New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-01-29
ENGLISH JOURNALISM.
THE PAIL MALL GAZETTE AND ST. JAMES,
GAZETTE At A PENNY.
,rro,t THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRlBUNh'I
'E'''' 800 z

On Monday of this week Tie PdU Nal Gazette ana
M @ Iol,.s Go.ctte each heretofore sold at two
pence came out al penny. 1t mas pccn S"U 'NI'
tb reduction IL evidence of their failure AS CONNER
cial ventures ut the higher price. don tlilh '"'
is So Both were paying concerns A"c 1H"""y
Poet did not 60 down to penny because u ",' NJ
thriving ot threcpence Everybody knows that NJ
the old price it prosperous, and 10 some extent
nrwcrful. The reduction IN price had IN view, no
Joub+ q greater prosperity and, to astill greater
extent. greater political power The st. Jamess "a
: ne has had a rather larger circulation than me
PAN VaH. which in its turn, had the more proht-
able ADVERTISING fact winch may seem odd TO
those who make il an article of faith that adyertls-
inc follows circulation, but which is nevertheless a
fact. The English advertiser is an extremely con-
srryativc creature, which is only another way OF
saying that he is extremely English. Start new
poucr tomorrow with a sale of half million, the
advertiser yyould hold aloof from it because 1t was
new. Let an old paper run down to a lew thou-
sands the advertiser will cling to it as long asst has
n suJscril or. / am far from meaning to say that
tho circulation of The TdH HdH 6d@ctte
had declined Ii continued at about Its
old figure when the paper changed us
cboroctcr and IFS Editor. Conservatism had some
thing to do with that also. An Engllshman does
not lightly give up Journal which he has once got
time TO find ont that his favonte evening Journal
had in fact undergone a transformation. BY the
time he found Il out he had become used to the new
tone If Inc fell of recruits ready to take ms
place attracted 10y the novelty which repeIled the
old supporter suppose it is certain that the con-
situency Of the paper has really changed to con
siderable extent since Mir. John Morley became the
Editor of it, And it is with of appealing to
n still more numerous body of readers that the re-
duction in price has now been made The class Oh
readers who can and viii pay wopenco for an even
Ing paper and who are at the same time extreme
Radicals can hardly be very large
Mr. John Morley IS not Editor to be content
with the kind of success indicated by mere money
making. He is a scholar; he has been almost
recluse; he stands in the very front rank of
men who III the trucst are men
Of culturc; he is delcatc-mnded and
almost fastdious in purely literary sense, and yet
he is Tremendously in earnest, and has made himself
iournalistand mastered the technical difficulties OF
his profession with singular rapidity. lie uses his
paper as an instrument Of propagand as means OF
spreading certain ideas and principles, certain CON
| ceptions of public duty about winch he cares very
! much indeed. think have said before that the
secondary influence of his paper Is very Wide; tlat
! it influences the minds of other journalists ana
writer's 70 q very remarkable degree, and gets
can think of no other Journalist of whom TINS Is
trpe to such an extent as of Nr. John Morley. But
oven with this lie u not satisfied. He has so much
! at heart the conversion of Eng5hmen to his own
views that be- want, to he read daily and directly by
orcat Numbers He knows very well, also, that the
true support and strength OF paper like his are to
he sought in ranks below those where alone two
penny paper made its way. There you have, so lar
| A | know IT, the true reason for the change.
| Mr. Greenwood's motives Introducing The ST. Jdmess
| Gazette TO a penny are not perhaps, much unlike
those of his riyalfor rivals in ajournalistlc sense,
he and Mr. John Morley certainly are-and, what Is
more remarkable, are publicly spoken Of and dis
cussed az such. won't enter upon comparison OF
the two Il is enough for present purposes TO say
that thoy have one trait in common, sincerity and
zeal of conviction, and desire to impar their CON
| yictions TO others Mr. Greenwood perhaps regards
himself As having a mission TO resist the Radicalism
which Mr. Morley is bent on spreading abroad. BE
that as il may when il became known that the con-
ductors of The Pail Mall Gazette had resolved to
make il a penny paper, the conductors OF The 81.
Jomess gazette resolved to follow suit resolve IN
which incline 10 believe the latter have made n
mistake Their natural clientele IS to be found IN
the upper and more wealthy classes. Mr.. Green
,vood is the ardent defender of thi gs they
Mr. Morley the apostle Of things as they ought to be
or rs he thinks they oughJ to be. Now people who
have got all they want may well afford two pence
70 be told every af ernOOn that they ought TO he let
alone, and that everybody who NEEDLES with the
existing order of things is Socialist ana scoundTei
The more numerous class who want something they
have not got will scarcely spend money for hear
ing that it is a sin to covct what Providence has
chosen TO bestow on their more fortunate fellow
creatures.
1t is not necessary repeat thatboth these papers
are very able or that both capable of mistakes.
The st. JamcsS gazette would be peasanter reading
if were less acrimonious and If 1t did not IN all
sincerity regard Mr. Gladstone the incarnation of
the principle of evil The PdH nan Gasette mixes a
great deal more sweetness Of temper with It's light
is more various, has finer touch, takes wider
and more philosophical view, and does, accordingly
as 80 often happens, stumble at times over what Is
lust under its nose. Philosophical politics are not
to the mind of Engisnmen III general, nor do argu-
mcnts with respect 10 landed property drawn from
the French Revolution commend themselves TO the
landed proprietor in this country or in Ireland
nor vet 70 those proprietors who are not landed
Mr.. Morley's line on the Irish question is one which
not a few of his friends gricvc to see him taking
II leads straight TO confscaton if not to dislnion
In his paper he advances toward these dismal end.
with certain caution. But that they are ms
ends or ends which he contempateS without repug
nance as inevitable, may be seen by anybody who
will read his very able and plain-spokon summary
OF Home Affairs appearing monthly in The Fort
nigEtly Rericr. Take this for example:
1t is as safe a prediction as any that are able
to picture to ourselves in European politics, to say
that the Irish peasant and the Irish landlord vii
have as completely reversed their relations " erer
kind to one another between the year 500 and th
wear 1900 rs did the French peasant and th
: | French lord between 1889 and 1891"
A prediction of tremendous import assuredly
And how is the change to be brought aboutf Mr.
wy. in ~ words hnt he lnll