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We have received an anonymous pamphlet against " Anonymous Journalism " ( Ridgway ) . The writer of the pamphlet has a singular way of practising what he preaches , but let that pass . We will for the moment " willingly give credit to an instructor who , we do not know , is qualified to teach . " We will waive his own objection that " no man whose opinion was worth having would shrink from giving to his suggestions the authority of his name . " We will not stop to inquire whether this writer is " a man whose name or position gives authority to his opinion , " or whether he " has any personal grudge for a real or imaginary affront" ( such as the rejection of an article ) " which may be supposed to animate his pen . " We will treat Mm as he does not treat our brethren of the press , as " the avowed , the erect , the manly foe , " although we find his only excuse for writing with his vizor down , is that he wishes to establish " a practical proof of the evil of the system ; ' ^ in other words to serve as a silly example of the iniquity he stigmatises and
condemns . derans . There is in some quarters , we regret to say , an unhappy and ignoble disposition to extol that regime of silence and suppression which overshadows France just now , a weak admiration of despotic unity and force , a servile impatience of our own more difficult and noble freedom . It is not only Lord Dkbbt who pays fulsome compliments to " that great man , " who rivals Domitian in dissimulation , and Cabacaixa in public works—it is a whole sect of political heathens who fall down to worship—an Eclipse ! We do not say the outcry against anonymous journalism is to be chiefly attributed to the contagion of the Napoleonic regime—there are many excellent
reasons against the anonymous , and many decidedly liberal advocates of the other system—but it * is not too much to say , that of all the arguments advanced by the present anonymous assailant of an anonymous press , not one will bear examination , and most of them have been refuted over and over again . The writer leaves us in no doubt of the source from which his suggestion proceeds . In the first page he describes the passing of M . db Tingut ' s signing clause by the French Legislative Assembly in July , 1850 ; and he very disingenuously asserts that "it was under a Republican form of Government that the change took place in France , '' and that " France at the time was essentiailjrdemocratic . "
Is it possible that the writer should not know that in July , 1850 , France was a Republic only in name , and that so far from being " essentially democratic , " the Assembly that passed the press law was completely dominated by the reactionary and royalist factions ? This incognito pamphleteer abounds in compliments to the existing English journals , and in panegyrics on the liberty of the press ; he enters upon the discussion " in no spirit of hostility , " but " with a sincere desire to accord to it all the privilege , and to see it invested with all the power which it can fairly and legitimately claim . ' ! . We , have no desire . to _ . cast _ any doubt _ upp ^
avowal ; we regret that it should be appended to so inauspicious a text . Nevertheless , our incognito friend complains with some acerbity of the functions , the influence , and the universality of the press , as a critic , a censor , an instructor , and he insists that those who thus form opinion and criticise public men should be known . He indulges in the old trite nonsense about the editorial we " carrying with it a prestige to which it is not entitled , " and assures us that an article written by " any one of a large number of able men is commonly supposed to be written by them all , ' * and hence derives an unnatural importance . Is this serious ? " Besides , it must not be forgotten , " he adds , " that the writer of each anonymous article assumes to speak as ' We the people of England , ' and so completely merges his own individuality that it is very difficult to realise the fact that the true meaning of that sounding style and title is , ' I , John Stubbs , think and say so and so . ' "
Now , at the bottom of all this oft-repeated trash , there is not only a complete ignorance of the real nature , character , and functions of the press , but also a secret spirit of flunkeyism which judges everything by a personal standard , and accepts no name " without a handle to it . " It is sheer absurdity to say that a public writer assumes to speak as the people of England ; he does nothing of the kind : he simply exercises the right of free discussion , throws his thought into the balance of the public sense , and leaves it to be sifted and weighed by those candid and unservile minds that arc ready to take it for what it is wortli , without caring to know whether the writer ' s name is Robinson or Fitz Snooks .
" The same argument , " we are told , " which is used in defence of anonymous writing might be employed to vindicate anonymous speaking . " There is but one objection to this argument , and that is its utter absurdity . " Anonymous speaking , " if it means anything at all , which wo doubt , is simply impossible ; and what analogy is there between representatives of constituencies and members of a senate on the one hand , and public writers without any mandate but that of their own froo right of addressing the public on the other ? It is a fallacy to say that journalism " professes add claims to represent the public . " It professes and claims nothing of the sort ; it professes to represent a certain section of the public , and if it be the
organ of a party , if seeks by force of persuasion to extend that party and to develop its influence . In the case of a journal like the Times , professin g no doubt to represent a very large and influential section of the public in other words , the fluctuating prejudices and the enlightened selfishness of the recognised ^ commmunity , its power is derived confessedl y from the fact that it is the journal of the four winds and of the twenty-four hours , and that , in effect , it represents most dexterously and faithfully the wind that blows , and the interest that rules the day . The Times is a daily pamphlet . No doubt , this writer imagines , a journal like the Times would be considerably affected by the abolition of the anonymous . The Times-unquestionably supplies opinion to the vast majority of the moneyed and easy
classes . The political talk of society is nothing but a rechauffe of " that splendid article in the Times this morning . " It would , perhaps , diminish the awe in which Printing House-square is held , if the men who sit behind those tremendous inkstands and' wield those colossal pens could be revealed to public gaze , and if the mystery of those Delphian lips were to be reduced to the dimensions of an imposing " dodge . " But we repeat , at the bottom of this hostile curiosity there is an inveterate , though unconfessed , flunkeyism—a flunkeyism only surpassed by the blind worship of the oracle . It would be inconvenient for Smith or Stubbs , or Brown or Jones to sign his name to articles on all sides of the same question in turn ; but until the world is more honest and more sincere , the journal that best represents the prejudices and servilities of the majority will command the largest circulation . Besides , it is not to be denied that
the leading journal continually exercises a very powerful influence for good . Witness the exposure of our military system . And let us observe , that the public writers who have exerted this admirable influence and wielded the power of the Times so well , are men whose names are known to all the world , and justly held in universal honour and respect . The meaning of the editorial " we , " to which this writer so formally objects , is not at all what he seems to suppose . The " we" may , in the case of journals representing- a definite and consistent political section , represent that section ; but generally speaking , it is nothing more than a form of expression employed to distinguish public from private writing , and which writers who sign their articles often employ . In France the nous is still habitual , and only the other day we remarked in the Oxford Essays , signed by their authors , this dignified and serious pluraL _ ¦ —
The writer of this pamphlet is gravely in error when he states that no difficulty whatever has actually occurred " in the operation of the signature law in France , " and that "it has been found to work admirably in practice , " The exact contrary is nearer to the truth . To nine-tenths of the articles in the French papers vicarious signatures are affixed . We have no hesitation in saying that there are not four journalists of note or name in France who have written only what they have signed , or signed all they have written since the passing of M . sa Tingux- 's law . A man of straw , entitled Secretaire de la Redaction , acts as a signing-machine , and it is under this
comprehensive title that fallen statesmen have defended royalty against the Republic , and parliamentary institutions against Napoleonic despotism . The law is , to a great extent , absolutely inoperative . . The -writer-makes an exception in favour of literary reviews ; but , according to his argument , we do not see why political criticism should be signed and literary criticism be anonymous . The reputation of an author is as precious as that of a politician , and far more susceptible , and this writer , who probably forgets Dr . Johnson's reply , would insist on knowing that the reviewer of a bad novel had written a better one .
To conclude : the pith of the question lies in a very narrow compass . The abler journalists , of various opinions , who opposed the law of signature in France , opposed it upon the most disinterested and unselfish grounds . They opposed it because it was injurious to the press as a collective organ of public opinion . Personally they wore interested in abolishing the impersonality of journalism , since their own reputation could only gain by being known . As a matter of feeling , we believe that many of our comrades in the press militant would bo glad to emerge from the obscurity of the unknown—they could only gain by the publicity ; but as a matter of principle , in which the power and the authority of the press as an institution are concerned , we believe they Would rather work obscurely and unknown than sacrifice to personal vanity the collective force of the estate . "
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The annual meeting of the Literary Fund this week was signalised by the publicity of its proceedings , as well as by a decided move against the oxtraneoua patronage and the administrative laxity of the Institution . I" " ^ first place , there was an attempt made to bring about n serious reduction in the establishment , by cutting down rent , salaries of officers , and so forth . There is much to be said in favour of this economical reform : it is too much the habit of all our charities to sink into close boroughs for comfortable placemen ; on the other hand , there are some who four that too marked a tendency in the Society to stint itself in its own lodging and service may affect its liberality towards its clients , and its social prestige . If charity does not begin nt home , it is said , it is a pitiful charity that starves its own porters . The other movement was indirectly more successful ; it was to diminish the share which * ' Lords" have in the management of the Society , and to restrict it to literary men . This movement was headed with admirablo force and
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Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and polxce of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Bevteio . .
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256 THE L . E A D E JR . [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 17, 1855, page 256, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2082/page/16/
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