, 1875-05-12
THE PARIS PRESS.
(From The SPECTATOR

From The Spectator)
In the Paris Correspondence of the Tines
there is some curious Information as to the
means by which some Of the Paris journals fish
for subscribers. Instead Of covering every avail
able wall with proolamations that they have "tha
largest circulation in the world" or q world
wide circulation, " they offer gifts to their regu-
lar subscribers. The Partisan is tempted by
the promise that, if he will only pay in advance
for a particular journal, he shall at the end OF
the stipulated time get a copy of the works OF
Edgar Quinet or the last novel of NJ. Victor
Hugo. 50 mall an expedient would be dis
dained by the gigantic journals of London, and
in fact, it denotes the fragmentry character OF
the Paris Press. But the political causes and
consequences of that character do not receive
sufficient attention. In our capital the news
papers Of any Importance may be counted on
the fingers almost of a single hand, whereas
the journals of Paris must be reckOned by the
dozen. And equally remarkable is the oharac-
ter of the Press in the two cities. The reader
Of the Times, or even of any cheaper London
newspaper, possesses all the intelligence OF the
day. He may be quite certain that all news
of any interest to Liberal or Tory will be given
as fully as the available space will permit
that the speeches of political men will be re-
ported with perfect fairness even by the jour
mails which differ from them and in fact that,
although the Liberal newspapers will pay more
attention to the affairs of the Liberal party, aud
the Conservative newspapers to those of the
Conservative party, both will give a complete
record of each days events. We assume it, in
deed, to be a mere matter of course that the
Times, the Daly Telegraph, and the Daily
Ne0s should thus free themselves from the
trammels of party in the giving Of Intelligence,
how bitterly sosver they may speak in their
leading columns. We should count it Disgrace
ful for them to distort a political speech, and
such an offence would be quickly punished by
3 loss of influence. But the Paris Press Is
guided by an altogether different code OF morali.
ty. As a rule, each of the papers represents
one party, or one section of a party, or even a
single member of a party. AS a rule, each
does not look beyond its own Immediate circle.
And the writer's advocate their opinions with
the air Of people whom nothing short Of q mira.
Gle would enable to see more than one side OF g.
question. The Rappd writes as if all who do
not agree with the Republican herOics of Victor
Hugo were fools, idiots, and r~ascals, with whom
it were preposterous to reason, and who must
be kicked, cufed, or laughed into silence.
The Unayers is equally positive that all the
enemies of the Pope and M. Louis Veuillot are
fools, idiots, and ~rascals. 1t is certain that
most Republicans are ~rascals, that NJ. Victor
Hugo is presumably half fool, and that the
writer's for the RappeI are pretty equally com.
pounded of r~ascality and folly. M. VeuillOt
would burn all of them for the good Of their
own souls. The outrageous unfairness of such
comments might excite little surprise, if it
were accompanied by a full or faithful record
of the daily events, and in particular by an ao-
curate account of what has been publicly said
or done in the opposite political camp. But
the very idea of such impartiality does not
seem to strike the conductors of the PaSis jour-
nails. Although they give the speeches of their
own friends, they very seldom print those of
any opponent, and when they do thus deviate
into a show of fairness, it is usually for the
purpose of proving the man TO be a great ras-
cal or a great fool. They do not scruple to
publish just as much of any speech of his az
will bear out that charge. aud not a sentence
more or less. Nor do they scruple To distort
as we'll as to clip, and they cannot be trusted
to summarize the speech Of an enemy. In the