpurpose！Why，itwouldn’tgivehimamoment’suneasinesstochangehispoliticstomorrow，ifthepaperrequiredit。’

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