The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-06-08

We print suggestive article nom the
Eoesasg Post in reference to the lecture Of NJ
Rochefort the other evening and the manifesto
addressed by him to the HERALD few days
since The Eoening Post responds to the sug-
gestion of that gloomy and painfully virtuous
compilation, the Nation, that it should have
ignored the presence Of M. Rochefort in New
York. that 'the policy of ignoring public oo-
currences Is not one we are disposed to adopt"
$50 little is known of the true history OF
France since 1870" adds the Pos. sthat We
value every source of information on the SUBJ
ject quite independently of any feeling Of SYM
pathy or antipathy in respect to the person
from whom the information reaches us." In
other words, the policy which tho Nation ad-
vocates, and which is criticised with so much
Justice and truth, is that Of the ostrich, Of
whom we are told that when IL desires to
avoid all observation and be completely Gig
nored" by the pursuer, it buries its head in
the sand. We have Q GLASS of journalists
in America who carry out this principle in
dealing with public affairs.
The case of M. Rochefort affords an anus
ing illustration Of this policy. That gentle
man upon his arrival in New York addressed
letter to the HERALD, which we published in
French and English, giving his experiences in
New Caledonia, some recollections of the
Commune, and his views in reference to the
present condition and probable future of
France. few days after he delivered leo
ture in the Academy of Music on the same
subjects. As the EUeni,g Post says of the leo
ture. ''not only was there incomparably less
material in it than in his letter, but what
there was was indiffsrently worked up" In
other words, the letter was as fine piece of
wit and raillery and invective, in literary
point of view, as any of the numbers of the
Lonte're. The lecture, on the other hand,
apart from an allusion to Jules Favre was
tame and prosy, and was in no way contri-
button to the history of France. Yet the jour-
mails who were anxious enough to print the
lecture, which amounted to nothing, omitted
al allgsion to the letter. which is decidedly
the most important contribution that has BEEN
-::nadA TO the history of France since the fa1 of
the Empire. The ostrich policy Of sagnor-
ing was never more amusingly illustrated.
1t reminds us Of the history Of France
which at one time was written BY devout
believer in the Bourbons anxious to say
nothing that would wound the feelings
of the Bourbons, or recall unpleasant
memories to the Christian kings, the pious
author omitted the whole history Of the EN-
pire and said that turing the Imperial rule
the armies of the Ting were entrusted to the
command Of Marquis Bonaparte. . distin-
guished Officer" M. Rochefort is not man
to our fancy There were many things in his
letter, but more particularly in his address.
rspugnant to our sentiments. He and his
friends have shown themselves the enemies of
republicanism, and have probably thrown the
French Republic back many years. But he
can be no more ignored than Robespierre,
whom, by the way, he calls "a great citizen;"
nor Marat who was type of the practical
effect Of his principles; nor Camille Desmou-
Inns, whom he SO strikingly resembles in char
acter and genius. We might as easily ignore
John Wilkes in the history of England or
Jefferson Davis in our own history. These
men exist as facts. They are creations and
illustrations Of their time, Illuminating it, not
always with wholesome light, but enabling
us to see the men and times as they were. M.
Rochefort is type of the wonderful age in
which he lives, and without studying his
career and his utterances we should be at loss
to understand many things In France that
otherwise become clear and natural
A good deal of this ostrich journalism comes
from the necessary machine qualities of our
newspapers. An editorial staff is quite as apt
to become machine as the presses in the press
Dom. Traditions grow into laws, and much of
the ignoring and Misrepresentation, and
omission to credit-the departing from the
amenities of the profession, which are as
marked as in any other calling, come from the
woodenheaded night editors and subordinates
who have no plan but to initiate the custom of
twenty years before, when our newspapers
were mostly experiments and anxious to
make noise and to fight their way into power
and recognition. We have o memory Of this
kind which remains as q natural curiosity in
our own cabinet of relics. During the French
and German war, when the Tribune, admirably
served by the wide-awake agent in London
and backed by the enterprising manager in
New York, was telegraphing those wonderful
reports of Gravelotte and Metz and Sedan,
reports which under the rules of the Associ-
ated Press were as much our property as our
own specials our own midnight ostrich de-
olined to print the reports because they were
not HERALD victories, just as our contem-
ponries would not print the letter of M.
Rochefort because he had not addressed it to
them. The omission of our own ostrich was
speedily rectifed, as we could never make
the mistake Of declining 70 print news whom
we obtained ii, merely because it did not come
from our special correspondents. To be sure,
it is rarely that we have such a chance, but We