| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 19 |
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How much an Editor would lose, if he,
Abandoning mysterious incogs,
Wrote little “I” instead of mighty “We!”
For when a man the public memory jogs
In a tremendous, slashing “leading article,”
To stamp upon the thunderbolt “Tim
Scroggs!”
Would spoil its efficacy no small particle!
There is much wisdom in that same plurality,
It neutralises personal rascality,
And shrouds from scorn his individuality!
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The Dutch have ta’en Holland!
The French thieves are flying,
Who have beat the whole world
Both in Running and Lying.
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The review of a long life, my friends, is a grave business, and
if treated in the sombre colours which too largely overshadow it, would be exceedingly
dull. I have therefore endeavoured to mingle the amusing with the serious, and the light
with the solid; and I have cause to rejoice that, so far as I have gone, my attempt has met
with such general approbation. Some remarks have, nevertheless, been made on the desultory
character of my composition, and the jumble of dates and topics, instead of proceeding
regularly in due order of time, or following out particular subjects to the end. But the
truth is that, from the nature
| 20 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
But to my critics, with one foul personal exception too contemptible for notice, I have nothing but thanks to return. My first volume (as acknowledged in a preceding introductory chapter, though written after this,) has passed favourably enough through its trial, the verdict reminding me somewhat of that on the other old woman, who was arraigned for stealing a pair of boots, in the home county famous for calves, but found “Not Guilty” by the Jury; and admonished by the Bench to go away, and take care that she did not do the like again! Yet here I am at the Book, which is much worse than the Boot affair, once more.
The “Sun,” as I have
stated, was a strenuous Pitt and high Tory journal;
but it would be a very fallacious idea to believe it to have been the mere obsequious tool
of any man or body of men. It gave and received support upon principles thus truly
enunciated by me on the 21st October, 1814:—“Our diurnal publications, of which there
are
| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 21 |
“The ministerial papers (as they are called) are confined to, at most, one-third of the fifteen; their names it would be unbecoming in us to particularise. Their nature is precisely this. Ministers do not control a single opinion they contain, nor are they dictated to one iota either in their general conduct or in their sentiments upon special occasions. The connection existing between these papers and the government is natural, and in no instance, we believe, corrupt. Newspapers which have, from principle, advocated, and continue to maintain, the excellency of that system upon which the present administration, following the footsteps of the immortal Pitt, conduct the affairs of the country, receive no reward for that independent support, if that is not considered a reward which consists in occasional information, which enables them at once to gratify the public, and more effectually to do justice to all in the accuracy of their statements.”
Such in truth was the condition of the London periodical
| 22 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
At the present day I may be excused for boasting of this consistency. In alliance with Ministers or free, in connection with the book-trade or on my own footing, wherever the press was in my hands I never compromised its sacred functions, but endeavoured with all my might so to
Play the enchanter’s part And scatter bliss around; That not a tear nor aching heart Should in the world be found. |
I trust I may be permitted to offer proof of this; by reference to my
writings eight-and-thirty years ago. George the Third
was reluctant to sanction the appointment of Sir James
Macintosh to Bombay, and when the Premier represented to his Majesty that
Sir James’ politics had been greatly moderated, the King
quaintly and sagaciously observed, “Aye, aye, an honest man may change his
Opinions, aye, more than once—but mark me, never his
| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 23 |
“Every link in the chain of high prices obtains a little more than
is exactly just, in order completely to cover loss. The importer sells sugar at 70s. which should be only 50s.; and so on
throughout every species of internal produce, or external acquisition, which can be
named. Thus A. B. pays 5l. for a coat, 5l. for colonial produce, and 5l. for linen, which were
corn cheap he might severally obtain for little more than half these sums. There can be
no doubt that the price of all kinds of labour is regulated by the price of
sustenance—the workmen at the loom, in the field, in the warehouse, must live—their
families must be supported. If corn is dear, wages must of necessity be high, and this
state of things is felt in every branch and ramification of our manufactures, every
effort of industry, every particle of produce, and every commodity imported. It is
confessed that we cannot raise provisions at so low a rate as our continental
competitors; but are we therefore, of our own accord, to fix them so madly high as to
render it equally impossible for us to enjoy the advantage of our superior skill and
machinery, and meet them in the market with our staple woollens, our Birmingham and
Sheffield wares, our wrought and unwrought ores, our cottons, and
| 24 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
“We lament every accession of price put upon the necessaries of life.”—Idem, September 26th.
“The people deserve to be considered in everything, and their
welfare is paramount to the enjoyment of luxuries, either by Land Owner or Merchant.
Let them, we say, have bread and every other article of consumption as cheap as
possible; by this our wages will be lowered, and, of consequence, our manufactures
enabled to meet all competition at the fair of Leipsic, or any other fair. We shall
meet and undersell our rivals at their own doors—the people will be better able to pay
the taxes which a heavy debt and great expenditure demand—and the picture which our
croakers
| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 25 |
And lastly—“Our sole object is the good of the nation; and we shall be equally ready hereafter to protect to the utmost of our humble abilities, the Agricultural against any encroachments of the Commercial interests, as we have been zealously anxious at this time to guard against what we held to be unjustifiable pretensions of the former. We want to have the produce of both at a cheap rate for the People, and we know that manufactures cannot be cheap, either for Home or Foreign consumption, if Corn be dear. We want to descend gradually, and in a ratio consistent with the burdens of the country, to a safe and healthful state of prices in the body politic. Therefore we oppose the perpetuation of the Corn War Charges.”*
I assure my readers that I am neither quoting Mr. Cobden nor Mr. Bright, nor Mr. Wilson, nor Mr. Fox, but the dicta of the writer of this little book, before the party cry of Free Trade was invented, or Protection had assumed that title.
But, in my vocation, I was not the less Tory editor
* And how steady these principles were, will be seen by the annexed brief extract from a leading article on the Property Tax, in the following year, viz: Nov. 18, 1815:— “The Editor of the Sun is convinced that a well-modified Property Tax is the most advisable measure of finance which can be adopted for this nation in peace or in war, and is most anxious to see a right scale devised for levying it; a scale not descending too low to oppress the humble, nor taxing casual profits like certain proceeds of real property; but, in short, combining all the advantages which a happy theory can suggest.” |
| 26 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
Thus, during the splendid Peace Jubilee, when rejoicings and festivities were at their height, the following ballad of mine was added to the merry score, August 5th:—
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I.
An Engineer-Lieutenant I;
At Brienne educated;
Learnt love and trigonometry,
And a shrewd chap was rated.
Without a livre in my purse,
Want, close to work made me fix;
And I, for better and for worse,
Was Ubicumque Felix!
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Ubicumque, Ubicumque, Ubicumque Felix,
Ubicumque, Ubicumque, Ubicumque Felix,
Ubicumque, Ubicumque, Ubicumque Felix,
Ubi, Ubi, Ubi, Ubi, Ubicumque Felix!
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II.
At Paris, then, I took my way,
No scoundrel e’er went further,
And revell’d nobly, night and day,
In rapine, blood, and murther;
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* A month previous to this, however, the intrigues going on at Elba were more than suspected, though their real character and actual object could not be fathomed. |
| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 27 |
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For when the Jacobins began
Their Revolution Free tricks,
They found I was their very man,
And Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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III.
In Italy, some fine campaigns
I fought, and gathered glory;
A wife got, to reward my pains,
From Barras’ Directo-ry.
I plundered—pillaged—church and shrine
And stole the Pope’s crucifix;
And then in Paris made a shine,
As Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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IV.
To Egypt, next, I went, so brave,
To conquer every Acre;
But Smith would only yield a grave
Of ground: d—d undertaker!
I Mufti turn’d—all wouldn’t do,
And so I off to sea risks,
And safely steer’d the English through,
Oh, Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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V.
First Consul, Emperor and King,
With crowns and sceptres play’d I—
With titles graced each low-born thing
And made each Joan* a lady.
I thump’d the Continent about
With war and grand poli-tics,
And thrash’d each sovereign so stout,
Like Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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VI.
My old dame, now, I cast adrift,
To work a princess’ thraldom;
To get an heir I made a shift,
And King of Rome I call’d him.
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* It is not so delicate in the original; but tempora mutantur, et nos, &c. |
| 28 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
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United thus with royalty,
Good luck to favour me sticks,
And I deem the world the property
Of Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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VII.
My brothers all I Monarchs made,
And Queens my sister harlots;
But Joseph found it a bad trade,
And Spaniards cursed varlets.
’Gainst Moscow, too, I urged my force,
Where fortune first at me kicks,
Yet back to France I shape my course,
Still Ubicumque Felix!
Ubicumque, &c.
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VIII.
Now, Wellington, and Russ, and
Pruss,
Began to pluck the Phœnix;
I sorely fear’d they would me truss,
And send me over the Styx.
They used me better—took my wife,
And conscience never me pricks;
In Elba I enjoy my life—
“Imp. Ubicumque Felix!”
Ubicumque, &c.
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Only the day before, August 4th, so incited had become my rhyming faculties, I had perpetrated the annexed piece; but really, all the Pitt school were half-crazed at this season, with the success which had carried that policy through, the disappointment of which preyed upon him, and laid him in his tomb in Westminster Abbey years before the triumph which awaited his arduous patriotism. I deliver here no opinion upon the right or th« wrong of the policy pursued; that is not for the newspapers of the day, nor autobiographists, but for history; and so, only for its temporary application, here is my song:—
| THE “SUN,” AND NEWSPAPER PRESS. | 29 |
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I served, my boys, you must know,
On board the Undaunted Frigate,
When from Fréjus with Boney in tow,
To Elba we forced him to jig it.
Cried Jack, from the Launch, to
me,
As we was sailing past—
“So, you’ve got Nap safe I see;”
Yes, we’ve caught the fellow at last.
Right, tight, tol de rol la!
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Boney he stood on deck the while,
Shamming not to know our patter;
But he gave a grin for a smile
When he heard our curious chatter.
As Jack, from the Launch, to
me,
Called out as we went past—
“So, you’ve got Nap safe, I
see;”
Yes! we’ve caught the fellow at last.
Tol de rol.
|
Another verse applies to the fancy fleet on the Serpentine, in Hyde Park,
and is not worth repeating—if the others are? In this place, also, I may as well attach my
own value to productions like these; and I think my practice of judgment is such, that I
can weigh them quite as fairly as if they had been written by Somebody else. They are smart
enough for their immediate purpose, and display, a cleverness and talent well fitted for
the small ready change of temporary currency; but they seldom possess the sterling even for
future curiosity, and could, therefore, chiefly be defended in a personal light, as forming
parts of the life of an individual who imagined his biography worthy of public acceptance;
yet, as miscellaneous reading, in our run-a-head days, they may also revive already
forgotten memories, obliterated by recent events, more or less important, which
| 30 | AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY. |
Till near the close of the year, my letters descriptive of Paris continued to appear as opportunity suited, and the whole number, between thirty and forty, were popular at the time. Paris had so long been sealed up, that they possessed much novelty, and the generally attractive tone of light anecdote contributed to this result. For instance the whim of the people struck me in the name of an Hotel in one of the inferior streets, the “Hôtel des Milords ci-devant,” the Tavern for Would-be-great folks. I do not recollect so sarcastic an inn in all England. It seemed, however, to be well frequented, from which I presume that the Would-be’s there, as elsewhere, were by no means the most limited class in society. The Jolly Beggars is probably our nearest approach to this sign; but the company under that name are almost always great folks, if not absolutely royal, before they depart. With another of my Parisian trifles I shall conclude this chapter.
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In Elba is placed (an appropriate station!)
Now stript of his empire, his legions dispersed,
His real situation is able reversed.
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