New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-21

| Dy Gaining, w teHptIaincht, VI Nv hap'e w '''A''
to restrain the great journal from doing harm to
the state.
Far from being well fitted by nature to play the
| cold part of censor, and defend his country
against mi hty torrent Of motives tending an OF
them in favor OF publicity. the great editor forid
bIieht-eyed Ia the prime of keen llfe and beaning
| with zcal-was D man OF warm: swiit-couI1eiins
blood. man Of those qualities whieb' IN
| OF wine, are called full-bodied" and generous
a man of grea5 ardor, great eagerness, ana one pas
| sionatey imbued with that very spirit OF JOufnai-
ism which. if he would save his country rom peinI
| harmed by The Times, he needs must Driuic ahu
| mo derate
Mr. Kipglake mentions the following incident IN
his Appendix as an illustration of Delanos charac-
| ter:
Whilst on horseback one day by the side OF
| Dclane in the Park | happened to mention TO MN
! what had beer said to me by man OF w0ndrous
brain power that is, by the Chancellor Lord West
bury. This statement was to the eject ta' a.er
| the age of seventeen. he, Lord Westbury .then
| Richard Betholll, had entirely supported hlIhsei
at Oxford by she fruits of his own eXerions mover
| thenceforth putting his father to any expense.
| Delane answered TO the effect that with little
| change to the age he coud say the same ana
that after the of II think he said eighteen, but
il may have been nineteenl he had supported NM
self at Oxford by his own eXert0ns entirely; ana
he added that he had lived very comfortably, and
| that what he said great object with Iiln ho
Upon my showing natural curiosity TO know
| how he had earned the Income s'liicng loi These
PURPOSES, he answered: " BY my pea
| When ] asked by what kind OF writing. he an
| swercd in these words:
BY writing leading articles for country news
| paners.'
| Then the conversation dropped, and never learnt
| wl,at the arrangements wee under wblch III WIS
possible for d lad at oXford-"r. indeed, LOT aiy
| tried wTter-to make his pen serve him so steadily
IN the peculiar field Of literature TO which Delane
applied his almost bOylSh energies hut have hcard
| that in London at one time there was central
machinery for supplying leading articles TO c0uh-
Try newspapers. and | suppose IL must nave neeh
| through mart of that kind that Delane found the
| ,pnt If hay "a
! SO constantly accepted.
| Doiane WIS so constituted that he could not only
| take up with vchcmence the cause that nc hal to
support, but become its convinced partisan; - and
therefore his ready obedience to all the words OF
| command, which from time to time laid down anew
| the varying path of the newspaper did not prove
him to be consciously acting in a spirit of servile
! ductillty. On the contrary. those who best knew
| him claim right to believe thar with every alter
alton ordained, he himself really, honestly
changed"
| To steer the great journal in calm AMI in storm,
TO be arier OF the policies of States and the rep
utatlons OF men, 10 have the strength OF mud and
OF body that the labor required aud 10 lie all the
while eXultng-unafectedly eXulting in the task
this one sees to have intense II ana, De-
lanes genial nature inclinng him to let comrades
share the elixir by hearing the things he could tell
them, his society. MS may we'll he supp0sed-and
this especially at critical perods-was beyond
measure interesting to men wno cared eagerly Tor
tie actual state OF the world.
He used generally 20 bend conversation in such
way as 10 avoid coming into dispute with his
radcs and liked best to reinforce whaI they said
by Conve wing in anccdOte some i.agm Is OF that
rare knowledge co-ccrnng men and Their motives
with whicl-because daily the nearer OF unnum-
btIed appeals to Ire 1imcS-he was always ahun-
dainty armed What he said bore often so closely
on the actual mach of events that his speech had
the kind of zest which attaches tn the words OF
commander or statesman when going to pass INTO :
action, and IL sometimes gave To his hearers the !
small, yet not despised pleasure OF being D. sew
eral hours IN advance OF tIt rest OF the WOIIu.
Although steelcd AGAINST the notion Of harboring
any vain tenderness for people hc had TO see |
cru Shed under the wheels OF his uggcrnaut car, he
still-ike many another engaged III tTucuent duties
was OF good and kindly nature. lie too Often rs
indeed shall see. allowed the strength OF me |
Time, to become extreme violence. but TINS genor
ally. unless | mistake because he was strenuous !
because he ycarned 10 he torcble, and not because
he felt spite. As understood IN ms days the task |
he sustained one necessarily involving aggres- !
sions well fitted 10 PIT hard stain on any rela
tons su1aislng between the editor OF lc journal
and the people assaulted in its columns; vet after
having been bHsed during many 4 year in this !
bustrrOus sort of work, he was able 10 say with !
lust pride that had never becoms c5trangc1 from |
a fricnd. nor even indeed irom comrade;
Deriving from nature large gifts, and by circum- |
stance clothed with vast means of acting upon the
VOtiOIS of men, and sometimes even ruling events |
Delane az may well be supposed, did not show the |
real eagerncss of his nature III the wtak, busting |
way of people TeckOned for nothing, whose time Is
of scarce any worth and indeed he had the out !
ward composure, the air OF power not yet pun lorth
that becomes strong man OF actlon; but 1t always
could he seen that his energies were rather COM
pressed than lulied-that the furnace, II 50 one
may sp ak, had It's fires banked up" in the day
time vet still was always agiOw. always ready to |
blaze INFO action an hour or two before midnight.
When already In his carriage and moving to the |
scene Of his Midnight labors, Kind nature used to
grant him some nlinut, ~ "ep, upon which. lie
cause giving fresh strcns D. used To set great
value: but from the moment of his entering the
edi or's room until or o'clock in the morning,
the strain he had to put on his faculties must have
been always great, and III stirring zines aimos pro-
d gious for although OF course IN" great buik OF
the manifold work required for constructing IA num-
her of Tie Times PERFORMED by .uhOrdnates,
and "a though If rested viii Others-perhap IGight
saw with one Other-to def rhine what-at least for
"a hiIe-shOuld be the chosen policy of the journal,
il ,ditor had TO execute the general design and
iii ie were the hours of night when often lac had TO
dec le-tO decide of course with great swlftnoss-
bet cen two or moro courses OF action mOnen-
tOus different; when besides he must Judge the
appeals brought no 10 the paramount afhitrr from
all KIDS o. men. from all sorts of earthly trlbu-
nails; when dispatches OF moment, when telegrams
faught tn grave tldings when notes hastily serb
hlcd in the Lords or the Commons, were from ZINE
to time coming IN 10 confirm, or dlsturD-pcThaps
even 10 annul-fOrmer rrckOnngs: anU these, be
sides were the hours When-On questions newly OBJ
trudng, yes closely, so .lmp0rtu nately. present
that they would have to be met before suHrlsc-hc
somehow must cause to spring MP sudden essays,
inyectlyes, ana arguments when 0nlv strong power
of brain with even much toll could supply
English journalists set Themselves tasks rarely
even so much attempted on the continent OF
Europe undertaking TO form, 10 deliver, 10 publish,
swift defntive weireasoned judgment upon sub
iectS Quitc newly Presented To the knowledge or
the attention of men ana one of the more anxious
duties imposed on the editor in these midnight
hOurs was with careful. well-dehned aim TO convey
either orally or by means of some brief Little LOte |
the few vet enkIndlmg words which were destined
to evoke al al compositions of torcihlc sort
and even OF great ability, from the brains of other
men.
In cony ersation, one day, great leading article
writer conveyed idea of his craft by using one
OF those metaphors which in half minute less
did at once all the work of long statements. "To
write leading article" he SAID NAV take only /
IRON two nOuTs 10 two hours and Il half, but then
all the rest of your time you arr crouching tiger
waiting waiting, TO make your sprinp"
To he lord OF these crouchlng tigers" and-be-
fore = o'clock i'll the morning-say which should
sprIng and at wh0m-thl, Was one OF the midnight
tasks levOlving on the eoltOr But only ont OF