The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1884-05-14
A Plea for Tittls-Tattle.
London Pail Mall Gazette. !


Ia Mr.. Edmund Yates, journalist a
sc man of letters, of position and repu
OF was Yesterday sentenced to be impriso
ly ed for four months, for publishing,
", the authority of a lady of title, a stol
It, concerning an unnamed but general
recognized peer, which was false an
libelous. 1t is, no doubt, sensation
sentence. English noveIists and Englis
I'd editors, however much they may deserl
lg it, are rarely sent to Jail. In Franc,
under the Empire, there are always
, few editors in prison, and in Spai
only yesterday the editor of conf
It paper was sentenced to eight years in
. prisonment for publishing a caricatur
o of the King. But in England journa
IT lists have for long time contrived I
e write on questions of prison manage
ment and reform without the invalus
/ bic advantage of a sojourn within tn
walls of a Jail. Mr.. Edmund Yates ha
> now qualified for this unique expert
ence, and no doubt both the world II
general and the World in particular vii
profit by the period of seclusion during
which this brilliant and enterprising
| member of the craft will study the in.
ner workings of the prison system Of
, Great Britain.
Severe though the sentence may be, il
is no doubt generally approved. ''Servet
him right" is the popular verdict, to
which is sometimes added a pious regret
that Mr.. Labouchere is not sent to oc-
cupy the adjoining cell For the great
twin brethren of society journalism have
been too successful to be in good repute
in the journalistic world, nor are there
many even among their constant read
ers who care to speak up in their defense.
And, so far as this particular case is con-
cerned, weare not disposed to question
the justice of Lord Coleridge's sentence.
Those who venture into the perilOus but
profitable fields of society journalism
must do it at their own risk, and it is
good for journalism and especially
good for society journals, that the
penalties attached to false and libel
Gus statements should be rigidly en-
forced. The charm of society jour
nalism lies in the supposed accura-
cy of the gossip which it retails. The
facts that the courts imprison a society
journalist for saying that which is false
cannot but strengthen the popular be-
lief that the paragraphs which fill the
columns of society journals are true, for
their authors are manifestly at large,
and therefore presumably not liable to
the lash of the law. As for Mr. Yates,
while every one mast sympathize with
him in the solitary cell to which, if the
legal point yet remaining to be tried is
decided against him, he must shortly be
consigned, he has little reason to COM
plain. A man in such business carries
his life in his hand If he had been in
France he would probably have been
shot through the head or pinked under
the fifth rib long ago by some of the
many fine gentlemen who had WINGED
under his lash As he lives in England
four months imprisonment is all that |
is meted out to him. They will not put |
h i'm on the tread-mill, and he can con-
sole himself that, as he has profited by
the labors of his fashionable contribu- |
tors, so he is now suffering vicariously |
for their sins.
So far, we agree with the Lord Chief |
Justice But when Lord Coleridge pro-
ceeds to justify the sentence of imprison- |
ment pronounced on the publisher of a |
single admitted libel by a wholesale |
anathema upon society journalism, we
are compelled to dissent. No doubt |
every one of the Lord Chief Justices re- |
marks on the subject ought to be true.
Unfortunately for society at large, they |
are very much the reverse. 1t is all
very well for Lord Coleridge to profess
a dramatic surprise that any mans mind |
can feel any pleasure in feeding on the
sort of food with which society journals |
are filled; but as a matter of fact, it is
the most natural and notorious thing in |
the world. If Lord Coleridge imagines |
that it is only small majority of a
privileged class who feel an interest in
the publication of personal details about
public men, he never made a greater
mistake in his life. As simple matter
of fact, there is nothing in the world
more popular with all sorts and con-
ditions of men than personalities. Nor
is it either foolish vanity or abject curl
ositv that leads the vast majority of
mankind to delight to know all the little
details which enable them to form
picture of the life and character of those
whose names are in every ones mouth.
Every one delights in Boswell, and what
is the society journalist but the Boswell
to an innumerable number of personages,
not so great perhaps as the maker of the
but far more Familiarity
known to the man in the street? Of
course, if the journalistic Boswell does
his gossiping falsely or malieiously, by
all means let him be punished. 1t is not
a morbid curiosity to wish to know how r
celebrities look at home, or to see great
man off the stage of public life. 1t is
these personal details or everyday life
that enable the average man to realize
for himself in how many points he shares
with his illustrious neighbor the little
cares and ills and joys of common hu-
In Addison's time his CORES
pondents were curious to know all about
the personal appearance of the "Specta-
tor" whether he had short face and
the like; and it is the same to-day. But
why does Lord Coleridge signal out the
journalist as the sole offender? Is he
the only retailer of personal gossip 1t
is true that he is the only retailer who is
bound over by heavy penalties to refrain
from slander and libel and indecency,
but to that extent he is better than his
brother of the club smoking-room, over
whom courts can exercise hardly any
restraint. There are few n ore brilliant
raconteurs alive than the Lord Chief
Justice himself. Yet if Lord COleridge
were in all severity to apply his own
canon as Judge to his own conversation
in society, is it certain that it would all
escape condemnation The Lord Chief
Justice recently returned from across
the Atlantic. He has brought back
with him a vast fund of aneedote, a
great store of observation on men and
things. But let him ask himself serious
" whether in society he has delivered
himself more commonly of profound
observations, inspired by high aim and
real public usefulness-say, on the
workings of Democratic institutions in
the United States-or whether the staple /
of his talk has not been precisely such /
personaities-better told, no doubt, and /
Of a higher order, but essentially the
same in essence-as those on which he /
prononuces 50 severe a censure in the |
court of law We are not defending SLAM |
derers, backbiters, scandal-mOngers, and |
all the unclean tribe But, while pun
ishing the Iibeler with all necessary Sc
verify, do not LET US confound in one
sweeping condemnation all those whose
humble Office it is to act as monographs
of the tittIe-tattle which forms the
staple of the ordinary conversation OF
society.