The Express.
London, England, 1847-07-08 00:00:00

THE “TIMES" ON DEAR NEWSPAPERS.

THAT the Times should struggle hard to maintain a
price which yields it a princely income is intelligible
on principles, though not of a high order, yet not
very reprehensible if the struggle be maintained on
fair pretences. With that magnificence of self-asser-
tion which puffs its own wares after the extravagant
fashion of the Minories we cannot, after all, be very
seriously angry—because of a kind of ludicrous'
good faith that mingles with the commercial
intention. The Times, we are assured, really does
occasionally believe that it is a " thunderer ; and
nods and winks with an air which it would be
cynical not to enjoy. There is a simplicity about the
boasts of the Times peculiarly that paper's own. The
self-laudations of Punch may be thought to have
some touch of it ; but our friend Punch wears his
vanity with an essential " difference." It is Punch's
especial vocation to make men wise through
laughter ; and that skilful jester assumes, there-
fore, at times, a pompons air of self-respect, and
talks of his own influential doings after a
fashion which, he assures us, makes her Majesty
and Paine ALBERT roar at the breakfast table.
and awakens, of course, the merry echoes of the
lieges. But the Times does the very same thing in
sober seriousness,—and often, we dare say, with the
same effect. The Times mouths its magniloquence in
a suit of sables—not motley ; and has no more intention
to be laughed at than Matadi° had in cross-garters,
when it 'declares it is " proud to think that England
is proud of its Times!" There is almost as much
of cony conviction as of mercantile deliberateness
in its insinuation that mankind can scarcely
be too " extravagantly taxed for the
posses-
sion and use of the first journal in the world
and, therefore, should not grudge it fivepence,
that it may fatten on its greatness.—Neither are we
disposed to quarrel very seriously with this great
journal's depreciation of its neighbours; because that
fact is a natural corollary from the first—the common
device of both the chapman and the braggart These
matters are comparatively harmless,—because the
world knows how to make allowance for them :
but the falsification of accounts is another matter—
and has a name both in trade and morals which men
do not use for laughter. All forms of its exposure
should be promoted : and we will quote from our con-
temporary, the Chronicle, in reference to that matter,
some remarks which at the same time furnish an
amusing illustration of the management of the Times:
The Times alone, of all the morning journals, publishes a
' supplement, which costs a half penny for the " stamp" and
more than • half-penny for the " paper." This supplement,
however, which is with our contemporary a necessary evil, is
the real cause of his annoyance. The supplement of the
Times is • single sheet, is which those advertisements
which are thought of least account are stowed away in a
mass, without any adventitious attraction, except some
fag-end of an obscure disquisition carried over ftom the
other part of the paper, with the ingenious design of
alluring a stray reader now and then to take up that
very sheet for which he has paid his extra penny.
The supplement, it is very well known, is mere dead
weight. The newsvenders would sell the paper with-
out it if they were not prohibited from doing so by
law. Sold however as it is, by compulsion, it shows all
the signs of a forted circulation. Let the paper be opened
where it may, at the breakfest-table or in the railway car-
riage, the supplement is sure to sink down disregarded.
Not one reader in a dozen glances into it. Look into a club
or a coffee house, and while the sheet containing the news
goes about from hand to hand, the supplement is always to
be seen lying in a corner, as neat sad unrufiled as when it
came from the hands of the newsman. This heavy ap?en-
dage our contemporary has to carry in the best way he
can ; and, while he does so, the Times cannot be sold for
fourpence without less upon the sale. Here is the rub. 11'1
there be, as beyond all doubt there is, a new circulation
to be obtained by a reduction of price, or if the existing cir-
culation can be more evenly divided, the Times is shut out
from the competition. Our contemporary's plethora of ad-
vertisements has its inconveniences. It condemns him to
see a new field opened to the enterprise of rival journals, and
to watch passively the result of • movement from
which he may loot much, and can gain nothing.

Our readers may possibly think that the " plethora"
of the Times has its conveniences as well as inconve-
niences ; and that that journal must be very covetous
indeed to complain of its non-share in adrantages
from which it is debarred on so adrantageous a
ground. The man who grumbled at the excessive
amount of his income-tax is a fitting parallel for the
Times.

Meantime, we congratulate the Chronicle on its
conversion to the faith that "beyond all doubt there
is a new circulation to be obtained by a reduction of
price" in newspapers—and its more recent dis-
covery that an " assault " like that of the Times
" is a conclusive proof, if any were needed,
that the intended reduction of price is based
upon the soundest calculation." We taught
that doctrine ourselves when the Chronicle com-
bined with the Times to crush us;—and we are
glad of a distinguished convert. We entirely
agree, too, with the Chronicle, that it is unneces-
sary for it to defend " either its commer-
cial or political reputation " against the charges or
insinuations of a paper like the Times. England,
says the Malcolm of newspapers, requires a
thoroughly independent press for the protec-
tion of its liberties ; and the in*lence which
accompanies this announcement would amount
to burlesque, were it wholesome that men should
let their indignation slumber or, such a subject
and dare to enjoy themselves or, ground so vicious.
This—from a paper owing ita success to the mean-
ness with which, on all possible questions, great
or small, it has dogged the heels of public opinion—
turning with all its turnings, and rejoicing ever in its
shadow—till all over Europe it has been de-
nounced as a panderer to the lowest preju-
dices of the ralgarest minds! And why has
the Times so pandered? Because the prejudiced,

1 the vulgar, and the ignorant, are the grades.
number; and that paper has ever counted—as now
it persists in counting—its suocess by pence not prin-
. clizie--by personal profit derived, not public good
dene. "It is cool enough," says the Chronicle, in a
journal wt;!'" keeps up only a forensic acquaintance
with principle, u a part of the machinery of trade,
to lecture anybody upon character." "It has
rimmed into a 'allied belief," says the same
per " that except upon the Poor-law [and we dis-
believe the exception] the Times has no opinions at
all. He may be anything. this week, and anything
else the next. He puts principles off and on like his
glove ; and whether the prevailing rage be reform
excitement or conservative reaction, hostility to a free-
trade budget or hostility to a corn-law, Paseyite ex-
travagance or no-Popery prejudice, his passions,
thoughts, eloquence, seem ready to flow along with
every temporary current of opinion."—Whyrthe gross
and notorious profligacy of the Times is a part of the
stock in trade of the Daily News. It was at once an
incitement to our undertaking, and a cause of our
success. The wish to defeat the immorality of power
by a powerful and honest competition gave a motive
to our endeavours in the outset, courage in the pro-
gress—and ensures a triumph in the end.
As to that end—say what it will to hide the fears
which its acts betray—the Times does not deceive itself.
" We do not mind cheap newspapers at all,"—says the
Times to its readers, like a great schoolboy with its
finger in its mouth.—lt rather thinks cheap news-
papers do it good. Why, then, is the Times so
furious against cheap newspapers ? The fact is, the
wrath of the Times is enkindled yet more by
what it sees surely coming than by what
has come. "We have not," says that journal, in
allusion to ourselves, "lost one subscriber, one copy of
our sale, or one advertisement, through the experi-
ment which has now had more than a twelvemonth's
trial." Perhaps not :—but the association of which
you formed a part has. The attack of the new prin-
ciple, of course, told first upon the weakest points of
the phalanx that defended the old :—and dare the
Times count aloud all that has been lost to the cause?
Every point carried brings the invasion nearer to the
Times itself:—and when that full share of the public
advertisements which must follow a circulation like
ours shall enable us to do battle with that journal in
all respects on even terms—which principle does the
Times think will prevail? That paper sees the
end now as clearly as we have seen it all
along—looks forward to the day when it will be left
alone in the grandeur of its fivepenny aristocracy,
and has an evolution ready for the occasion. Let
England be comforted :—its " pride" shall not be rift
from it. The Times will be no martyr toe principle—
no newspaper Means aitting lonely amid the ruins I
of its fivepence. We give the world our positive
promise that it shall have " its Times" at a reduced
price. " We belong to the public!"—the Times will say
hereafter; as it says to-day when particularly look-
ing after itself. The Times shall be a " Cheap
John :"—and they who know its bad history and are
familiar with the shameless manceuvres of that jour-
nal may expect to see it, ere many years be past,
" selling its wares" a figure lower than most of its
rivals can, and asserting its claim to public support
as the originator of the CHEAP NEWSPAPER PrasS.

The Paris journals and one correspondence of
Tuesday have reached us.
A new incident is about to give an unexpected turn
to the affair of the mines of Gouhenans. M. Pellaprat,
one of the four accused of corruption, absconded
from Paris on the day preceding the trial. Gen.
Cubieres, on his part, has declared that he had never
made any offers, or given M. Testa any consideration
for services he might be asked to perform. General
Cubieres admits, however, that he had had the idea at
one time of trying means of corruption with that
minister, but had not done so. That idea, he says,
was in his mind, in consequence of some conversations
he had had with M. Pellaprat, who wished him to
do it, and had taken all the shares to himself.

The whole case thus falls to the ground; and the
accusation, made against M. Teste, of having been
corrupt, as well as the double accusation of sacra-
querie and attempt at corruption, directed against
General Cubieres, have ended in nothing.
General Menu, hitherto governor of Constantine,
in Algeria, is appointed governor-general ad interim
of the colony.
The French government received by telegraph on
Sunday, from Madrid, the intelligence that, by a con-
vention made between the general-in-chief of the I
Spanish army, and delegates sent from the junta at
Oporto, the allied troops had taken possession of that
city on the 30th June.
The report of the intention of government to present
to the Chamber a project of law for raising a loan of
three hundred millions of francs, which was circulated
last week, and produced sensible effect on the Bourse,
proves to be without foundation. At least, the pro-
ject, if it were entertained at all, is postponed for the
present session. For full particulars, we refer to our
railway department
A most gorgeous fite -hampetre was given, on
Monday evening, in the park of Vincennes, and in the
château, by the 'Duke and 'Duchess of Montpensier.
The number of guests entertained amounted to three
thousand. Nothing could exceed the splendour of
this entertainment. Millions of lamps of all colours
were suspended in festoons and arches on the trees ;
military trophies were tastefully displayed; brilliant
fireworks were exhibited ; and the scene was kept for a
considerable interval illuminated with Bengal lights.
All the younger members of the royal family now in
Paris were present, as well as Queen Maria Christina
and her suite, the corps cliploniatigue, &c.

ROME, Jana 28.
We have been going too fast here, and much diffi-
culty is found in putting on the drag chain to the
political wheel. A diaagreable collision was nearly
experienced this week, and it required all the sagacity
of Gizzi to keep clear of a crash
knidts
reitats rota. _
- -

The mob, under the guidance of Cieeroaechio, have
begun to show clear symptoms of unmanageable wil-
fulness, and hence the mingled command and entreaty
of the Pontiff in his edict of the 22d instant, depre-
cating assemblies of the people for the future. The
mock " Cicero" above-mentioned, whom I knew for
years u a cart-driver in town, of formidable temper,
is a fellow very capable of mischief, if once he is
told the story of Aniello or Wet Tyler, about whom
be knows happily no more than about his great name-
sake, whom he probably suspects to have been some
"gran' cardinals" of olden time.
A sullen growl is heard against the edict. Those
who mingle much among the genuine Romans (with
whom the majority of our visitors scarce ever come in
contact) are fully aware of their imperious, haughty,
bloodthirsty determination to gain any object to
which they once think themselves entitled ; and it is
hard to say what millennium of popular triumphs and
predominance they may not have contemplated as
due to them under the new order of things. Some-
thing of this sort has flitted across the mind of your
correspondent in recording from time to time our pub-
lic demonstrations here. He has recollected the

words of Victor Hugo, Bpeking of an old Roman
custom, the mono libera" to kings—aux rois de
l'Europe.
su concert Jove= de la Ike Sphomkra,
Se Kerte Ic eri sour du tigre pcgulaire,
Qui n'attend que demi], !.
"To the popular tiger, its prey is decreed;
And the maw of republican hunger will feed
On your kinphips to-morrow r'—Frarcr, rot XS, p. 104.
- - - -

Let us hope for better things; that the incendiary
spirit may be laid; that each man will mind his owa
business, and nothing mom inflammatory ensue than
Falstaff 's " burnt sack, which "punch a la romaine"
he prayed might " be the Lome" of all such misander-
standings.
Gizzi was compelled to give a flat refusal yesterday
to a distinguished eommtttee who had projected a
monster concert is the theatre of Torre di Nonna:
he required a detailed programme of words, musio,
singers, &c. &c., before be would allow any more
such public celebration of the amnesty. They me-
morialised his holiness, who wrote the following
billet to the governor of Rome last evening. It is a
nut which your readers may crack for themselves.
27 Juigno, 1847.
A Moneig. Clovern.—Conosciuti i apartiti e lette le parole,
—che el aoppongano moderate—come moderato nella gran'
mama a it lodt.y.liadmo popolo romano—permetta.
P;o, PAPA, IX.
The grand colossal group to be erected in the
Piazza del Popolo, at the exclusive cost, as I told
you, of the Roman nobility, is nearly ready, and is
creditable to the taste of the Milaneee sculptor Bizzi.
The mitre of Cork has not been placed by Propa-
ganda on the brow of Thcobald Mathew, not because
of any hostility felt here to his views 9a the use of

,ionsnotwhirecechivß°me honour from
t alcohol—view, ie:d
caonndfeerxeortn
as:viref,iated and been proud of; not from any a.ubi
is eminent qualifications of mind and heart;
• vizsl rank, but simply mere elm, because he had not
the vote of Casti.:.ls metropolitan Dr. Slattery, who
happened to hoM the proxies of two absent bishops
(Foran of Waterford, and French of Kilfenora), who.,
presence at and cognizance of the Cork scrutiny
might have altered the result. The Bishop of Kerry
did not vote at all, and the oldeat bishop and Moot
judicious of the province, Dr. Ryan, of Limerick,
voted for father Mathew. Since the rescript of 1829
(a sort of Irish coneordal), Rome has never reversed
the verdict of an episcopal majority, however clear was
the parochial preference in the firat ballot urn. As it
happens, it is, perhaps, well that the illustrious friar
does not

-
ars up te cork what was meant for mankind,
since that diocese has had the lock to obtain in its
new dignitary Dr. Delany, a profound theologian, a
mild and kindly man, full of common sense as well as
brimful of zeal, sad in a ()Met way of his own as
shrewdly humouring as thr. Dr, Delany of Swift.
I went yesterday (Sunday) to the cbsrch of St,
Andrea della Valle to see tie preparations for the
funeral rites of Mr. O'Connell, which were described
as of a most costly character, the Pope himself
having contributed to the subscription. On entwine,
I found about 30 workmen, with liege brushes, en-
gaged in rubbing out and covering with fresh pear
the former memorial of one who had originally erects!
this wooden structure, a ratafalque of 60 feet high,
with a statue of Religion on the top. Being naturally
curious to know who was the important personage
who had enjoyed the maiden prerogative of
the architectural timber they reproduced, after having
lain for so many years in a lumber-yard, to be thus
represented to the public of Rome, I found, on exa-
mining the defaced inscriptions that the original oc-
cupant of the califalque was a singularly uncongenial
person, the grandmother of Dyce Sombre, the old
Begum of Sombroo, which had been primarily erected
a dozen years ago in the church of St. Carlo. All the
interest which attaches itself to a Palimpsest MS.
was aroused on this occasion, it generally appearing
that some classic fragment is traceable on the rch-
ment before it becomes the recipient of a holy father;
but in this instance the revulsion of sentiment was un-
controllable. Every one knows who the 13egum was,
though her legacies to the church were most muni-
ficent; her grandson, or son, or stepson (for she was
first a dancing girl, and lived to be eight,), is known
as a complete jackass ; but her own atrocities in India
are current at Leadenhall-hall.

Crudelia muter mania m (Maus putt !
Ilk put Wik! Crudelip to quaque mater'
On the occasion of her obsequies at Rome a dozen
years ago, Dr. Wiseman preached a sensible (printed)
discourse, in which, aware of the old lady's
peculiarities, he was guarded enough in praise.
Indeed he has shown how conversant he is
in Indian knowledge by his letter to Poynder,
the only witty thing he ever wrote. The old timber
mausoleum, for which Dyce Sombre paid, and which
was fished up from the lumber-yard where it had
reposed, for the nonce, made a goodly show to-day,
and the wooden statue of Religion which originally
crowned the catafalque, was aloft to-day amid an
equal concourse of the priesthood and the faithful.
NI iseman had bees cautious in his panegyric of the
lady, but Ventura worked like a 40-horse power of
eulogy.