The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-10-04
sesrriiity fn Jeurnsiis~ and the
l~~ ~ Libel.


Lawson and Mr.. Henry Labouchere.
and some details are added In other
dispatches to-day. is'e story IL one OF
those piquant ones that sometimes sur
prise the public by presenting rather seri-
Gus people in comic attitudes Both Mr..
Levy Lawson and Mr.. Labouchsre are mon
of some distinction in their respective ways.
journalists OF talent. and IL not precisely
of the order of humanity that is expected
to set good examples Of seli-rsstraint and
personal dignity, yet men who would have
been thought unlikely to figure in this
particular way. Perhaps. however. personal
assaults may be imagined as In some
degree logically related TO Mr. Labou-
chere's regular labors. since his structures
upon other men seem often as IL aimed
especially to provoke violence; while the
temper of his generally good-natured con-
temporary would have been less than
human if it had not yielded ut some time to
the evaporation duo to repeated touches
of envenomed satire. In his journal, the
Truth, Mr. Labouchero has been sprightly,
keen, gay, savage, even in his office OF self
constituted truth teller general to the pub
lic-preferring to tell particularly those
truths which from the conventional point
of view sought not to be told" His bitter
wit has stirred up many an abuse and has
even reformed few; while his gibe has
apparently been often the cause of misery
on the part OF worthy people. His
reiterated assaults upon the Levys led
inevitably to the personal difficulty through
that infrmity of human temper to which
we have referred and while the crowd
will laugh and the comic journals will
have theme for cartoons the judicious will
grieve that one talented journalist should
abuse his function in this way and another
not be able to meet the case with more tact
Perhaps now for little while we shall
hear no more from London on the i'll
manners Of the American press. Our libels.
our scurrility, the meanness and in
decency of our assaults upon private
character, and the ever-recurring personal
difficulty with the editor" have been stand
ing themes with English writer's for many
year. That inveterate old fishwife, that
common scold of periodical literature, the
London Saturday Reuie,o, has held US up
to the scorn of humanity as If American
journalists were the great inventors and
only practisers of that sort Of unclean jour-
nalism. But in the fracas in King William
street and in the weekly publications. that
provoked it these great moralists will have
food for reflection nearer home. Truth
is not by any means the worst of the so
called ''society journals in its assaults.
There is brood of these prints of compar-
atively recent origin, and, with the one ex-
ception Of the London World, the constant
repetition Of libels is great part of their
activity. Some of them are mere cesspools
of scandal. One of them recently put forth
an infamous libel upon Mrs. Langtry, u lady
whose only misfortune is that she
has become conspicuous for her re-
markable beauty. Her husband, it
was said, had petitioned for divorce, and
joined the Prince of Wales as correspond
ent in the suit. We telegraphed to Lon
don for information on this point, not to
spread the scandal, but in the confidence
that the truth would enable US to fatty
contradict the libel, which all journalists
on this side the sea would certainly be
anxious to do in womans cause. The
first response to our inquiry was:-"rhs
paper, 1o,cn Tale, is responsible for rumors
about Mrs. Langtry. Several society papers
Indignantly deny it. l applied divorce
office, Somerset House, for permission to
view petition lists-was refused, and no in
formation granted. 1o,cn Talk to-day says
Home Secretary warned the managers Of
music halls against making reference to the
case" The second wus:-'Have had petit
ton list at Somerset House searched.
Langtry case not there. 1t is said in good
society that the whole thing is u pure fabri-
cation"
How could any person whatever deal in
any way satisfactory to his own dignity
with journalism like that? On some vague
rumor, some hint Of malice or i'll will, some
coniounding OF names, perhaps, persons
of pure lives and good characters are in
fan.ously maligned, and what would be the
remedy OF libel suitp That such cloud
of papers of that class exists in London
ls an eViuehce oI Inc unsotlsIac-
tory state Of the law Of libel in
England, where certainly it is far more
severe and just than with us. Here the law
of libel gives no satisfaction to a person
really libelled, but 1t seems to furnish
abundant opportunity for u sort Of piratical
kind of lawyers to blackmail the press.
In tho HEB, LD the greatest care is taken to
prevent the publication OF libellous state
ments, yet we arc never without ten or
dozen libel suits on our hands. How must
it be in establishments where less care is
taken? But while fictitious libel suits,
brought to be settled, thus swarm about
newspaper, the most villanous calumnies
arc constantly published and the law affords
no remedy.