The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-07-21
ONE ENGLISH METHODS.
riking Difference Between English
and American Newspapers.
eading Articles that Would Swamp an
american Journal-Insular Bigotry-
The Ship-Launching Disaster.

Secial Correspondence of the Indianapolis Journal
LONDON, July American readers will be
CAD OF a few lines respecting Captain Shaw,
the chief of the London Fire Department,
who made so many friends amongst us on
the occasion of his recent visit to our coun-
try, though when it is learned that his dar-
ing in the discharge of duty has made him
the subject of painful accident sincere re-
greet will be felt The injury was sustained
! at a large fire on Saturday night. The Cap
tain had assembled to the roof of an adjacent
building to investigate the position of some
iof his men who were thought to be in dan
ger and on descending lost his footing and
fell to the sidewalk with such force as to
cause severe shock to his spine and nerv-
BUS system. On learning of the accident the
Queen sends telegram ofsympathy, and the
papers take occasion to warn the veteran chief
against running unnecessary risks, the Daily
Telegraph remarking that, Captain Shaw
las done enough in the adventurous way, as
we'll as in other ways to establish his reputa-
lion for attachment to duty" and that Lon
don would be sorry to see the largest fire ex-
tingushed if the Captain should extingush
himself along with it," The brave fire fighter
was soon convalescent and his first act was
to visit a subordinate who was receiving
treatment at one of the hospitals for injuries
incurred at the same fire. atouch of nature
which marks Captain Shaw as true COM
mander, and which entities him to worthy
kinship with the noble chiefs of our own
departments, of so many of whom we have
so frequently heard the same thing.
7 wae an ava xuitnass of tho fro oh uhi oh
these accidents occurred. 1t was in a large
coaoh-building establishment, not more than
a stones throw from Drury Lane Theater.
The blaze lit up the whole metropolis. and
there must have been crowd of between
three and four hundred thousand people
present. What soamPer such a conhagra-
ton would have made in the newspaper
Offices of an American ethyl The whole re-
portorial force would have gone to the scene
instantly, and several subs would have been
pressed into service to look up the insurance
men. And what minute and glowing des-
criptions we should have had the next day
of the midnight illumination, the falling of
walls and roofs, the destruction of stock and
buildings the damage to adjacent property,
the CONSERVATION of the neigh bors the oper-
atoms of the firemen, the casualties, and
last, but not least of the appearance and
movements of the immense concourse of
spectators. This in America, but not in Eng
land by large majority. On the contrary,
the papers here did up the whole thing in q
few inches of space, and actually, the Lon
don Journal, that has an average daily circu-
lation of over 100000 copies, contained no
account of the accident to Captain Shaw I'M
til Tuesday morning, three days afterward.
This, however, is only one out of a great
many facts in connection with English jour
nalism that have puzzled and astonished your
correspondent / have, for instance been
constantly amazed at the ponderous editorials
i see here, and one of the worst Attic
tons of my life is that in the effort
to keep track of public opinion have to go
through the daily torture of reading these.
The leading article which would fill fully
two columns of an ordinary American daily
is usually devoted to parliamentary affairs,
and at this period OF the season is either a
tiresome rehash of proceedings that are re-.
lated in full IN another part of the paper or
it is a powerful effort of the editor to demon
strate to his readers the condition of parlia-
mentary business So often, in the last two
months, have my editorial friends, in pur-
suance of the latter object, informed me. in
the most grandiloguent sentences that the
House of Commons; that when that is dis
posed of the Agricultural Holdings bill will
be taken up, and that owing to the slow
progress of legislation, these, with the Crimi-
nal Law amendment bill, will constitute the
sum total OF the government measures passed
at the present session; that | shall certainly
not forget these important facts to my dying
day, though l cannot be answerable for the
effect which the oft-reiteration of them is
having on my temper. 1t is claimed that the
lich la fIoGo faor fr,1 IL
full articles and that all classes cry for them
If they do | can only say that this is another
fact which marks the great difference of
taste in them and ourselves, for steady
stream OF such effusions would swamp the
strongest paper in the United States in less
than six months But / am inclined to
think these articles not much read even
in England. think the average Britisher likes
tosee them, and would think his daily deficient
without them, on the same principle that
he loves titles and will tolerate any amount
of red-tape in his business and ecial affairs
1t is scarcely credible. however, that, with
his well-known propensity for taking life
easy, he ever gives them careful perusal or
takes their instructions seriously to heart
On some questions certainly the London pa
pers do not either mould public opinion or
correctly expound it. This was notably the
case with reference to the deceased wife's sis
ter's BILL for that measure struggled from
state of almost hopeless unpopularity to
have majority in the House of Lords,
two-thirds ma ority in the Commons, and, as
there is every reason to believe, an over
whelning majority in the country at large,
with only two of these pretentious oracles to
speak in its favor, all the others laundering
to the last in bitter and relentless opposition
to the bill.
ENGLISH BIGoTRY.
But many curious things happen here out
side of newspaper circles In fact this is a
curious country. Considering the high aver
age OF intelligence prevailing and the spirit
of freedom that is supposed to have its ma