The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1843-05-24
The Great Newspaper War between Eu-
rope and America.
lFrom tie London Qa.rterly Review

The Great Newspaper War between Eu-
rope and America.
lFrom tie London Qa'rterly R-viewl
Art XVII The Ncp York Morning Courier and
bs,dyy, 1928
z les Amertcains en- Europe ct les Ewopeens atr
Et.fs Un's, Ame leans m Europe, and Europeans
IN me United STATES By Philnes Chostes Revwe
3. Les Emts- Unis Souvenirs dun V6yag eur (Ihe
United States: Recohections of a Traceitr) Par
M is'dore Lo,csnsten. Paris and Leipsic. 1912.
4. The North american Reuep for January, 1913.
Boston. Y. s.
CONTINUED from yesterday 3 paper.l
We have never denied that we have an infamous
press in England: we put that fact forward in the
very front OF our first exposure of the literary de-
bnquencleso OF America, and we do not desire that it
should be lost sight OF. ltmarks IN manner too
striking and sauthry, the difference in the moral
and social condition of the countries That infa-
nous press, we cannot too often repeat, is limited 10
two newspapers published weekly, and IN crcus.
ton, as IN every other respect the lowest of their
contemporaries, Position, they have none In
huence, except with those OF whose bad conscience
or cOwardce they make market, none. ANY one
who pretended to talk of their political import,
would be laughed at. The real English people have
no concern with them, any more than with the
gambling houses or other scenes Of vice in this most
crowded metropolis of the world; or than with the
so called fashionable men who resort to them, and
in whom these libelous papers find their readers
and their friends. 1t happened not many weeks
since, that one OF them, through its chief conduc-
tor and proprietor, ndscreetly placed itself within
reach OF the healthy classes OF our people in of
their places of public entertainment when the man.
though what he then proposed was harmless enough,
and might possibly have had some merit of its own,
was ANONYMOUSLY driven out of the public sight,
with vehement contempt and execratlon, 1t was,
on the very same evening matter of sad and pom.
pous complaint in the House of Lords, that the law
could not effectively reach these btllers when it
thus Tell to the good fortune OF some hundreds rep
resenting the good old hearty English feeling, to
find at that instant one of them self placed within
their reach We can punish him, at any rate, they
said and how they did II, is little likely ever to be
forgotten IN the annals OF scandaous English news
papers
But the absence of mere personal scandal does
not necessarily imply the good conduct of journal
IN other important respects1 We admit this 1t is
our charge against a vast many American papers,
that have no specially bellous vocation. We must
also admit, then, that England Can this way Sin
well. AS In the other case, however, the instances
are only two, and to be found in that part OF the
press which is published weekly; but the cireula-
to exceed thirty thousand Thirty thousand pot
houses ring all the more noisily for this day in
the week things that should be reverenced and re-
spected, made the subject of vulgar abuse there
is violence, exaggeration, and intemperance ; all
great evils. But were they evils fifty times as great
hey act within limited sphere, and cannot pene-
trate beyond. There they exhaust their fury and
their mischief. In such country as ours, where
boring class, to whose condition, God be thanked,
mems minds are at last awakenng) are to some GER
tain extent protected against every other class and
have each In greater or less degree their special
bulwark OF shelter from the gross or false preten-
sions of the rest even the very worst shape which
these opposed and counteracng interests can
sumo, has It's lurking principle OF safety. Their
most evil and most vicious element dashes Itself
against the general structure OF society In vain.
But what IS the case In America :! There a
cent expression in mich abuse and which promises
to become fashionable for all kinds ofpurposes, the
tyranny Of the majority. For ourselves we do not
in what it expresses If there is TO be tyranny of
any kind, this seems, on the WHOLE to put forth the
greatest amount OF just pretenslOn. The misery OF
il is, in the present state Of the republic, that i. is
tyranny altogether unexampled in former times and
governments, because utterly ,otho the least control
1t we are asked whether we suppose it possible to
check the further advances OF the democratic ten.
dency in the United States, we answer no. bur that
most possible and practicable would il be, by very
different course from that which is pursued, to
guide, to elevate, to redeem it, to conduct it to
noble and enduring destiny. AS it is, every thing
swels the forces OF society in one direction against
which not single effective stand is made in any
one quarter. In this state of things the "New York
Herald made Its appearance some eight or nine
years ago. and found society thoroughly prepared
for Its career of infamous success. In one immense
division, utter reck essness; IN the other, where
safety lay, utter indifference. And what lesson
tor some present resistance against dangers still to
come, Is embodied In the past course and influence
of this terrible foe to decency and order All those
wees of the republic which should have been gradu
ally wearing away-thc prying, inquisitive, I'M
wholesome growth, of young and prematurely
forced society-have been pampered and bloated to
increased enormiy. For as nothing breeds SO rap.
idly as vermin, the "Herad" brood, within this
brief space Of years. has almost covered the land
We are told, and we can well believe IT, that the
Herald" has miators and worthy disciples in very
nearly every small village, town, or city IN Amer
ca. 1t seems at first incredible that strong effort
should have been made to resist all this, but little
reflection explains the cause.
The existing press OF America had itself effective
" brought the curse upon the land, OF which the
foreign" adventurer Qor Scotland voded him over
the Atantic) who started the HERALD SIMPLY
took advantage. This was the press which, before
the birth of the Herald" Governor Clinton had
denounced in terms quoted in our former Re-
view, and of which, some years earlier, Jefferson
expresseda strong conviction in his correspondence,
that had Its lntemperance and calumnes been
known in the time of Washington, they would have
driven that great man from public life. This was
the press OF which, when Captain Hamilton was in
America, that intelligent and acute observer made
il his business to read specimens from all parts Of
the UnlOn," and pronounced 1t as his opinion that
they were contemplate in talent, and In abuse
horribly outrageous as TO disgust HIM far more with
the people who could endure them, than with the
writers who had produced them: And, we repeat.
by this press, when the Herald" appeared, the re
public was already afflicted with that Spirit of Party
which is too nearly allied to the Spirit of Licentous
TO be able to check Its career Pari passu with
the other has it since continued, giving and taking
nourshment from the same polluted source, till we
its hdeous contamination in such paper astne |
largely circulated influential Courier and Ebqui-
rer," and have greve over It's deporabIe excuses
in such able, respectable and well conducted,
though for that ,eason not widely popular journals,
as the New York American" the " Boston Daily |
Advertiser" the New York Evening Post" and |
some few others Here, therefore, was the safety |
of the Herald" Even the honestest men of the |
opp 70 hot N
each other pieces tobethink them how far better
il had been TO make common against the dis
honest and Infamous, the enemy of all So-uninter- |
tered with-went on the "Herald," till lit has reach.
ed its daiiv circulation of upwards of thirty hou-
sand till 1t eau boast OF the favors OF the Chief Ma
eistae of the Republic till it forces its vagabond
agents and tools into the public service till, IN
word, it has become A Potcer in the state. 1t is OF
as little use tuning about this, to deny, in the |
matter of slavery the degradation and depression OF
America below every other cIyi!lzed country In the