New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-10-27
" THE LONDON TINES"


oy THE GREAT ENGLISH JOURNALISTS EDITOR
AND HIS THIRTY YEARS ADMrNIsTRAT1oS-ITs
COURSE DURING THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR.
,.,o, THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiBUSB.l
IoNpoN Oct. 1.-When Mr.. Emerson published an
analysis of England under the too modest title OF
English Traits" he divided it into chapters eaon
treating of certain element or representative io
Going to ma Ike up the whole. There are chapters o'
Race Manners Wealth AristOcracy, Religion. iHo,'
is another on The Times. The most pene'r"t'"e "
server who has ever written about TINS oou"'i' pe-
oeiyed its leading journal to be not merely
Int an essential constituent necessary ="
soribed in accounting for the aetuai Gnsi''"U'
chapter was written more than twenty yo'is "so
Init remains substantially true to-day anu inS'i
i've TINE that is with respect 10 the power anu III
finance of The Times; not true, as nave aire'uS CA
rIonod With respect TO its superiority as newspa-
,Ich II has allowed to pass away from it, But II
NJ Emerson were to re-writeh his book, he would ma
more altern other chapters than in this tisworh
,vblo to eompare his Judgment with Mr. Watterson s
oninion ON which took the liberty to comment IN
o,ocont letter The comparison is admit unJus'
10 Mr.. Watterson. for Mr.. Emerson's is deloe
ratelv formed conviction Published years atter IL
was formed. while Mr.. WatteTson sends OIL ms s"li'
;mnression by an early post to The Louisville Courier
.Logrnal He has however, the advantage OIL Deing
able 70 modify il any morning he likes
mo nower in England" wrote Mr. Emerson Is
moro felt. more feared, OF more obeyed "hal you
read in the morning in that journal you snail near
in the evening in all society. Inc influence
At this journal is recognized power IN Europe ahu
sf ceurse none is more conscious OF IL IMAM l's cor
Suctr The tone of It's articles has often been the
accession If comment from the oihcal organs Oh inc
continental courts. and sometimes the ground OF
Wl,ofV
j. terror in Paris in Berlin, in Vienna IN Copen
hagen and in NepaulP
Mr.. Watterson will probably answer that Mr. En-
arsons opinion does not contradict his because Mr.
Emerson is describing The Times of 20 years ago
Then fit is an accurate description of The Times 20
rears ago Mr. Watterson must show ms what has
baupened since to impair its accuracy. lie believes
tbat il ia losing slowly but surely. its influence
with its circulation" / may as well confess that
once thought as he does; but the longer i've mere
the more clearly sec my mistake and his To begin
with il is not losing its circulation. All the evil
dence know of points the other way. Formerly,
while the stamp system existed the circulation OF
an English paper could be reckoncd pretty certainly
Now that stamps have been abolished, You cannot
get official information, but you get information
which is nearly as good. cannot imagine who told
Mr. Watterson The Times was losing in circulation
people who would have told him the contrary The
Tine, is the one paper which every Englishman who
has much share in what is going on IN the world
whether politics. trade, commerce, manufactures,
literature, no matter what-must see. And the num-
Der of such people is increasing every year Some Of
them dislike The Times but they read it, and the
pretepse of not reading it, which some of them make
IL mostly an aiectatOn. IL was believed the penny
press would eat into the circulation of The TimtS
force it to reduce its price No such result has fol
lowed.
As means Of publicity, il has no rival. English
men with grievance turn to it instinctvely, and 1t
takes pleasure in giving the world letters every
conceivable subject. The tourist who has lost his
luggage on an Italian railway or been plundered at
a hotel will get scant attention from the local
authorities but The Times opens its hOspitable col
umus to his complaint, and presently the railway
dsQorges and the hotelkeepeT finds his custom leav
Ing him 1t is the one central authority in England
which the railways, who laugh at the Board Of
Trade. and country magistrates who defy the Home
Secretary. fear They even sometimes obey It, 1t
risks actions for libel without number. Not many
are brought, for a simple reasOn-it always fights,
and every attorney in England knows il, and client
must have a long purse and a stubborn temper 70
stand any chance of verdict. If its correspondents
Ay at high game that makes little difference. A let
ter NAV contain an attack an archbishop, and it
will publish that or a lament about some tTlHing
eYtOrtion by the POst-Ofice and Telegraph authOr-
ties and that, too will find ready admission. The
capacity Of the English for taking trouble about
penees is very great In what is called the dull
son, after Parliament has adjourned, and there is
room, the paper is enGvened with these letters in
great variety. They have ten-fOld weight from ap-
pearing there they have attention and cOnsidera-
ton, and as for the mere number of readers, they
are probably greater as | have said before, than
those of paper printing thrice the number of copies
A general inquiry into the influence and position
of The Times and their causes would carry me too
far. All wish to do is to touch on one or two
points suggested by Mr.. WattersOns criticism. He
gives no reasOns-at least have seen nOne-for his
belief that it is losing its influence but contents
himself with asserting as fact what is at most an
opinion Suppose we look at one other persons
opinions, declared in the strongest possible way,
viz, by his acts. Nobody can have forgotten the
publication in 1870 of the famous draft of the treaty
proposed By NAPOLEON to Prussia of which the an
nexation of Belgium by France was one main arti-
Gle. Its publication had greater influence on Euro
pean opinion than any other event, and was de-
signed TO have. 1t warned England that her ALI
with the French Emperor was sham, and it
definitely turned English synpathIes-thls matter
Of vital political consequence-away from Napoleon
aud in favor of Germany. The person who gave
that treaty its publicity was Count Bismarck, and
the medium he chose was The Times. Appearing in
any other paper, through any other channel what
ever ITS authenticity would have been doubted, its
eject and influence have been uncertain. But Count
Bismarck knew two things first, that The Times
would not publish the document till convinced of
Its genuineness and second, that all Europe knew
4 ~ fea ~ er M in
Europe of which as much can be said, let Mr.. Wat
tersOn name II. Aud let him her w