The Sun.
London, England, 1848-10-23 00:00:00

THE STIN,
__ LONDON,

columns of most of eur metropolitan contemporaries. It
contains some excellent suggestions. If they are
promptly adopted by boards of direction, we shall soon
see a decided improvement in the market price of all the
better class of railway stock. We are enabled to state,
though the fact is not generally known, that a great
movement is now organizing in Glasgow and the west
of Scotland, with the view of restoring railway property
to its proper place as one of the marketable securities of
the day. The movement has originated with the direc-
tors of the Glasgow, Ayr, and Kilmarnock Company,
who are to set a good example to all the other Scotch
companies, by publishing a most minute account of the
position of their own company's affairs. All the Scotch
companies will go and do likewise. The Chairman of
the North British, at the meeting of Wednesday, inti-
mated that he and his brother directors would lose
no time in, laying before the shareholders the
real state of matters. " It is," says that
gentleman, • " -the intention of the directors imme-
diately to lay before the company a detailed
.printed statement of all their affairs, not only of their
debts and obligations, but a vidinuis of what the line
would cost ultimately when all was , completed :' they
would thus know the state of matters•lully. ' This an-
nouncement was received with loud applause. It afforded
the highest gratification. Let all other chairmen make
a similar intimation to the shareholders of their respec-
tive companies, and we shall, :before many weeks have
elapsed, see the- railway property of the country in a
very different position from that: in which it is now
placed. We liad written thus far when we received a
statement put forth by the chairman and directors of the
Brightoturailway. It is a very clear and most satisfac-
tory document. It shows at a glance the present posi-
tionixad future prospects of the company, and scatters to
,tbe-tvinds all the misrepresentations which have been so
,eurrent of late regarding the affairs of the line. We
have no doubt that the other leading companies will be
able to present their shareholders with equally satisfac-
tory statements of their position and prospects. Let them
lose no time in doing it. A simultaneous publication of
the actual state of matters cannot' fail to prove bonefi-
cial, in the highest degree, to railway property ge-
nerally.

ON THE POSITION OF PUBLIC
WRITERS.
(From the Weekly Dispatch.)
Mr. Editor,—By public writers, I mean writers for the
'public; that is to say, journalists, writers for news-
papers, who may themselves, in some cases, be private
enough, but whose lueubrations enjoy, by means of ,the
vehicle which conveys them, access to the widest sphere
of publicity. This class has been lately assailed by Lord
Brougham, and defended by the Times. If the attack
be damaging, the defence is much more so. As some-
times happens in a court of law, the Counsel on both
sides concur in the sacrifice of the client. Lord Brougham
thinks the anonymous should not be allowed, because it
tends to political insubordination; and the Times replies
that the anonymous should be encouraged, because it
tends to political submission. Lord Brougham says,
that the London papers made the French revolts-,
tion. The Times says, that the London papers
have prevented an English revolution. Such are
the alleged facts. Now for the philosophy.
The connexion of cause and effect is thus traced by
the leading, journal, whose theory seems to be that the
best leading consists
_in following:—" In London, jour-
nalism is an anonymous reflex of public opinion. In
Paris, it is the open warfare of political champions.
The former is still loyal and happy. The latter is revo-
lutionized and plunged into the lowest d-pths of misery.
Even a child will point at the conclusion.' A child may,
perhaps; though it, must be a very silly little child to
. point at the non sequitur suggested by the writer. Known
or unknown; it was not the writing classes, but the
working classes, that made the last French revolution.
It was the toiling and the starving people. The press
showed no previous anti-monarchical symptoms. Louis
Philippe had conquered the press. In the revolution of
1830, newspapers did something ; as books had done
something towards the first revolution. But the present
year opened upon a comparatively tamed and harmless
press in Paris. The "Political Champions" that wage
warfare" with their journals, were quieted into a
decorous or constitutional opposition, as that of the
British House of Commons. Their aim was not to
expel a dynasty, but to eat a dinner. There was a
wide step between the banquet of reform and the bar-
ricades of revolution. It was the misery of the work-
people which leaped the gulf between, and pushed over
the lagging "Champions." The same thing would have
happened had the whole press of France been as anony-
mous as that of London, and its secrets as impenetrable
as the adyturu of the Times. That many persons con-
nected with newspapers were speedily inducted into
office is certainly the fact.. But why ? Not because
they were the authors of the revolution, but because
they had evinced, or were thought to have evinced, in
the discharge of their functions, the political knowledge,
principles, and aptitude which qualify for office. In
France, it should be remembered, that talent qualifies
'or a
office,
cleverj man,ust astiatla wedeoelsook in Eount foraLord. Both to
England. They look out
for
Lord Brougham and the Times, this may seem very
censurable ; but such is the " reflex of public opinion "
there, and people will have their way, especially on the
morning after a revolution. So
,the public writers of
France marched into place—greatly shocking our con-
tending philosophers, one of whom opines that Eng-
lish journalists ought to be very insignificant, and the
,other that they actually are very insignificant, although
they cannot settle amicably whether this be, or be not,
attributable to the practice of anonymous writing.
The great reason for the peculiar prevalence of ano-
nymous newspaper writing is not political, but commer-
cial. A newspaper implies a capitalist. Not in any
nation on the face of the earth is that necessity so
stringent as with us. Capital, somewhere, is the condi-
tion of anybody's writing for real publicity. Without
that, the most accomplished politician in the land can
only make the press a medium of confidential communi-
cations-with a select circle. Now, the capitalist does
not exist for the sake of the writer. He does not com-
mit ..his hard cash to the perils of the mighty deep of
newspaper speculation in order that some ready writer
way scribble himself into office, like a Parisian sub-
editor. He wants. the writer's help, and be pays for it
accordingly. Suppose the writer to have a name so bril-
liant as to ensure success, the capitalist would be as
ready to pay him for writing avowedly, as he now is to
pay him for writing anonymously. But this can scarcely
happen with a newspaper, because its success requires
many other things besides original writing, and for
which the most brilliant writing in the world would be
no sufficient substitute. Besides, names of the supposed
degree of celebrity fetch too high a price in the market.
I wonder what Sir Walter Scott would have asked for
his name as a stated contributor to any newss
paper. Certainly much more than it could eventually
have been worth to any newspaper. They can get
better served by men who have names to make; aye,
and bread to earn. And for such men, the resource is
not to be disdained. They have none f the chances of
the French journalist, who yet may start his paper
without any of the English necessity for cash in his
coffers. The English writer must work for the capi-
talist ; and so he works anonymously. Nor is the case
materially altered when the writer has independent
means of subsistence, and writes solely for the promul-
gation of his principles. He will be expected, if a
regular contributor, and only so can he be efficient, to
conform with the custom. His access to the public is
contingent upon the permission of the capitalist, who is
entitled, therefore, to prescribe the conditions. The
extent to which the Money Power is recognised, not
only in English society, but in English law and taxation,
is the real reason why anonymous political writing is,
old will continue to be the rule, in English newspapers.
The evils need scarcely be enumerated. They have
become common-places for the debating societies of me-
chanics' institutions. There is the absence of restraint
and responsibility. The writer is free from the common
courtesies of civilised life. He may take the positive side
of a question in one journal, and the negative in an-
other. lie may denounce his own articles in his place in
Parliament. He may publish pamphlets against
anonymous writing, after having worked for his purposes
every paper in London that would admit his contribu-
tions. Ile may teaze and worry a Ministry till they
give him a place, and then exchange
,the use of the
cudgel for the application of the plaister. He may cover
with contempt an infant cause when it most needs help;
and, by a late adhesion, when it is on the eve of success,
arrogate the merit of the victory. He may pamper the
public appetite for scandal, private or political; and run
the risk of embroiling his country with all who are its
natural allies abroad, just to gratify the antipathies of
an aristocratical, or to serve the interests of a stock-
jobbing clique. All this, and more, he may do, the re-
cital of which I spare your seeders.
But then, argues Lord Brougham, look at the opposite
mischiefs; how many more in the House of Commons,
spoke or voted wrong, because they were afraid of Cob-
hetes Register. And what had the name to do with it?
Quite as many, and far more, have spoken or voted
wrong, for fear of the Times; Punch, too, is a power in
such matters; but Punch is only half anonymous, and
lets fly at the mark, which he is sure to hit, with little
care for the mask which he se loosely wears.
In the present state of English law, custom, and con-
ventionalism, the anonymous is inevitable. Three of
the worst consequences may, however, be much miti-
gated; these are, the total absence of responsibility, the
total subserviency of what is termed public opinion, and
the low position to which the writing class is assigned.
The total absence of responsibility, so as to render
any care for consistency superfluous, may be lessened in
various ways. The plan of appending writers' names
to their articles was tried some years since in Talpy's
Review, seemingly a more favourable publication for the
experiment than a newspaper; but it was soon found that
the warfare of critics and authors tended towards that san-
guinary form which the contributions of known editors has
assumed in France. The London Review adopted a
middle course, which professedly continues in the West-
minster—that of requiring the same signature to articles
from the same hand. In this way, the production of its
ablest writer, the most philosophical of logicians and po-
litical economists, have often been identified in news-
papers and other periodicals; and always with satisfac-
tion to the readers. Your plan, Sir, in some degree varies
from this, but is attended with similar advantages. Your
historical commentator, your " Caustic," " Censorius,"
and " Publicola," are almost as much bound by their opi-
nions and professions, as if they wrote in their own bap-
tismal names. They retain each their separate identity.
T rhrtehc y„s cannot eat, their last week's words with impunity;
turntyi
eabout,
they a
andme
merely
wheel
naobuoyumt ,
anonymous
sd jump
slaves
of Jim
capital. Crow„
Their individuality is not
merged, even in that unity, or
rather that degree of sympathy and concurrence, which
it is your editorial business to sustain the journal under
your direction. Some such plan as this would afford the
best approximation which circumstances admit of, to-
wards a moral security for consistency.
This is better than sinking into what the 7 ivies ap-
pears to relard as the naturkl and fitting: condition of
an English neivipiper;viz.; being' an anonymous, reflex .

MON DAY

of public opinion." Such may be the base ideal of a
mere trader; but it implies a lamentable dereliction of
the sense of public duty and responsibility; or even of
the ambition which is the next best stimulus of a public
writer. Let the drama "holds the mirror up to nature;"
it is very different when the teacher holds the mirror up
to prejudice. And who are the public for whom jour-
nalism condescends to become a mere " reflex?" Not
the great national mind, our country's genius, embodied
in its immortal literature. Not the purest and most en-
lightened spirits of the present day, not the millions,
with their throbbing hearts and seething brains, that pro-
perly constitute the people, the real public. No, only
that class which can afford, either in luxury and curio-
sity, or for the purposes of pecuniary gain and commer-
cial speculation, to buy a daily newspaper. These mate-
rials, and these only—limited, prejudiced—sordid--form
the image to be reflected by journalism. And so it will
be, with no small portion of our newspapers, until the
work of honest and independent journalism is appre-
ciated by the people at large, and that appreciation
evinced by proportionate support.
Men of mind have too readily submitted to be tools ;
and they reap their reward. Name them, and hold the
rod over them, says the partisan Peer; keep them name-
less, and make them simply a nflexion of what others
think (or think they think), says the great Daily News-
paper. Thus the fittest training for political knowledge
and aptitude is only a road that leads to contempt. A
vacant office makes the Minister run over the list of un-
paid Lords in his family or party connexion. The news-
paper fellow may serve him as n clerk, perhaps,*and be
allowed to drudge through the work without emolument
or honour. In this there is a certain amount of public
aequiesence. It is not censured by reflective journalism.
It is the upper class interest and the middle class syco-
phancy, not without a leaven of lower class prejudice.
Writers must learn more of that self-respect which their
position tends so strongly to keep down; and the people
must get wise enough to see that only able and;respon-
sible servants in public offices can save them from pecu-
lation, plunder, and blunders ; and just enough to insist
that, from whatsoever class they come, the qualified
labourer shall, exclusively and fully, reap the recom-
pense of his toils. PUBLICOLA.