New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-22
THE TIMES.
IT'S CENTENARY-ITsI INJUSTICE TO DELANI
ITS POSITION AND PRETENCE.

s-,,, -ux rvn,, A, CORRESPONDENT OF rnrpuNH
London, January A.
r.. ,,.r,,orod brief,v bv cable what think
sbe most astonishing fact in connection WIN iho
Times centenary namely, that In 'he zen oo-ul...
devoted to its celebration there occurs no recos
milton of Mr.. Deanes prominent services 10 inc
paper and not so much q mention oil ms name.
II &c all one long glorication Of the walters, ueau
and living father, son and grandson. Inc coin-
mercial and mechanical successes OF the paper are
.xalta5 The moral and intellectual successes are
either belittled or ascrbed to the wrong person.
This is not generous it is not JUST 1t Is hardy
decent Mr. Delane, 1t is true, was not the
founder Of The Times" and was never pro
nrietor. but to write the history Of this paper
and not name him is very much as il one should
write the history Of THE TRIBUNE and not name
Horace Greeley. Each in his way was supreme
in his own sphere each impressed upon the paper
he edited his own individuality. Neither The
Times. nor THE TRIBUNE would be what IT is
if neither Delane Greeley had existed, nor
do believe "The Times would have attained
without it's great editor to anything like that
primacy Of which IL is proud
No number of printing presses, no skih IN
financial supervision no mere collecting OF news
would have awaited. The years from e40 to
1860 were critical years in the history OF this
journal. Barnes who had been editor since lol Z
died in al and Delane succeeded. Never under
Barnes's long rule had the paper that power or
position which Delane afterward gave 1t. NO
doubt it had taken the lead; the question was
whether it would keep it. New times wNrc az
hand new manners new literary methods IN
journalism II any student cares to measure the
difference between the two periods, let HIM go
back and consult the files say from l $50 to 1870
That covers the period Of the Reform Act ana
Of the very perilous years Of transition which
inC in
to O new set Of rules. If " The Times were con-
Quoted to-day as 1t was conducted then, it would
lose caste at once. Then it boisterous, per-
sonal ill-mannered, full Of sound and fury not
always signfying nothing, but signifyng much
less than if it had been good-tempered ana had
adopted the tone of good society. Grevllle tells
us the end Of Barness editorship from another
pont of view "Iattery it must be owned that
The Timcs's' apparent caprices and inconsistency
have deprived it Of all right and title, and much
of its power to influence the opinions Of others
That has been the consequence of the eXtraor-
binary variety of its connections, and the con-
hicting opinions which have been alternately,
and sometimes almost, if not quite, simultaneously
permitted to discharge themselves in It's columns.
"The Times" as we know it, grave decorous'
scholarly, weightily written, with that lndehhaoe
impress on IL of the best of the tone OF the upper
wOrd-that " Times" is the creation OF Delane' lie
had the gift Of what Lord BeacOnsfeld used to cali
social diplomacy. / said what thought OF nm
when he resigned and again at his death don
wish to repeat it, but i certainly have nothing to
take back or modify. He has sometimes been
judged-such is the justice of the world in these
hurried days-by what he was and what he did
in the last years of his editOrshp when his health
had given way II is not necessary TO protest
against that His present successor Mr. Buckle
would naturally be DESTROYS to render homage 10
Deane l suppose he was not free to do IL. MI
Walter if the stories current in the profession may
be credited never really liked the great editor OF
the great paper which Mr.. Walter owned. Delane
was too independent, too masterful, too mucn
his superior. too popular in society," where
he and not Mr.. Walter was received as the imper-
sonation Of The Times" There a certain
jealousy of the man who stood TO the proprietor IN
the POSITION of a subordinate. There was also'
no doubt on the part of Mr.. Walter, belief that
he and not MIR. Delane the true author OF the
transformation wrought in his paper-that he, the
owner welded the thunderbolts of JOve. Both
the jealousy and the belief itself find expression in
the eulogies of Monday and in the silence about
Deane
1t is, however, the feeling here that The
Times" has blown its trumpet too loudly. NO
trumpeting, loud or gentle. will alter the London
estimate of Mr.. Walter. That matters less What
matters is that the dignity Of so great journal
is compromised. What it says of itself is in
great part true enough, but it should have been
left 10 somebody else to say; or should have been
said in different tone The sin Of these elaborate
self-praisings is not sin against morality, but
against decacy.
I'VE doubt whether the historian of the future
will recognize in the annals of 1888 any event
more noteworthy than the establishment OF The
Times +"
I'm Europe. in America, in India and the Colo
MES The Tines is universally recognized as
having right TO speak in the name Of England"
I'VE believe that in every one of the improve
ments which have made the newspaper press OF
the present day what it is this journal has led
and shown the way 10 all its contemporaries"
These sentences and there many more like
them, are the language of lower that is chal-
lenged and anxious 10 assert itself mot OF power
that is secure. They are not all accurate. 1t is
certainly inaccurate TO say that The Times"
showed the way TO its contemporaries in the present
system of using the telegraph. Even if the state
ment be narrowed 10 England, it is at vari-
ance with the facts But that is too large topic
for this letter
What 1.-The Tines has been in the past is mat
ter OF history WI 1T it is to-day and is likely to be
in the near future are questions about which opin-
1ons differ widely. The conductors say that they
have fear that their journal will lose any part
of its unique influence, its wide authority or its
representative character. l have always thought
and l still think that they and not their opponents
and critics are,on the right in this estimate
OF their position. The American Minister said the
other day at Nottingham that men go to the news
paper every morning for their opinions Is thcy go
to the bakers for loaves of bread. So they do and
whether Mr.. Phelps meant it or not, each in its
way the bread and the opinion, is the staff of life
Often and often you hear man say II don't care
for their opinions, / read the papers for facts"
The next moment you hear him repeating with
textual dociity the editorial of the morning. The