Reply #23: The Point Is Not Whether "The Enquirer" Is Credible, Sir

[The Magistrate]

The point is that its editors believe this tale of drunken relapse will entertain and fascinate their readership. That readership pays little attention normally to politics, and it is of value to have the idea that this reptile has relapsed spread among them in the few moments that they do pay heed to what is our leading interest here. We know this creature is a wholly false front, a Potempkin man, a whited sepulcher: the circulation of this tale in this organ signifies those who keep closest watch on the pulse of the apathetic mass believe they are coming to that opinion themselves in their own way, and may be ready to regard him as they do the scoundrel ex-spouse or the prodigal child they have had to wash their hands of....