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    590 The Leader andSaturday Analyst. [Jun...

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    GENTISM. , - ::-IN these days of appeara...

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    Alleged Libels In Newspapers. Rphere Are...

    handbill had given rise to this unpleasant discussion felt , or imagined himself damaged , and brought an action against the proprietor of the newspaper . The trial took place before Lord Chief Justice Eei-e , and the verdict was for the defendant . In his summing up the learned judge observed that two principles were laid down on the law of libel : it was necessary , first , to show that the articles to be proved libellous were really defamatory , that is , tending "to bring into ridicule and contempt" the person of whom thev were published ; and , next , that they were published through malice— but that the law did not require the proof of any personal malice , but merely the absence of any justifiable cause for the publication . In the case before us , there was no imputation upon the plaintiff that he was himself a dishonest man , but that he followed a business which tended to encourage dishonesty ; in this opinion

    the judge himself openly and decidedly concurred , after which there could be only one course for the jury to adopt . He also , with equal propriety , certified that the case was one for a special jury , and thus added another to the long list of testimonies daily borne against the common iury system as it exists at present . It is extremely improbable that a common jury would have coincided with the Chief Justice in his opinion on this case , and had the verdict been otherwise , we should have had an additional difficulty thrown in the way of the journalist In the discharge of his most obvious duty . The plaintiff was illadvised ; he had no valid ground of action , and was very properly punished for his vexatious proceedings . Most , however , of these actions are attorneys' actions ; they are brought , not for the sake of damages , but for that of costs , and it is in general less the plaintiff than the plaintiff ' s solicitor who is to blame for the result .

    It is , however , a matter of little consequence to the public whether , in an ordinary action for libel , the plaintiff or the defendant be proved in the wrong ; but a trial becomes invested with a manifest importance when it involves the question , " Has the editor of a newspaper the right of commenting on the proceedings of a legal tribunal ? "' If this question be settled in . the negative , then public opinion loses its only means of expression concerning those who administer justice . Any police magistrate , any civic alderman , any county court judge is at liberty , unchecked , to run riot in his office the hasty man > the cruel man , the prejudiced man has nolonger anything to keep him in order , and the mischief done by such a restriction would be infinitely greater than the closing against the public of all our courts of justice . This , however , is happily not to be feared ; we have had several decisions which have established this ! - right , and the law of libel is-amply sufficient

    to protect the public from its abuse . But though there can be now no longer a doubt as to the right of a journalist not only to report a trial , but to comment on its particulars or on the _ verdict in which it results , it is not clear what comments are permissible while the case is in course of investigation . Some must be , of necessity ; and it is probable that were these altogether withheld , the interests of justice would in more ways than one suffer . The staff of a well-conducted newspaper should comprehend individuals versed in medical jurisprudence , in international law , in general and applied science , and trials are continually occurring in which these branches of information are particularly neces-^ r ^ j ^ -Z ^ h ^^ v Ary ^ n ^ iMP . iice- ^ fLan ^ Jii terestin g investigati on before a judge or a police magistrate will elicit from the public press the exact " knowledge required ; the jury will gladly embrace the opportunity , and their verdict will be an enlightened instead of a prejudiced one .

    It is one thing to comment on facts solemnly sworn to , and another to comment on the character of a man being tried , or about to be tried , on a charge perhaps affecting his life , before a tribunal of justice . If the question of guilt or innocence be not touched , there can be little doubt that there is a large margin within which the public opinion may be expressed , and guided , not only without harm , but with great advantage . In cases of poisoning , for instance , of which we have unhappily had so many within the last few years , it cannot but be a difficult thing for a juryman to decide upon the evidence which is laid before him , and which is treated in so widely different a manner by the counsel for the prosecution and by that for the defence . If when the first depositions

    before the magistrates were made public , a few dispassionate and judicious newspaper articles had a little ventilated the subject , had cleared away some of the mists , had taught the public a little of the pathology of the case , the jurors would go to their task with something like a preparation for their work—they would , in fact , bo a special jury ad hoc . The innocent would be less likely to be condemned , and the guilty less likely to escape . Comments such as these do from time to time occur ; and just so far as they do , mny justice be depended upon at the hands of a common jury . In consequence of such remarks a host of letters by qualified persons make their appearance ; medical men give their experience , point and the of in

    out the various actions of poison , give history cases which they have ,. boen , called in j and it is not too much to say that a barrister who neglects such means of informing himself doeB IeB 8 than half hie duty to his client . It is quite true that journals have not always been fair , and more than one unhappy man in times past has owed his death to the hounding . on of a ferocious public opinion by newspapers not a whit in advance of that which they professed to lead . We see occasional exhibitions of the same spirit , though in a milder guise , even now ; b , ut the tone of our journals is for the most part so moderate , that their conductors may safely be trusted to net with discretion even when the lives as well as the fortunes of men may bo affected by their remarks .

    590 The Leader Andsaturday Analyst. [Jun...

    590 The Leader andSaturday Analyst . [ June 23 , 1860 .

    Gentism. , - ::-In These Days Of Appeara...

    GENTISM . , - ::-IN these days of appearances , this era of small things , when evervbody who has , or has not , realised a fortune , claims to be " highly " genteel , " it is as well to consider what gentility is . It is a word of wide signification , a kindly gossiping diminutive . One who perhaps dared not boldly avow that he was a gentleman pwr sang , set declared that his family was genteel ; that is to say , free from . vulgar ity , not low ; so Addison , who is the smoothfaced and smoothmannered hero of Mr . Thackebay ' s humorists , talks of " genteel comedy , " and rough JonXsos declares genieelness " to be a quality befitting persons of rank . " But Goldsmith , whose genial humour never went wrong , saw how susceptible the word was of a mean and little interpretation , and makes his bear ward , whose rank would correspond with that of our costermonger , declare that his " bear never danced but to the genteelest of tunes , water parted , or the minuet in Abiabne . " A little later in pur social history we find it upon record that an accomplice of a murderer considered the actual assassin " a genteel man because he kept a gig ; " and at a police court but very recently , one hesitated to call himself a " gentleman , " but he might be considered " genteel , " he said , because he lived on his own means . Now it is rather remarkable that amongst the most commercial people in the world the bare fact of living an idle , and frequently a very useless life , should have been thought an essential part of gentility . " I am a gentleman , and do nothing for my existence , " said some one to Johnsonv " Then , sir , " answered the stout old litterateur , " you have no visible means of gaining an honest livelihood ; " and the satire was just . The peculiar class of gentlefolks ( which , by the way , that very conceited compilation ,. Websteb ' s Dictionary , tells us is a word now only used by the vulgar ) to which Johnson ' s opponent belongs , would never think of helping themselves if they could get any One else to help them , and it is quite amusing for a genuine worker to get amongst them , and to hear them talk . These sort of gentlefolks flock round the easel of the painter or the model of the sculptor and wonder in their little way—and a very uhgenteel way , too , sometimes—at the person who is < f doing " any thing for them . The " , " they say , is building our carriage , or painting pur portrait , or laying " down our telegraphs , writing our books ; cutting our canals * making our railways , or itmay be fighting our battles : . and they refer to the workers as if they were quite a separate-institution , a ' sv

    indeed they are ; arid that they , the genteel people , had only to walk through life , and pay away certain moneys which certain other people earned for them . The general ingratitude tpwards the common workers around _ them , the want of appreciation of the hardships and difficulties which beset the life of such , and the utter want of truly Christian feeling which distinguishes them , is something astounding . The genteel Christian lady—and , let us add , the profession of our blessed religion has become eminently genteel r—may feel wondrous sympathy for the benig hted heathen , or the starving beggar ; but she never will be brought to regard as her brother and sister the vulgar butcher boy who in redundant health and a blue coat calls for her orders , or the maudlingly confidential charwoman , who is called in to assist her servants . Gentility builds

    perhaps an imperceptible , but still a very strong wall around the - ^ pexsons-who practise it ; a w all which , like a sunk fence in a park , is not perhaps seen in the distance , but which is very hard ^ or-getr--over ; and perhaps the most puzzling fact about it is , that the . nearer one gets to it , the further it flies off ; like the poet's simile of the horizon , which always bounds the view , and is always at the same distance from us . Yet we feel convinced that , like the genteel young barber in Mr . Dickens ' s story , we must " draw a line somewheres . " He , it is known , being a shaver of the chins of only genteel parties , refused , upon a notable occasion , to mow the stubble from a dustman's . "Why , " cried the injured individual , his gentility being touched , " I seed you a shavin' a baker t ' other day . " " ¦ Ah , " returned the wily young hairdresser , " we must draw

    a line somewheres ; I draws it at journeymen bakers ; I can't shave you . " But gentility , if she draws a line somewheres , has yet a veryelastic cord . In narrow lanes and courts we have genteel dayschools ; and in streets a little better—genteel finishing academies . When a man has a weakly son , who cannot , he fancies , rough it ii > the world , or a girl whose talents and appearance arc more than usual , he seeks to place them in a genteel business . Should he succeed in doing so , Heaven help the children ! The boy , who may be an attorney's clerk or a law-writer , will find flVe a dozen times more bitter than in any bustling trade ; and the girl , who may be , we will say , a governess , a teacher of music , or a milliner , will have to pay very hardly for the shred of gentility which those professions still retain;—that the vulgar rich will often insult her , and that no morning- will rise without a trial , no evening close without a

    humiliation ; till , spent in mind and body , she repents with tears her fatal predilection for gentility ; happy will she be if this feeliugr goes no further . At the present day—and perhaps always , for the cycles of humanity present very little variation—gentility > or those who profess it , are given to worship money and material success , and , indeed , not to exist without it . Who overheard of a highly genteel bankrupt , or a genteel inhabitant of debtors' prisons P The superfine quality , like the gloss on doth , rubs away with hard wear . But we do know a prize fighter who , having by betting made a large fortune , was received into the ranks of genteel society , whose park was envied , and whoso presence courted . Time , too , whose light finger adds many a gentle and genteel touch , has rendered the white head of the old gladiator as silvery and as venerable as that of a bishop , who counts the same years , and who baa perhaps passed every one-

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23061860/page/10/