The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-07 00:00:00

THE SUN, LOSIJON, WEDNESDAY EVE.NING, NOVEMBER 7,

The London " Times" and the " New York

Tribune."

The reputation of the English press is well founded.
Intellect and culture, of no ordinary standard, have
been for more than half a century elements of Eng-
lish journalism, which in no country are surpassed,
while its energy in procuring news is not equalled
in Europe. Of all the English papers the 2 imes is
unquestionably the leader, and therefore the repre-
sentative of European journalism. How remarkably
that journalism differs from the American would be
an interesting comparison, involving a nice balance
of advantages, but at present we merely desire to
show, for the entertainment of the public, how far
the value of even the London Times as a newspaper
has been excelled by the Tribune. Anewspaperis not
a review nor a book--it is a compendium of news,
and there is no question but that in this distinc-
tive characteristic the American press is unrivalled.
Let us take up the Times of September 19, the
latest number received in this city. Its pages are the
same size as those of the Tribune, its columns the
same length and width, the type about the same
size. Exclusive of advertisements, the Times con-
tains 41 columns of reading matter, of considerable
variety, and much of it well written. It furnishes
less than a column of military andnaval intelligence,
five columns of reports of the markets, railway and
mining shares, &c. ; to a review of Borchgrave's
" History of Belgian Colonies in the Thirteenth
Century" it devotes three columns, and to the trans-
actions• of the Ethnological Society three more ; an
essay on Food Fisheries in France, theatrical criti-
cism, a letter justifying the Jamaica atrocities, a
complaint of mock auctions, occupy one column
each. Three and a half columns are devoted to
editorials, of wbich there are but three, upon Napo-
leon's Circular, the Act for Limiting Liability in
Partnerships, and the Established Church in Ire-
land. It publishes foreign letters from three capi-
tals—Paris, Berlin, and Vienna—making iu all four
columns. The same number are used for its legal
and police reports. An inquiry into election bribery
cases exhausts three more columns. Of telegrams
it prints less than a single column. This is consi-
derable reading for nine cents. The Tribune of
nearly the same date published 42 columns of read-
ing matter. It gave the public, for four cents,
three columns and a half of correspondence from
Mexico, and letters from London, Paris, Milan,
Moscow, Nijni-Novgorod, Berlin, Prague, and Pa-
nama, which in all amounted to 12 columns ; special
Washington correspondence, official documents
from the State Department, occupied two columns
and a half ; commercial news two columns ; courts
and police two ; political intelligence two ; litera-
ture one column ; local news three columns. Its
editorials filled six columns, including six articles,
beside a number of paragraphs. Its telegraphic
dispatches required three columns, and this was an
unusually limited space. Thus we find the Times
has letters from but three foreign capitals, while
the Tribune has letters from nine. The Times has
three and a half columns of editorials, and but three
articles ; the Tribune six columns, and treats
six subjects. Then, in that which is the life
of a newspaper—its telegraphic despatches—the
Times is far below the Tribune. In this age the
use of the telegraph is the great feature of a daily
paper, and makes the radical difference between it
and all other periodicals. In no other way can the
world's news be promptly gathered in and redistri-
buted. Yet we find the Times' telegrams contained
in one column, and printed in its largest type ;
while most of the despatches in the three columns
which the Tribune gives are in small, close letter,
and in the Times' type would le expanded to six
columns. Here is one radical difference between
the two papers. Another feature which marks a
great newspaper is its enterprise in obtaining news
exclusively. The limes has but one special despatch,
and that of but three lines from Berlin. The Tri-
bune puhlishes nearly three hundred lines of special
telegrams. With Reuter's telegrams, which answer
to the despatches of our Associated Press, the Times
fills the remainder of its column, and they are dated
from Berlin, Florence, Paris, Trieste, New York,
Constantinople, Liverpool, Queenstown, Southamp-
ton, Bombay, Gibraltar, Kiel, and Pesth. It uses
the Atlantic cable for but one brief despatch, and
that merely referring to commercial matters. The
Tribune has nearly as much telegraphic matter by
the cable alone as the Times from all sources, and
gave its readers despatches from Berlin, Paris, Lon-
don, Liverpool, Florence, Madrid, Trieste, and
Hamburg, chiefly dated the day before, beside
others from Washington, New London, St. Louis,
Hartford, Cincinnati, Columbus, Chillicothe, Louis-
ville, Chicago, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Richmond,
Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Toronto,
Port-au-Basque, and Leavenworth. From all parts
of this country and all portions of the world news is
published in the Tribune, while the 'limes does not
even summarise the events in Glasgow, Edinburgh,
Dublin, and other cities of the British Isles. The
readers of the Tribune will readily conclude from
these facts, hastily collated as they are, that in
point of news, at least, they are well served. Of
other merits it is not our place to speak, but we
shall not fail to give the reader the world's news at
his breakfast, and in the Tribune, if not in the
'limes, he may, while chipping his egg or buttoering
his toast—

"Survey mankind from China to Peru."
—New York Weekly Tribune.

ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

-~ --

England is not happy in the treatment of her
colonies. It has been said of Englishmen, that
they do Christian acts, in an un-Christian man-
ner,—and this can be said, even more forcibly,
of the State's action in colonial affairs. The
nation should lay down and work on a fixed
policy, so that the colonial governments could
distinctly understand and recognise their posi-
tions. At present the Imperial Government
half grant and half dispute the Imperial lia-
bility to defend the foreign dependencies controlled
by local legislatures. The vacillating and uncertain
action of the QUEEN'S Ministers gives rise to much
unnecesary trouble, and confusion. Each
case as it arises, requiring imperial assistance, is
discussed on its own merits, and not as a part of a
clearly-defined policy. The required aid is only
conceded after debates in Parliament and discus-
sions in the newspapers, which do more to alienate
the colonies than acts of glaring injustice. Although
no rule is laid down, the drift of the Government is
towards a defined plan. The colonies may be con-
sidered as divided into two classes. Ist. The Crown
dependencies, which are in truth Imperial stations
held for Imperial purposes, and not colonies as we
now regard that word. Gibraltar, Malta, Aden,
Hong Kong, and St. Helena are military and naval
links—keys of certain positions—giving facilities to
trade
in time of peace, and to naval and military
operations in times of war. No question can arise
regarding the defence of these strongholds. But
the case is different with the second class. The
possessions to which national emigration is directed,
and which from geographical position or from in-
ternal causes, are either brought into contact with
Powers that at any time may be at war with the
empire, or may contain -within themselves hos-
tile races, are Canada, South Africa, and New
Zealand. The case of New Zealand furnishes
a striking example of the want of a well-defined
Imperial policy. In the Northern Island is a race
of savages, whose keen intellects, courageous natures,
and strong physical frames, aided by the most im-
practicable country, render them clangorous foes to
the settlers. For years a desultory war has been
progressing in that portion of till colony. When
the contest first commenced, the action of England
was both ill-advised and inconf.6stent. She had
reserved to herself, through her own officials, the
entire management of native qa estions. Every
means to conciliate the Maories a'ad avert the war,
under their guidance, only endeel in burnt home-
steads, slaughtered cattle, murd-ered settlers, and
abandoned stations. New Zea‘and cried aloud for
aid in the emergency brought, about by Imperial
officers. The Imperial Parlir bment and the press
answered by charging the sett lers with causing this
state of affairs for the direct object of plundering
the Treasury through a military expenditure. After
wounding the feelings of f,he culonists in the most

sensitive place, and generating throughout New
Zealand much annoyance, the assistance was
given, and a large British force, at an enormous
expenditure, directed to the colony. The cue from
the debates and the newspaper leaders was taken
up by the Imperial commanders, and the value
of the force when on the scene of operations
neutralised. The stricken and suffering colony
had first to bear the vituperation of the
most powerful organs of opinion in England,
and then to endure the arrogance and assumption
of the Imperial officers in the command of a force
which was soon found to be practically ill-adapted
for the work required. The war lingered, pro-
ducing scenes of disaster and mutual recrimina-
tion. It wore out to an end, leaving in the minds
of the colonists the fixed idea that they who would
continue free must themselves strike the blow. The
manner in which England conceded the assistance
implored was to the last degree ungracious, and
thus she procured for herself no thanks from the
colonists, at the same time that she expended an
enormous sum. The dispute between the colony
and the mother country bas come to an end by the
withdrawal of nearly all the troops, and the prac-
tical independence of the province, probably the
richest in:the world. In Canada, the same " little
game" is being played. The difference between the
Canadian and the New Zealand affair is that the
former is purely imperial, the latter was purely a
colonial concern. Canada is threatened along all her
frontier, because she is a province of the QUEEN'S
dominions. The arguments, therefore, which so
disgusted New Zealand cannot be brought to bear
against Canada. Still every means seems to be
employed to alienate the loyalty of the North Ame-
rican Provinces. An article appeared in a military
contemporary which has been circulated far and
wide throughout these dependencies, and has given
rise to a feeling of the greatest indignation. If
England does not intend to act loyally towards
the province threatened by a body of filibusters,
whose undying enmity is directed against herself,
the weight of which Canada has to bear solely from
her proximity to the abode of those conspirators,
the nation should openly avow it, and leave the
inhabitants of the province to take such measures for
the protection of their own interests as may seem
to them best. There is not the slightest necessity
for traducing the brave and devoted men who have
throughout been distinguished by a strong attach-
ment to the mother country. It would be better
for Canada to become at once independent, or to be
enrolled among the States of the Union, than to
hang on in this precarious and uncertain position.
To be—or not to be—is the question. If the
province is to be an integral portion of the British
Empire, the whole weight of the British power
should be put forth in defence of the frontiers. If
not to be—the few troops should be withdrawn,
and the paltry expenditure on fortifications should
cease. Then the colony, acting unaer the guidance
of her own statesmen, influenced by public feeling,
would take the measures which to her seem best
adapted to meet the emergency. As the matter
now stands the enemies of law and order are en-
couraged in their attacks, and the provincials dis-
couraged in their defensive measures by the un-
certainty of the course to be taken by the empire.
It is thus that nations drift into war, and many
cases could be recited where great calamities would
have been averted by firm and decided action.-
4nglo-American Times.

166.

She there shall press a fairer sod
Than Fancy's foot hath ever trod.
By lips unheard their dirge is sung,
By hands unseen their knell is rung;
There Honour comes, a pilgrim grey,
To kiss the turf that wraps their clay;
And Freedom shall awhile repair,
To dwell, a weeping hermit, there."

As I stood on the steps of yonder chapel, partici-
pating in the services of this occasion, I heard a
visitor whisper to a sexton an inquiry for the monu-
ment of a distinguished nobleman, buried in the
beautiful cemetery of Kensal-green. As I stand
here now and look into this humble grave, I think
of the future time when, especially during the com-
ing year, thousands of Americans shall visit Europe,
and that Many of them, who are votaries of science,
will hie them to this spot. Methinks their first
inquiry will be of the attendants at the gate,
"Show us the grave of JACOB SNIDER !" here
they will love to stand and gaze on the simple
record that patriotism shall raise to his memory.
Some who were his companions in America
may tearfully say in the sweet words of one of
America's own bards—
" Green be the turf abdire thee,
Friend of our early days ;
None knew thee but to love thee,

None named thee but to praise."
Here, then, we leave him in this city of the dead.
He has done his work, and done it well. Ashes
" to ashes ; dust to dust ; the body returns to the
" earth, as it was, and the spirit returns unto GOD
" who gave it."