A Publisher And His Friends (Fiscle Part-4), Samuel Smiles [good beach reads txt] 📗

The Information Of The Whole World.

Among Other Places At Which He Wishes To Have Correspondents Is The

Rhine, And He Has Applied To Me For My Advice Upon This Point. It Has

Struck Me That Coblentz Is A Very Good Situation For Intelligence. Its

Proximity To The Rhine And The Moselle, Its Contiguity To The Beautiful

Baths Of The Taunus, And The Innumerable Travellers Who Pass Through It,

And Spread Everywhere The Fame Of Your Admirable Hotel, All Conduce To

Make It A Place From Which Much Interesting Intelligence Might Be

Procured.

 

 

 

The Most Celebrated Men In Europe Have Promised Their Assistance To Mr.

Murray In His Great Project. I Wish To Know Whether You Can Point Out

Any One To Him Who Will Occasionally Write Him A Letter From Your City.

Intelligence As To The Company At Wiesbaden And Ems, And Of The Persons

Of Eminence, Particularly English, Who Pass Through Coblentz, Of The

Travellers Down The Rhine, And Such Topics, Are Very Interesting To Us.

You Yourself Would Make A Most Admirable Correspondent. The Labour Would

Be Very Light And Very Agreeable; And Mr. Murray Would Take Care To

Acknowledge Your Kindness By Various Courtesies. If You Object To Say

Anything About Politics You Can Omit Mentioning The Subject. I Wish You

Would Undertake It, As I Am Sure You Would Write Most Agreeable Letters.

Once A Month Would Be Sufficient, Or Rather Write Whenever You Have

Anything That You Think Interesting. Will You Be So Kind As To Write Me

In Answer What You Think Of This Proposal? The Communication May Be

Carried On In Any Language You Please.

 

 

 

Last Year When I Was At Coblentz You Were Kind Enough To Show Me A Very

Pretty Collection Of Ancient Glass. Pray Is It Yet To Be Purchased? I

Think I Know An English Gentleman Who Would Be Happy To Possess It. I

Hope This Will Not Be The Last Letter Which Passes Between Us.

 

 

 

I Am, Dear Sir,

 

 

 

Yours Most Truly,

 

 

 

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 83

B. Disraeli.

 

 

 

Mr. Maas Agreed To Mr. Disraeli's Proposal, And His Letter Was Handed To

Mr. Murray, Who Gave Him Further Instructions As To The Foreign

Correspondence Which He Required. Mr. Murray Himself Wrote To

Correspondents At Hamburg, Maestricht, Genoa, Trieste, Gibraltar, And

Other Places, With The Same Object.

 

 

 

The Time For The Publication Of The Newspaper Was Rapidly Approaching,

And Mr. B. Disraeli's Correspondence On The Subject Of The Engagement Of

A Staff Became Fast And Furious.

 

 

 

By The End Of December Mr. Lockhart Had Arrived In London, For The

Purpose Of Commencing His Editorship Of The _Quarterly Review_. The Name

Of The New Morning Paper Had Not Then Been Yet Fixed On; From The

Correspondence Respecting It, We Find That Some Spoke Of It As The

_Daily Review_, Others As The _Morning News_, And So On; But That Mr.

Benjamin Disraeli Settled The Matter Appears From The Following Letter

Of Mr. Lockhart To Mr. Murray:

 

 

 

_Mr. Lockhart To John Murray_.

 

 

 

_December_ 21, 1825.

 

 

 

My Dear Sir,

 

 

 

I Am Delighted, And, What Is More, Satisfied With Disraeli's Title--The

_Representative_. If Mr. Powles Does Not Produce Some Thundering

Objection, Let This Be Fixed, In God's Name.

 

 

 

Strange To Say, From This Time Forward Nothing More Is Heard Of Mr.

Benjamin Disraeli In Connection With The _Representative_. After His Two

Journeys To Scotland, His Interviews With Sir Walter Scott And Mr.

Lockhart, His Activity In Making Arrangements Previous To The Starting

Of The Daily Paper, His Communications With The Architect As To The

Purchase And Fitting Up Of The Premises In Great George Street, And With

The Solicitors As To The Proposed Deed Of Partnership, He Suddenly Drops

Out Of Sight; And Nothing More Is Heard Of Him In Connection With The

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 84

Business.

 

 

 

It Would Appear That When The Time Arrived For The Proprietors Of The

New Paper To Provide The Necessary Capital Under The Terms Of The

Memorandum Of Agreement Dated August 3, 1825, Both Mr. Disraeli And Mr.

Powles Failed To Contribute Their Several Proportions. Mr. Murray Had

Indeed Already Spent A Considerable Sum, And Entered Into Agreements For

The Purchase Of Printing-Offices, Printing-Machines, Types, And All The

Paraphernalia Of A Newspaper Establishment. He Had Engaged Reporters,

Correspondents, Printers, Sub-Editors, Though He Still Wanted An

Efficient Editor. He Was Greatly Disappointed At Not Being Able To

Obtain The Services Of Mr. Lockhart. Mr. Disraeli Was Too Young--Being

Then Only Twenty-One, And Entirely Inexperienced In The Work Of

Conducting A Daily Paper--To Be Entrusted With The Editorship. Indeed,

It Is Doubtful Whether He Ever Contemplated Occupying That Position,

Though He Had Engaged Himself Most Sedulously In The Preliminary

Arrangements In One Department, His Endeavours To Obtain The Assistance

Of Men Of Commerce In The City; However, He Was By No Means Successful.

Nevertheless, Mr. Murray Was So Far Committed That He Felt Bound To Go

On With The Enterprise, And He Advertised The Publication Of The New

Morning Paper. Some Of His Friends Congratulated Him On The

Announcement, Trusting That They Might See On Their Breakfast-Table A

Paper Which Their Wives And Daughters Might Read Without A Blush.

 

 

 

The First Number Of The _Representative_ Accordingly Appeared On January

25, 1826, Price 7_D_.; The Stamp Tax Was Then 4_D_. In Politics It Was A

Supporter Of Lord Liverpool's Government; But Public Distress, The

Currency, Trade And Commerce Were Subjects Of Independent Comment.

 

 

 

Notwithstanding The Pains Which Had Been Taken, And The Money Which Had

Been Spent, The _Representative_ Was A Failure From The Beginning. It

Was Badly Organized, Badly Edited, And Its Contents--Leading Articles,

Home And Foreign News--Were Ill-Balanced. Failing Lockhart, An Editor,

Named Tyndale, Had Been Appointed On Short Notice, Though He Was An

Obscure And Uninfluential Person. He Soon Disappeared In Favour Of

Others, Who Were No Better. Dr. Maginn [Footnote: Dr. Maginn's Papers In

_Blackwood_ Are Or Should Be Known To The Reader. The Murray

Correspondence Contains Many Characteristic Letters From This Jovial And

Impecunious Irishman. He Is Generally Supposed To Have Been The

Prototype Of Thackeray's Captain Shandon.--T.M.] Had Been Engaged--The

Morgan O'doherty Of _Blackwood's Magazine_--Wit, Scholar, And Bohemian.

He Was Sent To Paris, Where He Evidently Enjoyed Himself; But The

Results, As Regarded The _Representative_, Were By No Means

Satisfactory. He Was Better At Borrowing Money Than At Writing Articles.

 

 

 

Mr. S.C. Hall, One Of The Parliamentary Reporters Of The Paper, Says,

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 85

In His "Retrospect Of A Long Life," That:

 

 

 

"The Day Preceding The Issue Of The First Number, Mr. Murray Might Have

Obtained A Very Large Sum For A Shore Of The Copyright, Of Which He Was

The Sole Proprietor; The Day After That Issue, The Copyright Was Worth

Comparatively Nothing.... Editor There Was Literally None, From The

Beginning To The End. The First Number Supplied Conclusive Evidence Of

The Utter Ignorance Of Editorial Tact On The Part Of The Person

Entrusted With The Duty.... In Short, The Work Was Badly Done; If Not A

Snare, It Was A Delusion; And The Reputation Of The New Journal Fell

Below Zero In Twenty-Four Hours." [Footnote: "Retrospect Of A Long Life,

From 1815 To 1883." By S.C. Hall, F.S.A., I. P. 126.]

 

 

 

An Inspection Of The File Of The _Representative_ Justifies Mr. Hall's

Remarks. The First Number Contained An Article By Lockhart, Four Columns

In Length, On The Affairs Of Europe. It Was Correct And Scholar-Like,

But Tame And Colourless. Incorrectness In A Leading Article May Be

Tolerated, But Dulness Amounts To A Literary Crime. The Foreign

Correspondence Consisted Of A Letter From Valetta, And A Communication

From Paris, More Than A Column In Length, Relating To French Opera. In

The Matter Of News, For Which The Dailies Are Principally Purchased, The

First Number Was Exceedingly Defective. It Is Hard To Judge Of The

Merits Of A New Journal From The First Number, Which Must Necessarily

Labour Under Many Disadvantages, But The _Representative_ Did Not From

The First Exhibit Any Element Of Success.

 

 

 

Mr. Murray Found His New Enterprise An Increasing Source Of Annoyance

And Worry. His Health Broke Down Under The Strain, And When He Was

Confined To His Bed By Illness Things Went Worse From Day To Day. The

Usual Publishing Business Was Neglected; Letters Remained Unanswered,

Manuscripts Remained Unread, And Some Correspondents Became Excessively

Angry At Their Communications Being Neglected.

 

 

 

Mr. Murray's Worries Were Increased By The Commercial Crisis Then

Prevailing, And By The Downfall Of Many Large Publishing Houses. It Was

Feared That Mr. Murray Might Be Implicated In The Failures. At The End

Of January, The Great Firm Of Archibald Constable & Co., Of Edinburgh

Publishers Of Sir Walter Scott's Novels, Was Declared Bankrupt; Shortly

After, The Failure Was Announced Of James Ballantyne & Co., In Which Sir

Walter Scott Was A Partner; And With These Houses, That Of Hurst,

Kobinson & Co., Of London, Was Hopelessly Involved. The Market Was

Flooded With The Dishonoured Paper Of All These Concerns, And Mercantile

Confidence In The Great Publishing Houses Was Almost At An End. We Find

Washington Irving Communicating The Following Intelligence To A.H.

Everett, United States Minister At Madrid (January 31, 1826):

 

Chapter 23 (Gifford's Retirement From The Editorship Of The "Quarterly"--And Death.) Pg 86

 

 

"You Will Perceive By The Papers The Failure Of Constable & Co., At

Edinburgh, And Hurst, Robinson & Co., At London. These Are Severe Shocks

In The Trading World Of Literature. Pray Heaven, Murray May Stand

Unmoved, And Not Go Into The _Gazette_, Instead Of Publishing One!"

 

 

 

Mr. Murray Held His Ground. He Was Not Only Able To Pay His Way, But To

Assist Some Of The Best-Known London Publishers Through The Pressure Of

Their Difficulties. One Of