New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-05

THE FIRST JOURNALIST of' fHANCE-HlS
LIKENESS TO MR. DANA-HIs GENIUS
asa wRITER-HIs INVENTION OF
1.-THE MAGNARD"-HIs SERVICES
TO THE REPUBLIC-wHAT
HE DID FOR THE FL
CARO-" HIS TRUE :
CHARACTER.
London. November 90
n Francis Maynard. who died on Sunday,
-, m the whole. the first journalist Of France.
~ -os editor of the Figaro" which must be
I'D IN the whole. the first journal Of France.
Ugh that description Of Vt requires a world
'. .vnlanation in order to make 1t ineligible
S,.,.d and not misleading. The man and the
N.,.naper have to be considered together He
journalist and nothing else, but he was
~. ~ the few journalists who may be said to
..r.dct the rather cynical eulogy of Theirs
~, ,ournalism: that 1t was a very good pro-
.~.,o, n YOU got out of 1t in time. Maynard.
-. hsean life in some small civil service bureau.
,L,sd early into newspaper writing. He was
..,n IN 1887 His connection with the Figaro
,.,o. from 1868: preceded as usual. by expert
-..n,s on other papers. But his relations Of one
.,,A or another with the Journal of NJ de Villemes-
80, were never broken after they had once be-
:, they lasted thirty-one years. Nominally. he
-. since 1879 joint editor with NJ. de Rodays
IA N Perivier who survive him. Actually, he
.,n,rolled the paper. His was the guiding and
a.cdine mind His death may or may not mark
crisis in the fortunes Of the journal. Men
come and go. The great enterprises which they
a,r.ct do not necessarily go with them. nor
.r1sr go much as might be expected by their de-
parture.
Maynard was one Of those rare journalists
vho could both edit and write. and do both
,unremey well. How many such are there in
env country at any time? Even in New-York
thew are not numerous. Mr. Dana is one. and 1t
might not be difficult to draw parallel between
Mr. Dana and NJ. Maynard. The two men had
great deal in common: including the cool
cvncism which enabled Mr. Dana to support
Mr. Hill and NJ Maynard to be successfully
ihe advocate Of Imperialism. Of the Legitmists,
Of the Orleanists. and finally Of the Republic.
Roth we're scholars; both had that large founda-
ton of knowledge which again. II not absolutely
rare Is not held TO be an indispensable con-
si,,on OF success at the editors desk. the
writer's or the two great newspaper editors OF
the last generation. one in Europe. one In
America. It might not be safe to affirm that
either had the al-round excellence of NJ Ma
snard Mr.. Delane incomparably the first editor
In all Europe, never wrote an editorial article
Mr. Horace Greeley. whose pen ran on level
with more minds than that Of any other man In
America had less executive and Administrative
ability than many editors far inferior to him In
other respects. 1t is therefore no light euogy
10 say Of H. Maynard that In both the two great
departments Of what We should like to consider
a great profession. he was excellent. and that
taking the two together, he had no rival in his
own country.
His genius as a writer was Of very unusual
kind II was in truth, unique. and the best
proof Of 1t Is that a word had to be coined TO
express 1T; or two words. His proper name was
turned into a common noun. and "faire un ma
gnard' meant TO do an article like his. And
the verb "magnarder' meant the same thing.
II denoted more often the attempt to do II
than any marked success on the part Of his
disciples OF imitators. He was the inventor OF
the article. and though he did not patent 1t. he
kept the secret to himself. maynard was
short editorial on the topic OF the day HIS
genius shone equally in his choice OF the topic
and In his method Of treating 1t. He wrote
never more than one daily, and never long
one. have read hundreds OF them, or thou
sands. cannot recall one which exceeded half
Q column, printed in type larger than Is used
In The Tribune and signed F. NJ.
He had the gift. again rare gift, of conci-
non: and not merely Of CONCESSION. 1t is easy to
be brief. but to be brief. and yet to say all that
needs saying on a large subject. and to say 1t
70 that everyb body will read and perhaps even
in
all France any writing read daily by so many
people as NJ Magnards ten lines or haf-col-
umn on politics. or social topics. or on whatever
was the one subject about which he well knew
everybody would want to read something next
morning There are always in the "Debats," In
the Temps" and In many another Paris paper.
articles written with extraordinary ability and
In an admirable literary form So were there
by other writer's In the Figaro articles de
fond" as they are called. On the whole. they
surpass as mere pieces OF literature the best
writing In the best journals Of all other coun-
tries And M. Magnard's few lpes surpassed
oil these.
In, shrewdness in good sense, in pithiness.
often in wit. and almost always in that quality
which the French call 'spirituel" and for which
the languages OF England and America have
NO eueQudte WOTQ, these drtlceS were the Dcei AL
the French press. NJ Maynard thought with
precision and expressed himself In that SYM
netrcal and balanced prose Of which the French
are the greatest masters in the world. He
OWNED what others thought. and he held 1t to be
his business as a Journalist to express what
others thought rather than what he himself
thought Whether he had any very settled prin-
ciples or profound convictions may be question
III a hod To
unist The stuff of a martyr was not in him. nor
there much call for that high trait in the daily
~aetice of newspaper-making. He had to write
what people would read. and to put into this brief
ana telling form opinions which they would rec
csnize as their own
That was his business as both editor and edi-
torial writer. He wrote as II at his ease and on
sood terms with hiC readers. and with the world