No More Learning

185 (#215) ############################################

IV]
The Morning Post 185
'Palmerston will soon find the whole press against him, except his
own papers, The Morning Post and The Morning Chronicle,
neither of which has any circulation or influence. It is note-
worthy, as bearing upon the curious question of the actual effect
which newspaper writing may have upon national opinion, that,
despite this overweighting of the press against him, Palmerston
steadily advanced in popularity. The Morning Post came even-
tually into the hands of a Lancashire papermaker named Crompton,
and, about 1850, Peter Borthwick, who had migrated from Scotland
to London, obtained a position in the office as what his son, the
late lord Glenesk, called gérant. He had already a position in
politics and society, as M. P. for Evesham from 1835 to 1847, and was
known favourably as a vigorous and resolute conservative speaker.
His only son Algernon was sent to Paris as correspondent. He
could speak French like a native, as well as write in it, not only all necessary
prose, but some very passable verses, if some way after those written in the
same language by another Paris correspondent, Frank Mahony (“Father
Prout'), The Globe's representative on the Seine during later years of the
same period.
On the death of Peter Borthwick, in 1852, his son took his place,
and, it was said, 'afforded a fresh justification for the Caledonian
boast that the London press was a Scottish creation, and that
Flodden had avenged itself in Fleet Street. With the help of
'
Andrew Montagu-a Yorkshire millionaire related to his mother-
Algernon Borthwick purchased The Morning Post. He attacked
Palmerston for his ecclesiastical appointments—Palmerston's
bishops being evangelical and Borthwick a high churchman; but,
otherwise,
the polite world looked to the Post, not for news, but to see the whole mind
of Palmerston, which often meant only the whole mind of Borthwick. . . . The
briefs prepared by Palmerston to direct the manufacture of leaders often
proved full enough, and finished enough, for wholesale production in the
leader columns2.
A great friendship subsisted between Borthwick and count
Walewski, French ambassador in the fifties; and there was a
popular belief that Napoleon III subsidised the paper. Similar
statements as to subsidies to other papers have been made with
much greater probability: The Morning Post was not in pecuniary
1 It is said that when some of his later speeches were received with suggestions
that he had spoken at sufficient length, he told the house, 'If I am not allowed to
conclude at my own time, and in my own way, I am determined not to conclude at
all. ' Life of Peter Borthwick, by Lucas, S.
2 Escott, who states that he had his information from lord Glevesk.


## p. 186 (#216) ############################################

186
The Growth of Journalism
[CH.
difficulties. It was the last of the London papers in the century
(1882) to reduce its price to one penny. Always maintaining its
reputation as a record of the doings of the aristocratic and
wealthy, and as an advocate of a forward foreign policy, The
Morning Post, also, followed high ideals in its literary and
artistic articles. It is said to have been the first London daily
paper which, early in the century, printed regularly notices of
plays, operas and concerts, and this feature has always been well
maintained. Towards the end of the century, its articles on
military topics, too, began to attract much attention. It was
protectionist in the days of Peel, and in those of Chamberlain.
Of the morning papers in the first half of the century, The
Morning Chronicle was, in many respects, the most famous.
During several periods of its career, there were associated with
it some most brilliant writers, and, even in its later stages,
failure could not be attributed to lack of quality in the members
of its staff. Any attempt to record the history of the newspaper
press is confronted here, as in many other instances, with a
problem all but insoluble—that of determining the actual causes
of success or failure in journalistic effort. Often, the decisive
cause would seem to be quality, but with a strangely inverted
application. Sir Thomas Gresham, writing on the coinage, lays it
down as a principle that, if you have in a country good coins and
deteriorated coins of the same metal current side by side, the bad
will drive out the good, and Gresham's law may often be applied
to literature, to art and, especially, to journalism. The largest
circulations have often been attained by newspapers not ex-
hibiting the highest characteristics ; indeed, newspapers have
been known suddenly to reach enormous sales by publishing
articles describing the careers of notorious criminals. The
phrase “survival of the fittest' must, therefore, be used with a
difference. ' The Morning Chronicle had belonged to William
Woodfall, whose brother Sampson is famous for his publication of
The Letters of Junius. Perry, editing The Gazetteer, competed so
strongly with The Chronicle, that the latter came into the market,
and, with the aid of the duke of Norfolk and others, Perry became
its chief proprietor and editor. This was in 1789, when the whigs
were in want of an organ, and The Chronicle filled the gap.
Sheridan, Sir James Mackintosh, John Campbell (the future lord
chancellor), Thomas Campbell the poet, Thomas Moore, David
Ricardo, Henry (lord) Brougham, Albany Fonblanque and, as
we have seen, Charles Lamb, were among those enlisted by Perry


## p. 187 (#217) ############################################

IV]
The Chronicle
187
or by John Black, who, having been on the reporting staff of
The Chronicle, became its joint editor in 1817, obtaining complete
control in 1821, on Perry's death. Perry's writing had a lightness of
touch unknown to his successor; but Black had higher quali-
fications for discussing public questions ; Bentham called him the
greatest publicist the country had seen, and among his favourite
contributors were James and John Stuart Mill, the latter being
only seventeen years of age when he contributed three letters
condemning the punishment which Richard Carlisle, his wife and
her sister suffered for publishing unstamped papers.
Black
offended many of his whig friends by seeing good qualities in the
duke of Wellington. His style was not free, but, according to
John Stuart Mill, he was
the first journalist who carried criticism and the spirit of reform into the
details of English institutions. . . . Black was a frequent visitor to my father,
and Mr Grote used to say he always knew by the Monday morning's article
whether Black had been with my father on the Sunday.
Black, in The Chronicle, was at war with The Times; as was no
secret, one of his reporters, Charles Dickens, caricatured the
quarrel? Black regarded Dickens as the finest shorthand
writer he had ever known a judgment borne out by men
who were colleagues of Dickens in the parliamentary gallery.
Thackeray began his newspaper career as an art critic for the same
paper. In the fifties, when the Peelites controlled The Chronicle,
Palmerston inspired The Morning Post, and Greville, during the
negotiations closing the Crimean war, said:
Palmerston continues to put articles into The Morning Post, full of arro-
gance and jactance, and calculated to raise obstacles to the peace. This is
only what he did in '41, when he used to agree to certain things with his
colleagues, and then put violent articles in The Morning Chronicle totally
at variance with the views and resolutions of the Cabinet.
In 1862, The Morning Chronicle ended a notable career.
Daniel Stuart, in 1799, obtained possession of The Courier, an
evening paper. To The Courier, in Stuart's hands, Wordsworth
is said to have sent extracts from his then unpublished Cintra
convention pamphlet, and, also, articles on the Spanish and
Portuguese navies. Beginning with admiration for the French
revolution, The Courier followed the popular lead in this country,
a
1 Byron was a constant reader of The Chronicle; some of his jeux d'esprit were
published in it, as also were the verses—the last he wrote-on his thirty-sixth
birthday.
See Escott, Masters of Journalism, p. 161.


## p. 188 (#218) ############################################

188
[CH.
The Growth of Journalism
and became an opponent of the French cause, and especially
of Napoleon. In 1827, it supported Canning; William Mud-
ford, the editor, author of a series of tales in Blackwood's
Magazine, became a personal friend of this statesman. As
a result, it was denounced by the ultra-tory party, and lost
circulation, and, though, on the death of Canning, it reverted
to toryism, there was no recovery of position. John Galt? edited
it about 1830, and was followed by James Stuart, who, some years
previously, having been libelled by Sir Alexander Boswell, son
of James Boswell, had challenged him to a duel, and killed him.
Stuart conducted The Courier as a whig paper, and, apparently,
was the first editor of an evening paper to publish, once a week,
an enlarged sheet with one entire page devoted to book reviews.
In 1836, he was succeeded by Laman Blanchard. Shortly after-
wards, however, the paper was again sold to the tories, and, with a
new editor, lasted a few years longer.
The Morning Herald, first published in 1780, ran until 1869.
It was founded by a somewhat notorious clergyman, Henry Bate
Dudley, who had previously edited The Morning Post. It was
not very successful until after 1820, when it received a large
increase in circulation on account of its reporting of Bow street
police cases, Wight, its reporter, afterwards editor and partner,
exaggerating into caricatures his descriptions of the proceedings.
So attractive was this feature that a selection from the reports was
issued, with illustrations by George Cruikshank. An enterprising
policy in regard to news raised the circulation, until, according to the
official stamp returns for 1828, The Morning Herald had then a
publication of 1000 copies daily above The Times. This position,
however, was not maintained. In 1843, or 1844, Edwin Baldwin, a
proprietor of The Evening Standard, purchased The Morning
Herald, improved its literary quality, and, as it happened that the
railway mania followed close upon his purchase of the paper, he was
able to spend heavily. During the mania, the advertisement revenue
of many newspapers was enormous. But the prosperity was not
lasting, and, in a few years, Baldwin became bankrupt. James
Johnson, an official in the court of bankruptcy, purchased The
Morning Herald and The Evening Standard, and established The
Standard as a penny morning paper. This was after the abolition of
the newspaper advertisement duties, and when The Daily Telegraph,
The Daily News and The Morning Star were being issued at a
a
See, ante, vol. XII, chap. XI.


## p. 189 (#219) ############################################

Iv] The Morning Advertiser 189
penny. Later, The Herald was discontinued; but, for many years,
The Standard has occupied a high position in London journalism.
It was a staunch supporter of the conservative party, and among its
leader-writers numbered Alfred Austin, afterwards poet laureate.
In conjunction with it, The Evening Standard was maintained, a
paper - with which was eventually amalgamated The St James's
Gazette, an evening review and newspaper founded by Frederick
Greenwood, one of the foremost journalists'of the second half of the
century, when a change in the ownership of The Pall Mall Gazette
led to his retirement from that paper 1.
The third morning paper which lasted through the century
(after The Morning Post and The Times) is The Morning
Advertiser, whose literary importance at no time equalled that
of its two colleagues. It was first published in 1794 by the
London society of licensed victuallers. Naturally, it was de-
voted to trade interests, rather than to the support of any one
political party. Its circulation, however, fostered by the society,
was, in the middle of the century, second only to that of The
Times. The Morning Advertiser was one of the leaders in
the attack upon the Prince Consort, which reflected widespread
fears of non-constitutional interference in the management
of public affairs? . Subsequently, the policy of the paper was
changed.
Charles Dickens was not successful as a leader-writer, though
he had been as a reporter. In 1845—6, there was a demand
for a liberal paper which should be wide in its sympathies,
looking towards the educational and industrial advancement
of the masses, and treating religious questions from the point
of view of those who ‘faintly trust the larger hope. ' Dissatis-
fied with the reception of an offer he made to write a series
of sketches for The Morning Chronicle, Dickens talked over with
his publishers the possibility of starting a rival newspaper, and, in
the following year, agreed to edit The Daily News. Judged from
the standpoint of the end of the century, Dickens's scheme of
editing was much too solid and heavy. The paper contained his
opening article, followed by three others, all dealing with corn-law
reform ; more than a page was occupied with a report of a meeting
See post, p. 195.
2 Cf. Greville's Memoirs (third part, chap. v), on the subject of newspaper
attacks on the prince. Somewhat later, Henry Dunckley, editor of the since defunct
Manchester Examiner and Times, attained celebrity by a series of articles, afterwards
(1878) republished under the title Crown & Cabinet, which he based largely, though
not solely, upon the prince's position.


## p. 190 (#220) ############################################

190
[CH.
The Growth of Journalism
2
at Ipswich, and a speech there by Richard Cobden. A review of
railway affairs and reports of railway company proceedings nearly
filled another page? After seventeen numbers had been issued,
Dickens, as he said, 'tired to death, and quite worn out? , ceased
to edit the paper. John Forster took up the work, carrying it on
to the end of the first year. It is said that, though all the pro-
prietors were agreed in demanding the repeal of the corn-laws,
there were great differences, not only among them, but, also, on
the editorial staff, upon other questions, especially those bearing
on foreign policy. Among its contributors, after 1852, was
Miss Harriet Martineau—one of the two women who, in the
century, attained especially high eminence as journalists, the
other being Mrs Emily Crawford, later the Paris correspondent of
The Daily News and of Henry Labouchere's Truth. The Daily
News took its share in the campaign against the stamp duty, the
tax on advertisements and the paper duty- the last being
abolished in 1861. It had to cope with a Peelite endeavour to
regain popularity for The Morning Chronicle, and was attacked
in 1856 by the adherents of the then advanced radicalism of
Cobden and Bright in The Morning Star and The Evening Star,
which were started on 17 March 1856. The Morning Star, like
The Daily Telegraph, which had now come into being, was sold
at one penny. But the advanced radical paper was never able to
attract the general public, and its attitude towards the Crimean
war, no doubt, spoiled any chance of success which it might have
had. On its staff, however, it numbered several distinguished men
of letters and other journalists of subsequent high repute. The
Daily News maintained an excellent reputation. After the open-
ing of the Franco-Prussian war, in 1870, it was joined by Archibald
Forbes. The ability of one man—though the subject of his articles,
in this case, was of overwhelming interest—to give popularity to
a newspaper was never exhibited more clearly ; during the war,
the circulation of The Daily News rose from 50,000 to 150,000
a days. Writing in The Nineteenth Century of August 1891,
Forbes indicated some of the dangers attending war correspondents
during the time of his service. Referring to the Crimean and
other campaigns before 1870, and recognising, generously, that
W. H. Russell ‘had made for himself a reputation to vie with
which no representative of a newer school has any claim,' he
1 See Fox Bourne, English Newspapers.
? See chapter on Dickens, vol. XIII, and cf. , as to Forster, ante, chap. II.
3 Fox Bourne.


## p. 191 (#221) ############################################

IV] The Daily Telegraph 191
pointed out that the advent of the telegraph had increased the
labour of the correspondent as it has, indeed, in all departments
of daily journalism-and that the older correspondents did not run
the same risks as the later of being shot.
Before far-reaching rifle firearms came into use, it was quite easy to see
a battle without getting within range of fire. With siege guns that carry
shells ten miles, with field artillery having a range of four miles, and with
rifles that kill without benefit of clergy at two miles, the war correspondent
may as well stay at home with his mother, unless he has hardened his heart
to take full share of the risks of the battlefield. In the petty Servian
campaign of 1876, there were twelve correspondents who kept the field,
and went under fire. Of those, three were killed, and four were wounded.
Certainly not more than thirty correspondents and artists all told, were in
the Soudan from the earliest troubles to the final failure of the Nile ex-
pedition, but on or under its cruel sand lie the corpses of at least six of my
comrades.
Noteworthy among later contributors to The Daily News was
Andrew Lang?
Of those who took a leading part in the production of The Daily
Telegraph, the first lord Burnham died while this chapter was
passing through the press. To his constant care and unrivalled
experience of affairs, the paper has owed much of its success. It
was launched in 1855, and, in the course of a few months, passed
into the hands of the Levi-Lawson family, who issued it as the first
penny newspaper published in London. It was edited by Thornton
Hunt, a son of Leigh Hunt, and early obtained celebrity for its
enterprise and somewhat flamboyant style.
Matthew Arnold
scoffed at it; and a grandson of the first proprietor says that,
when at Oxford, his tutor admonished him to 'try not to write
like Sala. To borrow a simile from the art of painting, the
. '
writers who gained reputation for The Daily Telegraph were,
of choice, colourists. During many years, among the leading
members of its staff was Sir Edwin Arnold, one of the brilliant
Oxonians of the newspaper press, who is reported (by J. M. Le
Sage) to have said that
whether the chief-whom we loved-asked him (Arnold) to write the first
leading article, the description of some great historical event, or an ordinary
news paragraph, he would do it to the utmost of his ability; that the test of
loyalty was not to do some big thing, but some small thing-and to do it
well.
The loyalty and affection here indicated, shared, as they were, by
the whole staff, played a great part in making The Daily Telegraph
so successful that, for some time before the advent of the halfpenny
1 See, ante, chaps. II and III, and vol. XIII, chap. VI.


## p. 192 (#222) ############################################

192
The Growth of Journalism [CH.
6
newspapers, it was able to boast that it possessed the largest cir-
culation in the world. ' The influence of the style of The Daily
Telegraph upon the newspaper press of this country has been
great; being, indeed, the basis of popular journalism. Not that
the latter repeats the styles of Sala, of Edwin Arnold, of Edward
Dicey, of Bennet Burleigh and of other men who long were
looked upon as representing The Daily Telegraph; for, with
features showing their influence has been combined a greater
directness of statement; but the picturesqueness at which they
aimed has had enduring effect. The loyalty of the staff
accounted for the success of the paper in obtaining early
information. Its enterprise has been shown in other directions.
In 1873, George Smith was commissioned by it to make and
describe archaeological exploration on the site of Nineveh, and
among his discoveries were a number of fragments of the cunei-
form narrative of the Deluge. Two years later, The Daily
Telegraph joined The New York Herald in sending Henry M.
Stanley into central Africa, where he surveyed lakes Victoria and
Tanganyika, and traced the source of the Congo; later, for the
same papers and The Scotsman, he was sent to rescue Emin pasha
from Equatoria ; but Emin refused to be rescued, and escaped
from the rescue party. In 1884–5, it was associated with
Sir Harry Johnston's exploration of Kilima-njaro, and, in 1899—
1900, with Lionel Decle's journey from the Cape to Cairo. Its
foreign staff have interviewed monarchs and statesmen; Bismarck,
some time before the Franco-German war, confided to Beattie-
Kingston that the military authorities had pressed him to quarrel
with France-a course to which he was then opposed.
Its musical and dramatic criticisms by E. L. Blanchard, Joseph
Bennett and Clement Scott were always read by the chief members
of the professions affected.
Another morning newspaper established successfully during
the century is The Daily Chronicle. Its founder, Edward Lloyd,
was already the prosperous owner of Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper.
In 1842, intending to compete with The Ilustrated London News,
he published Lloyd's Illustrated London Newspaper, unstamped.
The authorities intervened, and, in 1843, he rearranged his publi-
cation without illustrations, calling it Lloyd's Weekly London News-
paper. In this form, it competed with other Sunday publications,
such as The News of the World, Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper,
The Weekly Times, The Weekly Dispatch. Of these papers, The
Dispatch was long the most prominent. Its owner had been in


## p. 193 (#223) ############################################

>
IV] The Halfpenny Morning Press 193
the front of the fight against the stamp duty; but Lloyd's Weekly
soon became well established, especially under the short editorship
of Douglas Jerrold from 1852 to 1857, and, thereafter, under that
of his son Blanchard, who had among his coadjutors Hepworth
Dixon, better known as editor of The Athenaeum, from 1853 to
1868.
In 1877, Edward Lloyd purchased a daily paper which had
been started as The Clerkenwell News, but had expanded its
name to The London Daily Chronicle and Clerkenwell News.
He reduced the title to The Daily Chronicle, and adopted an
independent radical policy. The venture prospered, and has
latterly become one of the leading halfpenny morning papers.
The closing years of the century saw that advent of the half-
penny morning press to which reference has been made. There
had been such papers in the provinces for thirty years, The
Northern Echo being established in Darlington in 1869, The
North Star in the same town in 1880 and, about the same time,
The Newcastle Express, in the closing years of a long life, was
published at the same price. But, though The Northern Echo
achieved somewhat wide reputation in 1880, when it was edited
by W. T. Stead, the issue of a halfpenny morning paper in London
was a highly speculative undertaking. The Daily Mail, however,
was launched in 1896, and proved most popular. Much of its
earlier attractiveness was due to the writing of G. W. Steevens,
who, after a brilliant career at Oxford, plunged into daily
journalism, speedily became famous and died of fever in Lady-
smith, where he was one of the besieged in the Boer war. The
Daily Express made its appearance in 1900.
In the earlier part of the century, there were, in London,
seven evening papers; at the end, only six, and the general
development of evening journalism had not been commensurate
with that of morning papers, having, for the most part, been
limited to London and its suburbs, while morning journals were
carried to all parts of the country. The change was owing
chiefly to the growth of country evening papers, these being able
by telegraph and organisation to print later information, notably
concerning all forms of sport?
1 The supply of news to a morning paper is usually complete by 2 a. m. and, thus,
there is little actual need for late editions, but the news for an evening paper, the
incidents of the day, comes in a continuous stream, its end being fixed only by the
publication of the latest edition for which a sale can be had. The morning paper
prints the news of twenty-four hours; the evening paper, as a rule, that of only
eight.
E. L. XIV.
CH. IV.
13


## p. 194 (#224) ############################################

194
[CH.
The Growth of Journalism
6
Before The Courier was purchased by Daniel Stuart, it was
joined, in the last number of The Anti-Jacobin, with The Star as
forming a 'seditious evening post'; and, in 1792, at the instance
of Pitt, The Sun was started to advocate the ministerial home and
foreign policy. But it did not achieve a high position, and, in
1823, The Edinburgh Review said of it. The Sun appears daily
but never shines. The Globe, which, in the second half of the
century, became tory, was, in its origin, radical, competing with
The Star, the organ of the booksellers. Contemporary with The
Globe was The Traveller, intended to support the interests of
commercial travellers. A few years after its first publication,
The Traveller became the property of Robert Torrens, an eager
disciple of Jeremy Bentham, and a writer on political economy.
Torrens and his friends purchased The Globe in 1823, and during
many years the paper appeared with the double title. In all
respects well conducted, it was recognised as one of the chief
liberal organs, and the Melbourne administration of 1835 often
used it for the first publication of ministerial news. It preserved
its literary character, and, many years later, its sketchy serial and
historical articles were widely known as 'Globe turnovers,' their
length always slightly exceeding a column. Francis Mahony,
'Father Prout,' was one of its regular contributors. In 1869,
with new proprietors, it became moderately conservative, and,
with varying fortune, so continued until after the end of the
century. The Pall Mall Gazette obtained larger renown for its
philosophic statesmanship. It was founded in 1865 by Frederick
Greenwood, its proprietor being the wellknown publisher George
Smith. The name was taken from Thackeray's sketch of captain
Shandon in the Marshalsea, drawing up the prospectus of
The Pall Mall Gazette—written by gentlemen for gentlemen. '
Greenwood turned the satire into reality. Under Thackeray, he
had sub-edited The Cornhill Magazine, and his scheme contem-
plated the production of a paper which, with the publication of
news, should combine some of the characteristics of the already
flourishing Saturday Review and Spectator. Connected with the
paper were men of mark in literature, such as (to mention men of
very diverse qualifications) Anthony Trollope, Henry Maine, Fitz-
james Stephen and E. C. Grenville Murray. On several occasions,
Bismarck tried to form friendly relations with it. Greenwood,
undoubtedly, was one of the great editors of the century, revising
the work of his contributors, suggesting topics and their treat-
ment and, with a masterly hand, adding finishing touches. His


## p. 195 (#225) ############################################

IV]
W. T. Stead
195
sources of information gave him early news of the intention of the
French government, in 1875, to obtain control over the Suez canal,
by purchasing from the khedive of Egypt a large number of the
shares held by him in that undertaking; and the fact was brought
to the notice of Disraeli, the prime minister, who forestalled the
French. When, in 1881, the liberal party obtained a large majority
in the house of commons, Henry Yates Thompson, a son-in-law of
George Smith, had become proprietor of The Pall Mall Gazette,
and, as he was a supporter of Gladstone, Frederick Greenwood
and his colleagues were superseded by John (now viscount)
Morley, who was installed as editor, with W. T. Stead, of The
Northern Echo, as his chief of staff. Greenwood thereupon
started the St James's Gazette, but could not acquire for it
the vogue of his earlier paper. The career of W. T. Stead, who
in 1883 followed Morley as editor, was remarkable. Brought
up in a north country manse, and under the influence of
fervent religious emotions, he believed that every step in his
course was dictated directly from heaven. He assured the present
writer that the Almighty set up finger-posts for him, whose inten-
tion was unmistakable, and that, on several occasions, when he
had seen these directions, he had obeyed the command, apparently
risking everything that most men hold precious. His efforts
startling in their form, for the more stringent protection of girls,
and the pride with which he suffered the consequences of his
action, illustrate this attitude. He was, however, possessed of
,
much humour, and was a most graphic correspondent. At the end
of five years, another change of editor took place; and, later
still, in 1892, The Pall Mall Gazette passed into a new proprietor-
ship. At the same time, The Westminster Gazette was launched,
which was conducted on much the same lines as those of the
liberal Pall Mall Gazette had been, and, during several years, was
the only London penny paper supporting the liberal party. One
especial feature of The Westminster Gazette has been its brilliant
political caricatures. Stead was drowned in the disaster to the
• Titanic. '
For many years, London had one halfpenny evening paper,
The Echo (established 1868). Similar halfpenny papers were
already in being at Manchester and Bolton in Lancashire. Later,
The Evening News and The Star appeared.
Many as were the morning and evening papers published in
London during the century, they were far outnumbered by weekly
papers. Besides high-class and popular political weeklies, the
13--2


## p. 196 (#226) ############################################

196 The Growth of Journalism [CH.
pictorial papers, from The Illustrated London News, The Illustrated
Times (now extinct) and The Graphic, to those depending largely
on the portraits of brides and bridegrooms, sportsmen and sports-
women, actors, actresses and ladies of the ballet, the satirical
and humorous papers from Punch' and Fun (now extinct)
downwards, the century witnessed the establishment of scores of
weekly newspapers, dealing with almost every description of special-
ised interest—religious, atheistic, scientific, mechanical, financial,
military, naval, architectural, dramatic and artistic, a marvellous
record of the mental activity of the nation. All these make their
particular appeal, and even to indicate the character of each would
be impossible in these pages. Some of them, indeed, however
well their articles may be written, make no pretence of belonging
to the domain of literature.
Why one newspaper succeeds and another fails, even the
most experienced journalist will (as already hinted) hesitate to
decide. The Constitutional, issued in 1836, had for its editor
Laman Blanchard, with Thornton Hunt, afterwards editor of
The Daily Telegraph, as his assistant. Thackeray's Paris Sketch
Book is reminiscent of the fact that he was Paris correspondent
for the paper, in which his step-father and he had unfortunately
invested money; and among its constant contributors were
Bulwer Lytton, Douglas Jerrold and Sir William Molesworth.
It existed only seven months. Another was The Hour, issued in
1873 with captain Hamber as its editor. Hamber, who had been
at Oriel college when lord Robert Cecil, afterwards third marquis
of Salisbury, was also at Oxford, served in the Crimean war,
and then turned to journalism. During several years, he edited
The Standard with signal ability, but, eventually, quarrelled with
its proprietor, who desired less independence of official conser-
vative party control. Thereupon, The Hour was started as an
ultra-protestant conservative paper, independent of the re-
cognised party leaders. It never found a sufficient public, and,
in 1876, Disraeli 'heard with a pang that The Hour was no
more. '
A much more important publication was The Press, originated,
in 1853, as a weekly representative of progressive conservatism,
its first moving spirit being Disraeli, who, for some time, was a
frequent contributor? It editor was Samuel Lucas (not the
Samuel Lucas of The Morning Star) and the writers included
Bulwer Lytton, George Smythe, Shirley Brooks, Tom Taylor,
· See, post, chap. VI.
? Cf. , ante, vol. XIII, chap. XI.


## p. 197 (#227) ############################################

IV]
The Examiner
197
lord Stanley, Sir J. E. Tennant, H. L. Mansel (afterwards dean
of St Paul's) and Edward Vaughan Kenealy.
Among later
contributors were Richard Holt Hutton and Sir J. R. Seeley. It
never obtained a circulation of more than 3500, and though,
at its best period, it seems to have been financially stable, it ceased
to exist in 1866.
Journalism has always allowed equality of literary opportunity
to men and to women, to men who have made their mark at the
universities and to those whose chief or only schooling has been
such as they could pick up in the intervals of other occupations.
Swift's judgment of Mrs Manley was that her writing, at times, was
better than his own! Defoe had an audience greater than that of
Addison or Steele. In the early part of the nineteenth century, one
of the self-educated had popularity and influence equal to those
of any of his contemporaries. This was William Cobbett, born
in 1762, of whom, and of whose Political Register, something
has been said in a previous volume of this history.
In 1808 appeared the first of a distinctive school of weekly
periodicals, combining surveys of politics, literature, the drama
and the pictorial arts, in articles intended more nearly to resemble
a careful and a deliberate essay than the current comments of the
daily newspaper. This was The Examiner, launched by John
Hunt, and his more famous brother James Henry Leigh Hunt,
of whose influence on English criticism and poetry an estimate
will be found in an earlier volume of the present works. In
1805, John Hunt issued The News and Leigh, then in his twenty-
first year, was its theatrical critic. The Examiner followed. The
dramatic criticism of The News had been free and independent,
and attracted much attention. Writing of the kind was, according
to Leigh Hunt's Autobiography, a great novelty. Similar inde-
pendence in politics and literature marked The Examiner ; and,
not less for outspoken comments than for high quality of writing,
it soon attained eminence. Before it was one year old, it came
under prosecution for libel, but without result. In 1811, a scathing
article on the prince regent—'a violator of his word . . . the com-
panion of gamblers and demireps'—was followed by prosecution;
and, though Brougham, as on a previous occasion, defended the
brothers, they were fined £500 each with costs of about £1000,
and sentenced to imprisonment for two years. Their confinement
a
1 See letters to Esther Johnson and Rebecca Dingley. No. XXXII, 23 Oct. 1711.
3 See, ante, vol. XI, pp. 49–51.
3 Ante, vol. XII, pp. 220–4.


## p. 198 (#228) ############################################

198
[ch.
The Growth of Journalism
was not severe. Leigh Hunt had his wife and family with him,
and visitors came every day-Charles and Mary Lamb, Hazlitt,
Shelley, Barnes (later to edit The Times), Byron, Moore, Bentham
and others. The popularity of The Examiner was not main-
tained; but, with varying fortunes, it continued in the hands of
the Hunts until 1821, and, eventually, found a new and famous
editor in Albany Fonblanque, a radical of the Benthamite school.
Thus, during a quarter of a century, his paper was repre-
sentative of the advanced group of politicians. John Forster
followed him, and, later, Henry Morley, but the management and
scheme of the paper were not modified to suit new conditions
arising out of the competition of The Spectator and The Saturday
Review, and, in the course of a few years, The Escaminer's career
ended.
In 1828, Joseph Hume and others raised money to enable Robert
Stephen Rintoul to start The Spectator as an organ of educated
radicalism. It was, indeed, to perform for radicalism a service like
that which Disraeli intended The Press to render to toryism, but, in
the forefront, whether of educated radicalism, or of a liberalism
not easily to be distinguished from independent conservatism,
The Spectator has consistently held up the banner designed
for it by its founder. Under Rintoul, it disputed the supremacy
of Fonblanque's Escaminer and led the advocacy of lord John
Russell's franchise measure of 1831 by demanding the Bill, the
whole Bill and nothing but the Bill'a demand which The
Examiner was obliged to echo, thus, in effect, acknowledging
leadership.
In 1855, The Saturday Review made its appearance without
the compendium of news which had formed a large portion of The
Spectator and The Examiner, and the former of these, after
the death of Rintoul in 1858, was remodelled in the hands of
Meredith Townsend and Richard Holt Hutton. Until Gladstone
adopted the Home Rule policy in 1885, The Spectator was his
constant supporter; but its attitude towards the liberal party
hereupon changed as to this and as to some other subjects.
According to their initial declaration, the Peelite projectors
of The Saturday Review, as has been seen, wished to free thirty
million people who were ruled despotically by The Times. Among
early writers in The Review were Sir H. S. Maine, Sir James Fitz-
james Stephen, W. Vernon Harcourt, E. A. Freeman, J. R. Green,
Abraham Hayward, William Scott (an eminent Puseyite), Mrs
Lynn Linton and lord Robert Cecil. The paper was noted


## p. 199 (#229) ############################################

IV]
Weekly Papers
199
especially for the pungency of its satire, the brilliance of its
style and the nicety of its scholarship. The political events
of 1885 lost the liberal party not a few of its supporters in
journalism, and, therefore, The Speaker was launched under the
editorship of Sir T. Wemyss Reid, who had previously edited
The Leeds Mercury. It was conducted with ability and existed
a number of years without making headway in competition with
The Spectator or The Saturday Review. Upon its discontinuance,
The Nation appeared as an advocate of advanced liberalism.
Other qualified successes in this form of journalism were Charles
Mackay's London Review, in which Lawrence Oliphant, Charles
Isaac Elton and William Black, the novelist, participated in
,
1860, and The Leader, started, in 1849, with George Henry Lewes
as principal writer and a staff including Herbert Spencer, Marian
Evans, Alexander William Kinglake and Edward Michael Whitty
-the last a peculiarly gifted writer of sketches of parliamentary
celebrities.
Mention should be made of William Ernest Henley's effort to
establish, in 1889, The Scots Observer as a literary review and an
organ of imperialism, to be issued in Edinburgh, so that the Scottish
capital might rival London in the possession of a weekly review, as
it had done in quarterly reviewing and in daily journalism. Henley
summoned to his colours the most famous Scottish writers of the
day, but, in a couple of years, it was found necessary to tranfer
the paper to London, and to alter its title to The National
Observer. Even so, unfortunately, it did not find room for per-
manent growth.
A position of its own was achieved by The Economist, which for
seventeen years was under the editorship of Walter Bagehot, of whose
great critical powers, primarily, but not exclusively, devoted to
the elucidation of economical and political questions, something
has been said elsewhere.
Although The Guardian, primarily, was a religious weekly, being
founded, in 1846, by a number of churchmen, including Gladstone,
it gave much attention to political, social, and literary subjects, and
among its constant contributors were men of high rank in their
respective departments of knowledge. Until 1885, it was generally
a supporter of the liberal party, but, thereafter, its political inde-
pendence became more and more pronounced. It is impossible
here to survey the wide field of religious periodicals, valuable
though such a review would be as illustrating a gradual change
1 See, ante, chapters i and mi.


## p. 200 (#230) ############################################

200
[CH.
The Growth of Journalism
in the attitude towards religious journalism not only of the general
public, but, also, of trained theologians of various schools. A
mere catalogue of professedly religious papers might be misleading.
In specialised journalism, literature has always had a prominent
place. In the first half of the eighteenth century, a weekly
literary paper was founded entitled The Grub Street Journal,
Alexander Pope being an early contributor. Its most notable
successor, in the early part of the nineteenth century, was The
Literary Gazette, established by William Jerdan, in 1817. George
Crabbe, Mary Russell Mitford and Barry Cornwall wrote for it,
and its career extended into the fifties. In 1828, it met an
antagonist destined to win the first place—The Athenaeum. A full
history of this long-lived literary paper has been written by the son
of John Francis, who, at an early age, became associated with
its business management. The Athenaeum, in 1830, was only
struggling for existence when Charles Wentworth Dilke was placed
in authority. The help given him by John Francis was of great
value, but Dilke, in addition to being an enterprising proprietor,
was, also, a man of letters, and, by his own writing, did much
towards making secure the position of the paper. It would be
impossible here to enumerate the nineteenth-century English
writers who had more or less close connection with The Athe-
naeum and though, at various times, endeavours—such as those of
The Reader and The Academy-have been made to depose it,
these have not been attended with success.
Of journalism dealing with socicty in its many phases, much
has been seen, not only in daily newspapers but, also, in specialised
weekly publications. Of these, in the first half of the century, John
Bull, which was also a political paper, became notorious, and was
often threatened with prosecutions for libel, so much so that its
chief conductors Theodore Hook, R. H. Barham, T. Haynes Bayley
and James Smith (of Rejected Addresses) sheltered themselves
in an anonymity which prosecutors were not able to penetrate.
In more recent years, The World, founded by Edmund Yates
and Henry Labouchere, and Truth, launched by the latter after
some disagreement with Yates, became celebrated by their daring
criticisms.
A brief notice must be added of the illustrated press, which is
one of the distinctive growths of the century. Rough woodcuts,
illustrating old chapbooks and thus appealing to the masses,
attracted by representations of crimes, and other incidents
narrated to them in literary form, were followed by work much


## p. 201 (#231) ############################################

IV]
Illustrated Papers
201
more artistic, but making appeal by means essentially the same.
The adaptation of the art was possible, first, by improved mechanical
production, and, later, by the application of photography, which,
because of its ability to image an actual scene, has taken the
place of the craftsman who, working from rapid notes, assisted by
his power of imagination, contrived to represent not merely the
facts, but, also, something of their meaning. The illustration
of news pamphlets was common in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. In 1740, The Daily Post contained a narrative
of admiral Vernon's attack on the Spaniards at Porto Bello
illustrated with a view of the fleet, the fortifications, the
harbour, the position of the Spanish fleet and the town; and
Owen's Weekly Chronicle, in 1758, portrayed the British attack
on Rochefort. These are said to be the earliest attempts in a
newspaper to illustrate a news article 1
The Observer, a Sunday paper still in existence, was the first
to adopt wood engraving after Bewick's development of the art;
but, in 1806, The Times had an illustration, slightly influenced by
Bewick's method, of Nelson's funeral car. The Observer's illus-
trations of the Cato street conspiracy in 1820, of the trial of queen
Caroline in the same year and the coronation of George IV, of his
visit to Ireland in the following year and of the famous murder of
Weare by Thurtell, Probert and Hunt in 1823, were striking
instances of ability to cater for a public on the look-out for
sensational effect. The Observer, indeed, was a worthy fore-
runner of the cheap illustrated newspapers numerous at the end
of the century.
The Illustrated London News was, however, a great leap forward.
Among the thirty-two woodcuts of the first number was a view of
the burning of Hamburg, apparently drawn from the inner Alster.
Some of the character-sketches are as good as any published
since, and far more distinctive than any photographic illustrations.
Kenny Meadows, Birkett Foster, John Leech, Sir John Gilbert,
Alfred Crowquill and their colleagues, employed by Herbert
Ingram, were associated with writers already known, and the
paper soon attained a large circulation. It was followed by The
Pictorial Times and this, again, by many others; but, chief
among its surviving competitors are The Graphic, The Queen,
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News, The Field, The
Sphere. The Graphic made a step in advance when it was sup-
plemented by The Daily Graphic.
1 The Pictorial Press (1885), by Mason Jackson.


## p. 202 (#232) ############################################

202
The Growth of Journalism [ch.
We have noted several praiseworthy, but unsuccessful, attempts
to found journals, and, although this narrative deals mainly with
the nineteenth century, we may add references to two which fall
in the twentieth. One was the issue of The Pilot, partly in com-
,
petition with The Guardian. The literary quality and variety of
interest in the articles of The Pilot deserved a success which was
not attained The difficulties in the way of fighting a well-
established periodical are very great, a newcomer having to incur
expenses practically equalling those of the periodical with which
it competes, while its advertising revenue is, necessarily, very small
in comparison; and it often happens that the strain involved in
such conditions is greater than the projectors are able or willing
to bear. A similar comment may be made upon the fate of
The Tribune, intended, by its projector, to take a position at the
head of liberal journalism. The intention was admirable ; and,
from a purely literary point of view, many were the regrets
when it was learnt that the paper was a financial failure.
If the history of the newspaper press of the provinces' could
be traced in detail, it would be found, in the main, the vehicle
of opinion entirely independent of that expressed in London,
admitting the leadership of the London press as little as other
members in parliament would allow it to those sitting for London
constituencies. The provincial press has, indeed, been much
more free than the London press from the influence of political
organisers. It has been read by weavers and shoemakers no
less than by employers of labour and professional men? No
doubt, newspapers printed in London have always had a wider
circulation in the provinces than country newspapers have had
in London. One of the prosecutions which Cobbett and the
Hunts underwent was for reprinting an article written for and
published in The Stamford News; and, though London has
exercised an attraction for newspaper writers because of the
greater variety of opportunities which it offers them, many news-
papers published out of London have been as well written and
edited, as careful and, within limits, as enterprising in the
collection of news, and as skilled in the arrangement of material,
as any London journal. Several of the country newspapers
existing at the end of the nineteenth century could boast a career
longer than that of any London paper, though many bave dis-
appeared, and some, in the course of a long life, have lost
the importance which, as compared with rivals, they once possessed.
1 See Bamford's Passages in the Life of a Radical (1840—4).


## p. 203 (#233) ############################################

>
IV]
The · Provincial' Press
'
203
There were country papers in the early part of the eighteenth
century; and, though they copied from their London contem-
poraries much of their general and foreign news, they printed
information peculiar to the districts in which they circulated.
The ‘provincial' press has attracted men of ability. The Sheffield
Iris had, as editor, James Montgomery the poet; Hugh Miller,
the geologist, edited The Edinburgh Witness ; James Hannay,
The Edinburgh Courant ; William Henry Ireland was editor of
The York Herald when, in 1823, Sydney Smith sent to it for
publication the manuscript of his earliest political speech, that at
the Three Tuns in Thirsk. That Sydney Smith and his friends should
want their speeches to be published in this way, indicates the
importance of the country press at the time! John Mackay Wilson,
author of Tales of the Borders, edited The Berwick Advertiser;
William Etty, the painter, was a compositor on The Hull Packet;
De Quincey, during a part of his residence in the lake district,
walked once a week into Kendal to edit The Westmorland Gazette
and see his leading article printed; Alexander Russel, of The
Scotsman, was as influential and as independent as any writer in
the United Kingdom. These men flourished in days when, accord-
ing to some writers, the provincial press was a weak reflex of
opinions published in London-a statement which would be
entirely ridiculous if applied to the latter half of the nineteenth
century, when the extended use of the telegraph had made it
possible for the provincial newspapers to receive simultaneously
with the London press reports of important occurrences and
speeches, and to comment upon them the same night. Indeed,
there have been occasions when complaints were made in behalf
of an eminent statesman that, though he spoke in London, the
provincial newspapers could print his speech and leading articles
upon it, while his supporters in the London press could not do
more than print his speech—commenting on it the following day.
As in London, so in the country, the removal of taxes upon
paper, newspapers and advertisements gave a great impetus to
journalism, many papers being started, and not a few of the
weeklies being converted into dailies. Space will not permit a
sketch of these, valuable though it would be, if not, indeed,
essential, in any complete narrative of the industrial, social and
educational development of the country. Mention, however, must
be made of The Manchester Guardian, because, at the end of the
century, through a variety of causes, it became the chief morning
1 See G. W. E. Russell's Sydney Smith, p.