No More Learning

were forwarded to the printer, whose name they have made celebrated, the opinions of a Morning Journal were seldom given in the shape of our modern " leading articles. " Indeed, editorial comments ap pearing punctually, day by day, as we now see them, were unknown, At a much earlier period, as we
have seen, political writers established political papers to aid the party to which they were attached ; but the
in the time of Junius, though in
daily Newspapers,
other respects presenting on a smaller scale many of the features which daily Papers now display, could not boast punctual columns of editorial leading articles. When a writer commented holdly on poli tical events, he adopted a signature. Crabbe refers to this custom in his sketch of how the Newspapers were "made up. "
Now puffs exhausted, advertisements past, Their correspondents stand exposed at last ; These are a numerous tribe, to fame unknown, Who for the public good forego their own ; Who volunteers in paper-war engage,
With double portion of their party's rage : Such are the Bruti, Decii, who appear Wooing the printer for admission here ; Whose generous souls can condescend to pray For leave to throw their precious time away.
Junius was an unpaid volunteer, and Crabbe goes on to depict the pangs of the rejected contributor, who, with less talent than the great political unknown, found no place in the printer's regards, and no corner in his Paper. The prominent notice which the poet gives to the printer is accounted for by the fact that
LONDON DAILY PAPERS. 93
in those times the printer, proprietor, and editor were frequently the same person.
Oh! cruel Woodfall! when a patriot draws His grey-goose quill in his dear country's cause, To vex and maul a ministerial race,
Can thy stern soul refuse the champion place ? Alas ! thou know'st not with what anxious heart He longs his best-loved labours to impart ;
How he has sent them to thy brethren round, And still the same unkind reception found :
At length indignant will he damn the state, Turn to his trade, and leave us to our fate.
The writers of the political letters at that period were fond of attacking Crabbe's patrons, and they find no mercy at the hands of the poet, who abuses them, as we see, not for false logic, or distorted facts, but for—poverty. Crabbe by this time had ceased to suffer the miseries of the poor condition to which he was born, and from the snug parlour of a country vicarage, or in the luxurious shelter of Belvoir Castle, made clever jokes at the cost of less talented, or less fortunate writers : —
These Roman souls, like Rome's great sons are known To live in cells on labours of their own.
Thus Milo, could we see the noble chief,
Feeds, for his country's good, on legs of beef;
Camillus copies deeds for sordid pay,
Yet fights the public battles twice a-day :
E'en now the god-like Brutus views his score Scroll'd on the bar-board, swinging with the door ; Where, tippling punch, grave Cato's self you'll see, And Amor patrics vending smuggled tea.
Poetical abuse was not the only risk these early writing politicians ran. Like still earlier critics of
94 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
public affairs, they at times found themselves in the
pillory, though, as liberty progressed, such instances became more and more rare. *
A writer in the Atheneeum,t —who evidently went to work con amore to examine the editions of Junius, and never left the self-imposed literary task until he had sifted the truth from the manifold blunders by which it had been surrounded, —gives us some curious and interesting particulars of the Public Advertiser, and of the influence which the famous letters had upon the circulation of that Paper.
* One of the later sufferers of this ignominious punishment, was Dr. Shebbeare, and in his case it was shown, that the officials charged with the execution of such sentences, influenced, doubtless, by the progress of more enlightened opinion, regarded such reflections as unjust. In one of Almon's books (Biographical, Literary, and Political Anecdotes, 1797) the story is thus told :—In 1758, Shebbeare was prosecuted for " A eighth letter to the people of England," convicted, and sentenced to stand in the pillory at Charing Cross. " Mr. Arthur Beardmore, attorney, in Wallbank, being under-sheriff at that time, attended the execution of this part of the sentence —he was in a house opposite to the pillory. Dr Shebbeare was greatly favoured ; instead of putting his head in the hole of the pillory, in the usual mode, the upper board was raised as high as possible, and then fastened. Shebbeare stood upright, without even bending his neck in the least ; looking through the wide opening between the upper and lower boards. The Attorney General was exceedingly incensed by this indulgence shown to Sheb beare; he obtained a writ of attachment against Beardmore for his contempt, in not executing the sentence properly. Beardmore, in his defence upon oath, said, that he attended the execution of the sentence, andsaw Shebbeare's head through the pillory. Lord Mansfield observed, that this was the most ingenious evasion of perjury he had ever met with. Beardmore was fined fifty pounds for his contempt. " This liberal under-sheriff differed totally in politics from Shebbeare, and his conduct was, therefore, all the more generous. Shebbeare afterwards got a pension from George the Third.
t Athenaeum, Nos. 1082, 1083, and 1 132, July 1 848, and July 1849
LONDON DAILY PAPERS. 96
"Mr. Britton," says this labour-loving critic, "flour
ishes about the pre-eminent and ' immediate
and popularity of Junius ;' of course, following Dr. Mason Good, who speaks of the 'almost electric speed' with which the Letters became popular —states, indeed, as if he had the information from Junius himself, that ' from the extraordinary effect produced by his first letter under the signature of Junius, he resolved to adhere to this signature exclusively. ' Now, there can be no question that the letters of Junius excited public attention : — the when and to what extent are the points under consideration. We know that they were copied into other journals; —but this, our experience enables us to say, may be a proof rather of a dearth of News than of extraordinary popularity or merit. We know that they were collected and piratically pub lished ; — but, after all, the meaning of popularity, when translated into the language of a publisher and a newspaper proprietor, is, that such was the demand for the letters of Junius that the sale of The Public Advertiser was thereby greatly increased. This may be a very vulgar test—very shocking to the sensitive and the spiritual ; but it was a test by which Junius was not ashamed to be tried. In a private letter to Woodfall he says, speaking of the letter to Mansfield, ' I undertake that it shall sell. ' Again, —it ' is, in my opinion, of the highest style of Junius, and can not fail to sell. ' So of the collected edition of 1 772,
—' I am convinced the book will sell. ' Well then, judging by this test—the only one within our reach— Junius had not an ' immediate effect,' as Dr. Good and Mr. Britton assert. Through the liberal kindness
effect
96 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of Mr. Henry Woodfall, who acts in the spirit of his father in all that relates to Junius, and is anxious only that the truth should prevail, we have examined the
of the Public Advertiser, in the hand
'Day-book'
writing of his grandfather, Sampson Woodfall ; from which it appears that neither the first, nor the first dozen, nor the first two dozen letters had any effect whatever on the sale of the Paper ! Then, indeed, on the 19th December, 1769, came forth the letter to the King. This created an effect, and an extraordinary demand. — Dr. Good — who cannot be right, even by accident states 'that 500 copies of The Advertiser
were printed in addition to the usual number;' whereas the evidence before him, this ' Day-book,' to which he might have referred, would have proved that 1,750 additional copies were printed. To meet the demand
or which followed, for Junius's next letter (to the Duke of Grafton) published 14th February, 1770, 700 additional copies were printed ; for the fol
lowing, on the 19th March, the additional supply was 350 ; for the letter in April, 350—but not an additional copy was printed of the letter of the 28th May. There were 100 only on the 22nd August for the letter to Lord North. The letter to Lord Mansfield again awakened public attention, and 600 additional copies were printed. We have no detailed account of the sale in January ; but 500 additional copies were printed of The Public Advertiser which contained the letter in April, 1771 —100 of the June letter to the Duke of Grafton — 250 for the first in July to the same —not
one for the second letter to Home Tooke of the 24 th of July—200 for the August letter to the same —250
expected,
LONDON DAILY PAPERS. 97
for the letter to the Duke of Grafton in September. With the letter to the Livery of London, in September, the sale fell 250 — with the letter of the 5th of October, there was neither rise nor fall — with the letter of the 2nd November to Mansfield, it may have risen 50, but we doubt it—and on the 28th, with that to the Duke of Grafton, it rose 350. And there ends the history of 'the immediate effect' and the total effect, so far as the 'Day-book' has enabled us to carry out our inquiry. We have given these details as curious and interesting in themselves. Generally, we may observe, that beyond the above-mentioned sale of the particular Papers in which they appeared, the Letters of Junius did not effect any of the wonders attributed to them, either immediately or permanently. The Public Ad vertiser had long been a successful and rising Paper.
In the four years that preceded the first certain pub lication of Junius — that is, from January 1765 to December 1708 — the monthly sale rose from 47,515 to 75,450, nearly 60 per cent; whereas, from January, 1769, to December, 1771, during which period the Junius letters appeared, it rose from 74,800 to 83,950, or little more than 12 per cent. "
Garrick was one of the shareholders in the Public
Advertiser, a fact which has its significance in refer
ence to the Newspaper critiques in those great days
of the theatre. At that time dramatic
cost the Journals much more than foreign News, and such was the interest taken in all theatrical events, that the Newspapers had messengers whose duty it was to wait about the theatres to get the earliest possible copy of each new bill of the next day's per-
VOL. II. H
intelligence
98 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
formance. When these were got the scouts ran off to the offices, and who first delivered the then im
sheet was rewarded with a shilling or half-a- crown, according to the importance of the News he had secured.
The name of Woodfall has become so identified with that of Junius, and with the progress of News
portant
as to possess an interest of its own. Two members of this family are often confounded with each other. Henry Sampson Woodfall was the printer of the letters of Junius, and The Public Advertiser ;
whilst his brother William it was who gained the name of " Memory Woodfall," by his talent for remembering and writing out reports of Parliamentary debates— notes of which were not then allowed to be taken.
This ability for obtaining a very valuable species of " copy " led to his connection with The Morning Chronicle, with one exception the oldest of the exist ing daily Papers. The oldest still amongst us is The Public Ledger, which started in 1760, and is now (1850) a small Paper of small circulation, and under stood to be chiefly kept alive by an ancient advertis ing connection. *
* The original title was, " The Public Ledger, or Daily Register of Commerce and Intelligence. "
The first number is dated Saturday, January 12, 1760, and was issued gratis — subsequent copies being charged 2|d. No. 1 contains a long address of the proprietors to the public.
Amongst the weekly and other Papers dating antecedent to The Public Ledger, we find some curious titles. Thus, we have, under date 1755, The World, The Devil, Man, Old Maid, and Monitor.
papers,
- In 1756, Schofield's Middlewich Journal, Test, Prater,
Humanist. In 1757, Centinel, Crab Tree. In 1759, The Busy Body.
Con-test,
HISTORY OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
The present Morning Chronicle started with Whig politics in 1769 ;* William Woodfall became its printer,
and editor, (for the characters were still joined,) and gained for as we have already said, reputation by his extraordinary memory, and his talent for reporting Parliamentary debates.
Woodfall continued to conduct the Paper till 1789, when he set up Paper on his own account
reporter,
under the title of The Diary, in which he continued his series of reports. These, however, were not suffi cient to support the new project, for other Journals had adopted the plan of dividing the labour of report ing debate. In this way Woodfall was outstript, and his Paper fell. His successor on The Morning Chronicle was the real architect of that Paper. —James Perry—of whom we have biographical notice in Magazine published during his lifetime, written evidently by friend of his, and illustrated by por trait engraved from an original picture Sir Thomas
Lawrence. On this authority we learn that " Perry was native of Aberdeen, was born on the 30th of October, 1756, and received the first rudiments of education at Chapel of Gariock. ' The Rev. Dr. Tait, who afterwards rose to dignified station in the Church of England, was then master of the School of Chapel, and gave celebrity by his erudition and
* The earliest copy of the Morning Chronicle have been able to find, dated December 29, 1770, and numbered 493 and its title then (and long afterwards) was "The Morning Chronicle, and London Advertiser. " There had previously been "London Chronicle," which was regularly read by George the Third, whose copy of may be seen in the "King's Library," British Museum.
European Mag. , September, 1818.
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100 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
abilities. From this Mr. Perry was removed to the High School of Aberdeen.
"In the year 1771, he was entered of Marischal
College, Aberdeen, (but appears to have gained no scholastic distinctions,) and was afterwards placed under Dr. Fordyce, advocate, to qualify him for the pro fession of the Scots law ; but his father, who was a builder, having engaged in some extremely unsuc cessful speculations, the young man left Aberdeen in
1774, and proceeded to Edinburgh, in the hope of obtaining a situation in some professional gentle man's chambers, where he might at once pursue his studies, and obtain a livelihood. After long and ineffectual attempts to gain employment, he came to England, and was for two years engaged in Manchester as clerk to Mr. Denwiddie, manu facturer. In this situation he cultivated his mind by the study of the best authors, and gained the friendship and affection of the principal gentlemen
of the town, by the talents he displayed in a society which was at that time established by them for philosophical and moral discussions, and by several literary essays which obtained their approbation.
"In the beginning of 1771 he carried with him recommendations from the principal manufacturers to their correspondents, but they all failed to procure him any suitable introduction ; it was, however, the accidental effect of one of them that threw him into the line of life which he from that period persevered in with such invariable constancy. There was at that time an opposition Journal, published under the title
THE CHRONICLE PERRY S START IN LIFE. 101
of the General Advertiser, and being a new Paper, it was the practice of the proprietors to exhibit the whole contents of it upon boards upon different shop windows and doors, in the same manner as we now see the theatrical
placards displayed. Perry, being unemployed, amused himself with writing essays and scraps of poetry for this paper, which he dropped
into the editor's box, and which were always inserted. Calling one day at the shop of Messrs. Richardson and Urquhart, booksellers, to whom he had letters of recommendation, he found the latter busily engaged, and apparently enjoying, an article in The General Advertiser. After Mr. Urquhart had finished the perusal, Perry put the usual question to him, whether he had heard of any situation that would suit him ? to which he replied in the negative ; at the same time holding out the Paper, he said, ' If you could write articles such as this, I could give you immediate em ployment. ' It happened to be a humorous essay written by Perry himself. This he instantly intimated to Mr. Urquhart, and gave him another letter in the same handwriting, which he had proposed to drop into the letter-box. Mr. Urquhart expressed great satisfaction at the discovery, and informed him that he was one of the principal proprietors of the Paper, that they wanted just such a person, and as there was to be a meeting of the proprietors that same evening, he would propose Perry as a writer. He did so, and the next day he was engaged at a salary of a guinea a- week, and an additional half-guinea for assistance to the London Evening Post, then printed by the same per son. Such was the incident that threw Perry into the
102 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
profession of a Journalist. He was most assiduous in his exertions for The General Advertiser, and during the memorable trials of Admirals Keppell and Palliser, he, for six weeks together, by his individual efforts, sent up daily from Portsmouth, eight columns of the trials taken by him in court ; which, from the interest they excited, raised the Paper to a sale of several thousands
At this time Perry wrote and published several political pamphlets and poems ; and, in 1782, he formed the plan, and was the first editor of the European Magazine. He conducted however, only for the first twelve months, as, on the death of Mr. Wall, he was chosen by the proprietors of The Gazetteer to be the editor of that Paper, the pro
of which consisted of the principal book
sellers of London. Perry undertook the editorship of
the Paper at salary of four guineas a-week, on the
express condition that he was to be left to the free
exercise of his political opinions, which were those
asserted by Mr. Fox. On commencing his editorial
duties on The Gazeteer, he proposed most important
improvement upon the reporting plans then adopted
—
a-day.
prietors
plan which exists to the present day. He sug gested to the proprietors the wisdom of employing several reporters to facilitate the publication of debates in Parliament. Up to that time, each Paper had but one reporter in each House of Parliament, and the
of Perry in The Gazetteer had been in the habit of spinning out the debates for weeks, and even months, after the session had closed while Woodfall, in The Morning Chronicle, used to bring out his hasty sketch of the debate in the evening of
-
predecessor
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THE CHRONICLE PERRY AND GRAY. 103
the following day. Perry's plan was adopted, and by a succession of reporters, The Gazetteer was published in the morning with as long a debate as Woodfall brought out in the evening, and sometimes at midnight. "
Such is the account of his early career given with Perry's sanction, indeed, did not come from his own pen. At the point which this memoir brings us to, Perry had made great success. To beat " Memory Woodfall " was great feat and, when Woodfall set up The Diary, we find Perry, with the help of the friends he had made, becoming one of the proprietors of The Morning Chronicle. Of his further
career, have obtained, by the kindness of veteran Journalist, some curious and hitherto unpublished particulars, which may be given here.
Perry and Mr. Gray, countryman of his own, purchased The Morning Chronicle about the beginning of the French Revolution. The money was furnished by old Bellamy, the housekeeper of the House of Commons, who was also wine-merchant. At the Christmas dinners afterwards given to the editors and reporters of The Morning Chronicle, some of the port purchased from Bellamy when The Chronicle was bought, continued to be produced till Perry's death.
Gray was more profound man than Perry, and wrote the serious articles. Perry was volatile and varied, but not profound. Indeed, his education had been rather defective and he was not the man to make up, by severe application, for early deficiencies. It used to be said that the Paper would succeed, for carried both sail and ballast. Gray's sister had an annuity from the Paper till Perry's death, and his executors
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104 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
continued to pay it afterwards. Perry went to Paris for The Chronicle, and remained there upwards of a year, during the critical period of the Revolution, before the war.
Though always proprietor of The Chronicle, Perry was not always editor. He became connected with Lord Kinnaird, Hammersley, the banker, and some other influential gentlemen, in a speculation for mak ing cloth without weaving or spinning. Perry pur chased the mill at Merton, in Surrey, for carrying on the manufacture, and much money was laid out in the concern, when it was suddenly brought to a close by the insanity and death of Mr. Booth, the patentee. For several years the editorship was with Mr. Robert Spankie, afterwards Serjeant Spankie, who went out to India as Attorney General of Bengal, and was member for Finsbury in the first reformed Parliament. Spankie was an able writer; but Perry used to say that he mistook the principle on which a News
paper ought to be conducted —that of a Miscellany. His essays were elaborate and ingenious. During a great part of Spankie's editorship, he was by no means on good terms with Perry, and would often throw Perry's communications into the fire.
The two informations against Perry have already been noticed : the first was when Sir John Scott (after wards Lord Elden) was Attorney General. In those days the prosecutor generally knew his jurymen ; but sometimes mistakes would be made. Among the
jurors on whom the Crown counted was a gentleman who supplied the Dean and Chapter of Westminster with coals. After the jury had withdrawn, the foreman
THE CHRONICLE SPANKIE AND LORD CAMPBELL. 105
observed, of course the verdict must be for the Crown. On which the coalman observed that he did not think so — that the Attorney General had been very abusive against Perry, but he did not think his arguments worth much. After arguing pro and con for some time, the coalman pulled out his nightcap, and ob serving that he could stand hunger, but not thirst, said he should speak no more, but take a nap till they came to think better on the subject. The others gave in—" and you may be sure," adds the friend
who supplies this anecdote, and many more valuable facts, " that Perry took his coals afterwards from this sturdy juror. "
The other trial was in 1807. Spankie was so certain of a conviction, that he thought it folly in Perry to fight the case. The subject of the libel was, as we have seen, that George the Fourth would have a noble opportunity of making himself popular on succeeding to the throne. Perry defended himself, as we have also noticed, with much tact. Lord Ellen- borough was not hostile to him; and the legal editor, Spankie, was pleasantly surprised by the result.
Perry and Mr. Lambert, the printer, were confined some months in Newgate, to which they were com mitted for contempt by the House of Lords, on the motion of the Earl of Minto of that day. The con tempt was an observation by Spankie, terming their Lordships, after Lord Chesterfield, an Hospital of Incurables.
The present Lord Campbell commenced his career in London on The Chronicle. In 1810, Campbell was still the theatrical critic of the Paper.
A contemporary of Perry's, writing years after the
106 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
death of that Journalist, thus sums up his character : — -
" Perhaps no man connected with the English press
ever enjoyed a tithe of the personal popularity of Perry. He was, in the first place, a highly honour able and brave man : confidence reposed in him was never abused. He was the depositary of many most important secrets of high personages. Generous in the extreme, he was ever ready with his purse and his services. His manner was manly, frank, and cordial ; and he was the best of proprietors. He was
too ; and it is said that his dinners were positively the best of any at that time in town.
hospitable,
" Though not profound, he was quick, versatile, and showy. He wrote like a man of the world, and took plain, common-sense views of the subjects on which he treated ; and his style was easy and familiar. He was fond of epigrams, and very successful with them. He used to speak at public meetings, and, as a speaker, he was more successful than as a writer. If any one could have taken down exactly his obser vations on a subject, it would have made a better article than he produced when he took pen in hand.
" Perry had a great deal of the feeling which you find in some of Walter Scott's characters, and which, in this commercial age, is now rarely met with. You had no doubt or difficulty as to how he would act on a given occasion ; but always considered yourself safe with him. Walter, of The Times, was a better man of business ; and Daniel Stuart, of The Post and Courier,
knew better how to make money; but Perry was a thorough gentleman, who attracted every man to him with"whom he was connected.
Perry had no idea that he was as rich as he
THE CHRONICLE PERRY'S CHARACTER. 107
actually was. He told me, a year or two before his
death, that, after all his bustle in London, he was a poor man. He was greatly in debt, for his purchases
at Merton, &c. ; but property sold well at the time of his death, and, though his executors had a large sum to pay, there turned out to be a large residue. "
Perry was consistent in his politics throughout his career; and though opportunities offered more than once for his admission into Parliament, he seems to have preferred the life of a Journalist to that of a legislator.
The European Magazine, that afforded the facts of his earlier days, may be drawn upon for a few more anecdotes illustrative of his career :—
In 1780, 1781, and 1782, there were numerous debating societies in the metropolis, where many persons that have since been conspicuous in Parliament, in the pulpit, and on the bench, distinguished themselves as public speakers. Perry was a speaker in those societies, and is mentioned with great praise in the History of the Westminster Forum. Mr. Pitt used to attend these societies, although he never spoke at any of them ; and it is not, perhaps, generally known that the Lyceum was fitted up and received that title, expressly for a superior style of oratory, by John Sheridan, Esq. , a barrister, with the view of enabling such young gentlemen as were designed for the senate and bar to practice public speaking before a genteel auditory. It was opened for a few nights at five shillings as the price of admittance. Mr. Pitt and several of his friends frequented it; but the enterprise fell to the ground. We mention these particulars, because we have been credibly in formed that afterwards, when Mr. Pitt came to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, having had frequent opportunities of wit nessing Perry's talent in public speaking, and particularly in
reply, caused a proposal to be made to him of coming into Parliament, which would have, probably, led on to high for tune. Perry, however, thought proper to reject as he did
it,
108 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
afterwards an offer of the same kind from the Earl of Shel- bourne ; and he uniformly maintained the principles with which he first set out in his political course. Perry was for several years editor of Debrett's Parliamentary Debates.
In private life, Perry had the happiness to maintain his aged parents in comfort, and to bring up the orphan family of his sister by her first marriage. She was afterwards married, for the second time, to the celebrated Professor Porson, and died in 1796.
In 1798, Perry was married to Miss Anne Hull. She brought him eight children, one of whom died young, and the eldest, a daughter of the most promising talents, was carried off at the age of fourteen by the rupture of a blood-vessel, in the arms of her mother, which gave a shock to that lady's con stitution from which she never recovered. She sunk into a decline, and took a voyage to Lisbon, in hopes of restoration by a milder climate ; on her return she was taken prisoner by an Algerine frigate, and, after suffering much in the voyage, she sunk under her complaint soon after she was landed at Bordeaux.
In Daniel Stuart's letters about Newspapers, which, when speaking of The Morning Post, we shall presently have occasion to quote, we find an anecdote of Cole ridge and Perry. " Mr. Gillman," says Stuart, " has
described the circumstances attending Coleridge's en listing into the light horse. At that time in London alone, penniless, he sent a poem of a few lines to Perry, then the proprietor of The Morning Chronicle, soliciting the loan of a guinea for a distressed author. Perry, who was generous with his money, sent and Coleridge often mentioned this, when The Morning Chronicle was alluded to, with expressions of deep gratitude proportioned to the severe distress which that small sum at the moment relieved. "*
Gentleman's Mag. , Aug. 1838.
*
a
it,
THE CHRONICLE CAMPBELL AND COLERIDGE. 109
Campbell was also a contributor to The Chronicle whilst that Paper was in the hands of Perry; but, like Coleridge, " was found to be too much of a poet to make a good Newspaper man. " A writer in the New Monthly Magazine,* speaking of Campbell's essay at political writing, says : —" On coming to town it would
that Campbell commenced writing for the
appear
Newspapers under the auspices of Perry of The Morn ing Chronicle. He was not very successful, nor could it be expected. Experience must have been wanting, a knowledge of the political topics of the time, and the art of rapid composition, those essentials in writing for the mass, were not the qualities with which Camp bell was endowed. Great knowledge of literature, care in the choice of words, and slowness in composition,
were impediments in concocting the ephemeral articles for a Newspaper ; in no department of the multifarious literature of the metropolis could the poet have been
with less effect. He must have been an utter stranger to the tact which, in the Newspaper con tests of that time, (about 1803,) when politics ran high, must have been more than ever demanded ; he had none of that positive acquaintance with men and things connected with political affairs which can be obtained at the seat of government alone. Political
employed
knowledge
was not then diffused as widely as it is at
present, and the duties of an adroit writer in a London
Newspaper were not to be acquired in the country. It
suffices that the poet was unsuccessful, though Perry
retained him for some time to aid in filling up the
poets' corner of his Paper. "
* New Monthly Mag. , Vol. LXXVII, p. 404.
110 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
It was during Perry's connection with The Chronicle that the daily press became a sort of constituted autho rity in the country. The Government gave up the fight. It was said that to Lord Castlereagh this change was owing. After his many attempts to gag the press, he became conscious of his own defeat, and saw that au thority lost instead of gaining by struggles with the
which irritated without damaging these enemies of irresponsible government. Even when cool judgment disapproved of the course pursued by a particular Paper, it obtained the public sympathy as a martyr when attacked by the authorities. The result proved the soundness of these views. A verdict,
too, had become rather a matter of chance than of principle. Special jurymen dreaded a long trial for
libel, and it almost always became necessary to fill up its number by talesmen, and one was enough. Thus, while in Scotland the Government required only a majority, and could always attain a verdict ; in Eng land, the leading country, prosecutions were a matter of uncertainty. The Scotsman, which was the first Paper that succeeded in an independent career in Scotland, had perhaps greater difficulties to contend with than any English Paper.
In 1810, a young literary aspirant, Mr. John Black, obtained from Perry an engagement as a reporter, a post he fulfilled so well that he was withdrawn, in 1817, from the gallery to act not exactly as sub-editor—for that
was a functionary hardly recognised in those days—but as one of the political writers for the Paper. During the year 1819 there was strong discontent in the ma nufacturing districts, and the Manchester, or Peterloo,
daily Newspapers,
THE CHRONICLE JOHN BLACK. Ill
massacre, as it was called, was bitterly denounced by
many who condemned tumultuary meetings, andwho by no means liked the conduct of Henry Hunt. Black wrote with much earnestness, and soon had his name spread over the country as the " Dr. Black" and the " Scotch feelosopher" of Cobbett's Register. The Chronicle was at that time the most uncompromising of all the opposition Papers, and its sale was then higher than either before or afterwards, till 1835, when Sir Robert Peel's Tory Ministry was supported by The Times, and a large portion of the readers of that Pa per went over to The Chronicle. In 1819, and part of
1 820, The Chronicle's sale was at times little short of 4,000. The sale fell greatly off during the Queen's trial, when Perry hung back for some time, and the public were so decided that they would hear of no middle course. Perry died in 1821, when the manage ment of the Paper devolved on Black, and remained under his control for some years. He had been inti mate with the late James Mill, a man of a warm disposition, who possessed much of the better part of
the Scotch character, namely, strong determination and tenacity of purpose, with as little of the selfishness which has sometimes been charged to the Scotch, as any man could possibly have. The influence of Mr. Mill on the active minds of that time was very great, greater indeed, perhaps, than that of any other man then in London. His great delight was in inspiring young men with elevated views, and in strengthening their resolution to do all the public good in their power. Such was his singleness of purpose, that it
112 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
is known he would have resigned his lucrative situation at the head of the Government department of the India House, for the Moral Philosophy chair of Edinburgh, which has but a small income, if he could have had the least chance of success in a contest for that post, which he found on sounding his friends he
had not. Black's intimacy with Mill at one time was so great, that there was hardly a day they did not walk home together from the India House. Mill's opinions thus became promulgated in The Chronicle. Black laboured to break down the oligarchy, to effect a transference of power from the great land owners to the middle classes, and to destroy the sys tem of primogeniture. As the unpaid
magistracy were an important link in the chain by which the humbler classes were fettered, he made war fiercely
on that body ; and as he had thus, at times, to en counter some of the strongest prejudices of English men, it may be doubted whether he took the best means of promoting the sale of the Paper ; but he had much influence in the country, through the par- tizans he obtained in the Provincial Press.
The Chronicle was sold, within little more than a year after Mr. Perry's death, to Mr. Clement, then the proprietor of The Observer, for the large sum of £42,000. Mr. Clement held it till 1834, when it came into the hands of Sir John Easthope, for a very much smaller sum than Clement had paid. The minor shares held by others did not effect
Easthope's power, and he took the general control of the Paper.
HISTORY OF THE MORNING POST. 113
In 1 843, Black, after thirty-three years' labour on The Chronicle, quitted that Journal ; Mr. Doyle, who had been foreign editor, and who married Sir J. East- hope's daughter, succeeding to the post of editor. Black, like many a literary man before and since, had to fight his way up. He quitted his native place, Dunse, in Berwickshire, in 1801, to seek his for tune, and contrived to attend the Greek and some other classes in the University of Edinburgh, and to acquire a knowledge of French, Italian, German, and enough of Spanish to read it. In 1816, he published a translation from Schlegel, and obtained several en gagements in London, to render foreign productions
into English ; amongst other tasks, translating a work from the Swedish of Berzelius. The language upon which he most prided himself was Greek ; in which he had the reputation of being a master.
The Morning Chronicle must not be dismissed without remembering that Sheridan speaks of it in his Critic ; that Canning linked it into one of his poems ; that Byron honoured it with a Familiar Epistle ; that Hazlitt wrote for its columns some of the finest criticisms in our or any other language ; and that for it also were the first " Sketches by Boz" prepared.
The Morning Post stands next in order of date after The Chronicle ; and, like that Paper, it seems to have sprung from one of the " Advertisers" so abun dant in 1772, the period of its first appearance. Its original title was, " The Morning Post and Daily
Advertiser. " Mr. John Bell is spoken of as the pro- VOL II. I
114 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
jector ; but on what authority does not appear. Three years after its establishment, however, we have more definite information. As at that time, the Rev. Henry Bate (afterwards Sir Bate Dudley) was connected with The Morning Post. Of him we find it stated, that he was son of the Bev. Mr. Bate of Worcester ; that he was educated at Queen's College, Oxford ; and, being ordained at an early age, became vicar of Farnbridge,
in Essex. " The gaities of the metropolis," it is said, " inclined him to settle in London ; and, about the year 1775, he became concerned in The Morning Post, which was at first published in a peculiar form, to evade the Newspaper tax ; but the scheme did not answer, and the shape of the Paper was changed. "
Bate seems to have continued on The Post till the end of 1 780, when he quarrelled with his colleagues, and set up an opposition Paper — The Morning Herald — of which we shall have to speak hereafter. In 1 792, we find Mr. Tattersall figuring as the responsible proprietor of The Post, and defendant in an action
brought by Lady Elizabeth Lambert for libel, when
the proprietors of The Post had a verdict given against
them,* damages £4,000. At this period,
to Daniel Stuart, the Paper was famous for its ad vertisements of carriages and horses ; but its owners held but a poor position, and were, in 1795, so ill- pleased with their property, that they sold the entire
copyright of The Morning Post, with house and print ing materials for £600. The circulation was then only 350 a-day. These particulars, and many others of much interest, would probably never have been made
* July 9, 1792.
according
BURNS AND THE NEWSPAPER EDITOR. 115
known had not the friends of Coleridge (and indeed
Coleridge himself) boasted of the great service his pen had done The Morning Post. These boasts being coupled with the name of the proprietor of the Paper, drew forth a reply from that gentleman, in which he gives a number of facts illustrative of Morn ing Newspaper history. Before quoting these, it should be stated that, in the Table-Talk, Coleridge was made to say he had raised the sale of The Morning Post from some small number to 7,000 in one year; that he had received but a small recompense whilst Stuart was riding in a carriage; and, in another pas sage, " that Stuart was a very knowing person. " After some cavilling with Mr. H. N. Coleridge on these
points, Stuart, in reply, goes on to say :—
" When Dr. Currie published the works of Burns,
upwards of thirty years ago, some one (probably Mr. Southey) applied to me, to explain a charge or insinu ation in the work against me or one of my brothers. I did so; and proved that Dr. Currie had been mis informed. My elder brother, Peter, who started the first daily evening Newspaper, The Star, now exactly half a century ago, in consequence of the increased facilities of communication by Palmer's mail-coach plan, then just begun, had written to Burns, offering him terms for communications to the Paper, a small salary, quite as large as his Excise-office emoluments.
I forget particulars; but I remember my brother showing Burns's letters, and boasting of the correspon dence with so great a genius. Burns refused an en
And as believe, the Poem written
gagement.
to Gentleman who had sent him Newspaper, and
12
a
a
'
if, I
116 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
offered to continue it free of expense,' was written in reply to my brother, it was a sneering unhandsome
return, though Doctor Currie says fifty-two guineas per annum for a communication once a-week was an offer ' which the pride of genius disdained to accept. ' We hear much of purse-proud insolence ; but poets can sometimes be insolent on the conscious power of talent, as well as vulgar upstarts on the conscious power of purse. In 1 795, my brother Peter purchased the copyright of The Oracle Newspaper, then selling 800 daily, for £80. There was no house or materials; and I joined in purchasing The Morning Post, with house and materials, the circulation being only 350 per day, for -£000. What it was that occasioned such
a depreciation of Newspaper property at that time, I cannot tell. Then it was my brother again offered Burns an engagement, as appears by the account in Burns's Life, which was again declined. Burns began his style of Scottish poetry on the model of that of Robert Fergusson, the schoolfellow and most intimate companion of my eldest brother Charles, who was also
a poet, though of much inferior merit. Now, con sidering that a slur was cast upon the character of my brother Peter by ill-informed, but honourably- meaning Dr. Currie, I find in that circumstance an apology or a public justification of my own conduct to Coleridge, in explanation of the misstatements of the ill-informed Mr. H. Coleridge and Mr. Gillman. At the time of The Star, in the years 1789 and 1 790, my brother Peter en gaged Mr. Macdonald, a Scotch poet, author of the play of ' Vimonda,' an accomplished literary gentleman, with
a large family, in very distressed circumstances. My
COLERIDGE AND THE MORNING POST. 117
brother rendered him important pecuniary services. But his poems attracted so much notice, that The Morning Post tempted him, after a time, by a large salary, to leave my brother. Burns might have had such an engagement. Itwould surely have been a more honourable one than that of an excise gauger.
" I think I have already shown that with my purse I was liberal to Coleridge to excess. A circumstance has occurred to my mind, which still more conclu sively negatives Mr. Henry Coleridge's assertion, on his uncle's authority, that Coleridge raised The Morn ing Post in one year from a low number to 7,000. The last time Coleridge wrote for The Morning Post was in the autumn of 1802, and it was well known
that he wrote for and what was he wrote. re collect conversation at that time, with Mr. Perry of The Morning Chronicle, in the smoking-room of the House of Commons, in which Perry described Cole ridge's writings as poetry in prose. The Morning Herald and The Times, then leading Papers, were neglected, and The Morning Post by vigilance and activity rose rapidly. Advertisements flowed in beyond bounds. encouraged the small miscellaneous adver tisements in the front page, preferring them to any others, upon the rule that the more numerous the customers, the more independent and permanent the custom. Besides, numerous and various advertise ments interest numerous and various readers, looking out for employment, servants, sales, and purchases, &c, &c. Advertisements act and re-act. They attract readers, promote circulation, and circulation attracts advertisements. The Daily Advertiser, which sold to the public for twopence-halfpenny, after paying
a
I
a
it,
it
I
118 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
stamp-duty of three halfpence, never had more than half a column of News ; it never noticed Parliament, but it had the best Foreign Intelligence before the French Revolution. The Daily Advertiser lost by its publication, but it gained largely by its advertise ments, with which it was crammed full. Shares in it
I recollect my brother Peter saying, that on proposing to a tradesman to take shares in a new Paper, he was
sold by auction at twenty years' purchase.
answered with a sneer and a shake of the head—' Ah! none of you can touch the Daily. ' It was the Paper of business, filled with miscellaneous advertisements, conducted at little expense, very profitable, and taken in by all public-houses, coffee-houses, &c. , but by scarcely any private families. It fell in a day by the scheme of Grant, a printer, which made all publicans proprietors of a rival, the Morning Advertiser, the profits going to a publicans' benefit society; and they of course took in their own Paper ;—an example of the danger of dependance on any class. Soon after I joined The Morning Post, in the autumn of 1795, Christie, the auctioneer, left it on account of its low sale, and left a blank, a ruinous proclamation of decline. But in 1802, he came to me again, praying
for re-admission. At that time particular Newspapers were known to possess particular classes of advertise ments : — The Morning Post, horses and carriages ; The Public Ledger, shipping and sales of wholesale foreign merchandise ; The Morning Herald and Times, auctioneers ; The Morning Chronicle, books. All Papers had all sorts of advertisements, it is true, but some were more remarkable than others for a particu lar class ; and Mr. Perry, who aimed at making The
THE MORNING POST. 119
Morning Chronicle a very literary Paper, took pains to produce a striking display of book advertisements.
" This display had something more solid for its object than vanity. Sixty or seventy short advertise ments, filling three columns, by Longman, one day, by Cadell, &c, another —' Bless me, what an exten sive business they must have ! ' The auctioneers to this day stipulate to have all their advertisements inserted at once, that they may impress the public with great ideas of their extensive business. They will not have them dribbled out, a few at a time, as the days of sale approach. The Journals have of late years adopted the same rule with the same design.
They keep back advertisements, fill up with pamph lets, and other stuff unnecessary to a Newspaper, and then come out with a swarm of advertisements in a double sheet to astonish their readers, and strike them with high ideas of the extent of their circulation, which attracts so many advertisers. The meagre days
are forgotten ; the days of swarm are remembered. " Stuart goes on further to tell some of his personal
contests and troubles, and, in so doing, gossips about how"The Globe was established :—
The booksellers and others crowded to The Morning Post, when its circulation and character raised it above all its competitors. Each was desirous of having his cloud of advertisements inserted at once in the front page. I would not drive away the short miscellaneous advertisements by allowing space to be monopolized by any class. When a very long adver
tisement of a column or two came, I charged enor mously high, that it might be taken away without the parties being able to say it was refused admission. I
120 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
accommodated the booksellers as well I could with a few new and pressing advertisements at a time. That would not do ; they would have the cloud ; then, said I, there is no place for the cloud but the last page, where the auctioneers already enjoy that privilege. The booksellers were affronted, indignant. The last page ! To obtain the accommodation refused by The Morning Post, they set up a Morning Paper — The British Press ; and to oppose The Courier, an evening one—The Globe. Possessed of general influence among literary men, could there be a doubt of success ?
" As is common in such cases, they took from me my chief assistant, George Lane ; supposing that, hav ing got him, they got The Morning Post, and that I was nobody. Mr. Lane, as he owned, was indebted to me for all he knew of Newspapers. At first he was slow and feeble, but his language was always that of a scholar and a gentleman, rather tame, but free from anything low, scurrilous, or violent. After several years of instruction by me — I may say education — he had become a valuable parliamentary reporter, a judicious theatrical critic, a ready translator, and the best writer of jeux d? esprit— short paragraphs of three
or four lines—I ever had. With poetry and light pa ragraphs I endeavoured to make the Paper cheerfully
entertaining, not filled entirely with ferocious politics. One of Lane's paragraphs I well remember. Theatrical ladies and others were publishing their memoirs. Lane said they would not give a portrait, but a bust.
Legat, the eminent engraver, came to me in raptures and pointed out the merits of the paragraph during an hour's expressions of admiration. Lane had little knowledge of politics, and little turn for political writ-
everything.
THE MORNING POST. 121
ing; but he was a valuable assistant. He resided near the office, was ready and willing, at all hours, to go anywhere, and report anything, and he could do
Sometimes I even entrusted the last duties of the Paper, the putting it to press, to him ;
an important and hazardous office, in the discharge of which he was growing more and more into my con fidence. Of the corn riots in 1800, he and others gave long accounts in leaded large type, while The Times and Herald had only a few lines in obscure corners, in black. The procession proclaiming peace, the ascent of balloons, a great fire, a boxing match, a law trial — in all such occurrences The Morning Post outstripped its competitors, and its success was rapid.