No More Learning

Not only in frequency of appearance did the Newspapers of Queen Anne's day surpass their prede cessors : they began to assume a loftier political position, and to take on a better outward shape— though still poor enough in this respect. The very earliest Newspapers only communicated intelligence without giving comment ; subsequently we find Papers giving political discussions without News. In the publications subsequent to 1700 we find these two elements of a journal more frequently united. Mr. Hallam is inclined to regard this as the period when what he terms " regular Newspapers" began to obtain
176 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
political importance in our constitutional system. He says, " The publication of regular Newspapers partly designed for the communication of intelligence, partly for the discussion of political topics, may be referred upon the whole to the reign of Anne, when they ob tained great circulation, and became the accredited organs of different factions. "*
The year that produced the first daily Newspaper in England, gave birth also to the first of a group of publications which had many of the characteristic features of Journals, and were at the time regarded as such, though they cannot now be called Newspapers. They appeared at stated intervals, occasionally gave intelligence of passing events, and comments on pass ing events, contained advertisements, and, when the stamp was imposed on Newspapers, suffered the in fliction of that impost equally with their more political
rivals. They were — The Tatler, started in 1709 ; the Spectator, in 1711; the Guardian, and the Englishman, in 1713 ; and the Freeholder, in 1715. These, though now seen in compact volumes, were originally issued in separate sheets, as their numbering indicates ; and they contained, in addition to the elegantly-written papers now preserved, various items of News and advertisements, as the originals in the British Museum
Library bear witness. A list of noble names is sug gested by the mention of these works. Addison and Steele, Swift and Bolingbroke, come at once into the arena, as mental combatants in the written political strife of the period. Swift, when he took side with the Tories, used his power of language and ready pen
* Hallam's Constitutional History.
addison's quidnunc. 177
in the paper started by that party under the title of the Examiner ;* Bolingbroke wrote in the same jour nal; whilst the more elegant and familiar Addison, and the ready and versatile Steele, devoted their efforts to the service of the Tatler, the Spectator, and the Guardian. The Freeholder, which had an almost exclusively political object, was the sole production of Addison, who sought by its influence to aid the Govern ment, and to neutralize some of the injury inflicted on his party by the Examiner of his political antagonists.
Some pleasant Newspaper sketches are to be found scattered through the pages of these publications.
The Spectator)- gives us a portrait of the quidnunc of that day, drawn by himself: —
I wonder that, in the present situation of affairs, you can take pleasure in writing anything but News ; for, in a word, who minds anything else ? the pleasure of increasing in knowledge, and learning something new every hour of life, is the noblest entertainment of a rational creature. I have a very good ear for a secret, and am naturally of a communicative temper ; by which means I am capable of doing you great services in this
way. In order to make myself useful, I am early in the anti- chamber, where I thrust my head into the thick of the press, and catch the News at the opening of the door, while it is warm. Sometimes I stand by the beef-eaters, and take the buzz as it passes by me. At other times I lay my ear close to the wall, and suck in many a valuable whisper, as it runs in a straight line from corner to corner. When I am weary with
* Hallam says, " Bolingbroke' s letter to the Examiner, in 1710, excited so much attention, that it was answered by Lord Cowper, then Chancellor, in a letter to the Tatler. "— Somer's Tracts, Vol. XIII. ,
p. 75. Where Sir Walter Scott justly observes, that the fact of two such statesmen becoming the correspondents of periodical publications shows the influence they must have acquired over the public mind.
t No. 625, for Friday, Nov. 26, 1714.
VOL. I. M
178 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
standing, I repair to one of the neighbouring coffee-houses, where I sit sometimes for a whole day, and have the News as as it comes from Court fresh and fresh. In short, Sir, I spare no pains to know how the the world goes. A piece of News loses its flavour when it hath been an hour in the air. I love, if 1 may so speak, to have it fresh from the tree ; and to convey it to my friends before it is faded. Accordingly my expenses in coach-hire make no small article : which you may believe, when I assure you, that I post away from coffee-house to coffee house, and forestall the Evening Post by two hours. There is a certain gentleman, who hath given me the slip twice or thrice, and hath been beforehand with me at Child's. But I have
played him a trick. I have purchased a pair of the best coach- horses I could buy for money, and now let him outstrip me if he can. Once more, Mr. Spectator, let me advise you to deal in News. You may depend upon my assistance. But I must break off abruptly, for I have twenty letters to write.
Addison dilates upon the strong appetite of his cotemporaries, in 1 7 1 2, for Newspapers. " There is no humour in my countrymen," he says, " which I am more inclined to wonder at than their general thirst after News. There are about half-a-dozen ingenious men,
who live very plentifully upon this curiosity of their fellow-subjects. They all of them receive the same ad vices from abroad, and very often in the same words ; but their way of cooking it is so very different, that there is no citizen, who has an eye to the public good, that can leave the coffee-house with peace of mind be
fore he has given every one of them a reading. These several dishes of News are so very agreeable to the palate of my countrymen, that they are not only pleased with them when they are served up hot, but when they are again set cold before them, by those penetrating politicians, who oblige the public with their reflections
THE SPECTATOR'S COMIC NEWSPAPER. 179
and observations upon every piece of intelligence that is sent us from abroad. The text is given us by one set of writers, and the comment by another. But not withstanding, we have the same tale told us in so many different Papers, and, if occasion requires, in so many articles of the same Paper ; notwithstanding, in a scar city of foreign posts, we hear the same story repeated by different advices from Paris, Brussels, the Hague,
and from every great town in Europe ; notwithstand ing the multitude of annotations, explanations, reflec tions, and various readings which it passes through, our time lies heavy on our hands till the arrival of the fresh mail : we long to receive further particulars, to hear what will be the next step, or what will be the
consequences of that which we have already taken. A westerly wind keeps the whole town in suspense, and puts a stop to conversation. The general curiosity has been raised and inflamed by our late wars, and, if rightly directed, might be of good use to a person who
has such a thirst awakened in him. "
This appetite for novelty, if it cannot be satisfied
by the perusal of books, Addison proposes to satisfy by the preparation of a Newspaper containing home in telligence in lieu of the foreign News, which had be come scarce since the conclusion of the war. In the humour of the following proposition,* we see the ori ginal of many jokes on the same subject which have been more recently published :—
Mr. Spectator. —You must have observed that men who frequent coffee-houses, and delight in News, are pleased with everything that is matter of fact, so it be what they have not
* Spectator, No. 452, for Friday, August 8th, 1712. M
ISO THE FOURTH ESTATE.
heard before. A victory, or a defeat, are equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a cardinal's mouth pleases them one post, and the opening of it another. They are glad to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the adver tisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public News; and are as pleased to hear of a piebald horse that is strayed out of a field near Islington, as of a whole troop that have been engaged in any foreign adventure. In short, they have a relish for everything that is News, let the matter of it be what it will; or, to speak more properly, they are men of a voracious appetite, but no taste. Now, Sir, since the great fountain of News, I mean the war, is very near being dried up ; and since these gentlemen have contracted such an inextinguishable thirst after it ;
I have taken their case and
own into consideration, and have thought of a project which may turn to the advantage of us both. I have thoughts of publishing a daily Paper which shall comprehend in it all the most remarkable occurrences in
every little town, village, and hamlet that lie within ten miles of London, or in other words, within the verge of the penny- post. I have pitched upon this scene of intelligence for two reasons ; first, because the carriage of letters will be very cheap ; and secondly, because I may receive them every day. By this means my readers will have their News fresh and fresh, and many worthy citizens who cannot sleep with any satisfaction at pre sent, for want of being informed how the world goes, may go to bed contentedly, it being my design to put out my Paper every night at nine o'clock precisely. I have already established correspondences in these several places, and received very good intelligence.
By my last advices from Knightsbridge I hear, that a horse was clapped into the pound on the third instant, and that he was not released when the letters came away.
We are informed from Pankridge,* that a dozen weddings were lately celebrated in the mother church of that place, but are referred to their next letters for the names of the parties con cerned.
* Pancras, then famous for weddings.
my
SWIFT AND BOLINGBROKE. 1S1
Letters from Brumpton advise, that the widow Blight had received several visits from John Milldew, which affords great matter of speculation in those parts.
By a fisherman who lately touched at Hammersmith, there is advice from Putney, that a certain person, well known in that place, is like to lose his election for church- warden ; but this being boat news, we cannot give entire credit to it.
Letters from Paddington bring little more, than that Wil
liam Squeak, the sow-gelder, passed through that place the fifth instant.
They advise from Fulham, that things remained there in the same state they were. They had intelligence, just as the letters came away, of a tub of excellent ale just set abroach at Parsons Green ; but this wanted confirmation.
I have here, Sir, given you a specimen of the News with which I intend to entertain the town, and which, when drawn up regularly in the form of a Newspaper, will, I doubt not, be very acceptable to many of those public-spirited readers who take more delight in acquainting themselves with other people's business than their own. I hope a Paper of this kind, which lets us know what is done near home, may be more useful to us than those which are filled with advices from Zug and Bender, and make some amends for that dearth of intelligence, which me may justly apprehend from times of peace.
" Another correspondent suggests to Mr. Spectator, that a News-letter of whispers, written every post,
and sent about the kingdom after the same manner as that of Mr. Dyer,* Mr. Dawkes, or other epistolary historians, might be highly gratifying to the public, as well as beneficial to the author. " Addison describes, in his Paper for Dec. 3, 1712, a visit to the Motteux, the translator of Don Quixote, and editor of a journal, who at that time had a warehouse for the sale of tea and Indian wares in the city.
Swift and Bolingbroke did not fail to rouse the ire * See Tatler with notes, No. 18, note on Dyer's Letters, &c.
182 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of their opponents by the violence of their attacks. Swift had already written in the Tatler,* when, at the
of Harley, he undertook (May 10, 1710) to conduct the High Tory Examiner, which had then appeared every week for some three months; its object being the defence of the ministry. He wrote in that
request
Paper from the 13th to the 46th number. This last was written partly by Swift, and partly by Mrs. Manley. In the journal to Stella, he speaks of some subsequent
as having been written by an " understrap" and corrected by himself, but he had the credit of the the papers a long time after his connexion with it had ceased, and Oldisworth, in exonerating him two years later, expressed the satisfaction he himself felt that his writings should be taken for those of so great a man.
papers
The Guardiant complains of the Examiner having distorted one of his papers about ants into a political satire; and, shortly afterwards, proposes to show that panegyric is not the forte of the writer in the Tory Paper. In another number it is declared that the Examiner calumniates as freely as he commends, and that the invectives of that journal are as groundless as its pane
The Freeholder follows on the same side. In it the Paper which had become identified with the name of Swift, was described! as sacrificing the honour
* Tatler, June 18, 1709.
t No. 150, Sept. 14. A passage in this same number indicates the
gyrics.
sum usually paid for reading the Newspapers in the coffee-houses of the period. The Guardian describes a choleric old gentleman hnding fault with what he had been reading — " He lost his voice a second time, in the extremity of his rage ; and the whole company, who were all of them Tories, bursting out into a sudden laugh, he threw down his
penny in great wrath, and retired with a most formidable frown. " % G-uarclian, Nos. 41, 53, &c.
THE EXAMINER OF 1710. 183
and reputation of those who opposed its political prin ciples. Steele signs his name to one letter,* in which he objects to the modes of attack adopted by his assail ants. " When a satirist," he says, " feigns a name, it must be the guilt of the person attacked, or his being notoriously understood guilty before the satire was written, that can make him liable to come under the fictitious appellation. But, when the license of printing the letters of people's real names is used, things may be affixed to men's characters, which are in the utmost degree remote from them. " Addison t also speaks very plainly his opinion of the Tory Journal. " The Examiner was a Paper, which was the favourite work of the party. It was ushered into the world by a letter from a Secretary of State, setting forth the great genius of the author, the usefulness of his design, and the mighty consequences that were to be ex pected from it. It is said to have been written by those among them whom they looked upon as their most celebrated wits and politicians, and was dispersed into all quarters of the nation with great industry and expense. Who would not have expected that at least the rules of decency and candour would be observed
in such a performance ? But, instead of this, you saw all the great men who had done eminent services to their country but a few years before, draughted out one by one, and baited in their turns. No sanctity of character, or privilege of sex, exempted persons from this barbarous usage. Several of our prelates were the standing marks of public raillery, and many ladies of the first quality branded by name, for matters * Guardian, No. 53. t Freeholder, No. 19.
184 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of fact which, as they were false, were not heeded, and if they had been true were innocent. The dead themselves were not spared. "
The influence of this continued war of words upon the people is described in a subsequent number of the Freeholder. The whole nation had become politicians. " There is scarce any man in England, of what denomi nation soever, that is not a free-thinker in politics, and hath not some particular notions of his own, by which he distinguishes himself from the rest of the commu
Our island, which was formerly called a nation of saints, may now be called a nation of statesmen. Almost every age, profession, and sex among us, has its favourite set of ministers, and scheme of govern ment. Our children are initiated into factions before they know their right hand from their left. They no sooner begin to speak, but Whig and Tory are the first words they learn. They are taught in their infancy to hate one half of the nation ; and contract all the virulence and passion of a party, before they come to the use of their reason. " Nor are the causes of all this left unnoticed. " Of all the ways and means by which this political humour hath been propagated among the people of Great Britain, I cannot single out any so prevalent and universal as the late constant application of the press to the publishing of state matters. We hear of several that are newly erected in the country, and set apart for this particular use. For, it seems, the people of Exeter, Salisbury, and other large towns, are resolved to be as great politicians as the inhabitants of London and Westminster; and deal out such News of their
nity.
THE NEWS-WRITERS OF 1712. 185
own printing, as is best suited to the genius of the market people, and the taste of the country. " Here is a notice of the rise of country Newspapers ; and, directly after, we find a reference to the journalists of that day : — " As our News-writers record many facts, which, to use their own phrase, ' afford great matter of speculation,' their readers speculate accordingly, and by their variety of conjectures, in a few years become consummate statesmen; besides, as their Papers are filled with a different party-spirit, they naturally divide the people into different sentiments, who generally consider rather the principles, than the truth of the News-writer. This humour prevails to such a degree, that there are several well-meaning per sons in the nation, who have been so misled by their favourite authors of this kind, that, in the present contention between the Turk and the Emperor, they are gone over insensibly from the interests of Chris tianity, and become well-wishers to the Mahometan cause. In a word, almost every News-writer has his sect, which (considering the natural genius of our countrymen, to mix, vary, or refine in notions of state) furnishes every man, by degrees, with a particular sys tem of policy. For, however any one may concur in the general scheme of his party, it is still with certain reserves and deviations, and with a salvo to his own private judgment. Among this innumerable herd of politicians, I cannot but take notice of one set, who do not seem to play fair with the rest of the fraternity, and make a very considerable class of men. These are such as we may call the after-wise, who, when any project fails, or hath not had its desired effect, foresaw
186 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
all the inconveniences that would arise from
they kept their thoughts to themselves until they dis covered the issue. Nay, there nothing more usual than for some of these wise men, who applauded public measures before they were put into execution, to con demn them upon their proving unsuccessful. The dictators in coffee-houses are generally of this rank, who often gave shrewd intimations that things would have taken another turn, had they been members of the cabinet. "
The writers of the Tory Papers treated their Whig opponents with mingled torrent of wit, learning, and abuse and, for long time, this contest of words was continued with unabated spirit, but the balance of popularity turning somewhat in favour of the Whig party, the ministers used their power in Parliament to bring about change in the law. The first pro position was either to renew the licensing act, or to compel authors to drop the anonymous mask and sign their names to their writings. Both these proposals fell to the ground. Swift, who wrote anonymously, opposed the threatened changes in the statute book, and not without reason, for his pen had already brought others into difficulties which he would not willingly have braved in his own person. An instance of this had occurred in 1711, when the Earl of Nottingham complained in the House of Lords of "a speech printed and published contrary to standing order of the House. " This speech was written by Swift, and the unfortunate printer who put into type was taken prisoner, and kept in custody for some time. In his journal to Stella the affair thus mentioned by the
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THE FIRST TAXES ON NEWSPAPERS. 187
Dean: — "Dec. 18, 1711. There was printed a Grub Street speech of Lord Nottingham, and he was such an owl to complain of it in the House of Lords, who have taken up the printer for it. I heard at Court that Walpole, a great Whig member, said that I and
our whimsical club writ it at one of our meetings, and that I should pay for it,"
When Anne had been ten years on the throne she sent a message to the Parliament, which, amongst other things, stated that great license was taken " in publishing false and scandalous libels, such as are a reproach to any Government;" and recommending the Parliament " to find a remedy equal to the mis chief. " In their reply, the Commons promised to do their utmost to cure the " abuse of the liberty of the
press;" and accordingly, on the 12th of Feb. , 1712, they unanimously resolved that they would on that day se'nnight, in a committee of the whole House, consider the difficult question. This promised con sideration, nevertheless, was afterwards put off from time to time. * In the month of April, however, the question came again before the House in a more serious shape. The editor of the Daily Courant (April 7, 1712,) had ventured to print the Memorial of the States-General, and this being brought under the notice of Parliament, the publication was declared to be a scandalous reflection upon the resolutions of the House ; and " Mr. Hungerford having reported that Samuel Buckley, the writer and printer of the Daily Courant, had owned the having translated and printed the said Memorial," the Serge ant- at -Arms was directed
* Pari. Hist. , Vol. VI. , p. 1092.
188 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
to take the delinquent into custody. On the following day, (April 12,) the House adopted some strong re solutions on the subject, but there was evidently an active party opposed to any direct attempt to " cramp overmuch the liberty of the press," as Swift expresses it;* and, instead of an open and direct law imposing the desired restraints, a more insidious and more fatal plan was carried out. " Some members in the grand committee on ways and means," says the Parliamentary historian, "suggested a more effectual way for sup pressing libels, viz. , the laying a great duty on all
and pamphlets. " This was done. To a
Newspapers
long act which relates to soap, paper, parchment, linens, silks, calicoes, lotteries, and other matters, a few short clauses were added, and the press was crippled at once. These clauses put a stamp duty of a halfpenny on every printed half sheet or less, the tax rising to a penny on a whole sheet ;t and
imposed besides a duty of twelvepence on every adver-
* See Swift's Four Last Tears.
t Pamphlets and Newspapers of half a sheet or less had imposed
on them a tax of a halfpenny, and larger than half a sheet, and not exceeding one sheet a penny ; 10 Anne, c. 19, § 101 ; Pickerings Statutes, Vol. XII. ; 11 George c. 14. And halfpenny, 30 George II. , c. 19, Larger than one sheet, and not exceeding six in octavo, or twelve in quarto, or twenty in folio, pay 2s. for every
sheet in one printed copy 10 Anne, c. 19,
for other regulations. 11 George c.
papers shall not be deemed pamphlets.
every advertisement in the Newspapers was imposed, 10 Anne, c. 19,
101 Vol. XII. , Pickering's Stat.
An additional duty, 30 George II. , c. 19, Penalty of £50 on persons advertising reward, with no questions asked, for the return of things stolen or lost, and on the printer, 25 George II. , c. 36; 28 George II. , c. 19; see also 29 George III. , c. 50, §11, 12.
104, 105. See those acts 13, 14, enacts what News
Duty of twelvepence on
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THE HALFPENNY STAMP. ISO
tisement. These taxes have never been repealed, and under their increased amount, and consequently in creased pressure, the Newspapers suffer at this hour. The duty on paper has affected books as well as journals, and perhaps no one change in the excise duties would
be more generally beneficial to the country than the removal of these taxes upon knowledge. *
The effect of the halfpenny stamp upon the Papers of Queen Anne's day was remarkable. Many were immediately stopped ; whilst several of the survivors were united into one publication. Amongst those that suffered under the pressure of the new tax must be included the Spectator—the price of which was
necessarily increased. This change diminished its sale, and in the following year (1713) it was discon tinued. Swift, writing to Stella, t says " Do you know that all Grub Street is ruined by the Stamp Act. "
* Mr. Ewart, M. P. , in one of his speeches on the paper duty, put the question thus :—He held it to be a most objectionable tax on various grounds. Its levy caused much vexatious interference. An account must be taken of the daily produce of the paper manufacturer. The number of sheets in every ream must be given. Every ream must be labelled. Every label must be written on. If the paper be afterwards destined for exportation, the label must be removed. All this was interference ; and it was a tax of the most intolerable kind in this age, because it was a tax upon time. To tax the time of the trader, was one of the greatest fiscal offences that could be committed. Yet, in all these little matters, the workmen must attend the steps of the
excise officer. A paper manufacturer, with whom he was acquainted, was lately showing his works to an enlightened foreigner, the owner of a paper manufactory in the Roman States. Entering a room of the establishment, they found two men at work. The Italian learnt with
He paid, he said, a direct tax of £7 10s. in his own country and his trade was free.
astonishment that these were officers of the Government. t August 7, 1712.
190 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
The influence of the pen having shown itself be yond denial, the authorities were glad to extend their favour to some of those who wielded this new source of power. Steele, who had commenced life as a soldier, laid down the sword for a quill, and having proved himself an able Journalist, and ready and versatile writer, was rewarded with the situation of Commissioner of the Stamp Office. This appointment held out the hope of something still better in perspective, and, sub sequently a seat in Parliament being within reach, he offered himself as a candidate, and was elected. This step rendered it necessary to resign his post in the Stamp Office, and the wit and author showed his con stitutional negligence in money matters by giving up a substantial reality for the honour of adding M. P. to his name. For power and for income he still wrote in the public Papers ; but having, in the Englishman,
and in the Crisis, ventured upon forbidden ground, the dignity he had made so large a sacrifice for, was snatched from him. The history and the animus of these proceedings are both shown by a few passages in the Parliamentary history. * " Notwithstanding all the care and industry used by the Court managers in the late elections, many of the professed enemies of the present ministers were chosen. But none of these were so obnoxious to the men in power as Mr. Steele, who in several public writings had arraigned the late measures with great boldness, as one who was en couraged, and sure to be supported by the whole Whig party. It was therefore agreed by the ministers (how much soever they differed in other matters) to exert
* Vol. VI. , p. 1265.
THE EXPULSION OF STEELE. 191
their endeavours to remove him from his seat in Par
liament. A petition, which was lodged against his election, happening to be the 17th of that kind, and therefore not like to come on this session, it was resolved to take a shorter way, and attack him about some of his late political writings. Mr. Hungerford, a noted Commons' lawyer, who had been expelled the House for bribery in the reign of king William, moved, on the
1 1th of March, to take into consideration that part of
the Queen's Speech which related to the suppressing seditious libels; and complained, in particular, of several scandalous papers lately published under the name of Richard Steele, Esq. , a member of that House. He was seconded by Mr. Auditor Foley, a near relation to the Lord Treasurer, who suggested, 'that unless means were found to restrain the licentiousness of the press, and to shelter those who had the honour to be in the Administration from malicious and scandalous libels ; they, who by their abilities are best qualified to serve their Queen and country, would decline public
offices and employments. '* This was supported by
* " Dear Prue, —I send this to let you know that Lord Halifax would not let me go to the House, but thought it would be better to have the first attack made in my absence. Mr. Foley was the gentle man who did me that honour ; but they could not bring it to bear so far as to obtain an order for my attending in my place, or anything else to my disadvantage, than that all pamphlets are to come on Satur day. Lord Halifax, in the House of Lords, told the ministry, that he believed, if they would recommend the Crisis to Her Majesty's perusal, she would think quite otherwise of the book than they do. I think they have begun very unhappily and ungracefully against me ; and
I doubt not but God will turn their malice to the advantage of the innocent. " Steele to his Wife, March 11, 1713-14. See his Episto lary Correspondence by Nichols, Vol. p. 318. , London, 1809.
I. ,
192 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
Sir William Wyndham, who added, ' That some of Mr. Steele's writings contained insolent injurious re flections on the Queen herself, and were dictated by the spirit of rebellion. ' The next day, Auditor Harley (the Lord Treasurer's brother) made a formal complaint to the House against certain paragraphs of the three
which had given most offence to the Court ; ' The Englishman of January 1 9, The Crisis and the last Englishman,' all said to be written by Richard Steele,Esq. ; which pamphletsbeing brought up to the table, it was ordered, that Mr. Steele should attend in his place the next morning. This brought
a great concourse of members and spectators to the House ; and Mr. Steele attending, several paragraphs, contained in the pamphlets complained of, were read ; after which, Mr. Foley, Mr. Harley, and some other members, severely animadverted upon the rancour and
seditious spirit conspicuous in those writings. Mr. James Craggs, jun. , standing up to speak in Mr. Steele's behalf, he was prevented by a confused noise of several voices calling to order ; intimating, that, according to the order of the day, Mr. Steele was to be heard him self in his place. Upon this, Mr. Steele said, ' that, being attacked on several heads without any previous notice, he hoped the House would allow him, at least a week's time to prepare for his defence. ' Auditor
Harley having excepted against so long a delay, and moved for adjourning this affair to the Monday follow ing, Mr. Steele, to ridicule his two principal prosecutors, Foley and Harley, who were known to be rigid Presby terians, though they now sided with the High Church, assumed their sanctified countenance, and owned, ' in
printed pamphlets,
Steele's defence. 193
the meekness aud contrition of his heart, that he was a very great sinner ; and hoped the member who spoke last, and who was so justly renowned for his exemplary piety and devotion, would not be accessory to the accu mulating the number of his transgressions, by obliging him to break the sabbath of the Lord by perusing such profane writings as might serve for his justification. '
This speech, spoken in a canting tone, having put the generality of the assembly in good humour, Mr. Steele carried his point ; and the further consideration of the charge against him was deferred for a week, by which time it was expected that Sir Richard Onslow, Mr. Hampden, Mr. Lechmere, and some other leading members of the Whig party who were absent, would be come to town. "
" On the 18th," continues the same authority, "the
for Mr. Steele's trial, the courtiers thought fit to get the House cleared from all strangers ;
which done, and Mr. Steele appearing in his place, Mr. Auditor Foley moved that, before they proceeded
day appointed
farther, Mr. Steele should declare whether he
any
acknowledged
upon Steele owned, ' he wrote and published the said pamphlets, and the several paragraphs there which had been complained of and read to the House, with the same cheerfulness and satisfaction with which he had abjured the Pretender. ' Then, a debate arising upon the method of proceeding, Mr. Auditor Foley proposed that Mr. Steele should withdraw ; but, after several speeches, it was carried, without dividing, that he should stay, in order to make his defence. He
desired that he might be allowed to answer to what VOL. I. N
the writings that bore his name. Here
194 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
might be urged against him, paragraph by paragraph ; but, though he was powerfully supported by Mr. Robert Walpole, General Stanhope, the Lord Finch, eldest son to the Earl of Nottingham, and the Lord Hinchin- broke, son to the Earl of Sandwich, yet Mr. Steele's accusers insisted, and it was carried ' that he should proceed to make his defence, generally, upon the charge given against him. ' Mr. Steele proceeded accordingly to make his defence, being assisted by Mr. Joseph Addison, who sat near him to prompt him upon occasion; and, for near three hours, spake to several heads, extracted out of the three pamphlets above-mentioned, (which had been given in print to all the members,) with such a temper, modesty, uncon
cern, easy and manly eloquence, as gave entire satis faction to all who were not inveterately prepossessed against him. "
In Coxe's Walpole, Steele is declared to have
spoken " with a temper, modesty, and eloquence quite unusual to him. " After this three hour's oration he withdrew.
Hereupon a warm debate ensued. Walpole asked the House "why the author was answerable in Parlia ment for the things which he wrote in his private capacity ? and, if he is punishable by law, why is he not left to the law ? By this mode of proceeding, Parliament, which used to be the scourge only of evil
ministers, is made by ministers the scourge of the subject. The ministers," he added, "are sufficiently armed with authority ; they possess the great sanction of rewards and punishments, the disposal of the privy purse, the grace of pardoning, and the power of con
ANECDOTE OF LORD FINCH. 195
demning to the pillory for seditious writings ; powers consistent with, and naturally arising from their exalted situation, and which they cannot too jealously guard from being perverted to answer indirect or criminal purposes. In former reigns, the audacity of corruption extended itself only to judges and juries ; the attempt so to degrade Parliament was, till the present period, unheard of. The liberty of the press is unrestrained ; how then shall a part of the Legislature dare to punish that as a crime which is not declared to be so by any law framed by the whole ? and why should that House be made the instrument of such a detestable purpose. "
There is an old story told of an M. P. , who de scribed a speech as "Beautiful, beautiful, sir; it ab solutely brought the tears into my ears. " " But your vote, sir, was against the motion of the speaker who so affected you. " " My vote ! Oh, yes, feelings are feelings, sir ; but my vote ! that 's quite another matter. " And so it proved in poor Steele's case. The Tory ministers admired the defence of Steele and the pleading of Walpole, but they used their majority, and Steele was expelled because he was a popular Whig writer for the public press.
There is an interesting anecdote recorded of the debate on this expulsion of an author from the House of Commons. Lord Finch, the Earl of Nottingham's son, spoke in favour of Steele out of gratitude for Steele's defence in the Guardian of Finch's sister, who had been assailed by the Examiner :—
In a paper of his in the Guardian, Steele published a spirited defence of Lady Charlotte Finch, daughter of the Earl of Nottingham, and afterwards Duchess of Somerset, who had
n2
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been treated with rudeness and ill-manners by an anonymous writer in the Examiner, for alleged misbehaviour in church ; and won by this the heart of her brother, probably predisposed in favour of an amiable man, and, it may be, attached to him by an antecedent friendship. Be this as it may, when the question about Steele's expulsion was agitated in the House of Commons, Lord Finch stepped forward, and made attempts to speak in Steele's behalf; but being embarassed by an ingenuous modesty, and over-deference to an assembly in which he had not yet been accustomed to speak, he sat down in visible con
fusion, saying, so as to be over-heard, " It is strange I can't speak for this man, though I could readily fight for him. " His words being whispered from one to another, operated in an instant like electrical fire, and a sudden burst from all parts of the House of " Hear him ! " " Hear him ! " with ineffable marks of
Lord Finch again on his legs, who, with astonishing recollection, and the utmost propriety, spoke a speech on the occasion, in which, as it was related to this writer, in the language of the theatre, " there was not a word
which did not tell. " The eyes of the whole company were upon him ; and though he appeared to have utterly forgot what he rose up to speak, yet the generous motive, which the whole company knew he acted upon, procured him such an acclamation of voices to hear him, that he expressed himself with a mag nanimity and clearness, proceeding from the integrity of his
heart, that made his very adversaries receive him as a man they wished their friend. Such was the noble motive which first produced this nobleman's natural eloquence; the force of which was charming, and irresistible, when exerted in the protection of the oppressed. *
One of the papers for which Steele was thus per secuted is said not to have been written by him, but by a Mr. Moore, a conveyancer of the Inner Temple.
The temper which prompted this attack on a pub
lic writer in the House of Commons appears to have
* Nicholl's Epistolary Correspondence of Steele, p. 328 —332, in Pari. Hist.
encouragement, brought
AN ASSIZE CHARGE AGAINST NEWSPAPERS. 197
been followed out with a strict hand by the executive officers of the time. At the Rochester Assizes, in 1719, one of the judges, Sir Littleton Powys, having tried a clergyman and other persons for collecting money at a charity sermon, wrote afterwards a letter to Lord Chancellor Parker, on the subject of his proceedings, in the course of which he says : — " clared in all my charges in this circuit, as I did the two last terms at Westminster, that the number of base libels and seditious Papers is intolerable, and that now a quicker course will be taken about them ; for that now the Government will not be so much troubling himself to find out the authors of them, but as often as any such Papers are found on the tables of coffee-houses, or other News-houses, the master of the house shall be answerable for such Papers, and shall be prosecuted as the publisher of them, and let him find out the author, letter-writer, or printer, and take care at his peril what Papers he
takes in. "
In the same year, John Matthews, a youth aged
only nineteen, was tried at the Old Bailey (October 14, 1719) for publishing a Jacobite Paper in favour of hereditary right. * He is described as a conceited
youngster, whose vanity led him to seek notoriety by issuing opinions which the majority of the people had grown out of. He was found guilty, and hanged at Tyburn. t
At this period it was that caricatures began to
find their way into England, and, amongst other early
* The title of this production was, " Ex ore tuo te judico Vox Po- puli, Vox Dei. "
t State Trials, Vol. XV.
I
de
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channels for circulation, we discover them making an appearance in Newspapers. Read's Weekly Journal of November 1, 17J8 (says Mr. Wright*), "gives a caricature against the Tories, engraved on wood, which is called ' an hieroglyphic,' —so little was the real nature of a caricature then appreciated. The earliest English caricature on the South Sea Company is advertised in the Post Boy of June 21, 1720, under the title of ' The Bubblers Bubbled, or the Devil take the Hindmost. ' In the advertisement of another cari cature, on the 29th of February in this year, called ' The World in Masquerade,' it is set forth as one of its great recommendations, that it was ' represented in nigh eighty figures. "
One of the later Papers produced (1719) by Steele was entitled the Plebeian, and it is painful to re member that in its pages he opposed his former friend Addison. The latter contributed a few articles to a
journal of this period, entitled The Old Whig. Two other writers now (1720-3) obtained a considerable degree of popularity by a series of contributions of democratic tone to the London and the British Jour nals, which were afterwards collected into volumes, under the title of Cato's Letters, and in that form ran through several editions. The authors of these poli tical articles were Thomas Gordon, the translator of Tacitus, and Thomas Trenchard, a man of family and fortune. Another of their productions was The Inde
In the thirty-second of Cato's Letters there are some strictures on the libellous character of
a portion of the press, with an argument why those * England under the House of Hanover, by T. Wright. 1
pendent Whig.
CATO'S LETTERS. 199
libels should not be made an excuse for a censorship : —" As long as there are such things as printing and writing, there will be libels ; it is an evil arising out
of a much greater good. And as to those who are for locking up the press because it produces monsters, they ought to consider that so do the sun and the Nile ; and that it is something better for the world to bear some particular inconveniences arising from general blessings, than to be wholly deprived of fire
and water. Of all sorts of libels, scurrilous ones are certainly the most harmless and contemptible. Even truth suffers by ill-manners, and ill-manners prevent the effect of lies. The letter in the Saturday's Post of the 27th past does, I think, exceed all the scur rilities which I have either heard or seen from the press or the pulpit. The author of it must surely be mad. He talks as if distraction were in his head, and a firebrand in his hand ; and nothing can be more false than the insinuations which he makes, and the ugly resemblances which he would draw. The Paper is a heap of falsehood and treason, delivered in the
style and spirit of Billingsgate ; and indeed most of the enemies to His Majesty's person, title, and govern ment have got the faculty of writing and talking as if they had their education in that quarter. However, as bad as that letter is (and, I think, there cannot be a worse), occasion will never be taken from scurrilous and traitorous writing to destroy the end of writing. We know that in all times there have been men lying
upon the watch to stifle liberty, under a pretence of
libels ; like the late King James, who, having occasion for an army to suppress Monmouth"s
suppressing
200 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
rebellion, would needs keep it up afterwards ; because, forsooth, other rebellions might happen, for which he was resolved to give cause. I must own that I would rather many libels should escape, than the liberty of the press should be infringed ; yet no man in England thinks worse of libels than I do, especially of such as bid open defiance to the present Protestant Establish ment. "
Trenchard died before Gordon, and the survivor of these partners in political journalism wrote a strong eulogium on his departed friend, — and then married his widow. Trenchard had been educated for the law, but, obtaining one of the Commissionerships of Forfeited Estates in Ireland, he abandoned the bar and never returned to it. By the death of an uncle he became independent in fortune, and he employed the leisure which wealth permitted him to enjoy in the open assertion of the political opinions which he thought likely to promote the public weal. The first object he had " in view in the publication of Cato's Letters, was to call for public justice upon the wicked managers of the fatal South Sea scheme ;" and the series was afterwards continued on various public and important subjects. " Speaking of Trenchard's de cease, Gordon says : — His death is a loss to man
kind. To me it is by far the greatest and most shocking that I ever knew, as he was the best friend
I may say the first friend. I found great credit and advantage in his friendship, and shall value myself upon it as long as I live. From the moment he knew me till the moment he died, every part of his behaviour to me was a proof of his affec-
that I ever had ;
TRENCHARD. "201
tion for me. From a perfect stranger to him, and without any other recommendation than a casual coffee-house acquaintance, and his own good opinion, he took me into his favour and care, and into as high a degree of intimacy as ever was shown by one man to another. This was the more remarkable, and did me the greater honour, for that he was naturally as shy in making friendships as he was eminently con stant to those which he had already made. " In another place, Gordon says of his friend : — " He was not fond of writing ; his fault lay far on the other side. He only did it when he thought it necessary.