The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-29 00:00:00

/

CATION
NEST
THE "DAILY
(From the Daily News.]
WEDSESDAY EvaNitso, OCT. 28, 1848.
d„,,,, obieet to which we briefly adverted yesterday
""';nulnaation of the morning papers against the
ii" ...! m.o It is one of great public as well as pri-
Dollt•"-- ; fir it must be obvious that if the parties
062.1 d in their object, there would be no other
ess," " eks pugs of the London newspaper than the
is sad supposed interests of the proprietors.
.eillokince
go nue, tells us that it loves opposition—nay,
it but then, it must be an opposition con-
alliall —,,,,:—th ld principles, and involvmg a hopeless
• ;,701. e ;bit the Times does noflove, is an
• .. „dice, honest opposition, which has in it
41. seeds of vitality. For a rivalry that may be
left to the element of mortality mixed np with
im e,ei.gisal constitution, the Times has the most
~mits indulgence : but one which has a new and
"tritons principle
Sr -- • le of health and life is to be met, at
by a direct and systematic persecution directed,
..tonstcw?' the new and
proofiple itaelf. Of these
~..a,,,,,"•—• the public had long a.go. When, for
• last-7--- , the Illorning Herald came into the hands of
its present rprictor, it was evident to the Times
that it was ikely to be a successful rivaL Forthwith,
sass cavilling and questionings, and objections ; and
the iferaid, on some
pretence or other, was not per-
mated to join with the other papers in expresses.
If a sii, it must run them at its own undivided cost.
months had, of necessity, to intervene between the
date of the exclusion and the period when the new and
remote agencies could be brought into play. In this
interval, the Times was unusually energetic • and there
was no term of scorn or derision :chit journal
did not lavish'on its dangerous rival : th a pur-
pose of which the public has now the key ;the pur-
pose bf prejudicing the public mind against the
Iferald, and inducing a belief that the latter was
always late with its news, and a day after the Times.
In this anxious and vehement assertion of the con-
trary did the Times cover its real apprehensions ;
which were that the Herald, when its policy should be
matured, and come to bear fruit, would be generally in
advance of the Times. And this did, in fact, happen.
When the Daily News came into the field, it was
unne• whit hastily assumed by the experienced in
• pnatag Banslmren that it was to be one of those
=hopeless expetiansatn which would die
slaughtering ; and therefore, it was allowed
to squander its thousands at its own free will, and
without a word of remonstrance. Of course the
Daily News united itself with the excommunicated
Herald ; on terms, however, of perfect equality, pay-
ing one half the expense of the foreign agencies and
expresses. Here, then, was the Herald restored to a
position of equal advantages, in spite of the Times;
and here was a fair and legitimate opposition—the
Times, the Chronicle and the Post, against the Herald
and the Daily News.
Well, for a time " all went merry as a marriage
bell." The co-operation of the Daily News and the
Herald was cordial and complete; and we took occa-
sion to bear public testimony to the freedom from all
petty jealousies which distinguished the conduct of
our ally. In the first flush of our success, while our
mechanical resources were yet inadequate to the
enormous demand made upon them, the effects of an
accident, which would have disappointed thousands of
our subscribers of their day's publication, were re-
paired by the prompt and generous assistance of the
Herald. We are not disposed to forget these ser-
vices even now, when we have no longer the benefit
of that co-operation and friendly rod; when our
former ally has forgotten all the scorn and contumely
which he endured in the past; when the scorner is
forgetful too, for the sake of vengeance on the pre-
sumption which has established the most formi-
dable rivalry ho has yet encountered—and Herald,
Times, Chronicle, and Post—
Little dogs and all—
Tray, Blanch, and Sweetheart—
are associated to run their expresses, so soon as cir-
cumstances permit, as a .joint-stock company, to the
exclusion of, and, if possible, to crush, the Daily News.
We will not say one word against our late colleague
beyond what circumstances enforce for our own justi-
fication. The Herald has perhaps acted naturally,
though we think shortsightedly, for its own supposed
interests. Wanting the courage to anticipate, by a
bold and timely movement, the redaction to which it
mast inevitably come—and is now likely to come too
late—the temptation which promised so large a light-
ening of its present load, and an opportunity so fa-
vourable of assisting to clear the ground of dangerous
opposition, was not to be resisted. We are scarcely
surpnsed, therefore, to see the Jupiter Timone of the
press and the Mrs. Harris of former days, in amiable
soft conjunction ; the Thunderer descending into the
bosom of his Dana° in a visionary shower of gold.
Nor does it fright us to see other quarrels forgotten
with like facility. We are satisfied to be the outcast
from this family of love ;—love for high prices and
cheap expresses, which mast seem all the lovelier for
our dear expresses and low prices.
Yet, however reluctant we may be to allude to per-
sonal matters and private arrangements, the history,
in outline, of the past three months must be told.
The origin of the separation and combination in
question we have already hinted at ; and the reader
would have been at no loss for conclusions had we
remained silent. The announcement of a London
morning newspaper at twopence halfpenny, nestled
others less generous and noble than our ally. It fore-
shadowed an opposition altogether different from that
which is the loved and courted. The offer of a cheap
London morning newspaper was a clear cams &M—
-ond the Daily Newt must be at once attacked, by fair
means and foul, in its character, credit, and relations.
Accordingly out came the Times, with solemn plausi-
bility, to prove, by the simplest rules of arithmetic,
that no paper could succeed under fivepence • that the
Daily News was virtually beggared, bankrupt, gone,
and to be no more heard of ! To those who know the
Tinier, it seemed strange that, the Daily News being
dead according to Cocker, a fact so simple and
obvious should require two leading articles in proof;
that a problem which was solved by the merest ele-
ments of arithmetic should be encumbered by columns
of elaborate special pleading. If the Times had any
faith in its own figures, the natural and conscientious
course was to abide the issue. If the Thunderer had
made no mistake, it was clear that " when the money
was gone the journal would die—and there an end:"
and a paper so inevitably doomed might surely have
been left to die in peace: the Times afterwards, like a
generous foe, giving it friendly burial, and with
sententious propriety writing its epitaph ; pointing
the moral and making it serviceable as a warning to
all future rash and daring competitors.
But the further tactics of the Times were not of a
character thus inept. A mauccuvre far more success-
ful than tampering with Cocker was, the formation of
a holy alliance amongst the members of the morning
press, for the maintenance of absolutism and the im-
maculate fivepence. A negotiation was accordingly
opened with the once rejected Herald. The oily voice
of " a commissioner" was heard, insinuating that
" 'Twas pity, so 'twits," that the Herald should go to
such needless expenses in the way of rival expresses
—had it not better join the league ? It would be
thinking too harshly of human nature, and, we are
convinced, both ungenerously and unjustly of our
ally, not to suppose that, at this moment, some still
small voice—some whisper of the conscience—asked,
however faintly—But what of the Daily News?
Here we understand the conference was broken eff.
But the suggestive voice had left its haunting echoes;
the poisonous distillation had been poured into the ear,
and was silently doing its work. From that hour
things never went pleasantly between the Herald and
the Daily News. Coming events began to cast their
shadows—and these to take a form daily more distinct.
The figure of the great truth grew at length apparent,
and was recognised by all agents, and influenced all sub-
ordinates; old associations were about to be broken
up and new ones formed. To our courteous remon-
strances were returned courteous regrets; but no
promise of redress.
Our India express of the Ned ult. brought matters to
issue. It arrived at the London-bridge terminus by ten
minutes after two, A.M. ; and was, therefore, delivered
at the Herald office before half-past two. The first pa-
ragraph of news reached the Daily News at a quarter
to four! The result was, that the Herald pub-
lished eight columns of India news in its whole
edition, while the Daily News was only able to
Five a summary, in one column—and that only
in its London impression. This was so obviously
unjust—it was so manifestly absurd to incur an
average expense of 400/. a month, for the sake of
advantages which were so unequally distributed—
that the proprietors of the Daily !rocs were com-
pelled seriously to remonstrate.