The Press, Politics, and Patronage: The American Government's Use of Newspapers, 1789-1875 (review)

272CIVIL WAR HISTORY Hehas succeededhandily inhis firstintention. In establishing"diplomatic statesmanship" he gives Seward the principal credit for the decision to release the Confederate commissioners and reduces Lincoln to a mere shadow. (Crook's accountis more balancedhere.) Ferris does not ignore Seward's earlier Anglophobic outbursts, which form an important part of the background, but he dismisses them as unimportant, exaggerated by others (for example, James Gordon Bennett), and an unfair representation of the Secretary's true balance and thoughtfulness. A fuller discussion in the text of various other interpretations of the crucial decision to release the prisoners would help. Ferris does mention other views, but these comments, along with many other interesting amplifications are relegated to the back of the book, where most readers will overlook them. Ferris treats at length British reactions to the stopping of the Trent, althoughhe perhaps underplays the roles of Prince Albert and of British businessmen. He amusingly characterizes the American jubilation as "the public chortle from across the Atlantic Ocean" (p. 147) but gives it much less attention than he does to British indignation. Crook's analysis of American reactions is more complex. The resistance of many Americans (including Lincoln) to releasing the prisoners suggests that the Trent affair was a little more than a "diplomatic crisis". David M. Pletcher Indiana University The Press, Politics, and Patronage: The American Government's Use of Newspapers, 1789-1875. By Culver H. Smith. (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1977. Pp. xv, 351. $18.50.) Culver H. Smith presents the complex subject of how "printing, politics and patronage became intermingled" from 1789 to 1875 in a clear, effective synthesis. Through a careful use of evidence, he records the shifts that occurred in relations between the government and the press during this period. Each President, from Thomas Jefferson to James Buchanan, had his own official newspaper. This practice ended once Abraham Lincoln assumed office. In large part this change, which later hurt Lincolnpolitically, was due to the establishment of the Government Printing Office in 1860. This work is not presidential biography, however, but rather focuses on the men who made significant contributions to the development of the American press. Consistent with this emphasis, Smith explores thoroughly the influence of Duff Green, Francis P. Blair, and other newspapermen of the period. Smith is equally adept at choosing his sources. The appendices attest to the vast number of newspapers that he consulted for this study. Instead of examining each one, however, he selects only the more BOOK REVIEWS273 important publications such as the National Intelligencer and The Gazette of the United States for detailed analysis. Smith also discusses other important areas. In addition to favorable postal rates and improved transportation systems for encouraging the development of the press, Smith treats subjects such as the extensive time that Congress expended periodically in its choice of a printer. As political history, the work would have been improved had the author employed roll-call analysis in examining congressional attitudes and actions. A Guttman Scale, for example, might have revealed certain relationships in voting patterns over the choice of a printer that are otherwise obscured through the use of more traditional methodology. This minor criticism, however, should not detract from the overall caliber of this work. The author's statements are generally welldocumented . He not only examined newspapers and personal manuscript collections, but the records of the State Department in the National Archives as well. The book is rich both in detail and interpretation. Among the conclusions, Smith contends that the press survived political corruption while it simultaneously, through the use of patronage, provided an essential link between government and an increasingly dispersed population. The Press, Politics, and Patronage will remain as the standard work on this subject for a long time to come. James W. Geary Kent State University John Brown's Journey: Notes and Reflections on HisAmerica and Mine. By Albert Fried. (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978. Pp. 293. $10.00.) This is not the book Albert Fried originally set out to write. In 1968, he signed on with Doubleday to do an actual biography of Brown, but then abandoned the project for reasons that are not clear...