Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-05-06
The WAY Correspondent.

the sun. 1t was also, way back, centuries
before the birth of Christ, it was said
that of making many books there was no
end. Having accepted these two prime
departures on the ancient nature OF most
things, which we accept as new, 1t will
doubtless surprise nobody that neither
Bull Run" Russell, as he is known to
nor DIR. Russell, as he is
called by Europeans, nor Mr.. Archibald
Forbes, were the first war correspon-
dents.
Nor, when we have added to them the
corps of spr;ghtly gentlemen who figured
in our own war of the rebellion, have We
got to the genesis of the war correspon-
dent. DR.. Russell stretches back some
distance, having figured in the scrim-
IMAGES around Rome when Garibaldi
and Mszzini, on one hand, and the
French legions on the other, wrestled
for that prize which Alaric and Attila,
and Pepin. the latter in the interest of an
Independent Catholic Church, and
countless medieval barons and Kings,
struggled for. The war correspondent
antedates them all. Chiffon, in his lively
narratives in his "Rise, Decline and Fall
Of the Roman Empire" making the
nearest approach to the ideal modern
war correspondent and modern newspa-
perman. Gibbon, in his delight
full recital Of conversation be-
tween tie wife Of an Italian
partizan and robber baron OF the mid
die ages, and in his account OF the con-
tentions CT the factions in Byzantium,
makes the nealest approach, amongst
grave iterdteurs, to the realistic methods
of the modern war and newspaper CORE
spondent.
But the genesis of the war correspon-
dent is 1eferable to far higher ideal.
When we seek him, we not only go far
into the penetralia of antiquity, but we
strike very august person indeed-no
less a one than Caius Julius Caesar.
This matchless man, the archetype of all
the war correspondents, is supposed to
have been born about one hundred years
before the Christian era. He not only
described war, but he made it in an
incomparably complete style. Most OF
the writer's on war group Caesar and
Napoleon Bonaparte in substantially the
same class. In one of the remarkable
conversations which the Count de las
Cases has compiled, as part of the
memorabilia of his intercourse with the
fallen Emperor at st. Helena, Napoleon
drew parallel between Cesar and him
self. Caesar had fought sixty-seven bat
ties, and had subjugated France, Spain,
England and Germany, Rome being his
basis of supplies and the reservoir of his
troops. Napoleon, on the other hand,
with Paris as his basis, had inspired or
directed innumerable battles, and had
had conquered Italy, Spain, Germany,
and had at least figured as largely in
Russia and Poland as Caesar had in
Britain, with the brilliant Egyptian CAM
paigns thrown in.
But, unlike Napoleon, Caesar not only
fought his battles but wrote the account
of them, and no modern war corresponds
ent can hope to approach him in the
succinctness, brilliancy and perfection of
his narratives. They have stood for
ages as the unapproachable exemplar of
perfect literary style and of piano.
ramic and graphic recital of great events.
Orator and writer and warrior, Caesar
stands at the head Of this branch of lit
erature, and will doubtless always re-
main there. 1t will surely be long
time before such a maker of war and
such describer of wars thrilling Incl
dents shall be found combined in the
same person.
Sherman and Grant have both essayed
to write the story of their campaigns. In
any event their narratives would have
lacked the interest of Cesar's real
war correspondence because his
was written on the spot. From
the time he deals with Orgetoiix, in the
Helvetian mountains, to the closing
page, we have the clear, compact and
away o CiSHuCht anu iSplblitbS udTIdUlNtS
of events by a man who not only saw the
things he described, but was part of and
directed them.
And yet Plutarch tells us that when
Caesar entered upon the career which he
himself commemorated, and at the
epic completeness of which the world
has been in cease'ess admiration ever
since, he was over thirty-seven years of
age and bald-headed. Here is margin
of hope and aspiration for our modern
war correspondents. Forbes, for in
stance, may pull himself together, essay
the role of conquerer, and write his own
exploits. DIR. Russell, we fear, is too old
to hope to rival the great original war
correspondent. Whitelaw Reid ia too
rich, we think for Caesar began his war
correspondence and his conquests under
the pressure of an execution for debt OF
100000, which must have been a
large sum in those days, while Reid is
backed by the $S0,0C0,000 of his father
in-law, Mr.. d. o. Mills. George Alfred
Townsend is old and equity, and his
debts, if he have any. are scarcely large
enough TO i.npel him to heroic effort.
On the whole, we are inclined to think
that Caesar must always remain the first
Of all war correspondents. He probably
adopted the profassiOn of arms IN give