Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1873-07-16
The English Press.
[Mr Henry wsterson,s corrvspondenos Of the
Courser-Jonsnil.l
LONDoN. ,Jnite ~. 1879.

tAir 10 speak oil inc EnSt1sn Us lOeO.
lent. Ignorant And conceited without
some qualification. They are incon-
testibiy the most hide-bound pco-
pie In tho world; the wisest IN their
own esteem; tho most self-righteous
the least intelligent. That their func.
lions arc strong and manly, cannot
be disputed. They are q brave, self
sceking, stupid race, who are already
ovcr-matchcd, and will ultimately be
overrun by the Gormans and the
Americans. Tho more acute and
travelled Of them have q dim con-
sciousncss Of this. But the rank and
file, who stay at home. have not out
lived the day when Britannia ruled
the waves. and echo Santley with the
fervidest idiocy when he sings:
''we never sec our foes but We wish them to
stay,
ifthey nan, why we follow, aud run them ashore.
but ifthsy won't hshf' why we cannot 10
This hiyhfalutIn bragadocio finds
constant expression under all sorts Of
varying forms in the press Of London,
which Is ut once q representative OF
tho conventional British ass and an
example OF the material we'll
being enjoyed by the better
classes of Englishmen. Tell an Eng
lishman he can't ride aud he will
laugh mt yop. Yet he hobs up and
down like observation-disclosures. Tell him
the Times is q wretclied old make-bc-
lieve and he will consider ii u nation
ii insult, but that is just what the
Times is.
l have been. reading this stately
compound of puppy-cock every morn-
ing now for three weeks, having
plenty of time to wade through the
whole of it, aud I must say that of all
the illustrations of CANNON and pre-
sumption furnished by tho fogyisin
of England, it is the most transparent
and absured. 1t resembles, as far rs
it resembles anything, one of those
fat, well-dressed buffers WHOM you
will meet at any of tho great houses
oil Park Lane-all insolence and
brooches. But, whereas there is a
fitness in the buffers obesity and
swagger, the rotuud deficiency of the
Times is a constant affrOnt TO good
manners, common-sense and ordinary
intelligence. The Times is printed
on fanltless paper in large, clear type,
and to this extent it is worthy of
imitation. 1t has another virtue, al
SO, which is still higher and rater-it
does not belong to the advertiser, and
is. OH the whole, to DC trusted in
small matters. Like the sleek butler
i'm Park Lane, it will neither lie nor
steal for the rabble. IL is only to be
reached and overcome by the remun-
eratiye demands o fthc nobility. Nor
Il, xIo.o c,., 4oaucSNt IN nn0YrnI with
its decency. It's cleanliness is undo
niablc. But when it sets up for the
firstjournal in the world, aud. by the
grace of this pretence, divides lis
supcreilious twaddie into two parts,
that which is tediously oracnlar and
that which is helplessly silent, one is
nal evidence of power. Thus moved
to seek the will fail to find. To-day's
Times is, like Yesterdays Times, a
mess of inadequate gable about
European politics, a repetition OF last
weeks editorial fiatulencies, a few
scraps of desultory ard unimportant
information, a line or two from
| America concerning the cotton crop
| and the Modocs, and a vast and val
| liable array of crisp aud sparkling
advertising matter. You will not
| catch a CLEAN of sunshine or n ray of
humor in the Times during a twelve
month. 1t is habitually belated with
its news. Written in feeble and fin
ished English it is; but that is all.
With faultless Typography, its "make:
up'' is n bungle of bad taste and
chance-work; with prodigious re.
sources it has neither variety MOI
enterprise. Why is it a power in the
land? Because it is representative OF
that slow-movins: bx-eyed, upper
and middle class Bourbonism, which
has for years o~bstinately stuck its
HEAD behind the rotiing wooden wall.
of England, refusing to bulge ont OF
sheer perversity, and hating progress
because it sees aud knows that there
is good in it. Tho Times, however,
is losing, slowly but surely, its influ-
ence with Its circulation. 1t is alrea.
DIV exceeded in the latter by the
Telegraph, aud will presently be
cquaIled by the News. That it feels
this and chafes under it, is shown by
the pending controversy it has with
the Telegraph, in the course of (which.
having the Telegraph at a disadvan.
tage, it has giggled and sniggered
rather like a file de cham6re than
either a fat butler or a Jupiter
Tonamas.
Its competitors, the Telegraph and
News, are brighter. But they arc
miserably behind the American jour.
nails in everything except their mod
Grafton and culture, and a certain
good faith in the matter of advertis-
ing, which they have found profita-
Bile, and which every newspaper that
adopts it will find equally c. The
Telegraph is certainly better written
than the New York Herald, but it is
neither SO brilliant ner so entcrpris-
ing as the New York Tribune. l do
not hesitate to say that the Chicago
Tribune and the Cincinnati CONNER
cial arc inferior to the London News
only in typography, or rather in the
quality ofthe paper on which they are
printed. The London press is obliged
to move within n circle of English
common-places. These are little less
than prcjudices which have hedged
society round with Il narrow strip of
red tape, the overlapping of which is
social death. There is no nerve, and
very little vigOr; and if there should
be it would go for naught or prove
ruinous. Punch, which is still read
in England. is but a dull ass, and if
the Americans had not demonstrated
Martin Farquhar Topper to be the
same sort of an animal, he would be
accepted at this moment in London
MS a miracle of wisdom and philoso-
ply. Even the Pail Mall Gazette,
which started out with the purpose OF
being bright and readable. is g0od for
an after-dinncr nap three days in the
week.
On the whole, I see no reason to
modifv, but rather to re-emphasize
some observations / had occasion TO
make touching the English press not
long ago. aud which observations
some of the English critics have been
good enough to honor with their dis
approval. The press of London is
certainly much behind the press OF
New York, Chicago aud Cincinnati
in enterprise and in power. 1t is
decent but dull, and strong only M
it represents and illustrates the con-
ventional weakness of the English
character. IL. W.
AN ACT OF CRUELTY.