On 16 June 1876 Edwin Pears of Constantinople contributed to the "Daily News" the first of a series of letters, which appeared on 23 June, describing the Batak massacre and other atrocities. Robinson sent out an American journalist, Januarius Aloysius MacGahan, who was accompanied by Eugene Schuyler, the American consul-general in Turkey, to make inquiries. Pears's charges were corroborated. In 1887 Robinson became titular editor, the actual night editing being carried on chiefly by Peter William Clayden. In 1893 he was knighted on the recommendation of William Ewart Gladstone. The fortunes of the "News" meanwhile declined. During the Second Boer War in South Africa (1899–1902), Robinson's sympathies were with the Boers. The proprietors changed the policy of the paper to a support of the war, without restoring its prosperity. Then the policy was again reversed by new proprietors, but Robinson resigned in February 1901.