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474 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
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EASTJEHN AlatlCA. [continued.] HOW beaut...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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.The Trench Press.* L\/F Hatin Could Sca...
more or less imitations of Renaudot ' s newspaper . Renaudot originated the French press , and therefore M . Hatin has very justly devoted a great part of his first " volume to an account of that worthy . What an amount of opposition , of ill will , and of spite he had to encounter , the poor Theophraste—" noire cher et bien-aimS , Vun de rios conseillers et medecins ordimaires" as hjs Majesty's letterspatent designate him . His printers quarrelled with him ; competitors arose , Guy Patin , the sarcastic physician ,- did his very best to ruin him ; law-suits , pamphlets , libellous accusations , were successively tried ; and , had it not been for the protection of the Government , Renaudot must have given up his editorial duties in despair . AH the particulars connected with this affair are related by M . Hatin in the fullest and most interesting manner , and the copious extracts subjoined from contemporary publications enable us to appreciate very correctly the difficulties which , in the seventeenth century , as well as in our own times , were thrust before those- who had any new and useful idea to communicate to the public *
We shall not stop to examine the curious chapters relating to the Mazarinades , and other similar publications , which swarmed on all sides during the early part of the seventeenth century ; but we must say a few words of the far-famed Mercure de France , an account of which terminates the first volume . There are still in this sublunary world some simple-minded souls who imagine that journalism is an Eldorado—a Paradise on earth . If the narrative of the tribulations undergone by Theophrastus Renaudot has not succeeded in undeceiving such enthusiasts , . let them consider for a moment what was the fate of Donneau de Vise , the editor of the Mercure Galarit . La Bruyere says in his Caractercs , that the Mercure \ s "immediately below zero ; " and on so serious an
authority , Donneau de Vise has ever since passed off as a compound of knave and fool . This seems really too serious . Why , because a critic thinks that a poem is dull or a comedy badly put together , the entire genus irritabile , forsooth ^ must rise up against him , and do their beat to defame him ! Where a . re their notions of fair play ? Donneau de Vise introduced into periodical literature a new feature , which alone would entitle him to a separate mention . His Mercure was both political tind literary ; whereas , before him , newspapers had been divided into two distinct classes , according as they dealt with intellectual questions , or with matters relating to state crafty The Mercure did ^ not die with Vite . tinder various titles it " went on flourishing ' even as Me-as-the year 1819 , forming a goodly array of 1172 volumes .
The first appearance of journalism hi France was a . real explosion . Party spirit ran very high under Cardinal IMhizarin , and both Frcndeurs and Cardinalistsused to its utmost limits the privilege , of speaking out what they thought about-politics . So great a freedom could not last long . The despotism of Louis XIV . put a stop to the extravagances of periodical literature ; and writers who . wished to call , ns Boileau says , " un chat un chat , et Rolet un fripon , " had to take refuge in foreign countries . Saint Evreniont went over to England ; JBayle and Jurieu settled in Holland . During the latter part of the seventeenth , and nearly the whole of the eighteenth centuries , the restrictions imposed upon newspaper writings were so inquisitorial , so severe , that nothing in the shape ^ a gazette could appear which was not exclusively devoted to " the review of literary and scientific works . The Journal des Savants , the various publications of Basnage , Leclerc , Bayle , and Camusat , belong to this period , and M . Hiitin gives their complete history in the
second volume of his narrative . New ideas , however , were springing up on all sides . Government , religion , philosophy , political economy—everything that relates to the condition of man had become a matter of doubt , and under the influence of the Encyclopaedists , the press assumed a most important position in the crusade organised against the fundamental principles of society . It is a somewhat singular fact , that , nearly without exception , the journalists of the eighteenth century took the conservative side in the great struggle ; Desfontuines , Freron , Pali ^ sot , were the principal amongst them . Still more singular to relate , . the very persons who had been loudest in asking for the
liberty of the press and in -churning the right of denouncing abuses , were also the most vehement in calling forth all the rigour of the laws upon those who were bold enough to question the soundness of tho philosophy preached by the " Wine ' man of Ferney . " Voltaire ' s own behaviour towards Desfontaines and Freron was so mean , eo disgusting 1 , that nothing can justify it . " Pemhint dix ans , " snys M . Hatin , " le nom do Dcefontaines init Voltaire en fureur , comme tit plus tard celui de Freron ; pendant dix ains abusant du prodigicux avnntage que lui donnuit s ' ur son adverfiiiiro hi superioritd de son genie , il ne cessn do le pourauivre do sa verve envenimee ; prose ,
vers , prefaces , brochures , roinuns , poe ' stes , tout servit son ressentiment , et , pour deshouorer son ennomi il ne rougit pas de souiller ses eerita des plus stiles ot des phis grossi & rea invectives . " In reality , the spite of Voltairo against tho Anntie TAUeraire is the heatproof .. of ' .. the true power wielded by a journalist when he keeps within the bounds of impartiality , and when his character is on a par with his literary talent . ' It was bII very well < o compare Desfontuines with the notorious highwayman Cartouche , and to call Freion " fripon , crapand , tezurd , coujouvro , uraigue ' e , vipfcre , faquin , lache , coquin , doguo , " etc ., etc , but we do not believe that Voltaire would have taken tho trouble to crush two writers so utterly insignificant as ho is pleased to represent them .
While encyclopaedists and newsmongers were thus carrying on against each other n wnrfure as vehement in its character as it was important in its princi p le , another numerous community , living , thriving , and extending itself in defiance of the laws , the Jtinseniets , had also taken a bold stand in tho Held of periodical literature On
the gates of the Cimetiere Saint Medard some wag had placed the following epigraph : — . De par le Roi , defense a Dieu , De faire miracle en ce lieu . But even his most Christian majesty , the eldest son of the Church , who could stop the convulsionnaires and extinguish the deacon Paris , was poiverless against the JVouvelles JEcclesiastiqucs . The career of this extraordinary journal is very minutely related by M . Hatin , and furnishes one of the most suggestive chapters on the history of the eighteenth century .
With the fourth volume we are brought by our author to the revolutionary period , and called upon to witness a real literary fever . A journalist , who was himself an illustrious personage in that line , Mallet Dnpan , thus laments over the scribbling mania which prevailed everywhere at the time of the convocation of the statesgeneral : — " Paris est plein de jeunes gens qui prennent quelque facilite pour du talent ; declercs , commis , avocats , militaires , qui se font auteiuv , meui-ent de faim , mendient merne , et font des brochures . " This , however , was only the beginning of tribulations ; the pamphlets and brochures came first , but as soon as Mirabeau had started the first number of his J £ tats-Generaux pamphlets were transformed into newspapers and stitched octavos and duodecimos into periodical sheets . The statistical
accounts of the revolutionary and royalist gazettes , a . * given by M . Hatin , is most singular , extending over ten pages of very small print indeed . What titles ! What ambitious designations J What attempts to obtain popularity , and to secure a steady sale ! If we were to believe the JListoire de la Presse , patriotism had suddenly become very plentiful in France , and all parties ¦ indiscriminately claimed the monopoly of true-patriotism . There was n Patriote Moyuliste , and a Patriote Republicain ; the Patriote Ilevioluiion naire belonged , of course , to the go-ahead coterie . A host of individuals started xiyy amidst the general dissolution ready to befriend ^ the nation , or to act as its defenders : Without- stopping to examine the Ancien Ami du Peuple , and the Veritable Ami du Peuple , we must mention , at least , the real Simon Pure , the Ami
du Peuple , published by Marat , and its antagonist , Iloyou ' s Ami dif > JSgi . Robespierre edited the JDefenseur ^ - de Id Constitution ; Lebois put _ himself forward as the defenseur de la patrie . More ambitious in hispretensions , Phelippeaux aimed , rather unsuccessfully , at being the defenseicr de la VeriU or- Vami' du genre Jiumain These various newspapers , and a hundred besides , took elbow-room for a few years , and celebrated the saturnalia of periodical literature . But what -Government could possibly go on under sucli _ cireumstances ? Certainly not that of the Directoire , already half-eaten up by corruption , immorality , and incapacity . The 18 th Fructidor , year 6 th of Liberty , was what M . Hatin properly calls the Saint Bartholomew ' s Day of journalism ^ and the freedom of the press died then , to revive again only twenty j'ears after .
The above remarks will , we hope , have given our readers some idea of M . Hatin ' s excellent book , and suggested to them the wish of examining it for themselves . Two more volumes are announced to complete it , by bringing the narrative down to our own times . — MatteM-ha-ve—i ^ achcd ^ o-exti « oi ^ inar-y-a ^ condition ^ i _ Fauuice ^_ that our author might appropriately , as we have already hinted , wind up his work with the funeral oration of newspaper writing ; but we still adopt the old motto , JS'il desjperandum , and we would look hopefully towards the future . Between the system of avcrtissements , and the unbridled licentiousness of I 7 i ) 2- ( J , there must be a hnppy medium .
A further great merit of M . Hatin ' s book should also be noticed before we conclude this article , viz ., the accuracy of tho bibliographical details , and the copiousness of the extracts supplied .
474 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Ma...
474 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ May 19 , 1860 .
Eastjehn Alatlca. [Continued.] How Beaut...
EASTJEHN AlatlCA . [ continued . ] HOW beautiful a country will thus be made availubl ' , \ v <* g-icr . n , from outbursts like the following , which sparkle in the narratives of both Dr . Kmpfand Mr , liebmunn : —" Our way lay westward of Panibiri /' says tho former , " with a blight inclination towards the south , up hill and down dale continually . Scarcely hud \ ve reachod the top of a hill , when we hrul to descend on tho other aide , und to cross , tit a depth equivalent to its height , some stream or glen . In this East-African alpino land , mountain succeeds to mountain , stream to stream , glen to glen . The lnnrsh-land at tho foot
of the mountains is used as rice-pluntutions , and tho hills arc covered with excellent sugnr-cnue and bannnti trees , und tho woods contain superior avuilablu timber . It will be a noble land when Christian culture shall hallow it ! Crossing the Eingambo , wo soon found ourselves in a deep valley , from which our way lay up Mount Blnluicri , which is at least 3000 feet high ; and the higher we went , the cooler and inoru pleasant wtia tho air . ' The cool water trickling from gritnito rocks , the little hamlets rising above the niounlniuridgcw , lite inuny patches of Indiun corn , rico , bununaa , ui ; . i sugarcane , tho numerous cascades , the murmur of tho river Eingnmbo , the mountain-niasses in tho distance—all tend greatly to olovutc tho spirits of tho wanderer . " ' ¦ .
Mr . Rebmaun ' s description of his route to Jagga is no loss graphic : — " On tho 7 th of May , wo took our way westvvurd through the most luxuriant grnss and undergrowth , alternating with noble trees , first ascending and then descending tho mountain , at tho foot of which wo had encamped , till after an hour ' s journey wo descended into a narrow valley , through which a clear brook murmured on its way , and on whoso banks sug-nr-cano sprang up indigenously . From
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 19, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19051860/page/14/
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