The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-27 00:00:00

THE NEWSPAPER PRESS.

From the Hull Advertiser of Wednesday we with
pleasure extract the following :
Beautifully genial and replete with old reminiscences—
the touching affectionateness of which must have made a
deep impression upon the hearts of his hearers—was the
speech made by Mr. Charles Dickens at the annual dinner
of the Newspaper Press Fund, which took place at the
Freemasons' Tavern, in London, on Saturday last. In
setting forth the claims of a charity of recent origin, but
well worthy of the liberal support of public men of all
parties and of all professions, Mr. Dickens very good-
naturedly said that he was not advocating the case of an
ordinary client—he was holding a brief for his brothers.
And in the hearty fraternity of feeling whiCh pervaded
what followed, consisted the great and peculiar charm of
the great novelist's speech. Mr. Dickens sketched—as
only himself could sketch it—his early career as a Parlia-
mentary reporter on the staff of the Morning Chronicle—
his nightly sufferings as one of the occupants of "the
old gallery in the old House of Commons"—his
express journeys from distant provincial towns
whither he had been sent to report the hustings
speeches of one or other of the great Whig luminaries of
that day, in the course of which he had been upset "in
almost every description of vehicle known in this country."
The art which Mr. Dickens practised so successfully then
has still charms for him, for he believes he could resume it
"to-morrow" were there any necessity for it. And then
there was a word or two of most kindly reminiscence of as
large a hearted man as ever breathed in the atmosphere of
a newspaper office—Mr. John Black, for many years the
editor of the Morning Chronicle. It was neverour good fortune
to be able to write a sentence in shorthand or to take a note
verbatim of any speech, no matter where delivered ; but
still we have been present at many an interesting debate
in the " Old House of Commons," and have also had many
a midnight interview with John Black and his big dog in a
room full of books, piles of papers, and pamphlets, all covered
with dust, and lighted by two candles in tin candlesticks co-
vered above with green shades—thus showing that we have
some claim to commend with authority these references of
Mr. Dickens to a bygone period in the history of the news-
paper press. Mr. Black was a Scotchman, a large, un-
gainly man, utterly careless as to his appearance—who
might then have been found any Saturday, that being his
leisure day, rummaging one or other of the old book shops
in remote parts of London in search of old Whig pamph-
lets, and especially of De Foe's writings, of which he had
a great collection. He was the personal friend of all the
then contributors to the Edinburgh Review, was well read
in the literature of Germany, and was one of the most in-
structive talkers and one of the most kindhearted men that
we ever met with. He was as simple, as natural, and as
communicative as the finest specimen of a schoolboy. We
also well remember in those days the interest excited by
the appearance of the first " Sketches by Boz" in
the columns of the Morning Chronicle, and some-
what later the amusing references made to
the supposed clever caricature of the now forgotten
threatened duel between the then Sir Henry Harding° and
the late Joseph Hume, in the first number of Pickwick.
But in mentioning Mr. Black's name in connection with
newspaper express reporting in those days, we should bo
most ungrateful if we omitted an affectionate mention of
the name of one who did much more than the Editor of
the Morning Chronicle to convey to every part of the
kingdom the latest intelligence.. The pioneer in that
branch of newspaper business was Murdo Young, the then
proprietor of The Sun newspaper—a gentleman of the
greatest energy and indomitable courage, but who never
succeeded in extricating himself from the difficulties in
which early newspaper embarassments involved him.
Mr. Young spared no expense in expressing early edi-
tions of The Sun to all parts of the kingdom, and in
the publication of late editions of the paper it was
not untisual with him to cause a member of Parlia-
ment to have handed to him the first part of the speech in
print which he was then in the very act of delivering. It
is little to the credit of the great Liberal party that one
who served them so long, so faithfully, and in many re-
spects so efficiently as Murdo Young should be left unpro-
vided for in his old age. We knew him long and well ;
and we over found him to be a man of generous and kindly
impulses—ever delighted to encourage youthful aspirants
to literary fame, and to foster budding genius in whatever
direction it exhibited itself.

Very nearly one whole year since, namely, on the
13th of June, 1864, we ourselves went out of our
way to direct especial attention to the very claim
thus earnestly commented upon (a twelvemonth
afterwards) by our Hull contemporary. Our re-
marks upon the occasion and date referred to,
namely, in that day's impression of The Suirof the
13th June, 1864, were apropos to the then recent
distribution for the current year of the Civil List
Pensions. Having expatiated upon which in our
first leading article of that date, we thus concluded
our observations :
Excellent though tho present year's addition to the
Civil List is, it is still so far unsatisfactory that the sum
anima* placed at the disposal of the Prime Minister
seems to us, as we have often before protested, wholly in-
adequate for the requirements pressing upon that high
official in the yearly distribution of these pensions. Who
could not add to the list the name of some well-known in-
tellectual labourer, whose honourable career, whose signal
good services in the interests of his fellow-men, are alike
passed by, year after year, sub silentio. One there is to our