bration of this kind, in Western New-York, where many of the Printers are Sons of New England; and I trust the time will come when this anniversary shall be regularly celebrated in the city of Franklin's Birth, and the scene of his first labors; for no where else on earth can it be done with more propriety than at the old American fount of Printing, of Science, and of sound principles.

On such occasions, it is customary to allude to one's own history and experience. My life, thus far, has been devoted to our profession. Five years an apprentice-one year a journeymanand more than twenty-seven years in the business of editing and publishing a newspaper. Eleven years of my labors were passed in Cennecticut, and the remainder in this Commonwealth, the home of my ancestors. Though not an old man, I happen to be one of the oldest in the profession now in service in Massachusetts.

During the time that many of us have been connected with the business, we have seen many of our patriarchal brethren pass away from among us, to their long home. ISAIAH THOMAS, BENJAMIN RUSSEELL, GEORGE GOODWIN, JESSE BUEL, ZACHARIAH POULSON, JOHN LANG, and many other stars of the American fount, have set-leaving us their character and examples for our imitation and benefit. We have seen the business keep pace with the rapid improvement of the Arts in the country. Great and rapid improvements have been made in the facility and execution of our works, especially that of the Press. Newspapers have quadrupled in number, and their circulation has become like the leaves of the forest in autumn. While we are conscious that the Press has been instrumental of immense good, in the spread of general intelligence, and enlightening the public mind, it is to be regretted that its moral character has been too often stained by corrupt and unworthy hands. It is a mighty engine, for weal or woe, and would that all those who direct it, had a higher sense of their responsibility. As the first production of the American Press was the Freeman's Oath, so should it labor unceasingly to protect and defend the Freeman's Rights-to elevate his mind and improve his morals.

I submit the following sentiment:

The Printing Press-May those who direct it, ever be faithful to the People's rights-to the principles of Virtue and Morality-to Truth-to Independence of action,-unaided by power, and uninfluenced by gain.

With my best wishes for your health and prosperity, accept assurances of sincere respect and regard. SAMUEL BOWLES.

From JAMES R. TRUMBULL, of the Hampshire Gazette

Oflice.

The Press.

""Twas the voice of the Press-on the startled ear break-
In giant-born prowess, like PALLAS of old;
[ing.

Twas the flash of intelligence gloriously waking

A glow on the cheek of the noble and bold;
And Tyranny minions o'erawed and affrighted,
Sought a lasting retreat in the cloister and cowl,
And the chains which bound nations in ages benighted
Were cast to the haunts of the bat and the owl."

With the day that gave birth to the invention of Printing, dawned the brightest era the world ever saw. It broke upon the midnight darkness of the fifteenth century, like morning from a densely clouded sky. Its course was onward, destined, like the sun, to irradiate in its progress the whole habitable globe; yet more silent than twilight's gathering tints. Year by year, it increased.Three centuries have rolled away since its introduction, and now it is the mightiest agent for weal or wo in existence.

The discovery of this art ranks third among the greatest events the world's history records. Its superiority consists in the immense difference between mind and matter. He who gave to the iron steed its panting breath, or he who drew down Heaven's own ligtning and guided it along the wiry track, claims no partnership in Fame's award with him who placed the printed page before the mind. The inventions of others, in their greatest perfection, act only upon the outward, the inortal man; while that of FAUST operates upon the divine, the immortal, the soul. To it belongs the task of elevating the noblest part of humanity, the intellect, that which raises man above the brute, and renders him but "little lower than the angels.' So great are its advantages that it seems a drop from the overflowing cup of God's goodness, bedewing the earth, yet so tainted by sinful human nature, as to retain scarce an element of its original character. Never, since from chaos sprang this beautiful world, has there existed a power capable of such illimitable control over the passions of men. Like the irresistible music of the fabled Syrens, it lures the unsuspecting upon the quicksands and into the whirlpools of life, or, like the demi-gods of old, with brazen club uplifted, attacks vice in its strong holds, crushing with resistless force the monster's hydra heads.

Consecrated in its first efforts to the cause of morality and religion, the Press holds no second place among the great renovating agents of the world. One of the first books printed was from the manuscript of the ananuensis of the Holy Spirit. Commencing with the greatest of books

the BIBLE-it has spread throughout the civilized world, alike instrumental in extending both religion and vice. Scarcely had the invention found an existence, ere it became mainly efficaforms the world ever witnessed. cious in perfecting one of the most beneficial re

Whilst this noble art was slowly spreading itself throughout Europe, a little barefooted boy was seeking his daily food, in a city of Germany, by singing from house to house. In subsequent years he entered the monastery. In the secret recesses of the Dominican cloister, was matured that mind, whose powerful workings, borne abroad upon the pinions of the press, shook to its very

That reptile race, with all that's good at strife,
Who trail their slime through every walk of life,
Stain the white tablet where the great man's name
Stands proudly chiseled by the hand of fame;
Nor round the sacred fireside fear to crawl,
But drop their venom there and poison all."

Such, then, is the present state of the newspaper press, making the everlasting misery of its greater and deadlier evil. Sin cloaked under the readers a means of subsistence. But there is a garb of holiness. Falsehood dressed in the habiments of truth. It is the world of fiction. The novels so eagerly sought after by all classes-the works of Sue, Bulwer, and a host of others. They stand before the public naked representations of the most degraded states of human so

oentre the throne of the Caesars, drove the minions of Popery within the walls of Rome, and shook defiance at them as they stood cowering beneath the shadow of the Vatican? The true religion had become defiled. Its Omnipotent Author raised for its renovation, first the press, afterwards its operator. Had it not been for the aid of printing, the dark clouds of Popery, closing above the meteor flash of Luther's terrific strug gle with the powers of darkness, would have hung with deeper gloom even now about our heads. Dependant upon the imperfect pen of the scribe for its propagation of his writings, a single bonfire might have destroyed the slender frame-work of the reformation. But with the re-productive energies of the Press at its control, books-Phe-ciety, with no plea for their recommendation exnix-like-rose from the ashes of those burned before, and the Papal Bull, consigning the works of Luther to the flames, became the surest means of their immortality. The results of that glorious reformation, effected by the Press while yet in its infancy, will be felt at time's remotest boundary. This great reformation was the first, but not the only achievment of the Press. It has raised the world from the midnight of heathenism to the noon-day brightness of civilization. "But how are the mighty fallen!" This powerful agent, degraded from the proud eminence of its youth, has become, in its crowning manhood, but a servile instrument for inflaming man's lowest passions.

The legitimate province of the Press is the formation of the literary taste of the publie. Whatever reading is required by the community at large, the Printer furnishes. Those who wield the power of the Press, possess the ability to lead the minds of the people in their search after truth, or bid them grovel in the depths of licentiousness and crime. That their aim should be to elevate rather than depress, all will admit: but that the mass of reading put forth at the present day is debasing in its tendency, is equally true. Glance abroad for a moment. Crime seems to be increasing in rapid ratio. Every few days chronicle some new outrage, present to the public a further infringement of law and shows that human passion is gaining a fearfully powerful ascendency.

Almost every public print brings to light some new development of human depravity. Yet the accounts of these cold-blooded murders, these heart-rending evidences of the wickedness of man's heart, are eagerly sought after, and devoured with avidity by the generality of readers. In fact, the publication of such articles has become one item, and that not a small one, of the subsistence of the newspaper press. The tenden

cy of it is obvious. In the language of another: "When some monstrous or unusual crime has been revealed to the public, it seldom passes without a sad repetition. A link in the chain of intellect is struck, and a crime is perpetrated, which else had not occurred." Thus the very reason urged, "that crimes are published to prevent repetition," in the end accomplishes that which it sought to avert.

"Tis this sustains that course licentious tribe Of tenth-rate typeinen, gaping for a bribe

ed as public sentiment has become, it has been cept that the public taste requires them. Vitiatbrought to that state in a great measure by such the evils of society as a warning to others. Flint works, published under the guise of representing and steel when brought forcibly in contact, emit a spark: so "the too close inspection of crime may grow into criminality itself." "The object of the successful novel writer is to make a tion of society is merely a trick of authors, saleable book, and the cant about the ameliorawhereby they hope to add a degree of dignity to their pages that shall gild the pill of their licen

tiousness."

Beside the novels of foreigners we have au-
thors of the same stamp among ourselves, capa-
ble of accomplishing even more evil in the limit-
ed sphere in which they move than their more
gifted cotemporaries. The novetettes of Ingra-
ham, what are they, as a general thing, but mem-
oirs of "her whose steps take hold on hell?"
Year after year the Press' is sowing such trash
broadcast over the land. The public will feast
upon the demoralizing pamphlets of Ingraham, or
and laying them aside, turn to the newly-printed
the splendid conceptions of the more gifted Sue,
Journal, yet damp, to gloat over horrid tales of
seduction, murder and crime of every descrip-
tion. Is such a proper state of society? Is this
No! the watchman has come down from his tow-
the grand mission of this greatest of agencies?
ing them on to ruin and destruction.
er, and, mingling with the giddy throng, is hurry-

"All are not such? Oh no, there are, think Heaven,
A noble troop to whom the trust is given.
Who all, unbribed, on Freedoms rampart's stand
Faithful and firm, bright wardens of the land.
By them the Press stil liftsits arms abroad,
To guide all-curious man along life's road;
To cheer young Genius, Pity's tear to start,
In Truth's bold cause to rouse each fearless heart."

Yet a reformation great as that commenced by the humble son of the miner of Mansfeldt, is required to purge our land from this evil. The renovation of the church was brought about by one of its most devoted followers, and who more appropriate to undertake this work than the Printers themselves? Or what tin'e better calculated to act on the subject than the birth-day of the Printer, Philosopher and Statesman you celebrate to-day? Why wait longer? We see men shot down in cold blood. Murder palpable as sunlight is committed, and yet the law acquits the perpetrator, and the people shout and clap their hands

D

lation of life, from the humble apprentice to the From H. C. FRISBEE, Esq., Founder of the Fredonia world-renowned Statesman and Philosopher; though great at his mould or his case yet he was humble as the favored associates of Kings and Queens. His life will never cease to be an inspiring example to mankind while there is a type to record his virtue, or a candle to illuminate his graphic page.

To P. Canfield, Geo. Dawson, and others, Com- their intellectual rays as yearlings or perhaps

-with some forty subscribers, and for the first
three weeks not a single paying advertisement
he commenced the flattering career of editor and
proprietor of a newspaper. But if the establish-
ment was a humble one, it called for some priva-
tions and the strictest economy to carry it on.
For the first year his principal help at type setting
was a lad of some nine years of age, and on pub-
lication days a chair maker flourished the balls.
[By the way, have you one of these time-honor-
ed but now obsolete symbols of the art among
the decoration of your festive hall? And would
not a Printers' National Museum, where should
be collected and preserved specimens of the "art
preservative of arts," be the best mode of notic-
ing its advancement?] To make board come
cheap, he lodged himself before the office fire and
stowed away his bed in the morning in a cubby
hole. But did not he whose natal day you are
so joyously commemorating do as humble a thing
when he trundled his paper through the streets of
Philadelphia on a barrow? And did he not after-
wards stand before Kings and counsel with their
Ministers? This system of economy and indus-
try in due time worked its legitimate effect. And
how has it been with other members of the craft
in Western New York? Have they not risen by
similar means from poverty to wealth; though
peradventure reverses may have subsequently
overtaken some of them? How is it then with
your Williams, your Merrills, your Rogerts, your
Bemis, your Pecks, your Days, and your Salis-
burys? The "Fredonia Censor," after being con-
ducted for seventeen years by its founder, was
disposed of at his own price at an advance of some
fifteen hundred per cent. upon its original cost.
It is now in its twenty-sixth year; and although it
has been once burned out, it has never failed of To Messrs. Canfield, Dawson, &c.
issuing promptly a whole sheet from its com-
mencement to the present time.

will be with you. I can anticipate no one thing
that would give me more pleasure than to be with
you. You will, therefore, (as requested in your
circular,) please accept of the following senti-
ments from the brethren of the craft in the office
of the "Cleveland Daily Herald:"

By Wm. C. Sadd-The 17th of January: May its yearly occurrence never cease to thrill with gratitude the bosoms of the American people, for the eminent services rendered them by the worldrenowned patriot, statesman, philosopher, and Printer-BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

By J. J. Bebee-The Printer's Profession: Emphatically the profession.

By J. C. Sage-The Craft in Mexico: May they use the shooting-stick with their usual agility, lead well the enemy's columns, and then return with a full of quoin.

د,

There are now six well conducted newspapers in Chautauque County, all receiving a respectaable patronage, which have come into existence in the following order:-The "Fredonia Censor,' "Jamestown Journal," "Mayville Sentinel," "Westfield Messenger," "Frontier Express," and "Panama Herald."

Gentlemen, it would have given me unfeigned pleasure to have met you at the festive board upon this glorious occasion; but since that privilege is denied me, I give you as a sentiment, The Pioneer Printers of Western New-York: The true disciples of the Immortal Franklin.

CLEVELAND, O. Jan. 10, 1847. Gents. Your kind invitation came duly to hand, to attend the approaching Festival given in honor of the birth-day of the immortal and be loved FRANKLIN-a practice which has so long been unobserved; and it is to be hoped that what you have commenced in Rochester may extend throughout our country. I would much rather give a verbal answer to your invitation, but circumstances are such that it would be impossible for me to be present. My heart and best wishes

By E. B. Foote-Printers: May health and success attend them; and let the man who would seek to pi their happiness be ignominously kicked to death with the sheep's-foot.

By the Devil-Benjamin Franklin: In youth; honest and unassuming; in after life, a correct type of the virtuous, a symbol of the nian, true to its inflexible original. His were days lighted by the finger of truth, rendered transcendently brilliant through the severest trials. He is indeed departed, but his name and memory live cherished and revered.

By J. S. Herrick-Benjamin Franklin: A truc type of all that is noble and virtuous, which the craft would find phat copy to select from. May all of our numbers seek to em-brace the principles that actuated him through life. Yours, respectfully,

J. S. HERRICK.

From A. DONNELLY, Corresponding Secretary of the Bal-
timore Typographical Society.
BALTIMORE, Md., Dec. 30, 1846.
Mr. Canfield and others, Committee:

GENTLEMEN:-I have been instructed, by a resolution of the Baltimore Typographical Society, to acknowledge the receipt of your very kind invitation that we should be present, by representative, at your festivities in honor of the immortal FRANKLIN.

The Society feels flattered by your invitation, and a very strong desire exists among our members that we should be represented at your Festival; but this being, with us, the busiest season of the year, and the delicate health of our President this inclement season, it will not be possible for not permitting him to take so long a journey at us to be present. Under other circumstances, the Printers of Baltimore would be most happy to meet the Printers of Rochester, and of the Union, around the festive board--especially upon so interesting an occasion as the anniversary of the birth-day of the illustrious FRANKLIN-a man whose name is identified with the most glorious periods of our history as a Nation-whose dignified and manly advocacy of the cause of Liberty, at a very critical period of the struggle of our fathers, elicited the respect, at least, of foreign