The Brutal Politics of the 1878 Press

We know of no greater social nuisance, or a more malignant and infamous member of society than the editor of a newspaper who devotes his ability to assailing the public reputation and maligning the private character of reputable citizens for no purpose other than to gratify a base spirit. The thief, the burglar, the hired assassin are not so dangerous, because their designs may be thwarted; while no personal precaution can avert the blow of the criminal assassin of private character. We have a case in point in H.A. Blanchard, the ostensible editor of the 'Democratic Press,' a young lawyer of limited education and small advantages of breeding, who was inveigled by designing men into the establishment of a newspaper as a tool for political promotion. Its latest essay was a violent attack upon Mr. H.G. Struve, a private citizen, whose sole offense to the editor is in acting as the attorney for Gov. Ferry in prosecuting said editor for a gross and malicious libel. The charge upon which the greatest stress is laid is that Mr. Struve is a 'deserter.' Mr. Struve, a German by birth, landed in New York at age 17 and enlisted in the army. Assigned to menial hospital service in California, his refined instincts revolted, and he took the risk of desertion. More than twenty years later, after achieving a leading position at the bar, he was reported to the war department, but after a full investigation, he received an honorable discharge in consideration of his subsequent honorable and useful life. None but a coward will now taunt him with a youthful escapade which has been so nobly condoned.