The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1883-02-08
F,0xD0N JDUisNAxtsrs.

EDND0N t0UitNAEfSTs.
Although it has its headquarters IN
Ind around Fleet street, it is hard to say
where journalistic London begins and
ends. Time was when the CIV writer for
the press" did not consider That his call
ing made it necessary for him to mix
In society, to belong to the best clubs
and have an establishment Of his own
where the greatestin the land should not
be ashamed to visit him, but should
gladly grace his board and interchange
family courtesies at his wife's recep-
tions. The Potts of Dickens would be
as hard to find in the country to-day as
the Shandon of Thackeray in London.
As Bohemia has laid aside its long pipe
and "two of gin" its sawdust floors aud
pewter pots, so has journalistic London
advanced from the tavern corner, the
sponging house and the gutter to take q
foremost place in the best society of tho
time, combining with literary London
to make an intellectual aristocracy that
bids fair to hold in general estimation
standing equal to that of hereditary rank
and fortune. Liberal Premiers and Lib
eral Cabinets are credited with showing
q more genuine respect for journalism
than their Conservative opponents,
though both have long since ceased to
keepthe London editor where Lord Ches
terfeld detained DR.. johnson, n patient
and d9spised waiter on greatness among
the lackeys In the hall. Now and then
q London Journalist unconsciously re-
veals the old state of things when he
SCOTS at some successful rival who has
ventured to refer Familiarity to distin-
guished person, just as Mr.. Lawson was
attacked for speaking in some past con-
troversy of the Premier as his "friend
Mr.. Gladstone" Remembering the
proverb that hawks do not eat hawks
journalists should not disparage the
social distinction of their class. A great
journal like the Daily Telegraph yields
as powerful an influence as Mr.. Glad
stone, and to suggest that the director
of such power has not sufficient stand
ing to meet MIR. Gladstone on equal
terms, especially at q time when the
Telegraph was supporting the Gladstone
policy, is to discount the general status
of the journalist, and depreciate the
very power which the press claims for
itself as the fourth estate of the realm.
Beside, who does not remember Lord
Palmerston's famous rebuke to Mr. Dis
raeli when the caustic leader of the. OPP
position suggested, in a Parliamentary
debate, that there were London editors
who were politically influenced by their
reception in "the gilded saloons" of the
wives of Ministers.
The sneer was aimed at Mr.. Delane,
who was constantly invited to Lady
Palmerstoa's parties. The House OF
Commons did not see this more quickly
than Lord Palmerston did. The fine
old Englishman at once denounced the
slight attempted to be put upon the in
tegrity of journalism, and amidst the
cheers Of the Commons he paid splen-
did tribute to the character of MIR. De-
lane, the editor Of the Times, conclud-
ing by saying that it was source of
pride and qualification to possess the
personal friendship and enjoy the So
ciety of a man of Mr.. Delane's high
honor and varied requirements. In
press circles the late Lord Beaconsfeld
is credited with other personal sights Of
journalists, and this is strange, seeing
how intimately his career was at one
time boand up with literature and the
press. He was the Runnymede of
the Times, and he must have contrib
uted many q brilliant article to the
papers in his early days. But when he
was one of the gilded youth of London,
press men were "poor devils" to be
sneered at and condemned, and in his
later days the brilliant statesman and
satirist was not able to shake off the
social traditions, axioms and customs of
the time when he was beau of the first
water, and the center of a fashionable
set that wiped its feet on journals and
journalists.-Joseph Hatton, in Har-
per's Magazine.