JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS.
There was no illustrated paper in 1837: there was no _Punch_. On the
other hand, there were as many London papers as there are to-day, and
nearly as many magazines and reviews. The _Times_, which is reported
to have then had a circulation not exceeding 10,000 a day, was already
the leading paper. It defended Queen Caroline, and advocated the Reform
Bill, and was reported to be ready to incur any expense for early news.
Thus, in 1834, on the occasion of a great dinner given to Lord Durham,
the _Times_ spent 200_l._ in having an early report, and that up from
the North by special messenger. This is not much in comparison with
the enterprise of telegraph and special correspondents, but it was a
great step in advance of other journals. The other morning papers were
the _Morning Herald_, the _Morning Chronicle_, the _Morning Post_, of
which Coleridge was once on the staff, the _Morning Advertiser_, which
already represented the interest of which it is still the organ, and
the old _Public Ledger_, for which Goldsmith had once written.
The evening papers were the _Globe_, which had absorbed six other
evening papers; the _Courier_; the _Standard_, once edited by Dr.
Maginn; and the _True Sun_.
The weeklies were the _Examiner_, edited by the two Hunts and Albany
Fonblanque; the _Spectator_, whose price seems to have varied from
ninepence to a shilling; the _Atlas_; _Observer_; _Bell’s Life_;
_Bell’s Weekly Messenger_; _John Bull_, which Theodore Hook edited; the
_New Weekly Messenger_; the _Sunday Times_; the _Age_; the _Satirist_;
the _Mark Lane Express_; the _County Chronicle_; the _Weekly Dispatch_,
sometimes sold for 8½_d._, sometimes for 6_d._; the _Patriot_; the
_Christian Advocate_; the _Watchman_; the _Court Journal_; the _Naval
and Military Gazette_; and the _United Service Gazette_.
Among the reporters who sat in the Gallery, it is remarkable that
two-thirds did not write shorthand; they made notes, and trusted to
their memories; Charles Dickens sat with them in the year 1836.
[Illustration: Yours truly
J Croker
-JOHN WILSON CROKER-]
The two great Quarterlies still continue to exist, but their power has
almost gone; nobody cares any more what is said by either, yet they
are as well written as ever, and their papers are as interesting, if
they are not so forcible. The _Edinburgh Review_ is said to have had
a circulation of 20,000 copies; the _Quarterly_ is said never to have
reached anything like that number. Among those who wrote for the latter
fifty years ago, or thereabout, were Southey, Basil Hall, John Wilson
Croker, Sir Francis Head, Dean Milman, Justice Coleridge, Henry Taylor,
and Abraham Hayward. The _Westminster_, which also included the
_London_, was supported by such contributors as the two Mills, father
and son. Southwood Smith, and Roebuck. There was also the _Foreign
Quarterly_, for which Scott, Southey, and Carlyle wrote.
The monthlies comprised the _Gentleman’s_ (still living), the _Monthly
Review_, the _Monthly Magazine_; the _Eclectic_; the _New Monthly_;
_Fraser_; the _Metropolitan_; the _Monthly Repository_; the _Lady’s_;
the _Court_; the _Asiatic Journal_; the _East India Review_; and the
_United Service Journal_.
The weekly magazines were the _Literary Gazette_; the
_Parthenon_--absorbed in the _Literary_ in 1842; the _Athenæum_, which
Mr. Dilke bought of Buckingham, reducing the price from 8_d._ to 4_d._;
the _Mirror_; _Chambers’s Journal_; the _Penny Magazine_; and the
_Saturday Magazine_, a religious journal with a circulation of 200,000.
All these papers, journals, quarterlies, monthlies, and weeklies found
occupation for a great number of journalists. Among those who wrote for
the magazines were many whom we know, and some whom we have forgotten.
Mr. Cornish, editor of the _Monthly Magazine_, seems forgotten. But
he wrote ‘Songs of the Loire,’ the ‘Gentleman’s Book,’ ‘My Daughter’s
Book,’ the ‘Book for the Million,’ and a ‘Volume of the Affections.’
Mr. Peter Gaskill, another forgotten worthy, wrote, besides his
contributions to the monthly press, three laudable works, called ‘Old
Maids,’ ‘Old Bachelors,’ and ‘Plebeians and Patricians.’ John Galt,
James and Horace Smith, Allan Cunningham, Sir Egerton Brydges, Sheridan
Knowles, Robert Hall, John Foster, James Montgomery, S. C. Hall,
Grattan--author of ‘Highways and Byways’--Marryat, John Mill, Peacock,
Miss Martineau, Ebenezer Elliott, and Warren--author of ‘A Diary of a
Late Physician’--all very respectable writers, sustained this mass of
magazine literature.
It will be seen, then, that London was as well supplied with papers and
reviews as it is at present--considering the difference in population,
it was much better supplied. Outside London, however, the demand for a
daily paper was hardly known. There were in the whole of Great Britain
only fourteen daily papers; and in Ireland two. There are now 171 daily
papers in Great Britain and fifteen in Ireland. In country places,
the weekly newspaper, published on Saturday night and distributed on
Sunday morning, provided all the news that was required, the local
intelligence being by far the most important.
As to the changes which have come over the papers, the leading article,
whose influence and weight seems to have culminated at the time of the
Crimean War, was then of little more value than it is at present. The
news--there were as yet, happily, no telegrams--was still by despatches
and advice; and the latest news of markets was that brought by the
last ship. We will not waste time in pointing out that Edinburgh was
practically as far off as Gibraltar, or as anything else you please.
But consider, if you can, your morning paper without its telegrams;
could one exist without knowing exactly all that is going on all over
the world at the very moment? We used to exist, as a matter of fact,
very well indeed without that knowledge; when we had it not we were
less curious, if less well informed: there was always a pleasing
element of uncertainty as to what might arrive: everything had to be
taken on trust; and in trade the most glorious fortunes could be made
and lost by the beautiful uncertainties of the market. Now we watch the
tape, day by day, and hour by hour: we anticipate our views: we can
only speculate on small differences: the biggest events are felt, long
beforehand, to be coming. It is not an unmixed gain for the affairs of
the whole world to be carried on under the fierce light of electricity,
so that everybody may behold whatever happens day after day, as if one
were seated on Olympus among the Immortal Gods.