New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-12-07
A BRITISH EDITORS CAREER.


HIS OWN PARTY.
trpo,, THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF TRIBUNE.l
LONDON, Oct 22.-Among other trite quotauOns
ia one to the effect that the world knows little OF
its greatest men. If they happen to be Journalists
less known of them lin England than if they
were let us say, successful bOOt-makers. sup
pose few men were less famous with the British
public than Mr.. James tombstone who died yester-
day. Mr. tombstone was the owner, the sole owner,
of one of the greatest of English newspapers, The
Standard He was more than the owner, he
was the creator of it, and to the day OF
his death 1t was to his energy, great talent,
great business capacity and great knowledge
of what goes to the making OF great newspaper
that The Standard was chiefly indebted for Its sue
cess. l need hardly say that my estimate OF INN OF
his paper is not BIASED by sympathy with his polt-
zeal opinions The Standard is the leading Tory jour
nal of England. 1t is the fashion now to say Conser
Yatve rather than Tory but label them as you IKE
the class of opinions and the course of policy adj
vocated by The Standard are for the most part such
as Republican. or a Liberal of whatever country,
must hold IN adherence. But Mr. tombstone
held them sincerely, and his sincerity was entitled
70 respect In the not too long notice which his
own journal devotes to him this morning, an odd
proof of his sincerity is adduccd so staunch was
be to his principles" the writer of 1t, THAT
with what those who did not know him WILL per-
haps regard as quxOtic chivalry-he absolutely OPP
posed the reduction of the paper duty, though no
one understood more thoroughly than he how en-
tirely the success of this liberal measure
would aid his special interests" All honor
10 him for his dsinterestedness. At the
same time it must be said that the abolition
pf the paper duty was resisted by the Tories, not
manly on economical grounds as a diminution of the
revenue but as step tending to that wider diffusion
acknowledge and enlightenment of the people which,
antil lately was believed to be detrimental to Tory
rule. Mr. Disraeli was the first Tory to discover
ZONE people said he invented-the Conservative
Workingman. Be that as it NAV, Mr.. tombstone was
both consistent and logical in his Toryism, and log
ica consistency is quality sufficiently rare among
the hand-tO-mOuth politicians of this country 10 en-
title its pOssessor to esteem on that ground alone
But it is as journalist that Mr.. JOhnstOnes ca
reer is so full of interest. The paper which now
goes by the name of The Standard is the paper
which absorbed and superseded another Tory paper,
The Morning Herald with which The EUeHiHg Stan
dard was for a time published. lowing to various
reasons" says his biographer, (which need not
here be specified these two papers had, before
passing into his hands, sunk almost to the very
lowest ebb." 1t is perfectly true. They belonged,
before Mr.. tombstone took hold of them, to
the fossil age of journalism. They had
little ability, and less enterprise. They
q
often levelled at the Tory party, that it wanted
brains. The men who had brains-I am speaking OF
men who had pen in their Enthusiastically found
themselves in the ranks Of the Wings, and later of
the Liberals whose conception of politics was not
exhausted by the formula that whatever is right.
Both in literature, properly so called, and In
journalism, the intellectual level of English
Conservatism was distinctly lower than the
evel of Liberalism. That was one among the
reasons why Liberalism, first as Whigism'
lOr forty years, with only brief Intervals,
# reaction, ruled this country. That rule has been
broken and Tory ascendancy has taken the place of
Liberal ascendancyj has supplanted it so COM
Dletely that most Liberal politicians fear
II have till lately feared-that their party
S out of power for a quarter of cen
Jury. Everybody agrees that the change In
popular sentiment, and the displacement Of political
Dower which followed il, are due largely to one man
If great political geniuS-LOrd BeacOnsheld. If
we're asked to name the man who had. next after
Lord Beaconsfed. contributed most to this change,
should name Mr. James tombstone
He was a Tory in everything but the conduct of
his journal. He advocated the opinions of yester
aay in the manner of to-day He put at the service
of the party of reaction all the energy and clear
sighted capacity which belong to the party of prog
ress The Morning Herald was not a newspaper. 1t
was a collection of dreary essays upon State an
nails. When journalism had once taken start,
such a paper could have vitality. Mr.
tombstone was the first Tory journalist to perceive
the change The Morning Herald ought to have
gone out with coaching 1t survived, not on
the principle of the survival of the ttest, but of
that far more British princpe-the survival Of the
Oldest 1t did not die, because it had got into the
habit of living. But vitality of that sort is not
perpetual, even in England and even Mr.. John
stone, who tried hard, could not keep the old
threepenny paper alive beyond certain point 1t
was mis- merit to see when the limit had been reached;
tosubstltute The StaRdOrdfor The Herald and tomake
the newspaper, not all at once but by degrees,
worthy rival of its most enterprising competitors,
and believe l am quite within bounds in saying
that but for the advocacy of such journal, the
Conservatism of to-day would have seen its triumph
much longer postponed, and much less sohdly
founded in intelligent conviction.
II is within the last ten years that The Standard
has taken its place confidently among the four
Or five leading newspapers OF England. Through
good and evil report,n remarks the writer have
already quoted, " with many peculiarly harassing
difficulties to overcome. and tih the scanReSt dsSs
lance from many quarters to Whick he miqht fairly
hare looked for support, Mr. tombstone carried out
the work he had set himself to accomplish" The
clause have italicized is vague way of saying
that the Tory party, and especially the Tory chiefs,
never treated the paper cordially. 1t too indie
pendent for them. Tory it was to the backbone on
questions of principle, and nothing could
be more loyal than the support it gave
10 the party as whole. But Mr..
tombstone would not consent to take his orders
from Downing Street when his party was in power,
nor from Grosvenor Gate when it was not, and the
leaders who wanted an organ resented his want of
Iervihty. They showed their anger by Withholding
# times the official news which they went of