Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1858-09-17
From the Burlington Times, Aug. "a.
MINOR AND MAJOR,

friend has called our attention to tht
following characteristic paragraph in thC
Free Press of the 18th, which had entirely
escaped our notice -
The announcement of the great news that the
Atlantic Telegraph was at last in actual wjrkinj
o,de' together nth the first despatch the cable
given In tho Free Press of Monday evening" wa.
received with almost much surprise as was the
| original intelligence Of the laying of the cable
me minor fact haths Queen AMI President had er-
ehanged greetings, received on Tuesday morning,
and announced by neighbor of the Times in an
extra &C.. &C."
Inc major fact, "given IN the Free Press
ana the "minor fact announced by our
nelghbor of the Times, in an extra" arc
| worthy moments consideration.
The MAJOR fact is the news "that the At
iantic Telegraph was at last in actual work
ing order, the Telegraph is not yet in
working order &c together with The first
despatch orer the cable, -" which was the bogus
despatch from Cyrus Station SO called,
purporting to be signed, "Drectors of the
Atlantic Telegraph Co of Great Britain. and
which nobody believed what to be it purported
to be, but which the Free Press paraded, in
its editorial columns, in letters as large as n
mouse-trapl The Cyrus Station dispatch
tell Hat into obscurity and contempt. This
is the major fact
he 'nnnor fact happens to be the crly
authentic fact there was in the casc. to wit,
the Message Of the Queen to the President,
an his reply, which were circulated in the
morning by an Extra Times and in the af-
ternoon by another Extra giving the COM
pletc message Of the Queen, while the Free
Press was circulating the streets with only
the fragment of that NJ tssage, which appear
ed in the regular edition Of the Times eight
M MI h.,, T.. /. .
the Free Press got the whole Message in
part of its edition, bur not till it was pub
lished in the second Extra Times.
There are the facts major and minor
and though we neither ask nor deserve credit
for dDing what is ordinarily done by news
papers that aim to keep pace with the times,
in getting out Extras continuing news OF
ext ra-ordlnary interest to uGi readers, yet it
i'll becomes the Free Press to speak in terms
of uEfounded disparagement of the enterprise
1t neither possesses nor intimatcs.
The above queer article appeared in the
Daily Imes August 9th. We made Il slight
notice of it the same day, barely pointing
out its absurd logic and requesting the Tmss
to give its readers the proof that the Directors
despatch spoken of was bogus, as soon as it
got it, Its abundant display OF self conceit
and misrepresentation of the Free Press we
did not think worthy of notice, and should
not have rccurred to it again but for what
has followed.
Five days after, the Steamer City of B lii
more, from England, brought to New York
an official letter from Mr.. Saward the Secre-
tary of the Telegraph Co. to The London
Times (Which letter f. ON its importance in
this connexion we publish below stating
expressly that the Directors Message ,oas
sent by Telegraph from Valentia to New
Foundland-just us it was received and pub
lished in this country-(nobody but the
Times. so far as we have seen, ever having
had doubt of its genuinenesS) and that 1t
was sent before that of the Queen. The sub
stance of that letter was given to the readers
of the Free Press the day the City of Balti-
more arrived at New York, Aug. 80. One
would naturally suppose that from a respect
for its own readers, il from no other reason,
the Times would have made haste to correct
the gross error of its article; but to this day
not an alluson has been made to the truth
of the case by it Still worse.-Sept. lst. -,
two days after the confirmation of the gen.
uineness and priority Of the Directors Mes
sage had been made public, its original arti-
Gle appeared again, in the Weekly Times,
with all its Misrepresentation and folly, at
full length The reason for this we leave
the curious to search out for themselves.