The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-06-28
A PROSTITUTE PRESS.
THE MAN rs DEAD, BUT THE PAPER
LIVES.
An English Estimate Of James Gordon
Bennett.
From the Losdon Saturday Revlew.l

Bennett.
| From the Loadon Saturday RevieW.l
New York may be congratulated on having
within a short period lost two of Its foremost
citizens Fisk was shot few months ago,
and 1t is perhaps IRON one point of view an
encouraging circumstance that there snouid
be such general reluctance 10 hang the muir
d.rer. James Gordon Bennett has died
natural death, but unfortunately his newspaper
survives him. In his own way he was quite as
great man-we are thinking Of greatness IN
| iis Jonathan Wild srnse-as Fisk; but he Kept
on The safe side OF the law, and he was spared
the expense of having to share bis plunder Win
the judges. His career is conspicnous "a. eA,
apoIoeIst has suggested that his character
might be described as good 80 Tar as IL Went,
hnt .,defec;ive." He was shrewd, en-.
terprislDg, audacIous. liberal; "yIst him, and
YOU see before you q qulet-msnnereo
| Courteous and good d-natured old gentlemen;
| with the world" But beyond that there was
| a blank. "That region Of the mind where
convictions, the sense OF truth and honor,
| public spirit and patriotism have their sphere,
| ia In this man mere vicancy." He was, IN
| fact, an utterly interruptions person, VINO naa
no desire TO do evil Tor It's own sake, but who
had made up his mind to push nls way ID tne
world, and who was ready to follow any road
that seemed to suit bis purpose. 1t was his
combination of rare shrewdness and profl-
pnle sudacity which rendered hls example 30
corruptino and dangerous. When. 10 the
course of some quarrel, his adversary called
| him pedler, he az once adopted the name
He .speddled." be said, In thoughts and feel-
| rps and intellectual truths, as he was going
| 10 hnu In the 9Amp line.
a pedler has prescrlptlve right to call ms
wares such names as hr pleaspe, out tne com-
moditles out of which Bennett began TO make
hIs fortune were, in plain language, oDsctnlty
and personal defamation. me new 1ork
Herald, which he invented and continued 20
| an obscene, scurrilOus print, sold at cent.
printed by stealth on other peoples types,
and published in cellar. The office OF The
Herald is now one of the grande6t houses IN
Broadway; the paper Itself ts one OF the rlcnesC
literary properties In the world, and it mas cast
off the revolving grossness OF l's carry
years. But IL has always been conducted on
the same prlnclple-Lhe principle Of providing
ANYTHING that seemed likely to pay, without
regard TO the moral texture of the article.
The Justification of the commodity was slmp.
| ly that people we're willing 10 buy IT, and btu-
nett never troubled himself about anything
else. He was, as his admirers were accus'
/ -.
iudices. He had no prejudice in favor OF
flth; he would just ss soon sell honest, whole
som, literature If more customers could oe
ionnd fort The Herald In its original form
was akin to the Age and Salirlst, except that
| Its pasliuess and personalities were more OAR
| ing and abominable. Bennett, however, was
olre shrewd enough to zee that this sort OF
hing could not be- made permanently remu-
Dersiiye, and he gradually toned down lhe
omen indie ,ency OF his Journal, at the same
lime paying great attention to general ami
esneciaily to commercial news. He had, as
we learn from memoir written by an enthu-
sIastic admirer, studied under Mr. III. m. Moan,
an editor OF an original and energe:1c type,
and he fully appreciated his masters STYLE
II ia stated that Mr.. Noah had "a method of
publicly calling on certain individuals TO
nav their debts" which naturally created
some commotion in 3 commercial city. Be-
| fore Mr.. Noah had reaped the fruits OF "this
| remarkable line of policy" he seems TO nave
gone mad. assuming the "inslgnla OF one ol
inr a rendezvous of The Israelillsh race OF
Grand Island, near Buffalo, which put an end
| to his paper. Bennett was destined 10 turn
the Noahic "method" to more profitable &C.
| count, It is said that during one OF the great
| commercial panics OF New York the Herald
| announced that on q specified day 1t would
publish list of all the solvent traders IN the
/
and there was naturally great anxiety to oe
mentioned In the one list and 10 oe excluded
from the other. Brnnetts biographer tel's us
| that he took o broad view OF the advertise.
| ment aues' Ion, and Insisted upon beng paid
| for all ARTICLES and paragraphs which he chose
| to include in that category. In becoming less
| fiagrantly INDECENT the Herald did not be-
| come less noxious to pnblic taste and moral.
i,y. Bennett saw that it did not pay to scan-
dalIze the public too much He continued 10
pander 10 prurlenC appetites and love OF ecan
dsl, but In such way that people should have
an excuse for reading the paper. He called The
nastiness news, and mixed II up with o'ner mat
ter of respectable kind. He had seen, he said,
humanity depraved 10 its core, and he proclaim
ed each morning "on fifteen thousand sheets OF
thought and in elect the deep guilt That was
| encrustine all society,"" but 1t was all tor It's
good. He Justified even the Infamous adver-
| iisemenR with which his columns teemed.
Bennett, like Flax, had keen sense OF the
value OF no. oioriety. He kept himself and the
Herald perpetually before the public. He
was Systematically aggressive, and occasion
alIv % he had to suffer ior Ills insolence and pug.
! pacty, but he never failed to turn 1t 10 &C.
count as an advertisement for the paper. He
was one of the best kicked men In the world,
and every kicking was miuutely described in
| his journal next morning for the edifcation OF
his readers. Bennett had only one obi ct In
| view, 10 please tno puullC so Iuat lucy ouoliu
buy his paper, and he had early come TO the
conclusion that the best method of doing 81
was to crafty the passions and echo The opln-
| ions of the hour. " wish never TO be q day
in advance of the people," be used to say.
"a Journal to be great must be with the peo'
pIe, and must work In the sphere OF their in-
slIncts,n was another of his maXlms; and he
| laid it down that the ''best intelligence and
wisdom is no more than what they 1.-THE
massesl are wllliOg to have exist In society,""
He deliberately and for purely selfish pur-
pose appealed to the worst side OF Demo-
cratic society, fawning upon the multi
tudp, exalLing ils prejudices and caprices, and
| mInisteriug eagerly lo Its prurlent appetites
and mean jealousies, and 1t can hardly be-
doubted that the result OF his labors was to
intensity the despotlsm of majorities, and the
| truculence of the mob. No reputation was
safe from bis attacks; he sided with every
party In turn, and was true. to none. He
boosted of his independence. 1--WE are inde-
pendent of every one," he used 10 say, 'like
| Luther, like Paul, we 60 en- our own hook
| His independence extended equally TO prlnci.
pies and convictions. One opinion was just
as good In his eyes as another; he had no in.
i yidious preferences. no embarrassing belief In
right and wrong; all he wanted was the sort
| of opinion that would sell his paper, and If al
4 auy Time he found he had made a mistake,
| and laid in the wrong article, he never hest
tated to change 1t Instantly. His open cynic.
ism and contempt Tor what he deemed the
affectalions of sincerity and earnestness, per.
haps did r.ore harm than his outrages tn good
taste ara public morality. His abomlnable
| attacka nm nriyate character had nut even the