The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-02 00:00:00

NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENCE.

The New York papers has the following remarks on the
a atonemnent Cot the Emperor of Germany has conferred tde
Inn Cross upon Dr. W. 11. Russell, the well-known foreign
corrcspondent : -

This fact sets in a clear light the general and hearty
recognition accorded to this department of modern
journalism. Great statesmen and warriors in all ages
have shown apeculiar solicitude about the record- either
contemporary or posthumous—of their achievements.
Among all the exuberant vanity which exudes as it
were at every pore of Cicero's fsuniliar correspondence,
no trait is nose noteworthy than the anxious per-
sistence with which he urges certain literary friends
to write the history of his consulship. His self-
esteem might have been soothed by the reflection
that the very men to whose skilful transmission he
wished to intrust his fame would be known to posterity
chiefly or solely by the fact of his request. But con-
temporary reputation has to many souls the crowning
merit of present and vivid enjoyment, as new wine may
make up for the body and ripeness of the older and more
generous liquor by the intoxicating sparkle and sweet-
ness if the new. Even the rugged dignity of the
;email Coisar is not proof against the pleasant com-
placency of seeing his glory fitly heralded to two of the
greatest nations in both hemispheres, and, like the
eloquent Roman, he may lie excused for forgetting that
in tune to come the personal influence of the teller will
be merged in the interest of the tale. But the rewling
public, no less than the lairo, is in debt to the writer
•.f the FA.ry. Too great weight can hardly be hail ii
these stirring times on the merits awl niciency of a
clever, judicious, and energetic MlTeq wdent. While
many men are dependent on others even in making up
thew opinions upon given facts, all, without exception,
us mire special and technical assistance in collecting,
arranging, fitly presenting the facts themselves. Most
nice, ten, are shy of generalties awl reflection, and love
rather the particular, the personal, aniltde pictureisme.
Their appreciation is dramatic, not philosophic. That
winch is reasoned or expounded leaves on the memory
faint traces or none ; that which is painted or smug
remains. Just such a service the aide correspondent
renders to the mass I,f the readers. lie may see hitti
at a time, but he sees directly, awl delineates with fore,
like Cursor he may write re,ti, idi, and, in view of his
power over his readers, tin ias well. Nor is his agency
m generalizing and condensing facts of mean import-
ance. We may and often must trust him to philoso-
phize on as well ILK to describe the phenomena of
which he alone has personal knowledge, and the deduc-
tions of a keen ;mil thoughtful correspondent in Lon-
don or Paris may be of noire value to us than all the
bewildering mass of indigesteil fact in the columns of
the European journals. Journalists at large will wel-
come in the honour done to their briliant and versa-
tile colleague a well-deserved compliment to their pro-
fession, and will wish that a testimonial so exceptional
may help to raise the tone and stimulate the efficiency
of a most laborious and useful class.