New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-02
The Newspaper Press.
THE FRENCH PRESS.

lie which are indispensable requisites In ne"'Pa
n,r srticles In other couf tries journalists form
di,tirct class among literary me'i IN frsnc' every
..,.,s,, ms, is journalist. Other languages n''
,l tcIerste bot require different styles OF "''inB
c,- ti,,orv. science. philosophy and 80 on tue
t,.o,b ,dnits of but one -! lie snd that the J'ur
,;.,,. Herein lies its excel nee and It's charm
IT. Frerctnsn write on sny subject ana ne Is
-.oooc,l roioted. lively, sDd above all, clear ne
III, 7, all this be is unspproachable aud
ruts other writers 10 shame. Fof instance uef'
x,i,es book on philosophy, profound enough
II Won please, but dull, heavy, tortoous, numbering,
term 10 all students not armed like the author
with an invincble genius for Flooding. A French
man peretrates that thicket Of lAbyrnthiae words
seizes on the ideas there concealed, and presents
them to the world in bis own language. The system
OF thoug ht is the same and ouy ts state men is ne ~
but the change lie almost infinite Instead Of being re-
PEELED or put 10 sleep you are delighted, and read
the book if only for the beauty and lucdity of its
STYLE. II ia ID, same in CON parfon with the Fog.
lisb for, though our language makes far better vri
tiers thsnthe Gt msn,t 10 still inferior TO the French
in every quality except G. certain oaken vigor
and noble fUllness Of expression, which on occasion
easily and naturally rise into the grand and sublime
But these are not the qualities a journalist should
most impress upon his Rtyle; on the contrary be
should rather avoid them and ifhe be gifted with a
soul Which feels gfeaty, ana has the power of ade.
qustey expressing its psssion his pen should rarely
give way to such impulses and only under an arts
tic severity Of Taste which bears the reader to the
same elevation OF feeling and carries bis synpathies
along at every step Bat what a newspaper wri-
ter should aim at and cultivate, what if born TO
lis profession, be possesses, rs it were, by nature
is exactly such ETY. e any well educated French.
man will write without effort. Its characteristics
are transparent clesrnsss, ease, point life. And
these every French writer, Of equation no mat
ter VT At ubect he treats, no matter how profound
the IDEAS he has forth MAX bis own In other
words, he writes like journalist whose basinessis
" be read and understood tmerey by initiated
few, but by all the world. dis rhetoric is thus
most democratic and natural ia proportion its art
is perfect We do not say thai other languages may
not reach kindred excellence; we do not say
that in other respects they are not superior: as,
for instance, the German in hezbility and rich
less Of structure and the power OF expressing the
affections; but admitting every thing OF this sort
which can be affirmed, it is still incontestbe that
French writers, in point Of style, are superior to
all others, and that, 90 for, French Journalism is
the first in the world.
We saw this excellence Of French writing
accounted for the other day at least partially by
the fact that the discourses pronounced before the
Academy and other learned bodies of Paris are
always attended by numbers of women, to whose
unscentic intellects the Swans are supposed TO
fe ell themselves bound to render every subject not
only ineligible, but charming. We presume that
those distinguished gentlemen have too much & al
lantry 1ot to aim at so reasonable triumph But
that can hardly account for the universally Of the
qualities we are discussing. Their cause is deep.
or ard more permanent, and must rather be looked
for in the national character and the nature Of the
language. Sill, in France az well az elsewhere
education has had a great deal to do in bringing
the art Of writing well TO its present development;
a1d by this we mean here not so much the instrac.
ton given to individuals as that general discipline
through which the mind Of nation must pass in
the course Of an earnest and eventiul historical pc
Rod. whose controversies in one say OF another,
sl uivot upon Democracy Contrast French books
by the best writers Of seventy five years ago with
these of the present time, and you will be struck
bv the superiority Of the latter in respect OF style
This inn provement-tbough trifing ia Importance
compared with other results Of the Hevolutlon-is
IN he attributed 90 The mental culture which these
three quarters of & century have effected, AMI
70 the fact that authors longer write TO classes
lot 10 h. xxyho nah IL A at
means of effectDg this change has been the News
psper Press The Journals being the arena in
which questions receive the most animated and
thorough discussion, offering, too, the means Of
widely aud directly influencing public opinion,
writers Of all parties have become habtuated to
appear 10 their columns, and have learned the art
of appearing there effectively. This fact has given
to French newspapers al Importance which others
have not attained. The finest inteDects Of France
have been and are Journalists and it would be diff
fcut to name any eminent man Of any party in
thet alton who has not been a newspaper writer.
The yourg man seeking sphere for his ambition,
the .heorist ardent to make converts, the minister
who must sustain bis party and his policy-al re-
sort to the newspapers and while the concentra
ton Of so much talent in the ranks Of journalism
elevstes its character and enlsrges its influence
the necessity of writing plainly and popularity,
or nothing else can hope for liberation
does more than perhaps anything else to produce
that admirable style of which we have been
speaking.
The German mind is more sentimental and phi
losophic, but the glory Of science belongs to the
French. The German is a poet and moraI., the
Frenchmsn thinker and system maker. The
former collects facts forever, specusting all the
while, not only these facts but Heaven no VS.
whatbesid in the depths ofhis mora consciousness
The latter, having snatched up few facts, hastens
to put forth bis ideas This difference is perfectly
illustrated in the journals Of the two nations The