No More Learning

How many inelegancies do we not lick into graceful form. How many unfinished sentences do we not fill
is
;
a
it, ;
is
REPORTING O'CONNELL.
283
up and round off. How many slovenly speeches do not appear shortened one hundred, and improved two hundred per cent. , by passing through the alembic of this little gallery. "
Now and then a speaker, who thinks himself neglected, ventures to complain, but generally proves
rather the reporter's case than his own. Newspapers, and all engaged upon them, are too anxious to get anything new for their Journal to neglect one word that the world would care to hear, or one fact the world would like to know. In July, 1833, O'Connell stood up in the House and attacked the reporters for what he chose to regard as a neglect of his merits, and did not hesitate to impute dishonourable motives to those whom he accused, knowing they could not there answer him. He moved to bring the representatives of The Times and Chronicle to the bar for not report ing his speech in full. A Mr. O'Dwyer, who had him self, it was said, been employed on The Times, seconded the motion. * Many members were ready to vindicate the fairness of the Newspaper reports, and amongst them Sir Robert Peel,t who gave his testi
* There was a joke current on O'Dwyer's return to Parliament, which described his qualifications for Newspaper employment, and concluded with — " and so, not being clever enough for The Times, they made him an M. P. "
t Sir Robert Peel has on other occasions evinced his esteem for the Parliamentary reporters. When he opened his picture gallery in 1837, and invited the literary celebrities of the day, he paid the " gal lery" a compliment which was thus recorded by the London corre spondent of a local Paper (himself a reporter, and therefore cognizant of the fact) :—" There are in Monday's Papers long critiques on Sir R. Peel's collection of pictures at Whitehall Gardens, opened for the first time to inspection of any but very special friends indeed on the Saturday previous. Sir Robert's gallery was one of the most exclusive in
284 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
mony to the fact, that the reports were given with great fairness and impartiality, and added, amid loud cheers : —" During fifteen out of those twenty years he had held office, and during the whole of that time he had never received any communication from any person connected with the press respecting the manner in which his speeches had been reported. He had never during that time received any solicitation for any
favour or patronage from any reporter ; and he be lieved he might say that no application had been made
to any ofhis colleagues while he was in officefor any such patronage or favour from any reporter, in con sequence of his having reported their speeches fully.
(Hear, hear. ) Ifhe could bear his testimony to the independence of the reporters, founded as it was on the experience of fifteen years in office, he thought that he might challenge those who had succeeded him to say whether they could not bear the same evidence. " These sentiments were greeted by loud cries of " Hear, hear. "
England ; but for some reason or other, known only to himself, he suddenly resolved to relax his rigid interdiction against nearly all the applicants, and availed himself of the re-arrangement of the col lection to invite a vast number of fashionable, political, artistical, and other people to look at his pictorial treasures on Saturday. The even ing previous he went up to the Reporters' Gallery, in the Commons, and personally gave to those present, with every mark of courtesy and cordiality, some two dozen tickets, regretting that the vast number of invitations he had issued precluded his being more liberal to the Fourth Estate, with several of whom he shook hands ; and next day, during the exhibition of the pictures, was, at his special request, introduced to Mr. Tyas, one of the most distinguished veterans ofthe press, for many years connected with The Times, and at present the writer of the
Parliamentary summary of that Paper. "
THE REPORTERS AND O CONNELL. 285
The reporters took a course which staggered O'Con-
nell. His attack had an effect the very reverse of what
he anticipated. They penned a letter, in which they
that a member of the House had most falsely accused them of dishonourable motives, and had done so not out of doors, where they could meet him with an instant denial and proof of falsity, but had done so under the shelter of the privileges of the House ; declaring, in conclusion, that they could not report one line of what he said until the unjust imputation had been withdrawn. In Parliament the affair was pressed to a division, when 0 Conn ell's followers mustered at the vote, but only numbered 48; whilst 159 members
voted against him, and the order for the attendance of the offending persons was discharged. O'Connell was
glad after this to be more just, and so escaped what to him would have been semi- annihilation —his expulsion from Newspaper notice.
Anxious as he was to be reported in England, there were occasions when O'Connell preferred that what he said should not be printed in this country. Of this an amusing anecdote has been given. O'Connell was on a visit to Ireland, and indulging in long speeches of a most " combustible character," when the Govern ment thought fit to send over some short-hand writers
to take down the harangues. "The first appearance of the Government reporters was at a meeting at Kanturk. " The gentlemen were Englishmen," says the story, and belonging to Mr. Gurney's reporting staff. They came on the platform, and introduced themselves to Mr. O'Connell. He shook them by the hands, and said to those around him, ' Nothing
complained
286 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
can be done here until these gentlemen are afforded
every requisite
accommodation. ' This was at once
provided, and having assured Mr. O'Connell that
they were 'perfectly ready/ and well provided for,
he came forward to address the people, and com menced his speech, to the great dismay of the English men, in the Irish language. Having explained to the assembly who they were, and how he humbugged them, he continued in the same language to address to the meeting everything he wished to convey to them ; the people laughing all the while at the English reporters, while they joined very good humouredly in the laugh raised against them. "
More recently (June, 1849) Mr. John O'Connell tried his hand at clearing the gallery, because, in his own opinion, his speeches were not given at sufficient length. This was bad enough from the O'Connell ; but that his son John should take such a step was too absurd. Ridicule instead of indignation was excited, and the general feeling was well conveyed by a writer in The Spectator, who said: — "The House had better lose no time in placing the matter on a more simple and decorous footing, or it will be forced. If driven to no doubt, the leading Journals could return their own members to report for them from the body of the House meanwhile, they have their honorary member in the person of Mr. Trelawney, who furnished intelligent accounts of what passed during the exclusion of the reporters, and will pro bably do so as often as may be required. "
Even now the theory of Parliament is, that the debates take place with closed doors to speak
;
it
:
it,
REPORTING THE " CLOSED DOORS. " 287
of reports in Newspapers, except to complain of them as a breach of privilege, is irregular, and the mere mention of the fact that there are strangers in the House is enough, as a matter of course, to clear the reporters' gallery. Should this farce continue ? Should that which is of vital importance to our liberty be held on such terms ?
" It is almost impossible," says a writer we have before quoted, " to overrate the value of this regular
of proceedings in Parliament, carried, as it has been in our own time, to nearly as great copi
/ousness and accuracy as is possibly attainable. It tends manifestly and powerfully to keep within bounds the supineness and negligence, the partiality and cor ruption, to which every Parliament, either from the nature of its composition or the frailty of mankind, must more or less be liable. Perhaps the constitution would not have stood so long, or rather would have stood like an useless and untenanted mansion, if this unlawful means had not kept up a perpetual inter course, a reciprocity of influence between the Parlia
ment and the people. A stream of fresh air, boisterous perhaps sometimes as the winds of the north, yet as healthy and invigorating, flows in to renovate the stagnant atmosphere, and to prevent that malaria which self-interest and oligarchical exclusiveness are
always tending to generate. "
publication
CHAPTER XII.
A CONCLUDING WORD.
THE Papers of the provinces, and those published once a week in London, would deserve, and should
have, some chapters, did the limits of this book permit. Amongst the country Journals are many of great talent and integrity, and many having a greater age even than some of their metropolitan rivals. Politi cians, poets, novelists, have been numbered, and are still numbered, in the editorial ranks of the provincial
On the London Weekly Papers also, there are many men occupying the first rank as thinkers and writers; and in the history of these Journals many curious facts deserve to be recorded. The
talent and political integrity of The Examiner ; the pains-taking elaboration of details and good sense displayed in The Spectator; the popularity of The Observer — the Paper that forms the link, on the seventh day each week, between all the
Papers ; and the peculiar features, each good in its way, of the other Journals, would make an admirable theme. The Sunday Times might be noticed for thea trical and sporting News; The Weekly Messenger for
press.
literary
morning
country politics
SERVICES RENDERED BY THE PRESS. 289
and country markets ; The Weekly Dispatch for its strong Liberal principles, and great
mass of News adapted to popular tastes ; The Illus trated London News for its pictured pages and great store of amusing and unexceptionable matter, and marvellous success; The Weekly Chronicle and Weekly News for their general usefulness. Others, as worthy in their way, adapted to the needs of special classes of readers — as The Athenaeum and Literary Gazette ; The Lancet, and The Gardeners' Chronicle —might come in as further subjects for description. But the allotted space is full.
Nearly six hundred pages are occupied by the present collection of previously scattered facts and sketches, illustrative of the history of the Newspaper press; and yet it would not be difficult to number up a host of other stray dates and passages that — had one again to go over the ground—might fairly claim a place. To those who have attempted the task of bringing to gether, for the first time, the data from which the history of any subject is afterwards to be completed, it will be only requisite to repeat, that this is such a first attempt, and they will at once understand the great difficulty of avoiding faults, both of omission and commission. And the plea, too, will go far to excuse if it may not altogether secure pardon for such faults.
Whatever the defects of these pages, however, one thing at least they may surely be said to show ; and that is, the great debt of gratitude which those
who enjoy the liberty of these our later days owe to
the press. This debt has not been imposed by one
great act, or on one grand and showy occasion — but has vol. u. T
290 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
been growing up day by day, and year by year—since the time when the Long Parliament showed the people what publicity for public proceedings would do for the Common Good. The very thought of those old times calls up a recollection of the good, and brave, and clever men who have been contributors to this great and excellent work. We call to mind the indefatigable Prynn, with his pen that never tired, and his heart that no punishments could break ; the republican Lilburn, schooled under the rod of a
tyrannic monarchy, yet ready to denounce a tyrannic and hollow commonwealth ; the noble-souled Milton, with the genius of a poet, the patient endurance of a political martyr, and the strong and lofty mind of a republican statesman ; the clever and ready Marcha- mont Nedham, careless and irregular, perhaps, in days of mingled trouble and dissipation, but yet wielding, when at liberty to do so, an useful pen against an ancient tyranny, which the people were striving to cast off. And painful memories here force their way in ; for who can overlook the wretched martyrs Twyn and others, who were made victims when Charles the Second turned the palace of White hall into a huge brothel, and employed the cavalier L'Estrange to find out, and send to the gaol and the gallows, the men who dared to sigh in type for the stern crop-eared Commonwealth, which pre ceded a debauched and degraded Restoration. Then again we recollect Tutchin, goaded by the brutality of Jefferies to a career of political pamphleteering, which gave many an opportunity of revenge upon the enemies who had inflicted mischief upon him.
SERVICES RENDERED BY THE PRESS. 291
Next following in the list, come the sturdy Defoe, who wrote so fully and so well ; the bitter and witty Swift ; the ambitious and sceptical Bolingbroke ; the grace ful and correct Addison ; and the versatile Steele, and the rest, who gave a polish and a perfection to writings on current topics for public prints which they had before needed, and the fruits of which we trace in our modern leading articles. Wilkes and Churchill, with all their vices, present themselves for a share of our esteem; and, in a catalogue of Newspaper worthies, who could omit Sam Johnson, with his reports from the lobby ; and Chatterton, with his contributions that failed to keep him in bread. A Lord Mayor
beckons us from the Tower, to remind us that his incarceration gained one step in advance, whilst the eloquent Erskine pleads in Westminster Hall ; and the humbler hero, William Hone, calmly but man fully beards an intolerant judge at the Old Bailey. And so we come from name to name — human stepping stones, as it were, through two centuries —here to our own time. As we approach the present day, the number of the labourers in the field of the press
becomes greater and greater, and our gratitude has to be spread over a wider space. The germs of liberty, planted under the shadow of the press in the earlier days of its existence, have scattered the elements of their multiplication on all sides, and these newer vitalities have been true to the ancient stock. Within
the present century, whenever a great truth has demanded to be known, there has been found a man ready to put it into words, and a printer bold enough to put it into type. Whenever these truths have been found distasteful or dangerous there has been no
292 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
lack of lawyers to prosecute, and (sometimes) of juries to convict ; as witness the number of victims offered up at the shrine of intolerance by George the Third, Castlereagh, and Eldon. Gaols have from
time to time been filled, but still the ball rolls on, and liberty is the winner in the end.
The moral of the history of the press seems to be, that when any large proportion of a people have been taught to read, and when upon this possession of the tools of knowledge, there has grown up a habit of per using public prints, the state is virtually powerless if it attempts to check the press. James the Second in old
times, and Charles the Tenth, and Louis Philippe,
more recently tried to trample down the Newspapers, and everybody knows how the attempt resulted.
The prevalence or scarcity of Newspapers in a country affords a sort of index to its social state. Where Journals are numerous, the people have power, intelligence, and wealth ; where Journals are few, the many are in reality mere slaves. In the United States every village has its Newspaper, and every city a
dozen of these organs of popular sentiment. In England we know how numerous and how influential for good the Papers are ; whilst in France they have perhaps still greater power. Turn to Eussia where Newspapers are comparatively unknown, and we see the people sold with the earth they are compelled to till. Austria, Italy, Spain, occupy positions between
the extremes — the rule holding good in all, that in proportion to the freedom of the press is the freedom and prosperity of tbe people.
INDEX
Acta Diurna, i. 35, 289 Bulwer and the Newspaper stamp, Advertisements, ii. 118 ii. 73
Advertiser, Expenses of the Public, Burdett, Sir F. , ii. 63
ii. 191
Almon, i. 227 ; his reports, ii. 266 Appeal to a jury, ii. 17 Areopagitica, Milton's, i. 122 Argus, The, i. 255
Bacon, Lord, anecdote 116 Bankrupt, The, by Foote, 215 Barnes, Mr. , editor of the Times, ii.
175 and Lord Brougham, 177 Bastwick and the Star Chamber,
69,87
Bate, Rev. H. , ii. 114, 145 Battle of the Unstamped, ii. 71
Burke, 225 and Crabbe, 271 Burns the poet and the editor, ii. 115 Burnett, 28.
Burton and the Star Chamber,
64, 68, 87
Bute, Lord, and the North Briton,
Baxter, persecution of, Black, John, ii. 110 Blount's publication, Birkbeck, Dr. , ii. 81, 83 Birkenhead, John, 104 Blanchard, Laman, ii. 231 Bogle . Lawson, ii. 183 Bolingbroke, 181
Bonaparte demands the press to be silenced, ii. Bridge Street Gang, ii. 69
Brougham, Lord, ii. 54, 177
Canning and Gifford,
Carr's trial, 151
Cato's letters, 199
Cave's reports, ii. 261
Censorship in England,
Chalmers, 20, 31, 33
Charles the First, 86
Charles the Second and the press,
158
163
English
134 Chatterton, 212
Civil war and the press, 45 Clement, Mr. , proprietor
of The
209
Butter, Nathaniel,
10, 33, 48, 49,
50, 53, 54
Campbell, Lord, ii. 105, 109
39, 136
Morning Chronicle, ii. 112 Clergymen pilloried and flogged,
159
285 ii. 142
i.
; i. i. i.
1
i. of, i.
i.
i.
v
;
i.
i.
i.
i. ;
i.
i.
i.
i.
i.
i.
i. i.
i.
i.
i.
20 1
Cobbett, W. , ii. 44, 63
Coleridge, ii. 108, 117, 127, 129>
131, 225
Constitutional, The, ii. 188
Collins, i. 22
Contest in the Commons, i. 231 Country Newspapers, i. 178.
Courier, ii. 223
Courier, late editions, ii. 227
Cowper's Newspaper sketch, i. 249 Cromwell, and the News-bearer, i. 23 ;
attacks upon, i. 133 ; anecdote of,
i. 269
Crabbe's Poem, " The Newspaper,"
i. 273
Daily News, ii. 185, 188, 189
Daily Paper, first, i. 175
Daily Papers, London, ii. 91, 93, 95,
97
Daily Universal Register, ii. 153 Dandy of Fifty, ii. 41
Dawks the News-writer, i. 166
Day, The, ii. 185
Debate, stormy, i. 233
Defoe, i. 174
Delinquencies, Lord Melville's, ii. 19 Despatches, spurious, i. 277 Destruction of manuscripts, i. 97 D'Israeli, B. , i. 34
Diurnal occurrences, i. 90
Drake, i. 135
Dudley, Bate, ii. 149, 151 Dyer, the News-writer, i. 164
Easthope, Sir John, ii. 112 Editorial duel, ii. 149
Early struggles of the press, i. 37 Englishman, The, i. 176
English Mercuric, i. 33, 292
Evening Papers, ii. 221
Evening Mail, ii. 240
Examiner, i. 182 ; ii. 288; of 1710,
i. 183
Exclusion bill and the press, i.
154 Execution of Coleman, i. 29 ; of
Matthews, i. 197
Expenses of a Newspaper, ii. 193, 196 Express, The, ii. 240
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, i. 130 Fielding, i. 206
Finch Lord, anecdote of, i. 195 Finnerty, Peter, ii- 275
First editor" s-room, i. 21
First Newspapers in England, i. 49 Fletcher's " Fair Maid of the Inn,"
i. 19
Flying Post, i. 165
Foote, i. 213
Forbidden books imported, i. 71
Forged "English Mercurie," i. 35, 292
Fourth Estate— What is it? i. 1 Fox, ii. 25
Fraud, great continental, ii. 181 Free press, argument for a, i. 4
Gareick, ii. 97
Guardian, i. 176
Gazette de France, i. 30
George the First and the press, i. 204 George the Third and the press, i. 251,
261
Gifford, i. 19
Giles, i. 134
Globe, ii. 233
Gordon's reports, ii. 265
Gray, proprietor of the Morning
Advertiser, ii. 91 Daily Courant, i. 245 ; ii. 90
INDEX.
Daily
Chronicle, ii. 103
I
Gray, Hon. A. , i. 150 Guthrie's reports, ii. 261
Harvey, D. W. , and True Sun, ii. 239 Hazlitt, i. 23
Heraclitus Ridens, i. 152
Herald, Morning, prospectus of, ii.
146
Hetherington, Henry, ii. 71
Heyling, Peter, i. 106
Holland, pamphlets issued from, i.
160
Hunt, Leigh, ii. 32, 35, 39, 43
Idler, the, on Newspapers, i. 208 Imprints, early, i. 48
Increase of readers, i. 44
Index of forbidden books, i. 38 Inquisition, i. 38
Intelligencer, The, i. 138, i. 144
James the Second and the News papers, i. 156
Jefferies, victims of, i. 151, 158 Johnson, Dr. , i. 5, 207 ; his reports,
ii. 263
Johnson, Rev. S. , trial of, i. 158 Jonson, Ben, Staple of News, i. 11,
Laws affecting books, 73 press, 135, 136
21
Jones, Stephen, ii. 240 Junius, i. 226; ii. 91, 94
Keach, trial of, i. 143 Knightley, Sir R. , trial
Maginn, Dr. , ii. 240
Mail, the Overland, ii. 205
Mail, West India, ii. 211
Mansfield, Lord,
Marryatt,
Marvel, Andrew, 150
Mercuries, the early, 96
Meres and the London Post, Middiman, 134
Mill, Mr. James, ii. Ill
Milton, 12^137
Modes of defeating the law, ii. 79 Morning Advertiser, ii. 91
Morning Chronicle, history ii. 99 Morning Herald, ii. 145, 147 Morning Journal, ii. 185
Logographic printing, ii. 153, 155, 157, 159
Lamb, Charles, ii. 131, 135, 137 Lane, Mr. George, and The Morning
Post, ii. 120, 233 Laud, Archbishop, 65
"*
41, 42
INDEX.
-2dr, and the
Law of libel, 257, 259
Laws, severe, 283
Leighton, punishment of, 57 L'Estrange, Sir Roger, 137, 144,
156
LibeL actions for, 253
Liberty of the press destroyed by
censing act of Charles the Second, 135
Licensing act expired, 162
Lilburn, persecution of,
Locke, writer of debates, London Gazette, 148, 155
Long Parliament and the press,
117, 130
Lord Mayor committed to the Tower,
241 Lyndhurst, Lord,
Mabbott, the licenser, 130, 132 Macaulay, 153, 154
Mackintosh, Sir James, ii. 122
11, 12 .
75
149
228
i.
of,
i.
of, i.
i.
9,i. i. i.
a
i. i. i.
i. i.
i. i. i. i. 55
8
6,
' i. *
i. 5,
i. i. i.
i. i. li
i. ;
i.
i.
am;
Morning Post, history of, ii. 113, 119, 141
Murphy, i. 31
Nedham, Marchamont, i, 98
Newes of this present weeke, i. 48, 49 Newes out of Holland, &c, i. 50, 51 News, The, ii. 33
News books i. 31
News-letters and News-writers, i. 9,
25
News out of Kent, i. 31
Newspaper, Crabbc's, i. 273 Newspaper criticism in 1805, ii. 33 Newspaper expenses, ii. 193 Newspaper forgery, i. 35
Newspaper life, ii. 214
Newspapers, assize charge against, i.
197
Newspapers, first taxes on, i. 187, 281 Newpapers in 1849, ii. 89 Newspapers, their number in 1849,
ii. 88
News-writers, i. 11
News- writers of 1712, i. 185 News-writers' oflice, i. 17
New Times, The, i. 175, 185
Night search by the licensers, i. 139 North Briton, i. 209, 211
North, Dr. John, i. 27
North, Roger, i. 27
North's Examen, i. 28
Observator, The, i. 168
Observator, Tutchin's, i. 173 O'Connell and the reporters, ii. 283 ;
in Ireland, ii. 286
Old Newspapers in the Museum, i. 91 Oliver, Alderman, committed to the
Tower, i. 239
Onslow's motion, ii. 244
Orange Intelligencer, The, i. 162 O'Reilly and The Times, ii. 181 Overland mail, ii. 205
Oxford Gazette, i. 148
Paine, Trial of, i. 263
Papers, illegal, i. 205
Parliament and The Oracle, ii. 21 Parliamentary debates, i. 134 — 149 Parliamentary ordinance, i. 120 Parliament defeated by the press
i. 243
Partisan News-letters, i. 27
Peel, Sir R. , testimony as to reporters,
ii. 283
Peltier, ii. 9 ; trial of, ii. 5
Penny Newspaper stamps in 1848,
ii. 88
Percival the minister and the
Courier, ii. 226
Perry and Gray, ii. 103
Perry, James, life of, ii. 99 ; start
in life, ii. 101 ; his character, ii. 107 ; mode of reporting, ii. 268
Phillip, Sir Richard, ii. 234
Pillory, writers punished by, i. 65,
68, 82, 158
Pitt and the country Newspapers,
i. 279
Plebeian, The, i. 198
Police and the News-hawkers, ii. 77 Police and the unstamped, ii. 75
Post and Chronicle, ii. 123, 125 Praed, Mackworth, ii. 145
Press of the present century, ii. 1 Press, Parliamentary attacks on, i.
229
Printers' houses broken open, i. 14 Printers in 1724, i. 246 Printing-houses in 1724, i. 156 Proclamation against libels, i. 73
INDEX.
Prosecutions, Government, ii. 51, 53, 55, 57, 59, 61, 63, 65, 67
Prynn, Trial of, i. 59, 66, 68, 71, 87 Public Advertiser, ii. 91
Public Ledger, ii. 188
Pulteneyj ii. 253
Quarrels of the licensers, i. 55 Queen Anne, i. 167
Quidnunc, Addison's, i. 177
297
Smollett and Wilkes, i. 209
Spankie and Lord Campbell, ii. 105 Specimens of early Newspapers, i. 51 Spectator, i. 176
Spectator's comic Newspaper, i. 179
Stamp duty, reduction ii. 87 Stamp, halfpenny, 189
Stamp, plea against, ii. 85 Standard, The, ii. 240
Star Chamber, 40, 74, 75
Steam printing, ii. 170
Steele's defence, 193 expulsion
139
Reporting and reporters, ii.