John Harrison Wilson, The life of Charles Henry Dana

[494] had been cleansed and lifted to a higher plane. In bringing about these results, Dana had taken the lead and done more than his full share. His newspaper had come everywhere to be regarded as the fearless leader of popular opinion against bribery, peculation, and wastefulness in public office, and as the outspoken advocate of personal and official virtue. The boldness of its denunciation and the certainty of its exposure had filled the heart of the wrongdoer with fear, whatever might be his rank or station. It had occasionally made mistakes in judgment, but rarely in principle. While it had maintained the right of free speech and free comment at great trouble and expense, it had thereby made it safe in all parts of the country for the newspaper to stand fearlessly for the public interests. It had made “personal journalism,” as practised at that time, not only fashionable, but respectable. It had brought both presidents and members of the cabinet, as well as senators and members of the House of Representatives, within the range of its influence, and had created policies which everybody in public life was compelled to respect.

To all this Dana had given his best thought and most untiring industry. His boldness and his aggressiveness had cost him some friends and much money, but never a tremor nor a doubt. He had pursued the course he thought best in every case, and, so far as can be seen, he never shrank from the heat and burden of the conflict. Notwithstanding the cost and the loss of battle, he seems to have borne himself cheerfully and bravely throughout life, and to have carried a bold and joyous front in every encounter. That he was fiercely criticised and bitterly denounced in turn was but natural, but as it became certain that he could neither be tempted nor frightened from the path of duty, new friends gathered about him, and his fame as a champion of public virtue and public interests was established on an enduring foundation.