The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-08
A New York Critic DIssectei--.
Pretty Severe RazeeInE.
From Me Louisrllle Jol


in New York city is called by this
name. For some months 1t has been
making desperate efforts to gain noto-
riety. To accomplish Its purpose 1t has
Tesorted to all sorts of expedients. 1t
has claimed to speak rs with the voice
of fate. It has, as If by the authority
ofhigh position, denounced and abused
its betters. 1t has got itself prosecuted
for libels. II has, at whatever cost,
managed or tried to manage to have it.
self talked about. Lately it has put
forth series of editorial articles on the
American newspaper press. Some pa
pers 1t praises and some 1t condemns.
The Louisville papers fall under its
displeasure. What pity The Round
Table needs Sir Roland as one of its
knights. We will give it one for its
Oliver.
The Table is as paltry as 1t is pretenti-
Gus. Its editors lack ability. They
They can't write the English language
correctly. They sin grievously against
Lindley Murray, Horne Tooke, Gould
Brow and Noble Butler. Even the
articles in which they act the critic on
the American press, and in which, II
in any, they would OF course be espe-
CiaIly careful not to blunder in their
grammar, they do blunder continually
and miserably. For instance, "a satis-
factory estimate of the number and
condition of country papers Is difficult
10 form" Form" is an active verb,
but what object does it govern2 Not
'.estimate," !" for that is nominative to
''is." Again, ''the proper sphere of
such publications is not difficult to de-
termine." There the blunder already
noticed recurs. "He can dH it with
words enough to complete its pages"
That's tdutoLogy. "Tenets long since
exploded and only lingering in the
al. fralvN I'D
rustic mind" &c. The word "only''
should follow "lingering." Standing
where 1t does it falls TO express the
writer's idea. "This desideratum is
only attainable at intervals." There's
the same error again. "only" should
be after, not before, "attainable." The
idea isn't that the desidera:um is "O1lty
only at Intervals. "The Philadelphia
Press, which is only prevented from
being model paper by, &c. There 1t
comes for the third time. "Only"
should follow "paper." "They must
not only have a position of respecta-
bility, but which," &c. There's the
things fourth appearance. mot only"
should follow "have." "Only" is a
word that the Round Table doesn't
know how to use. and 1t isn't the only
one. The editor, speaking of the con-
tents of a country paper, says "The re-
mainder of the sheet will be filled with
stray paragraphs" &c. Why does he
say 1OiH be allied? Hemay see how the
sheet is filled, but what means has he of
knowing how a sheet ,Diu be filed.
"Their chief characteristic is colorless
vacuity." This implies that some va
cuitIes, spaces in which there is no sub
stance, are c0Lored. or what color are
they2 "Such case is very far from
being SINGLE" &c. Ii the case isn't
"single." what is it2 Double, or
treble, or auadruple Isn't every in
dividual case "single ?" "His popu-
larity and that of his journal is de-
strOyed." They isis they? at fol-
is something that JoHotps. So
the writer's idea is that ii JoLiopS
as something that foLoWS. 'The
managing editor is compelled TO achieve
the impossible. Ofcourse the impossi
BILE is never achieved" As the iInpOs-
sible Is never achieved and can't be,
how is an editor compelled to achieve
it?'' "This restriction is itself a power;
it permits of ready classification, OF
great variety" &c. Permits of The
man probably means admits" "AC-
cording to the respective Importance of
the subject" &c. What a use OF the
word "respective?" "That place of ex-
cellence to'odrd which the metropolitan
editor is always approaching but never
quite attains," }" &c. Leave out toward"
and the phrase is well enough. As IL
stands, It is eNecrable. "These eXpec-
tatIons will be found attended by impo-
tent conclusions" But the conclusions
don't attend the expectations. When
the conclusions come, the expectations
are at an end. "The South is in SO
yeuSLy u condition." &c. He thinks the
prosperous South is rising like u loaf of
light t-bread. We wish she were. "The
Transcript, in some respects, is superior
to its rivals, but its circle of readers is
relatively less" its circle of readers
be satisfied to say so2 What is meant
by ''TeLdtiUeEy less?'' "Maine has but
two newspapers of any critical worth"
What particular kind of worth is "criti-
cal WORTH" "The reader is conscious
Of choPpyy, tagging, short-6reathsd st ned
seven wonders of the world, what sort
OF movement can that be? each of
these journals are in one particular
in advance, DC. Each of them
are. That will do. THE Rich
mond papers were remarkable for the
RAILS" There's no such word as Gilt"
AS used by the writer, it is bogus
word, bearing his own image and su-
prescription. 1.-THE Baltimore papers are
noted for nothing unless 1t be for GER
tain abstentation from sensations. I'm
less it Is, the writer should have said.
And there's no such English word as
''abstentation." 'Tis the writer's own
beggarly coin. -A6Ste1stton is the word
the BOBBY was after. ..Neither the
Picdyune nor the Times can be quoted
as examples" Ofcourse neither of the
two can be quoted as examples, though
either of them might be quoted as an
example. Boston Transcripts are not
in the habit of multiplying themselves,
and their absence Is a moral loss"
But If we have not had them, how can
what we have not and never had "The
provincial press Is not single in this lu-
crative sin," &c. 'Tisnt "Sin1te" in II
What then Double or compound 2
The writer wanted alone. Twice he
uses the word pu6Licist as synonymous
with publisher. The thrice-sodden asst
A publicist is a IOIite1- on the LdlDS Of ma
tITe and nations.
We could cite from the Round Tables
single article on the press three times as
many blunders as we have cited here;
blunders in grammar, blunders in
thought, blunders in everything. The
editors, who set themselves up as ora
cles of literature and arbiters of the
American press, are miserably deficient
in their own trAde-that OF writing.
Their pretensions are the roaring of a
mountain; their performance tAe birth
OF deformed mouse. Their periodical
is unfit, on account of its gross litter
ateness, to circulate in any commu-
nifty.
THERE are many wonderful and GU
rious things in Japan. Those strange
people have arts and inventions
whereof the secret is yet unknown to
tho oF|