How had _The Times_ been getting on all these years? Slowly but surely.
At first, as has been already stated, feeling its way with difficulty
amid a host of obstacles, long-established and successful rivals,
Government prosecutions abroad, and personal crotchets and peculiarities
at home. John Walter, its founder, retired from the management of the
paper in 1803, and died in 1812, having lived to see his literary
offspring grow up into a strong young giant, with thews and sinews
growing fuller and firmer every day, tossing his weighty arms in every
direction, but never aimlessly; and with his vigorous feet firmly
planted, expanded chest, and head boldly erect, fearlessly standing
forward in the very first rank of the champions of freedom. Mr. Walter's
son John succeeded him in the management in 1803; and, under his abler
and more enlightened administration, the paper rapidly increased in
importance. He opened his columns to all comers, and whenever any
communication appeared to possess more than average ability he
endeavored to engage the writer of it as a regular contributor. He
perfected the system of reporting, and the reports in _The Times_ soon
began to be fuller and more exact perhaps even than Perry's in _The
Chronicle_. He especially turned his attention to the foreign department
of his journal, and no trouble or expense was spared in obtaining
intelligence from abroad. This had been one of the strong points with
the elder Walter, and he had always striven to be the first to
communicate important foreign news to the world--thus, for instance,
_The Times_ was the first newspaper which announced the execution of
Marie Antoinette. This element was now greatly strengthened and
developed, correspondents were engaged in all the chief cities of
Europe, and, as time progressed, in other quarters of the world as well,
letters from whom appeared as regularly and as early as the post-office
authorities would allow; and a regular system of expresses from the
Continent was organized. But the Government, who saw and felt the
growing greatness of _The Times_, placed every possible hinderance in
the way--it was not then the custom for the Premier to invite the editor
to dinner--and the letters and foreign packages were delayed in every
possible manner--the machinery of the custom house being even employed
for that purpose--in order that the Government organs might at least get
the start. But fair means and foul alike failed to win over the young
journalistic athlete to the ministerial side, and this illiberal and
selfish policy was at length compelled to give in, beaten at all points.
But there was one thing which was destined to give _The Times_
supremacy, at which the younger Walter began to work soon after the
reins of power fell into his hands--and that was steam. Great strides
had been made in the art of printing. The first metal types ever cast in
England were those of Caxton, in 1720. Stereotype printing had been
first suggested by William Ged, of Edinburgh, in 1735, and was perfected
and brought into general use by Tillock, in 1779. The printing machine
had been originated by Nicholson, in 1790, and an improved form of it,
made of iron, the invention of Earl Stanhope, was in general use in
1806. Thomas Martyn, a compositor of _The Times_, invented some further
modifications, and was aided by the younger Walter. Owing, however, to
the violent opposition of his fellow workmen, the experiments were
carried on under the greatest secrecy; but the elder Walter could not be
induced to countenance them, and consequently nothing came of them. In
1814, Koenig and Bauer, two German printers, conceived the idea of
printing by steam, and the younger Walter, now by his father's death
permitted to do as he liked, entered warmly into their project. The
greatest silence and mystery was observed, but the employés of _The
Times_ somehow or other obtained an inkling of what was going on, and,
foreseeing a reduction in their numbers, vowed the most terrible
vengeance upon everybody connected with the newfangled invention. Spite
of their threats, however, the necessary machinery was quietly prepared
and erected, and one morning, before day had broken, Mr. Walter called
his printers together, and informed them that that day's issue was
struck off by steam. This ever-memorable day in the history of
journalism was Monday, the 28th of November, 1814. Loud murmurs and
threats were heard among the workmen, and burning down the whole affair
was the least thing suggested; but Mr. Walter had taken precautions,
and, showing his work people that he was prepared to meet any outbreak
on their part, no violence was attempted. Since then _The Times_ has
been regularly printed by steam. Various improvements in steam machinery
have from time to time been patented, and Hoe's gigantic machines--the
production of that country the most prolific of all the world in useful
inventions, America--seemed to show that the limit of the application of
steam to printing had been reached. But a machine still more
wonderful--a machine that possessed all the skill of human intelligence
and ten times the quickness of human fingers--a machine for composing by
steam, was shown at the International Exhibition in London, in 1862.
Printing by steam at once raised the circulation of _The Times_
enormously, as was but natural, from the facilities which it afforded of
a rapid multiplication of copies; and under the editorship of Thomas
Barnes it soon reached the first place in journalism. But Walter himself
was not idle, and was always on the lookout for fresh and rising talent.
On one occasion, being at a church in the neighborhood of his country
seat in Berkshire, he was very much struck by the sermon which was
preached by a new curate. After the service he went into the vestry, and
had a long conversation with the preacher, the result of which was that
he told him that a curacy was not a very enviable position, and that he
would do much better to go to London, and write for _The Times_ at a
salary of £1,000 a year. It is needless to add that the offer was not
declined.
In 1817, _The Literary Gazette_ was brought out by William Jordan, as an
organ of literature and the fine arts, and, until The _Athenæum_ was
established, it was without a rival of any consequence. But its
circulation declined, and, after Jordan's death, dwindled down to a very
small number. In 1862 its name was changed to _The Parthenon_, or
rather, to speak more correctly, _The Parthenon_ arose as a new
publication from the ashes of _The Literary Gazette_. But change of name
did not produce change of circumstances, and, before many numbers had
appeared, _The Parthenon_ was privately offered for sale at the low sum
of £100, but, failing to meet with a purchaser, it gave up the ghost
early in 1863. In 1817, Lord Sidmouth made a terrific onslaught upon the
press. He issued a circular to the different lord lieutenants of the
counties, to the effect that any justice of the peace might issue a
warrant for the apprehension of any person charged with printing a
libel. One result of this circular and the vigorous prosecutions which
ensued was that William Cobbett for a while gave up printing his
_Political Register_, and went away to America, from whence he did not
return for two years. He stated his reasons for adopting this course in
his paper, as follows:
'I do not retire from a combat with the attorney-general, but from
a combat with a dungeon, deprived of pen, ink, and paper. A combat
with the attorney-general is quite unequal enough; that, however, I
would have encountered. I know too well what a trial by special
jury is; yet that or any sort of trial I would have stayed to face.
But against the absolute power of imprisonment, without even a
hearing, for time unlimited'--an act had been passed which gave the
secretary of state power to suspend the _habeas corpus_ act--'in
any jail in the kingdom, without the use of pen, ink, and paper,
and without communication with any soul but the keepers--against
such a power it would have been worse than madness to attempt to
strive.'
But the Government met with a notable check in the case of William Howe,
the bookseller. Howe was thrice tried for libel, and, despite the
exertions of Lord Ellenborough, who descended from the judicial bench to
the barrister's table, was thrice acquitted. Persecution after this
languished for a while, but in 1819 were passed those stringent measures
which are known as the Six Acts. One of these gave the judges the power,
upon the conviction of any person a second time of the publication of a
seditious libel, to punish him with fine, imprisonment, banishment, or
transportation. But such monstrous enactments were not suffered to pass
unchallenged, and the result of several animated debates was that the
obnoxious words banishment--a novelty in English jurisprudence--and
transportation were withdrawn, but the remaining provisions of the Six
Acts were carried in all their rigor. But amid much harm, some good was
doubtless effected, for certain provisions were introduced into the act
which declared certain inferior newspapers, which had hitherto evaded
the stamp act, by calling themselves pamphlets and not newspapers,
because they only commented upon the news of the day, to be henceforth
liable to the stamp duties. This really did good service to the better
class of journals, by sweeping away a swarm of newspapers which, by the
quibble above mentioned, were enabled to undersell them.
_John Bull_ was started in 1820, with the avowed object of espousing the
King's side, and covering the Queen and her friends with obloquy.
Theodore Hook was the editor, but very few persons were in the secret.
Every man or woman who was conspicuous as a friend of the Queen was duly
gibbeted, and any tittle-tattle gossip or scandal that could be ferreted
out against them was boldly printed in the most unmistakable terms.
Trial for libel failed to discover the real proprietors, editor, and
writers, and the men who stood their trial as printer, publisher,
proprietor, etc., were manifestly mere shams, men who would swear to
anything and undergo any amount of imprisonment for the consideration of
the smallest coin of the realm. The scandalous details in _John Bull_
attracted the public at once, and by the time it reached its sixth
number, the circulation had risen to ten thousand, while the first five
numbers were reprinted over and over again, and the first and second
were actually stereotyped. But it began to be whispered about that Hook
was the editor, whereupon he printed and signed a letter denying the
rumor in the most indignant terms. This letter was supplemented by an
editorial, from which the following is an extract:
'The conceit of some people is amusing, and it has not unfrequently
been remarked that conceit is in abundance where talent is most
scarce. Our readers will see that we have received a letter from
Mr. Hook, disowning and disavowing all connection with this
paper.... We are free to confess that two things surprise us in
this business. The first, that anything which we have thought
worthy of giving to the public should have been mistaken for Mr.
Hook's; and secondly, that such a person as Mr. Hook should think
himself disgraced by a connection with _John Bull_.'
After the death of the Queen, Hook devoted himself to the demolition of
the Whigs and Radicals. Joseph Hume was his especial target, and was
dished up week after week with a decidedly original Latin garnish: '_Ex
humili potens_--From a surgeon to a member of Parliament;' '_Humili modi
loqui_--To talk Scotch like Hume;' '_Nequis humasse velit_--Let no one
call Hume an ass,' etc., etc. _John Bull_ sustained a great many
convictions for libel, and its dummies were frequently imprisoned, but
they never betrayed Hook, who retained the editorship until his death in
1841. Somewhere about this time _The Britannia_, a Conservative journal,
of a few years' standing, was incorporated with it. It had meanwhile
considerably moderated its tone, and at the present day enjoys a fair
circulation among steady-going people--chiefly country gentlemen, old
ladies, and parsons--who obstinately cling to Tory principles.
_John Bull_ was not the only newspaper which was prolific in libels, and
perhaps at no time were scandalous attacks upon public and private
persons more common. Mr. Freemantle, writing to the Marquis of
Buckingham, in 1820, says:
'The press is completely open to treason, sedition, blasphemy, and
falsehood, with impunity.... I do not know whether you see
Cobbett's _Independent Whig_, and many other papers now circulating
most extensively, and which are dangerous much beyond anything I
can describe.'
This is a sweeping censure, but, allowing for a little personal
irritation, natural enough under the circumstances--he had been
lampooned himself--is true of a great portion of the press. The supply
was regulated by the demand, and the character of the wares purveyed
depended upon the wants of the market. Editors found that scandal was
eagerly devoured by their subscribers, and they did not therefore
hesitate or scruple to gratify the prevailing tastes of the day. But the
better class of papers were not able to keep clear of the law of libel,
even though they did not condescend to pander to the vitiated tastes of
the multitude. Many of them had to sustain actions for merely reporting
proceedings before the police magistrates and in the law courts, and
many a rascal solaced himself for the disagreeables attending a
preliminary examination at the police court for a criminal offence, by a
verdict in his behalf in a civil action against any newspaper that had
been bold enough to print a report of the proceedings. This kind of
action originated from a ruling of Lord Ellenborough, that it was
'libellous to publish the preliminary examination before a magistrate
previously to committing a man for trial or holding him to bail for any
offence with which he is charged, the tendency of such a publication
being to prejudice the minds of the jurymen against the accused, and to
deprive him of a fair trial.' This monstrous and at the same time absurd
doctrine remained in force for many years, but is now happily no longer
the law of the land.
_The Times_ had now reached the pinnacle of prosperity, and its claims
to be considered the foremost of journals were no longer disputed. The
circulation of _The Morning Chronicle_ had dwindled during the latter
years of Perry's life, and after his death did not revive very much
under Black, his successor. Brougham, Talfourd, and Alderson were among
the writers in _The Times_, and Captain Sterling, whose vigorous,
slashing articles first gained for _The Times_ the title of the
'Thunderer,' was regularly engaged upon the staff at a salary of £2,000
a year and a small share in the profits. But the Government still
steadily set its face against it, and in 1821 Mr. Hume loudly inveighed
against the ministry in the House of Commons for not sending Government
advertisements to _The Times_, instead of to other journals, which did
not enjoy a tithe of its circulation. The arrangements of the post
office were a great hinderance to the diffusion of newspapers, since the
charge for the carriage of a daily journal was £12 14_s._, and for a
weekly £2 4_s._ a year. The number, therefore, that was sent abroad by
this channel, either to the Continent or our own colonies, was very
small. In 1810 the whole number thus despatched was but three hundred
and eighty-three, and in 1817 it had fallen to two hundred and
seventy-one, owing to the increase in the charges demanded by the
post-office authorities, who were actually allowed to put the money in
their own pockets; and in 1821 it was only two hundred and six. The
circulation through the kingdom of Great Britain itself was not entirely
free, inasmuch as every newspaper sent through the post office was
charged for by weight, at an exorbitant rate, unless it was franked by a
member of Parliament. This regulation continued in force until 1825,
when an act was passed which provided that newspapers should be sent
through the post free, on condition that they were open at both ends,
and had no other writing upon the cover than the necessary address. At
the same time the ridiculous acts which limited the size of newspapers
were done away with, and every printer was henceforth permitted to print
his journal upon any sized sheet he pleased. Two important concessions
were also made to the press at this date, one in the House of Commons,
and the other in the House of Lords. In the former, a portion of the
strangers' gallery was set apart for the exclusive use of the reporters;
and in the latter, reporters were permitted to be present for the first
time. Previously to this, if any one had been rash enough to attempt to
take any notes, an official would pounce upon him, and, with an air of
offended dignity well befitting that august assembly, strike the
offending pencil from his grasp!
In 1825, Joseph Hume attempted to get the stamp duty reduced on
newspapers to twopence, and the advertisement duty to one shilling; and
in 1827 he tried to gain an exemption from the stamp act for political
pamphlets; but he was defeated on each occasion. In 1827, _The Standard_
was started as a Tory organ, under the auspices of a knot of able
writers, the chief of whom were Dr. Giffard, the editor, Alaric Attila
Watts, and Dr. Maginn. It has always possessed a good connection among
the Conservative party, but has never been a very profitable concern.
After the abolition of the stamp duty its price was reduced to twopence,
and in 1858 to one penny, and it was the first of the daily journals to
offer a double sheet at that price. In recent times the Letters of
'Manhattan' have given an impulse to its circulation, from their novelty
of style--an impulse which was probably further aided by the ridiculous
but widely believed assertion that those letters had never crossed the
Atlantic, but were penned beneath the shadow of St. Paul's.
The following statistics of newspapers in the chief countries of Europe
in 1827, will probably prove interesting: France, with a population
of--in round numbers--thirty-two millions, possessed 490 journals; the
Germanic Confederation, with a population of thirteen millions, 305;
Prussia, with a population of twelve millions, 288; Bavaria, with a
population of four millions, 48; the Netherlands, with a population of
six millions, 150; Sweden and Norway, with a population of four
millions, 82; and Denmark, with a population of two millions, 80. Great
Britain, with a population of twenty-three millions, far outstripped
them all, for she boasted 483 newspapers; but was yet compelled to yield
the palm to her Transatlantic kinsmen, for the United States, at the
same date, with a population of twelve millions, circulated the
unequalled number of 800. In looking at these figures, one cannot help
being struck with the enormous disproportion between the journals of
Roman Catholic and Protestant countries--a disproportion which is so
significant that comment upon it is unnecessary. But the difference is
still more plainly shown if we take two capitals. Rome, with a
population of one hundred and fifty-four thousand, possessed only 3
newspapers, while Copenhagen, with a population of one hundred and nine
thousand, enjoyed the advantage of having 53. The London papers were
100, the English provincial papers 225, the Irish papers 85, the Scotch
63, and the Welsh 10. The number of stamps issued was more than
twenty-seven millions, of which London alone consumed more than fifteen
millions; the number of advertisements was seven hundred and seventy
thousand, of which London supplied nearly a half; and the amount of
advertisement duty was £56,000, of which London contributed £22,000.
The year 1829 is remarkable for the first appearance of _The Times_ with
a double sheet, consisting of eight pages, or forty-eight columns. This
great step in advance must have quite answered the expectations of its
spirited proprietor, for in 1830 _The Times_ paid to Government for
stamps and advertisement duty no less than £70,000. The day of perfect
freedom was beginning to dawn upon the press, although it took a quarter
of a century to remove the last fetter, the stamp, and still longer, if
we take into consideration the paper duty, which was removed in 1862.
First came the abolition of the most oppressive portion of Lord
Castlereagh's Six Acts, next the advertisement duties, and finally the
stamp. The high price of the stamp, fourpence, kept the better journals
at sevenpence, but a numerous class of unstamped journals at twopence
sprang up in defiance of the law, and were allowed for a time to go on
unchecked. They had a large circulation, one of them, _The London
Dispatch_, attaining to twenty-five thousand a week. Growing bolder with
their impunity, they indulged in the most abominable trash and the most
frantic sedition and treason. They were of course prosecuted and
punished, but they were never finally destroyed until the reduction of
the stamp duty. They did good indirectly, for they formed one of the
strongest arguments in favor of the abolition of that obnoxious impost.
In 1833 a battle royal raged between Daniel O'Connell and the press;
but, as might have been expected, Dan was no match for the hydra-headed
antagonist he had been rash enough to provoke. The quarrel originated in
a complaint made by the Liberator of a misrepresentation of a speech of
his, and he did this in so intemperate a manner that the reporters
published a letter in _The Times_, in which they expressed their
determination never again to report a speech of O'Connell's until he had
apologized for the insults he had levelled at them. O'Connell vainly
attempted to put the machinery of the House of Commons in motion against
them, but, after repeated efforts, was obliged to give in. His attacks
were principally levelled at _The Times_--which then counted among its
contributors the brilliant names of Macaulay, Thackeray, and
Disraeli--for he and John Walter were bitter foes. But he evoked several
powerful defenders of the press, first and foremost among whom was Sir
Robert Peel.
In 1834 the system of condensing the speeches in Parliament, and placing
the summary before the leading articles, was first introduced into _The
Times_ by Horace Twiss. At this date there occurred a great schism
between the proprietors and writers of _The Sun_, some of whom seceded,
and brought out _The True Sun_, in opposition to that eccentric planet
which always rises in the evening despite the general conviction of
mankind that the sun is the luminary of the day. Douglas Jerrold, Laman
Blanchard, and, greatest of all, Charles Dickens, commenced their
apprenticeship to literature in this journal, which enjoyed, however,
but a fleeting existence. Jerrold afterward started a paper of his own,
which failed, and then became editor of Lloyd's _Weekly London
Newspaper_, a post which he retained until his death, and which has
since been ably filled by his son Blanchard Jerrold. Laman Blanchard
became the editor of _The Courier_, but resigned it when it became a
Tory organ, and was one of the original writers in and proprietors of
_Punch_. Dickens transferred his services to _The Morning Chronicle_, in
the columns of which the Sketches by Boz first appeared. Several acts of
Parliament relating to newspapers were passed at this period. In 1833
the advertisement duty was reduced from three shillings and sixpence to
one shilling and sixpence in England, and one shilling in Ireland. In
1834 an act was passed by which the newspapers of those foreign
countries in which English journals were admitted free of postage, were
allowed to enter Great Britain on the same terms. In 1835 a bill was
passed to relieve the press from the action of common informers, and
placed them under the jurisdiction of the attorney-general alone; and
another, which forbade newspapers to publish lectures delivered at
literary and scientific institutions, without the permission of the
lecturer.
The time was now fast approaching for the reduction of the stamp duty.
Government was getting wearied of the war with the hydra-headed
unstamped monster, and at last adopted the only expedient likely to be
successful in putting it down, which was to place the higher-class
journals in a position to rival them. From 1831 to 1835 there had been
no less than seven hundred and twenty-eight prosecutions, of which the
year 1835 alone had produced two hundred and nineteen. This fact, joined
to the influential agitation which was now being made for the repeal,
caused the Government to decide upon bringing in a measure of relief. It
took six months and an immense deal of speechifying to bring this
measure to maturity; but at last, in 1836, the stamp duty was reduced
from fourpence to one penny, being one halfpenny less than it had been
originally fixed at in 1760. The Tories were the great friends of this
reduction, and Lord Lyndhurst, who had been instrumental in abolishing
many of the most oppressive enactments with which the measure had been
clogged, wished to do away with the duty altogether. There was of course
a loss to the revenue at first. In the first half year of the new duty,
the number of stamps issued was 21,362,148, realizing £88,502. In the
corresponding previous half year, under the old scale, the number of
stamps had been 14,874,652, and the amount paid, £196,909, so that in
six months the number of stamped newspapers had increased by about one
half.
In 1837, _The Economist_ was started by John Wilson, and attracted great
attention by its statistical and politico-economical articles, Wilson
afterward became secretary of the treasury, and, having been sent to
India, died there, to add one more to the many illustrious victims that
our Indian empire has exacted. In 1838 a most amusing hoax was
perpetrated upon _The Morning Post_ and _Morning Chronicle_, which
announced the death of Lord Brougham, and published a most elaborate
biography of him. But the next day there came a letter from Lord
Brougham, declaring that he was still alive and hearty. The joke,
however, did not end here--for people were ill natured enough to assert
that he had been the author of the rumor himself, in order to learn what
the world would say about him; and so widespread had this second rumor
become, that Lord Brougham was compelled to write another letter
contradicting it.
The next great event in the history of journalism is the commercial
libel case, Boyle _versus_ Lawson, the printer of _The Times_. Barnes
had died, and had been succeeded by John T. Delane, a nephew of Mr.
Walter, as editor, who still continues to occupy that responsible post.
The matter originated thus: In May, 1841, _The Times_ published a letter
from the Paris correspondent, containing the particulars of an organized
system of forgery on a gigantic scale, which had been agreed on by
certain persons, whose names were published in full. The plan was to
present simultaneously at the chief Continental cities letters of credit
purporting to emanate from Glynn & Co., the London bankers. The
confederates had fixed the sum they meant to realize at one million, and
had actually secured more than £10,000 before the plot was discovered.
One of them was Boyle, a banker, of good position, at Florence, and he
brought an action for libel and defamation. He pressed on the trial, but
_The Times_ maintained its ground, and at an enormous expense despatched
agents all over the Continent to collect evidence. _The Times_
triumphantly succeeded in proving the truth of what it--_The Times_ is
always spoken and written of as an individual--had printed; but as the
old law--the greater the truth the greater the libel--still existed, the
jury were compelled to find a verdict for the plaintiff, which they did,
with one farthing damages, and the judge clinched the matter by refusing
the plaintiff his costs. Universal joy was expressed at the result of
the trial, and public meetings were called together in London and the
chief Continental cities for the purpose of making a subscription to
defray the expenses of _The Times_ in defending the action. The
proprietors, however, declined this, but said that, at the same time,
they should feel much gratified if a sum of money were raised for some
public object in commemoration of the event. Accordingly it was decided
to found two scholarships in perpetuity for Christ's Hospital and the
City of London School at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, to be
called the Times' Scholarships, and the nomination to them to be placed
in the hands of the proprietors of _The Times_ in perpetuity. Two marble
tablets were also voted, at the cost of a hundred and fifty guineas
each, with commemorative inscriptions, one to be placed in _The Times_
office and the other in the Royal Exchange. Two somewhat similar tablets
were also placed in Christ's Hospital and the City of London School. For
these purposes the sum of £2,700 was very quickly subscribed, the lord
mayor leading off with ten guineas. If anything had been wanting to
place _The Times_ upon the pinnacle of preëminence among journals, this
famous trial firmly established it there, and ever since it has been
looked up to as an oracle of the commercial world. But _The Times_ was
not contented to rest quietly on its oars. It was ambitious, and looked
farther afield. In 1845, its vigor, enterprise, and disregard of expense
were exemplified in a remarkable manner. _The Times_ had been in the
habit of sending a special courier to Marseilles, to bring its Indian
despatches, and thus anticipate the regular course of the mail. The
French Government threw every possible obstacle in the courier's way,
and _The Times_ took Lieutenant Waghorn, the originator of the Overland
Route, into its pay. In October, 1845, a special messenger met the mail
on its arrival at Suez on the 19th. Mounted on a dromedary, he made his
way, without stopping, to Alexandria, where Waghorn awaited him with a
steamer. Waghorn came _viâ_ Trieste--special post horses and steamers
and trains being ready for him at the various points of the route--and
he reached London on the morning of the 31st, in time for his despatches
to appear in the morning's issue of the paper. The result of this was
that _The Times_ reached Paris with the Indian news from London before
the regular mail had reached that city from Marseilles. The next
noticeable enterprise of _The Times_ was the sending out commissioners
to investigate the condition of the poor and laboring population of
London in 1847, an enterprise which was crowned with the moat
satisfactory results. _The Times_ has always been the firm friend of the
poor, and its columns are always open to the tale of distress. No case
is advocated until it has been thoroughly investigated; but when once it
has been mentioned in _The Times_, subscriptions pour in on all sides.
At the commencement of each year especially, _The Times_ publishes
gratuitously appeals from public charities, and during last January the
sums received through those appeals reached the large amount of £12,000.
The last great exploit of _The Times_ was the sending forth a special
correspondent with the English army to the Crimea, a precedent which it
has followed up since in China, India, Italy, America, and
Schleswig-Holstein. But this was not the first occasion that reporters
had accompanied our armies, for Canning despatched reporters with the
troops sent to Portugal in 1826. The tactics of _The Times_ are very
generally misunderstood and misrepresented. Whatever objections
cavillers and opponents may urge, and with truth too--for the course
taken by _The Times_ is not to be praised on all occasions--it cannot be
denied that _The Times_ is the first journal in the world, a position
which it has reached by its enterprise, vigor, and ability. It has
frequently proved its disinterestedness, and during the great railway
mania of 1845, while it was receiving no less a sum than £6,000 weekly
for advertisements, constantly cautioned its readers against the
prevailing madness, and persistently predicted the crash that was
certain to follow. _The Times_, while it appears to lead, in reality
waits upon public opinion, and hence the accusations of inconsistency
and tergiversation so freely lavished upon it. _The Times_ is the
printed breath of public opinion. It throws out a feeler, perhaps,
though not quite at first, accompanied by some decided expression of
opinion, and carefully watches the effect upon the public mind. Should
that effect be different to what was expected, _The Times_ knows how to
veer round with the _popularis aura_. This is not always, however, done
so skilfully but that the act is apparent. It is not the most dignified
course that a journal which aspires to be--and which is--the leading
journal of Europe ought to pursue; but _The Times_ knows human nature,
and knows, too, that were it to adopt any other course, it would fall
from its high estate, and become a mere party organ. Moreover, _The
Times_ possesses an enormous prestige--deservedly won, as this article
has endeavored to show--and that, in a conservative country like
England, is considerably more than half the battle.
In 1842 appeared the first pictorial newspaper, _The Illustrated London
News_. It was started by Herbert Ingram, who began life as a provincial
newsboy, and died, in the vigor of his age, member of Parliament for his
native town. It was a success from the first, so great that numerous
competitors sprang up and endeavored to undersell it. But these were all
vastly inferior, and one by one withered away, the most persistent of
them at last passing into the hands of _The Illustrated London News_,
which now enjoys a larger circulation than any other weekly newspaper,
amounting to about six millions a year!
There was a satirical paper at this time, called _The Age_, which, being
of a strongly libellous character, was continually feeling the weight of
the law. It did not improve in character as it grew older, and its
editor, Tommy Holt, was proved upon a trial to have received bribes to
suppress a slander that he had threatened should appear in his paper.
This same Tommy Holt was very successful in inventing 'sensation'
headings for his columns, and by no means either delicate or scrupulous
in so doing. There was another rascally paper of the same description,
called _The Satirist_, which was at last finally crushed by the Duke of
Brunswick, the result of several actions for libel. Among other new
literary oddities at this time may be mentioned _The Fonetic Nuz_,
the organ of those enthusiastic reformers who were endeavoring to
accomplish a revolution in our orthography. It lasted, however, but a
very short time.
The year 1850 saw the initiation of the final campaign directed against
the only remaining burdens of the press. Mr. Ewart and Mr. Milner Gibson
brought forward a motion for the repeal of the advertisement duty, but
were defeated by two hundred and eight votes to thirty-nine. But they
were not cast down by their want of success, but manfully returned to
the charge. In 1851, they procured the appointment of a committee to
inquire into the question, and in 1852, gathering strength, like William
of Orange, from each successive defeat, they brought forward a triple
set of resolutions, one for the abolition of the advertisement duty,
another levelled at the stamp, and the third for the repeal of the paper
duties. They carried the first, but lost the others. In 1854, Mr. Gibson
made a fresh motion concerning the laws affecting the press, and
received a promise that the subject should receive the early attention
of the House; and in 1855, Sir G.C. Lewis, then chancellor of the
exchequer, who had hitherto opposed the repeal of the duty, brought in a
bill for its abolition. After a struggle in both Houses the measure
passed, and received the royal assent on the 15th of June.
In following up this final struggle, we have passed over one important
period, the railway mania in 1845, which gave birth to no less than
twenty-nine newspapers, entirely occupied with railway intelligence, in
London, besides many others in the provinces. Only two of these have
survived, for the other two railway newspapers which still exist were
established before that memorable madness fell upon the nation. Of
these, Herapath's _Journal_ is the oldest and best, and is the oracle of
the Stock Exchange on railway matters. There are some slight symptoms of
the madness returning in the present year, as far at least as the
metropolis is concerned, and one new railway journal has just been
started in consequence. There are many amusing anecdotes told of
newspapers at this epoch, of which we will quote one. One of these
railway organs had published and paid for, from time to time, lengthy
and elaborate reports of the meetings of a certain company, supplied by
one of the staff of reporters. At length the editor told the reporter
that he thought it was high time for the company to give the paper an
advertisement, after all the favorable notices that bad been given to
the undertaking in question. The reporter acquiesced, and promised to
get the order for an advertisement, but putting it off from time to
time, the editor was induced to make inquiries for himself; whereupon he
had the extreme satisfaction of learning that no such company had ever
existed, and that the elaborate reports of meetings, speeches, etc., had
been entirely fabricated by his ingenious employé! An endeavor was made
last year to resuscitate one of these defunct daily journals, _The Iron
Times_, and Tommy Holt was the editor. It lingered for some weeks, and
then smashed utterly. The editor called the contributors together, and
told them that there was nothing to pay them with--nothing in fact
remained but the office furniture. 'Take that, my boys,' said he, 'and
divide it among you.' This was accordingly done, and one man marched off
with a table, another with a chair, a third with a desk, a fourth with
an inkstand, and so on!
When the stamp duty was abolished as a tax, it remained optional with
the publishers to have any number of their issue stamped they pleased
for transmission through the poet. The number of stamps thus issued in
the first six months after the repeal was 21,646,688, whereas the number
in the corresponding period of 1854, when the tax still existed, was
55,732,499. The number of stamps issued in the year 1854 to the
principal newspapers was as follows: _Times_, 15,975,739; _Morning
Advertiser_, 2,392,780; _Daily News_, 1,485,099; _Morning Herald_,
1,158,000; _Morning Chronicle_, 873,500; _The Globe_, 850,000; and _The
Morning Post_, 832,500. Of the weeklies, _The Illustrated London News_
was then the second, 5,627,866; _The News of the World_, a Liberal,
unillustrated journal, started in 1843, standing first, with 5,673,525
(the price of this paper is now reduced to twopence, and it is an
admirably conducted journal); Lloyd's _Weekly Newspaper_, 5,572,897;
_The Weekly Times_, price one penny, 3,902,169; Reynolds's _Weekly
Newspaper_, also a penny journal, which is best described by the epithet
'rabid,' 2,496,256; _The Weekly Dispatch_, price fivepence, an advanced
Liberal journal, which is emphatically the workingman's newspaper, and
originally started in 1801, 1,982,933; Bell's _Life in London_,
1,161,000. Of the provincial newspapers, _The Manchester Guardian_ heads
the list with 1,066,575, followed by _The Liverpool Mercury_, with
912,000, and _The Leeds Mercury_, with 735,000. Foremost among the
Scotch newspapers stands _The North British Advertiser_, with 808,002;
and the Irish paper with the largest circulation was _The Telegraph_,
with 959,000. Of the London literary papers the chief was _The
Examiner_, with 248,560. With one or two exceptions, the circulation of
these journals may be considered to have increased enormously. There are
now published in Great Britain 1,350 different newspapers, of which 240
are London papers, 20 being dailies, 776 English provincial papers, 143
Irish, 140 Scotch, 37 Welsh, and 14 are published in the British Isles.
Many of these enjoy but a limited circulation, as naturally follows from
the narrow limit they assign to themselves. Thus several trades have
their special organs, as for instance, the grocers, the bakers, and even
the hairdressers among others.
Before concluding this article it will be well to notice a few of the
leading journals which have not been mentioned. _The Daily Telegraph_
was originally started at twopence, in 1855, by Colonel Sleigh, but he,
getting behindhand with his printers to the amount of £1,000, sold them
the paper for another £1,000, and in their hands it has since remained.
The price was reduced to a penny, and, under the new management, its
circulation rapidly increased. _The Standard_ dealt a heavy blow at it
in 1858, by coming out suddenly one morning, without any previous
warning, as a double sheet. This first number was given away in the
streets, in vast quantities, thrown into omnibuses and cabs, pitched
into shops and public houses, and so on. The sale of _The Telegraph_ so
decreased that it was found necessary to enlarge it to the same size as
_The Standard_, when its circulation rose again immediately. It has now
the largest circulation in the world, more than 100,000 daily, a much
larger London circulation than _The Times_, though a smaller provincial
and foreign sale; and its clear profits are variously stated by persons
who profess to be well informed, at different sums, the least of which
is £20,000 a year. The chief causes of its success are its independent
and uncompromising tone, the great pains it takes to gain early
intelligence--it has frequently anticipated _The Times_ itself in
foreign news--and the vigorous and able social articles of Mr. George
Augustus Sala. _The Daily News_ was started as a Liberal and Reform
journal in 1846. An enormous sum of money was sunk in establishing it,
for it was not at first successful. Charles Dickens was the first
editor, but politics were not much in the line of the genial and
unrivalled novelist, and he was soon succeeded by John Forster and
Charles Wentworth Dilke, whose connection with the South Kensington
Museum and the great Exhibition has made him a knight, a C. B., and a
very important personage. _The Daily News_ is now one of the ablest and
most successful of London journals, and has had and still enjoys the
assistance of the best writers of the day in every department. The line
which this journal has always maintained toward America will forever
earn it the admiration and gratitude of the United States. Another firm
friend of the great republic is _The Morning Star_, the organ of Mr.
Bright and the Manchester school, started in 1856. In addition to its
political claims, it has a great hold upon the public as a family
newspaper, by the careful manner in which everything objectionable is
excluded from its columns. Its twin sister, born at the same time, is
called _The Evening Star_. _Bell's Life in London_, a weekly journal,
was originally brought out in 1820, and, although it has more than one
successful rival to contend against, it still maintains its preëminence
as the first English sporting paper. It is very carefully edited, each
department being placed under a separate editor, and is the great oracle
in all matters relating to sports and games. The history of one of the
ablest contributors to this journal, who wrote some most charming
articles on fly-fishing and other kindred topics, under the signature of
'Ephemera'--though he was said never to have thrown a fly in his
life--is a very sad one. His name was Fitzgerald, a man of good family
and connections, married to a lady with £1,200 a year, and living in a
good house at the West End. But the alcoholic demon had got hold of him.
He would disappear for days together, and then suddenly present himself
at the office of the paper with nothing on but a shirt and trousers. He
would then sit down and write an article, receive his pay, go away and
purchase decent clothes, return home, and live quietly perhaps for a
month, when he would--to use a prison phrase--break out again as before.
He was last seen, in the streets of London, in a state of complete
intoxication, being carried upon a stretcher by two policemen to the
police cell, where he died the same night.
At the head of the Sunday papers stands _The Observer_, founded in 1792.
Like _The Globe_, it is extremely well informed upon all political
matters, for very good reasons. It spares no expense in obtaining early
news, and is an especial favorite with the clubs. _The Era_ is the great
organ of the theatrical world, but joins to that _specialité_ the
general attributes of an ordinary weekly journal. It was established in
1837. _The Field_, which calls itself the country gentleman's newspaper,
is all that it professes to be, and a most admirable publication,
treating of games, sports, natural history, and rural matters generally.
It was started by Mr. Benjamin Webster, the accomplished actor manager,
in 1853. But to particularize the principal papers, even in a short
separate notice of a few lines, would far transgress the limits at our
disposal. All the professions are well supplied with journals devoted to
their interests, and it is impossible here to dwell upon them or those
which represent literature and the fine arts. With regard to religious
papers, their name is legion, and they would require a separate article
to be fairly and honestly considered. _Punch_, too, and his rivals, dead
and living, are in the same category, and must, however reluctantly, be
passed over. Two curiosities, however, of the press must be mentioned.
_Public Opinion_ was started about two years and a half ago. It
consisted of weekly extracts from the leading articles of English and
foreign journals, and scraps of news, and other odds and ends. It has
succeeded mainly from its cost of production being so slight, owing to
its paste-and-scissors character, and also because it freely opens its
columns to correspondents _de rebus omnibus_, who are willing to buy any
number of copies for the pleasure of seeing themselves in print. _The
Literary Times_, in addition to reviews of books, professed to criticize
the leading articles in the various papers, but, after an existence of
some six months or so, one Saturday morning _The Literary Times_ was
_non est inventus_.
In concluding this series of articles, which has run to a much greater
length than he originally intended, the writer is conscious of many
shortcomings and omissions, which he trusts will be pardoned and
overlooked when his principal object is borne in mind. That object has
been to give a general outline of the history of the press, and
especially of its struggles against 'the powers which be;' and, though
tempted now and again--he fears too often for the patience of his
readers--to wander away into particularities, he has always endeavored
to keep that object in view. Above all, he hopes he has at least been
successful in showing the truth of that sentiment which was first
publicly expressed as a toast at a Whig dinner, at the Crown and Anchor
tavern, in 1795: 'The liberty of the press--it is like the air we
breathe--if we have it not, we die!'