The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864
V >>
Various >> The Continental Monthly, Vol. 6, No 2, August, 1864
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18
In 1817, _The Literary Gazette_ was brought out by William Jordan, as an
organ of literature and the fine arts, and, until The _Athenaeum_ was
established, it was without a rival of any consequence. But its
circulation declined, and, after Jordan's death, dwindled down to a very
small number. In 1862 its name was changed to _The Parthenon_, or
rather, to speak more correctly, _The Parthenon_ arose as a new
publication from the ashes of _The Literary Gazette_. But change of name
did not produce change of circumstances, and, before many numbers had
appeared, _The Parthenon_ was privately offered for sale at the low sum
of L100, but, failing to meet with a purchaser, it gave up the ghost
early in 1863. In 1817, Lord Sidmouth made a terrific onslaught upon the
press. He issued a circular to the different lord lieutenants of the
counties, to the effect that any justice of the peace might issue a
warrant for the apprehension of any person charged with printing a
libel. One result of this circular and the vigorous prosecutions which
ensued was that William Cobbett for a while gave up printing his
_Political Register_, and went away to America, from whence he did not
return for two years. He stated his reasons for adopting this course in
his paper, as follows:
'I do not retire from a combat with the attorney-general, but from
a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat
with the attorney-general is quite unequal enough; that, however, I
would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by special
jury is; yet that or any sort of trial I would have stayed to face.
But against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a
hearing, for time unlimited'--an act had been passed which gave the
secretary of state power to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act--'in
any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper,
and without communication with any soul but the keepers--against
such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to
strive.'
But the Government met with a notable check in the case of William Howe,
the bookseller. Howe was thrice tried for libel, and, despite the
exertions of Lord Ellenborough, who descended from the judicial bench to
the barrister's table, was thrice acquitted. Persecution after this
languished for a while, but in 1819 were passed those stringent measures
which are known as the Six Acts. One of these gave the judges the power,
upon the conviction of any person a second time of the publication of a
seditious libel, to punish him with fine, imprisonment, banishment, or
transportation. But such monstrous enactments were not suffered to pass
unchallenged, and the result of several animated debates was that the
obnoxious words banishment--a novelty in English jurisprudence--and
transportation were withdrawn, but the remaining provisions of the Six
Acts were carried in all their rigor. But amid much harm, some good was
doubtless effected, for certain provisions were introduced into the act
which declared certain inferior newspapers, which had hitherto evaded
the stamp act, by calling themselves pamphlets and not newspapers,
because they only commented upon the news of the day, to be henceforth
liable to the stamp duties. This really did good service to the better
class of journals, by sweeping away a swarm of newspapers which, by the
quibble above mentioned, were enabled to undersell them.
_John Bull_ was started in 1820, with the avowed object of espousing the
King's side, and covering the Queen and her friends with obloquy.
Theodore Hook was the editor, but very few persons were in the secret.
Every man or woman who was conspicuous as a friend of the Queen was duly
gibbeted, and any tittle-tattle gossip or scandal that could be ferreted
out against them was boldly printed in the most unmistakable terms.
Trial for libel failed to discover the real proprietors, editor, and
writers, and the men who stood their trial as printer, publisher,
proprietor, etc., were manifestly mere shams, men who would swear to
anything and undergo any amount of imprisonment for the consideration of
the smallest coin of the realm. The scandalous details in _John Bull_
attracted the public at once, and by the time it reached its sixth
number, the circulation had risen to ten thousand, while the first five
numbers were reprinted over and over again, and the first and second
were actually stereotyped. But it began to be whispered about that Hook
was the editor, whereupon he printed and signed a letter denying the
rumor in the most indignant terms. This letter was supplemented by an
editorial, from which the following is an extract:
'The conceit of some people is amusing, and it has not unfrequently
been remarked that conceit is in abundance where talent is most
scarce. Our readers will see that we have received a letter from
Mr. Hook, disowning and disavowing all connection with this
paper.... We are free to confess that two things surprise us in
this business. The first, that anything which we have thought
worthy of giving to the public should have been mistaken for Mr.
Hook's; and secondly, that such a person as Mr. Hook should think
himself disgraced by a connection with _John Bull_.'
After the death of the Queen, Hook devoted himself to the demolition of
the Whigs and Radicals. Joseph Hume was his especial target, and was
dished up week after week with a decidedly original Latin garnish: '_Ex
humili potens_--From a surgeon to a member of Parliament;' '_Humili modi
loqui_--To talk Scotch like Hume;' '_Nequis humasse velit_--Let no one
call Hume an ass,' etc., etc. _John Bull_ sustained a great many
convictions for libel, and its dummies were frequently imprisoned, but
they never betrayed Hook, who retained the editorship until his death in
1841. Somewhere about this time _The Britannia_, a Conservative journal,
of a few years' standing, was incorporated with it. It had meanwhile
considerably moderated its tone, and at the present day enjoys a fair
circulation among steady-going people--chiefly country gentlemen, old
ladies, and parsons--who obstinately cling to Tory principles.
_John Bull_ was not the only newspaper which was prolific in libels, and
perhaps at no time were scandalous attacks upon public and private
persons more common. Mr. Freemantle, writing to the Marquis of
Buckingham, in 1820, says:
'The press is completely open to treason, sedition, blasphemy, and
falsehood, with impunity.... I do not know whether you see
Cobbett's _Independent Whig_, and many other papers now circulating
most extensively, and which are dangerous much beyond anything I
can describe.'
This is a sweeping censure, but, allowing for a little personal
irritation, natural enough under the circumstances--he had been
lampooned himself--is true of a great portion of the press. The supply
was regulated by the demand, and the character of the wares purveyed
depended upon the wants of the market. Editors found that scandal was
eagerly devoured by their subscribers, and they did not therefore
hesitate or scruple to gratify the prevailing tastes of the day. But the
better class of papers were not able to keep clear of the law of libel,
even though they did not condescend to pander to the vitiated tastes of
the multitude. Many of them had to sustain actions for merely reporting
proceedings before the police magistrates and in the law courts, and
many a rascal solaced himself for the disagreeables attending a
preliminary examination at the police court for a criminal offence, by a
verdict in his behalf in a civil action against any newspaper that had
been bold enough to print a report of the proceedings. This kind of
action originated from a ruling of Lord Ellenborough, that it was
'libellous to publish the preliminary examination before a magistrate
previously to committing a man for trial or holding him to bail for any
offence with which he is charged, the tendency of such a publication
being to prejudice the minds of the jurymen against the accused, and to
deprive him of a fair trial.' This monstrous and at the same time absurd
doctrine remained in force for many years, but is now happily no longer
the law of the land.
_The Times_ had now reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and its claims
to be considered the foremost of journals were no longer disputed. The
circulation of _The Morning Chronicle_ had dwindled during the latter
years of Perry's life, and after his death did not revive very much
under Black, his successor. Brougham, Talfourd, and Alderson were among
the writers in _The Times_, and Captain Sterling, whose vigorous,
slashing articles first gained for _The Times_ the title of the
'Thunderer,' was regularly engaged upon the staff at a salary of L2,000
a year and a small share in the profits. But the Government still
steadily set its face against it, and in 1821 Mr. Hume loudly inveighed
against the ministry in the House of Commons for not sending Government
advertisements to _The Times_, instead of to other journals, which did
not enjoy a tithe of its circulation. The arrangements of the post
office were a great hinderance to the diffusion of newspapers, since the
charge for the carriage of a daily journal was L12 14_s._, and for a
weekly L2 4_s._ a year. The number, therefore, that was sent abroad by
this channel, either to the Continent or our own colonies, was very
small. In 1810 the whole number thus despatched was but three hundred
and eighty-three, and in 1817 it had fallen to two hundred and
seventy-one, owing to the increase in the charges demanded by the
post-office authorities, who were actually allowed to put the money in
their own pockets; and in 1821 it was only two hundred and six. The
circulation through the kingdom of Great Britain itself was not entirely
free, inasmuch as every newspaper sent through the post office was
charged for by weight, at an exorbitant rate, unless it was franked by a
member of Parliament. This regulation continued in force until 1825,
when an act was passed which provided that newspapers should be sent
through the post free, on condition that they were open at both ends,
and had no other writing upon the cover than the necessary address. At
the same time the ridiculous acts which limited the size of newspapers
were done away with, and every printer was henceforth permitted to print
his journal upon any sized sheet he pleased. Two important concessions
were also made to the press at this date, one in the House of Commons,
and the other in the House of Lords. In the former, a portion of the
strangers' gallery was set apart for the exclusive use of the reporters;
and in the latter, reporters were permitted to be present for the first
time. Previously to this, if any one had been rash enough to attempt to
take any notes, an official would pounce upon him, and, with an air of
offended dignity well befitting that august assembly, strike the
offending pencil from his grasp!
In 1825, Joseph Hume attempted to get the stamp duty reduced on
newspapers to twopence, and the advertisement duty to one shilling; and
in 1827 he tried to gain an exemption from the stamp act for political
pamphlets; but he was defeated on each occasion. In 1827, _The Standard_
was started as a Tory organ, under the auspices of a knot of able
writers, the chief of whom were Dr. Giffard, the editor, Alaric Attila
Watts, and Dr. Maginn. It has always possessed a good connection among
the Conservative party, but has never been a very profitable concern.
After the abolition of the stamp duty its price was reduced to twopence,
and in 1858 to one penny, and it was the first of the daily journals to
offer a double sheet at that price. In recent times the Letters of
'Manhattan' have given an impulse to its circulation, from their novelty
of style--an impulse which was probably further aided by the ridiculous
but widely believed assertion that those letters had never crossed the
Atlantic, but were penned beneath the shadow of St. Paul's.
The following statistics of newspapers in the chief countries of Europe
in 1827, will probably prove interesting: France, with a population
of--in round numbers--thirty-two millions, possessed 490 journals; the
Germanic Confederation, with a population of thirteen millions, 305;
Prussia, with a population of twelve millions, 288; Bavaria, with a
population of four millions, 48; the Netherlands, with a population of
six millions, 150; Sweden and Norway, with a population of four
millions, 82; and Denmark, with a population of two millions, 80. Great
Britain, with a population of twenty-three millions, far outstripped
them all, for she boasted 483 newspapers; but was yet compelled to yield
the palm to her Transatlantic kinsmen, for the United States, at the
same date, with a population of twelve millions, circulated the
unequalled number of 800. In looking at these figures, one cannot help
being struck with the enormous disproportion between the journals of
Roman Catholic and Protestant countries--a disproportion which is so
significant that comment upon it is unnecessary. But the difference is
still more plainly shown if we take two capitals. Rome, with a
population of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, possessed only 3
newspapers, while Copenhagen, with a population of one hundred and nine
thousand, enjoyed the advantage of having 53. The London papers were
100, the English provincial papers 225, the Irish papers 85, the Scotch
63, and the Welsh 10. The number of stamps issued was more than
twenty-seven millions, of which London alone consumed more than fifteen
millions; the number of advertisements was seven hundred and seventy
thousand, of which London supplied nearly a half; and the amount of
advertisement duty was L56,000, of which London contributed L22,000.
The year 1829 is remarkable for the first appearance of _The Times_ with
a double sheet, consisting of eight pages, or forty-eight columns. This
great step in advance must have quite answered the expectations of its
spirited proprietor, for in 1830 _The Times_ paid to Government for
stamps and advertisement duty no less than L70,000. The day of perfect
freedom was beginning to dawn upon the press, although it took a quarter
of a century to remove the last fetter, the stamp, and still longer, if
we take into consideration the paper duty, which was removed in 1862.
First came the abolition of the most oppressive portion of Lord
Castlereagh's Six Acts, next the advertisement duties, and finally the
stamp. The high price of the stamp, fourpence, kept the better journals
at sevenpence, but a numerous class of unstamped journals at twopence
sprang up in defiance of the law, and were allowed for a time to go on
unchecked. They had a large circulation, one of them, _The London
Dispatch_, attaining to twenty-five thousand a week. Growing bolder with
their impunity, they indulged in the most abominable trash and the most
frantic sedition and treason. They were of course prosecuted and
punished, but they were never finally destroyed until the reduction of
the stamp duty. They did good indirectly, for they formed one of the
strongest arguments in favor of the abolition of that obnoxious impost.
In 1833 a battle royal raged between Daniel O'Connell and the press;
but, as might have been expected, Dan was no match for the hydra-headed
antagonist he had been rash enough to provoke. The quarrel originated in
a complaint made by the Liberator of a misrepresentation of a speech of
his, and he did this in so intemperate a manner that the reporters
published a letter in _The Times_, in which they expressed their
determination never again to report a speech of O'Connell's until he had
apologized for the insults he had levelled at them. O'Connell vainly
attempted to put the machinery of the House of Commons in motion against
them, but, after repeated efforts, was obliged to give in. His attacks
were principally levelled at _The Times_--which then counted among its
contributors the brilliant names of Macaulay, Thackeray, and
Disraeli--for he and John Walter were bitter foes. But he evoked several
powerful defenders of the press, first and foremost among whom was Sir
Robert Peel.
In 1834 the system of condensing the speeches in Parliament, and placing
the summary before the leading articles, was first introduced into _The
Times_ by Horace Twiss. At this date there occurred a great schism
between the proprietors and writers of _The Sun_, some of whom seceded,
and brought out _The True Sun_, in opposition to that eccentric planet
which always rises in the evening despite the general conviction of
mankind that the sun is the luminary of the day. Douglas Jerrold, Laman
Blanchard, and, greatest of all, Charles Dickens, commenced their
apprenticeship to literature in this journal, which enjoyed, however,
but a fleeting existence. Jerrold afterward started a paper of his own,
which failed, and then became editor of Lloyd's _Weekly London
Newspaper_, a post which he retained until his death, and which has
since been ably filled by his son Blanchard Jerrold. Laman Blanchard
became the editor of _The Courier_, but resigned it when it became a
Tory organ, and was one of the original writers in and proprietors of
_Punch_. Dickens transferred his services to _The Morning Chronicle_, in
the columns of which the Sketches by Boz first appeared. Several acts of
Parliament relating to newspapers were passed at this period. In 1833
the advertisement duty was reduced from three shillings and sixpence to
one shilling and sixpence in England, and one shilling in Ireland. In
1834 an act was passed by which the newspapers of those foreign
countries in which English journals were admitted free of postage, were
allowed to enter Great Britain on the same terms. In 1835 a bill was
passed to relieve the press from the action of common informers, and
placed them under the jurisdiction of the attorney-general alone; and
another, which forbade newspapers to publish lectures delivered at
literary and scientific institutions, without the permission of the
lecturer.
The time was now fast approaching for the reduction of the stamp duty.
Government was getting wearied of the war with the hydra-headed
unstamped monster, and at last adopted the only expedient likely to be
successful in putting it down, which was to place the higher-class
journals in a position to rival them. From 1831 to 1835 there had been
no less than seven hundred and twenty-eight prosecutions, of which the
year 1835 alone had produced two hundred and nineteen. This fact, joined
to the influential agitation which was now being made for the repeal,
caused the Government to decide upon bringing in a measure of relief. It
took six months and an immense deal of speechifying to bring this
measure to maturity; but at last, in 1836, the stamp duty was reduced
from fourpence to one penny, being one halfpenny less than it had been
originally fixed at in 1760. The Tories were the great friends of this
reduction, and Lord Lyndhurst, who had been instrumental in abolishing
many of the most oppressive enactments with which the measure had been
clogged, wished to do away with the duty altogether. There was of course
a loss to the revenue at first. In the first half year of the new duty,
the number of stamps issued was 21,362,148, realizing L88,502. In the
corresponding previous half year, under the old scale, the number of
stamps had been 14,874,652, and the amount paid, L196,909, so that in
six months the number of stamped newspapers had increased by about one
half.
In 1837, _The Economist_ was started by John Wilson, and attracted great
attention by its statistical and politico-economical articles, Wilson
afterward became secretary of the treasury, and, having been sent to
India, died there, to add one more to the many illustrious victims that
our Indian empire has exacted. In 1838 a most amusing hoax was
perpetrated upon _The Morning Post_ and _Morning Chronicle_, which
announced the death of Lord Brougham, and published a most elaborate
biography of him. But the next day there came a letter from Lord
Brougham, declaring that he was still alive and hearty. The joke,
however, did not end here--for people were ill natured enough to assert
that he had been the author of the rumor himself, in order to learn what
the world would say about him; and so widespread had this second rumor
become, that Lord Brougham was compelled to write another letter
contradicting it.
The next great event in the history of journalism is the commercial
libel case, Boyle _versus_ Lawson, the printer of _The Times_. Barnes
had died, and had been succeeded by John T. Delane, a nephew of Mr.
Walter, as editor, who still continues to occupy that responsible post.
The matter originated thus: In May, 1841, _The Times_ published a letter
from the Paris correspondent, containing the particulars of an organized
system of forgery on a gigantic scale, which had been agreed on by
certain persons, whose names were published in full. The plan was to
present simultaneously at the chief Continental cities letters of credit
purporting to emanate from Glynn & Co., the London bankers. The
confederates had fixed the sum they meant to realize at one million, and
had actually secured more than L10,000 before the plot was discovered.
One of them was Boyle, a banker, of good position, at Florence, and he
brought an action for libel and defamation. He pressed on the trial, but
_The Times_ maintained its ground, and at an enormous expense despatched
agents all over the Continent to collect evidence. _The Times_
triumphantly succeeded in proving the truth of what it--_The Times_ is
always spoken and written of as an individual--had printed; but as the
old law--the greater the truth the greater the libel--still existed, the
jury were compelled to find a verdict for the plaintiff, which they did,
with one farthing damages, and the judge clinched the matter by refusing
the plaintiff his costs. Universal joy was expressed at the result of
the trial, and public meetings were called together in London and the
chief Continental cities for the purpose of making a subscription to
defray the expenses of _The Times_ in defending the action. The
proprietors, however, declined this, but said that, at the same time,
they should feel much gratified if a sum of money were raised for some
public object in commemoration of the event. Accordingly it was decided
to found two scholarships in perpetuity for Christ's Hospital and the
City of London School at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to be
called the Times' Scholarships, and the nomination to them to be placed
in the hands of the proprietors of _The Times_ in perpetuity. Two marble
tablets were also voted, at the cost of a hundred and fifty guineas
each, with commemorative inscriptions, one to be placed in _The Times_
office and the other in the Royal Exchange. Two somewhat similar tablets
were also placed in Christ's Hospital and the City of London School. For
these purposes the sum of L2,700 was very quickly subscribed, the lord
mayor leading off with ten guineas. If anything had been wanting to
place _The Times_ upon the pinnacle of preeminence among journals, this
famous trial firmly established it there, and ever since it has been
looked up to as an oracle of the commercial world. But _The Times_ was
not contented to rest quietly on its oars. It was ambitious, and looked
farther afield. In 1845, its vigor, enterprise, and disregard of expense
were exemplified in a remarkable manner. _The Times_ had been in the
habit of sending a special courier to Marseilles, to bring its Indian
despatches, and thus anticipate the regular course of the mail. The
French Government threw every possible obstacle in the courier's way,
and _The Times_ took Lieutenant Waghorn, the originator of the Overland
Route, into its pay. In October, 1845, a special messenger met the mail
on its arrival at Suez on the 19th. Mounted on a dromedary, he made his
way, without stopping, to Alexandria, where Waghorn awaited him with a
steamer. Waghorn came _via_ Trieste--special post horses and steamers
and trains being ready for him at the various points of the route--and
he reached London on the morning of the 31st, in time for his despatches
to appear in the morning's issue of the paper. The result of this was
that _The Times_ reached Paris with the Indian news from London before
the regular mail had reached that city from Marseilles. The next
noticeable enterprise of _The Times_ was the sending out commissioners
to investigate the condition of the poor and laboring population of
London in 1847, an enterprise which was crowned with the moat
satisfactory results. _The Times_ has always been the firm friend of the
poor, and its columns are always open to the tale of distress. No case
is advocated until it has been thoroughly investigated; but when once it
has been mentioned in _The Times_, subscriptions pour in on all sides.
At the commencement of each year especially, _The Times_ publishes
gratuitously appeals from public charities, and during last January the
sums received through those appeals reached the large amount of L12,000.
The last great exploit of _The Times_ was the sending forth a special
correspondent with the English army to the Crimea, a precedent which it
has followed up since in China, India, Italy, America, and
Schleswig-Holstein. But this was not the first occasion that reporters
had accompanied our armies, for Canning despatched reporters with the
troops sent to Portugal in 1826. The tactics of _The Times_ are very
generally misunderstood and misrepresented. Whatever objections
cavillers and opponents may urge, and with truth too--for the course
taken by _The Times_ is not to be praised on all occasions--it cannot be
denied that _The Times_ is the first journal in the world, a position
which it has reached by its enterprise, vigor, and ability. It has
frequently proved its disinterestedness, and during the great railway
mania of 1845, while it was receiving no less a sum than L6,000 weekly
for advertisements, constantly cautioned its readers against the
prevailing madness, and persistently predicted the crash that was
certain to follow. _The Times_, while it appears to lead, in reality
waits upon public opinion, and hence the accusations of inconsistency
and tergiversation so freely lavished upon it. _The Times_ is the
printed breath of public opinion. It throws out a feeler, perhaps,
though not quite at first, accompanied by some decided expression of
opinion, and carefully watches the effect upon the public mind. Should
that effect be different to what was expected, _The Times_ knows how to
veer round with the _popularis aura_. This is not always, however, done
so skilfully but that the act is apparent. It is not the most dignified
course that a journal which aspires to be--and which is--the leading
journal of Europe ought to pursue; but _The Times_ knows human nature,
and knows, too, that were it to adopt any other course, it would fall
from its high estate, and become a mere party organ. Moreover, _The
Times_ possesses an enormous prestige--deservedly won, as this article
has endeavored to show--and that, in a conservative country like
England, is considerably more than half the battle.
Pages:
1 |
2 | 3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14 |
15 |
16 |
17 |
18