The Sun.
London, England, 1837-01-31 00:00:00

EXPRESSES AND EXPRESS

HUMBUGS.

(From the Carlisle Journal.)
Amongst the many things vviiielt a severe attack of the
intiuenit! ._:onipelled us to leave undone last week, was the
leaving unnoticed She wonderful exertions made by some
of the London newspapt!r proprietors to furnish early re-
ports of Sir Robert Peel's speech at Glasgow. The stuff
uttered was certainly not worth the trouble. But that is
beside the question : curiosity had been excited in the pub-
lic mind to learn what he did say, and it was creditable
to the enterprise and spirit of the parties to expend such
vast sums of money in gratifying that curiosity. There
were in all, we believe, five or six sets of reporters con-
nected with the London press—each set travelling by ex-
press, at a cost, probably, of about 300/. each ; whilst the
extra sale of each paper would not. in all probability, ex-
ceed 40/. each. To the uninitiated thLr must appear a poor
return for so vast an expenditure ; but the gain is in the end
—in the reputation which the paper acqu;res, and the confi-
dence it creates in the public mind, that the paper will be
sure to supply it with the earliest intelligence upon all
questions of interest. This induces hundreds to become
permanent subscribers, and thus in the long ran the propri-
etors are remunerated for their outlay of capital. The
greatest feat was performed by the Express of our friend
Mr. Young, the spirited proprietor of The Sun. He had
his reporters stationed at Glasgow, who, as quickly as pos-
sible, transcribed their notes for the printer ; these were
securely packed in a box or bag, and buckled on the back
of a light weight, who, mounted on one of the best steeds
which could be procured (and Sir R. Peel has c( h s:ended
to assure us that the Scotch steeds are " humble, though
faithful'') set off at a rattling pace, making light of the "slang
Scotch miles" which lay before him. At the end of each
six or nine miles, a fresh steed and a fresh rider were in rea-
diness, and the despatches being transferred from the shoul-
der of one rider to that of the other, the gallop was re-
newed with fresh vigour, and under the influence of a feel-
ing of rivalry, and the hope of additional reward. And thus
was the journey of 400 and odd miles accomplished in the
incredibly short period of about 2.5 hours. This express ar-
rived in this city soon after four o'clock on Saturday morn-
ing—having been brought by that primest of equestrians,
Ned Stevenson, upon a pony belonging to Mr. Teesdale, of
the Black Bull inn, from Gretna, nine miles, in 25 minutes!
To Penrith (18 miles) it was taken in an hour and ten mi-
nutes. On The Sun express reaching London, at one
o'clock on Sunday morning, it was immediately printed, and
re-expressed to all parts of the country, as well as to Paris,
and all the principal cities on the continent. This is a feat
wholly unprecedented in the annals of newspaper enter-
prise ; and Mr. Young may well feel pride in having ac-
complished it.
Another feat accomplished on the same day, and on the
same occasion, is just now making a great noise amongst
our brethren of the broad-sheet. This is the pretended
publication of a report of Sir R. Peel's speech in London on
the Saturday (the day following its delivery in Glasgow)by
the Morning Herald. A copy of that paper, bearing the
London date of Saturday, the 14th inst., and its usual
London imprint, and containing a full report of Sir Robert
Peel's speech at Glasgow on the preceding night, was cer-
tainly published, for a copy of it is now before us, and
reached Carlisle on Sunday night, the 15th, about 10
o'clock—the express having, it was said, travelled 700 miles
in 45 hours, besides allowing time for transcribing notes and
printing !
Our brethren of the broad-sheet have one and all scouted
the thing as a hoax, and many have been the conjectures
formed as to the mode of its accomplishment. Some have
said that the speech was printed in Carlisle, others' have
fixed Manchester as the locality whence the spurious pro-
duction issued. The Herald, however, persists in its in-
sinuation (for it dares not say so in express terms) that the
speech was printed in London on the Saturday. The
cunning caitiff is " cunning of fence."
" Thus saith the Duke, thus bath the Duke inferred,
But nothing speaks in warrant from himself."
This is miserable shuffling, and still more miserable lying,
however—saint though " Granny" professes to be. She
says her paper containing the speech was not printed in
Carlisle, nor in Manchester. True ; it was not. But it
was printed in Kendal, which is only forty-four miles south
of Carlisle ; and the petty hucksters have neither the
honesty nor the manliness to avow it. It was a trick played
off to gull fools. Three pages of the paper were piinted
off in London, and despatched to Kendal, where
the Herald reporters arrived on Saturday, and by
dint of hard labour on Saturday, and nearly the
whole of Sunday, the wonderful feat, which was to
astonish the world, was accomplished. The trick was
dishonest, because it is an attempt to gull the public into
a belief that the work was done in London on the Satur-
day ; and it was disreputable, because it is a mean attempt
to deprive Mr. Young of the credit really due to him for
a great deed actually accomplished. As a mere instance
of exertion, it is eontemptible. There was no merit what-
ever in performing the work. More, much more -was so"
complished by the Glasgow press and the common mail-
Through the polite attention of Mr. Graham, of our Post-
office, we were favoured with a copy of a Glasgow paper,
which arrived on the Saturday evening in the regular
course of post, about half-past five, and soon after eight
o'clock, we had printed and distributed in all parts of this
city some hundreds of copies of the entire speech—twenty
hours at least before the spurious Herald saw the light of day.
So much for expresses and express humbugs, and cer-
tainly the greatest piece of humbug we have witnessed for
some time is the humbug hoax of the Morning Herald.

THE GAMBLER'S DREAM.—We are requested to
announce that the New Novel of " The Gambler's Dream,"
in three volumes, is published (this day) by Mr. Bull, 19,
Holles-street, Cavendish-square, and may now be procured at
every bookseller's and respectable library throughout the
kingdom ; where also may be had, just published, in one
volume, " Indian Reminiscences," by the late G. A. Ad-
dison, Esq.
The Prussian Minister, Baron Bulow, arrived in
town yesterday, from Brighton, and in the evening, accom-
panied by Count Seekendorff, joined the dinner party at
Lord Palmerston's.

Lord and Lady Heytesbury have distributed their
annual bounty of clothing and coals to the poor of the
neighbourhood of Heytesbury, 'Wilts. The Hon. Capt.
A'Court, R.N., has also largely contributed to their pe-
cuniary wants.

T. COX SAVORY, Goldsmith, &c., 47, Corolla),
London, informs the Public, that he has a considerable variety of
SECOND-HAND GOLD WATCHES, any of which he otfers
at EIGHT GUINEAS each. They have all been carefully ex-
amined, and are warranted.—Watches purchased in exchange.