New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-09
LONDON'S SILLY SEASON.
EVERYBODY OFT OF TOWN.


NEws-sTUPENDoUs REPoRToBIAL ENTERPRISE
AT DANTzIC-THE FUNDAMENTAL LA" or nv
I1sH JoURNAIIsM-A PROMOTION FkoAi III"
VARSITY CREW TO THE JUDICIAL BENCH.
tppo,f THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE rhbuN'l
IoNDON Sept 12.-There is a season III hhslanu
called the silly Ii colncides WIN una" ''"',
wel-known period when "everypo"y Is ouV Va
town" Perhaps the former is consequence oi tlle
Iottor The Stiffness Is considered to show itself
chiefly in journalism, and if everybody IS out OF
town il follows there can be nobody left to edit ana
write newspapers. unless-which heaven forbid
we are to assume that journalists are nobodies. IL
will not do TO say that the papers are silly because
they are left IN charge of the printers devil. The
devil may be an ass. as the proverb assures u.s. but
the proverb is older than printing and leaves the
printer untouched by its sting. Besides, the Lon
don papers are in the best of times and at their
wisest half edited in the composing room. Their
makeup" is left to the night foreman; VINO 100
often discharges his delicate dury with pItchfork
The silly season is the halcyOn time OF the grew
ance-monger. The letters which he writes for pub
LEGATION in the daily press, and which Tor ten
months out of twelve enrich the waSte-basket, now
find their way into the most august columns. NO
subie .t is TOO trivial to secure attention ana pup
licity third-class railway passenger VIII lives IN
tbe snburbs and is two minutes late on his ten
mitted-nay, encOuraged-to ccnsure the company
in English which is sometimes bad but always
energetic The water companies, the gas companies,
the yestries come in for their share of complaint,
and well they deserve it. A good deal more OF the
seamy side of English life is turned out during
August and September than, perhaps. IN all inc
other ten months of the year; and 1t Is wei IL
should be. The volunteer contributor makes MS
appearance moreover, not in the news-columns only
but on the leader page which is the English equiv
alent of the American editorial page. lie is recog
nizable at once by the extreme proprlety anu pre-
csion of his STYLE and the prodiglous strain WHICH
marks an unwonted effort; sometimes by the daz-
1lino snlendor of his rhetoric always by tie at
tempt to put great deal more in his article than 1t
win hold He is too stilted too fIprant, begins
on TOO vast a scale and has to suspend his work
before the portico is quite finished, and leave his
audience out in the cold. i have read leaders in
The Times which were obviously extracts from an
unnnblisbed sermon by the Archbishop OF Canter-
burv. and others in which that slip of an under
graduate from Oxford whom Mr.. Emersons critics
pronounced too positively to be mythical discussed
the Eastern Question from Dan TO Beersheba. and
settled it once and forever The trail of the anna
teur was over il all,
In this silly season the most serious Journals De-
come silly As a matter of fact no great journal
ever is, OF could be, left i'll raw hands. Inc COOL
experienced. wary captain may quit his post but
The lieutenant who takes his watch is hardly less
cool. experienced or wary than his chief He Is IN
apy case an adept and not a novice a professional
and not dilettante If he chooses that the paper
shall be silly it is only his concession to the weak
ness of human nature. Very possibly there IS
dearth of important news. The men who make
history as well as those who write 1t, are IN vaca-
tion The hero has hung uD his sword; the sacred
bard leaves the goose unplucked. Agamemhon Is
in his tent and Homer noddIng. The Russian En-
peror goes to Lvadia or ought to CO. and if he re-
pairs to Dantzic instead, and has chat with his
cousin of Germany, who ought to be at Ems, they
do not invite reporters to stenograph their talk.
reporter who understands his business VIII none
the less contrive to supply plausible column on
the event 1t will be One-half or perhaps TWO
thirds descriptive; and the more shrouded the
meeting was IN mystery. the more precise and cir
cumstantial will be the narrative. The remainder
will be conjecture which is to say the least, harm
less and which the able editor Will dilute into an
other column on the leader page not less sapleht
tt will all b. readable The exact hour at which
the Imperial train ran into Dantzic station; the
fu names and titles of the officials who were on the
platform to receive their Royal master the reasons
or guesses why other officials. whose full names anu
titles are also given, were not on the platform the
aljghting from the train. and whether he was more
OF less fatigued than the writer expected; the
entry of his Imperial Majesty with his Imperial suite
into the lmperial carriages, and the drive through
decorated streets crowded with enthusiastic spec
fators: with a concluding conjecture on the num-
Der of secret police who formed part OF the crowd
and how much of the enthusiasm they supplied
all this and much more is to be read. and all. as
said. is easily readable; demanding no mental effort
of the reader and leaving him when he has done
neither better nor worse informed than when he
began but perhaps mildly wondering at the trained
skill of the journalistic jugger who can NIL a
column with words that shall not make 1t less
empty than before. For the statesman sprawling
ON Scarborough sands this is much as is needed.
II the diplomatist dswdng at Dover wants more,
he knows he will get it as soon as his ambassadors
at either Imperial court can resolve to break IN
upon that elegant leisure which is the ear mark OF
every Continental chancerv If the undIplOmatlc
readers curiosity be left unsatisfed on any point,
IL is this: Where were the Hartmanns and ODono-
vans during all this time, and how was the Russian
Emperor able to get aboard ship without running
against bomb, or to reach Dantzic before the coal
bunkers expodedi The truth seems to be that
they were thrown completely oil the scent by
official and semi-oficial contradictions OF the re-
ported interview, If that be too serious subject
to refer to- the comic muse regains her sway in
the next paragraph Nobody can help laughing
at the unhappy members of the Vienna corps dip
Iomatiq,e who were one and all dsportlng them
selves in German baths, in blissful and absolute
ignorance Of the intended Imperial meeting. One
and all they hurried on their clothes, one and all
they hurried back to Vienna by the earliest trains
one and all they raced to the Foreign Office to
consult with Baron Haymere on the meaning Of
this portentous incident; and one and all they
found the doors of the Foreign Office shut in their
faces. The Austro- Hungarian Premier,-or to
give him his full title, which takes up much more
room, The Minister of Foreign Affairs and of the
In perial House for the Whole Empire,-had not