The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-25 00:00:00

THE MILITIA.

Militia
air,AAd
rtill etrhe Cm
y,
haso mn r
eaee
idvaen o
dt
an order
the East t S o
extend u ffol k
this regiment's period of training for a week be-
yond the time originally named.
The 2d Royal LanarLanark Militia ]eft the Curraoh
on Wednesday, for Ship-street Barracks, Dublin.
The following order was issued on the occasion :
"Major-General Sir J. Chatterton has much plea-
sure in expressing his approbation of the very
clever manner in which the 2d Royal Lanark Mi-
litia passed his inspection on Saturday. The man-
ner in which the different manoeuvres were per-
formed, the soldier-like appearance and steadiness
of the men under arms, and all that came under the
Major-General's observation, proved the zeal, atten-
tion, and abilities of Major Tattnall, the command-
ing officer, and those under his orders ; and the
Major-General regrets so good and so efficient a
corps is about to be removed from his command."
The company of Waterford Artillery which were
in quarters at Pendennis Castle have been removed
suddenly to join the regiment at Portsmouth,
whither it has been transferred from Devonport. The
consequence is that there is not a soldier at present
in Falmouth, or in fact in any part of the county of
Cornwall. It is .reported that a company of the
Hampshire Militia will soon occupy the quarters
vacated by the Waterford.

The first Conversazione of the Hertford Literary
and Scientific Institution for the season, 1858-59,
took place in the Council Chamber, at the Town-
hall, on the evening of Tuesday. About 40 ladies
and gentlemen were present—a fair attendance
for the first night of the season, though the atten-
dance would no doubt have been larger if the
weather had not been unfavourable.
Mr. LUDLOW having been called to the chair, an-
nounced that Robert Dimsdale, Esq., would read a
paper on "The Newspaper Press."
Mr. DIMSDALE, who was most cordially received,
then advanced to the table in the centre of the apart-
ment, and read an able and interesting " Historical
sketch of the Newspaper Press." He commenced
by remarking on the wonderful influence of the
newspaper, which moulded, unperceived, the
thoughts of its readers, influenced their convictions,
and passed their very opinions through what
Coleridge called " the flattening mills of its
power." Feeble in its infancy, and gradual in
its development, it had become gigantic in its
maturity. It was already gathering up into
itself many of the influences which formerly per-
tained to Parliament itself. Much of the talent,
energy-, and literary ability which had heretofore
found its way to the benches of the House of Com-
mons was now concentrated upon the public press
But though the newspaper was the leader of opinion
its readers had in all ages been the mark for the
taunts and invectives of the moralist and the poet.
Crabbe wrote of the newspaper—
" To you all readers turn, and they can look
Pleased on a paper, who abhor shook.
Those who ne'er deigned their Bible to peruse,
_ _ Would think it hard to be deniedihe news ;" _ _ -

and lately the Duke of Argyle had warned the
members of a Mechanics' Institute against the
" frivolity of gtivnitper reasVia.: Another public
man had iironouneed '-er.'dit%;ll-711T- extravagantly
unjust on the other side, when he said that he " had
rather possess one copy of the Times than all the
works of Thueydides.' Dr. Samuel Johnson more
correctly appreciated its worth than either. " I
never take up. a newspaper (he said) without find-
ing something I should have deemed it a loss not
to have seen ; never without deriving instruction
and amusement." Sir E. B. Lytton had described
the newspaper as "a law-book for the indolent, a
' sermon for the thoughtless, and a library for the
poor." Doubtless all reading might be superficial,
but the result depended upon the reader himself.
The Times contained each day a complete history
of what was going on around us in every quarter
of the world, and well-written articles on every
subject, contributed by the best living authors.
And to us, living in a free country, blessed with
institutions which, to adapt the language of the
Athenian orator, made " the public business of Eng-
land the private business of every Englishman ;" it
had become a necessity. We might rail at it as
superficial, and kick at the influence it exerted, but
we could not do without it. We must treat it, like
the electric telegraph, or the steam engine, as the
great motive power of the age, capable of being regu-
lated for g• id, but not to be checked without detri-
ment to the public interests. The immediate prede-
cessors of the journalists were not the pamphleteers
of the Reformation; but the writers of the ancient
newsletters were dependants of great men,
employed in keeping their patrons informed of the
news of the day. At a later period, subscription
lists were opened, and the customers of the writers
supplied with separate news-letters. The transi-
tion from these to the printed circular of news was
easy ; but the reign of the old news carrier was, "
nevertheless, a long one. The first newspaper was
printed in England in 1622, not at the time of the
threatened Spanish invasion in 1588, as has long
been supposed, the English Mercury bearing that
date having been proved to be a literary imposture. 1
The Weekly News, published for the first time in
May, 1622, contained a brief notice of foreign in-
telligence, cautiously worded, but which, neverthe-
less, did not always save the editor from the inter-
ference of Government. James I. and Charles I.
successively tried to crush the press, and the
writers and publishers of newspapers had not
unfrequently to bear such merciless penalties as
confiscation, the pillory, nose splitting, and ear
lopping. The press, however, survived these
attempts to destroy it ; and soon after 1611, when
the Star Chamber was abolished, the King and the
Parliament found it necessary to carry a printing
press in their train, as a means of appealing to the
masses of the population. The debates in Parlia-
ment were first published at this period ; but
Parliament taking alarm, forbad any publication
which did not bear its own -imprimatur. The
fortunes of the second editor of the Weekly News
were somewhat chequered during the progress of
the struggle between the King and the Parliament,
and he saved his head by changing sides on more
than one occasion, editing the Mercurius Pray-
maticus, on behalf of the Royalist party, and the
Mercurius Politicus, on behalf of the Parliament.
The success of the popular party did not, however,
serve to extend the liberty of the press, and the
censorship was established at the sword's point,
despite the splendid protest of Milton in his
" Areopagitica." With the Restoration the censor-
ship became more strict ; but for all the efforts of the
Government, seventy newspapers contrived to exist
during the reign of Charles 11., and in 1665, Mini-
sters found it necessary to establish the ,04'ord
Gazette, under the editorship of an Under-Secre-
tary of State, to counteract the influence of the
opposition journals. On the accession of William 111.
brighter days dawned for the press, and the num-
ber of twenty-six new journals were started at the
commencement of the reign of that sovereign. A
journal, called the Orange Intelligencer, became the
organ of the Government. At first the liberated
press indulged in some extravagances, but the jour-
nals soon, learned the necessity for self-restraint,
and showed by their conduct that there is no better
security for order and moderation than implicit
confidence in popular good sense and the exemp-
tion from unnecessary restraints. In the reign of
Anne the jury system came to the help of perse-
' cuted editors, and favourable verdicts released them
from the attempted persecutions of the Ministers
of the Crown. The press contined to gather power.
The year 1709 was an important epoch in the his-
tory of newspapers, for then appeared the Courant,
Spectator, Miler, Guardian, and Freeholder, with
essays from which we were all familiar,.but which
were originally published as newspapers, with ad-
vertisements and news. Hallam, the historian,
fixed the period as that at which the press first
obtained real power and significance. Government
began to be alarmed at the increasing power of the
press ; it did not dare to re-establish the censorship,
and so attempted to attain its object by imposing a
stamp duty of Id. upon every newspaper half-sheet,
and of ld. upon every whole sheet, besides ls. on
advertisements, and a heavy tax on paper, which was
unfortunately retained to the present hour. The
effect of the imposition of a stamp duty was humor-
ously described by Swift in one of his letters to Stella;
6, Do you know (wrote he) that Grub-street is dead
and gone last week ! No more ghosts or murders
now, for love or money. . . . The Obserrator
is fallen—the medleys are jumbled together witlithe
Flying Post—the Examiner is deadly sick—the
Spectator keeps up, and doubles its price. I know
not how long it will hold out." Swift's anticipa-
tions were realised. In 1713, a year after the im-
position of the stamp duty, the Spectator ceased to
exist. In the reign of George 1., the stringency of
the press laws was increased ; but Parliamentary
debates were, at the same period, for the first time
regularly published, and, upon the whole, the press
made a steady, though not rapid progress. In 1745,
when the second rebellion broke out, Government
was glad to invoke its aid in support of the Hano-
verian dynasty ; and Fielding, who lent them his
support in the True Patriot, Was pensioned off
when his task was done, on the salary of a Bow-
street magistrate. This was significant as showing
that the Government had found it expedient to
cultivate an alliance with the press, instead of legis-
lating to its detriment. The anal battle between
the Crown and the press came off in the reign of
George 111., when the North Briton, a scurrilous
paper, edited by John Wilkes, was suppressed, and
he committed to the Tower under order of a general
warrant. The press, however, won the victory ;
for the judges decided in Wilkes' favour, and pro-
nounced for ever against general warrants. 'Wilkes
was an unmitigated scoundrel, but his cause was
good, and the people of this age might rejoice with
his cotemporaries, that, by his triumph, ha ad-
vanced one step onward in its course the liberty of
the press. The letters of Junius, addressed to the
Public Advertiser, and first published in 1769,
effected a complete revolution in our newspaper
literature. There were no leading articles in those
days, and comments on public affairs appeared in
the form of letters, without signatures. These
anonymous scribblers, who were in abundance,
were thus described by Crabbe
" There are a numerous tribe to fame unknown. •
Who, for the public good, forego their own ;
•
Who—volunteers—in paper-war engage
With double portion of their party's rage:,
In Junius, however, was to be found the germ of
the modern " leading article." The oldest of the

existing daily papers—the .21forning Chronicle—
was established in 1769, by William Woodfall,
celebrated as a reporter of the proceedings in Parlia-
ment at a time when reporting was a contraband
trace. Perry, the editor of the Gazeteer, and
Grey, purchased the Chronicle of Woodfall in 1789,
and, under their joint editorship, it attained its
greatest reputation, the celebrity of the paper being
increased by the exertions of Perry, at great per-
sonal risk, to enrich the paper with foreign infor-
mation from Paris. Lord Campbell, when a young
man, was one of the reporters for the Chronicle,
and a more remarkable man—Thomas Campbell,
its theatrical editor. The Chronicle obtained its
largest circulation about the time of the Peterloo
massacre and the Manchester riots. The Times
then hung back from the popular cause ; but, on
the occasion of the trial of Queen Caroline, flung
itself heart and soul into the service of the Queen.
Aft9r Perry's death, the Chronicle was sold to Mr.
Clements for £42,000, from that time till 1843 was
conducted by Adam Black, and lost much of its
popularity by the doctrinaire spirit which pervaded
it ; whilst its attacks upon the unpaid nfagistracy
were bitterly resented by the country gentlemen.
Its circulation, however, largely increased for a
short time, when, in 1835, the Times tranferred its
support from the Liberals to Sir Robert Peel. The
Morning Post was established 1772 by John Bale,
who was succeeded by the Rev. Henry bate, who,
in 1780, quarrelled with his fellow proprietors
and set up the Morning Herald. Amongst the
contributors to the Post were Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Sir James Mackintosh, and Macworth
Praed, the friend and early rival of Macaulay.
The Herald started by Bates, became at a
later date the organ of the Carlton House party,
and adhered to the_fortunes of the Prince of Wales.
The Times, the young.est of this group of public
journals, was started in 1788. It acquired no re-
markable position under its first proprietor, the
elder Mr. Walter, Inlt during the reign of his son,
from 1803, it rapidly advanced in importance. It
supported the administration of Lord Sidmouth,
opposed the alleged malversations of Lord Melville,
and afterwards gave in its adhesion to Mr. Fox.
In 1814, after much opposition from the printers,
it was printed by steam. In 1830, at the time of
the Reform agitation, it pre-eminently took the
lead among' the daily journals, by the power and
pungency of its articles, and obtained that monopoly
of circulation which has since thrown its rivals into
the shade. But it was in the year of revolutions,
1848, that its circulation first outnumbered that of
all other daily journals put together; and since
then it had gone on increasing the distance between
it and them, till it had almost converted the repub-
lic of journalism into the autocracy of a single ruler.
It was impossible to doubt that the Times was a
real power in this country, though its inconsistency
and unscrupulousness made it an unsafe guide in
seasons of danger. It did, however, render inesti-

finable services- to the common country at the time
of the Crimean war, in arousing Ministers from
their lethargy, a nation inflated with pride to a
'sense of their duty and their danger.
The provincial press, in the time of Pitt, occu-
pied the very lowest place ; but Pitt undertook to
reform and improve them, by supplying them with
the very earliest information from official sources.
He directly advantaged himself by this policy, and
indirectly benefited the country ; for the Vtrhigs,
not willing to be outstripped, set themselves to
work to improve their own organs, and the tone
and character of the whole was Changed. This
improvement weakened the centralising pow(r
of the metropolis, and promoted that
-diffusion -of influence through our rural
districts, which so beneficially distinguished Eng-
land from the nations of the continent, and had
preserved our liberties unimpaired through con-
vulsions which have shattered the constitutions of
neighbouring states. After referring to the influ-
ence of the successive alterations in the stamp duty,
and its influence upon the press, the subsequent
illicit issue of unstampcd publications which, in the
language of Lord Brougham, " vied with each other
in the ferocity of their writings," the reduction of
the duty (which had been increased to 4d.) to ld.
in 1836, and its final abrogation in 1855,—Mr.
Dimsdale noticed the fact that 107 new journals
had sprung to life under the fostering influence of
the later change, many of which maintained a con-
siderable and increasing circulation. The three
daily London papers,—the Telegraph, the Star, and
the Standard, contradicted by their success, prog-
nostications of failure, and by their general tone,
allayed the fears entertained by some, that the re-
moval of the fetters would increase the licentious-
ness of the press. He believed that the new move-
ment had already created; and would create, fresh
classes of readers, and viewed even in an educa-
tional light, it should be regarded with hope rather
than apprehension. Might our noble fourth estate,
which had so long escaped continental weakness
and American scurrility, be long cherished amongst
us as an institution impressed with the best features
of our national character, and coeval in the varied
stages of its progress with that of the Crown, the
Church, and the State of England.
At the close of the reading of his paper, Mr.
Dimsdale was very warmly applauded. The com-
pany then took tea and coffee ; after which they
returned to their scats, and a very interesting con-
versation ensued on topics suggested by the lecture,
—such as the feasibility of cheap newspapers in
a commercial point of view—their uses in ex-
tending the reading class—the moral character
of the Times—and the machinery by which its
political course is directed. The- eonversazione
lasted until nearly half-past ten o'clock, when,
Mr. J. J. GRIPPER, proposed, in appropriate
terms, the thanks of the company to Mr. Dimsdale
for his able, instructive, and suggestive paper.
Mr. HANNAM seconded the vote of thanks, which
was agreed to by acclamation.
Mr. DIMSDALE briefly acknowledged-the compli-
ment, expressing his gratification at being able to
contribute to promote the object of the Literary
Institution, in promoting these agreeable reunions.
Mr. LUDLOW announced that, at the next con-
versazione, Mr. E. Manser would read a paper on
" Granada."