"The present state," the editors wrote, "seemed to require some extraordinary effort in the cause of freedom."
The writers linked what they described as the sorry state of the world to the deteriorated state of the press. "There have been times when such a condition of affairs would not have occurred, and in which, if it had occurred, it would not have been long endured." In those earlier days, "an unpurchased, unshackled press existed," and editors "breathed the spirit of freedom."
