Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/468

 45 8 C. H. Levermoj'e Herald finally exposed the hoax, but the reputation of the Sun was made, and Mr. Day introduced steam power into his printing-office in order to keep up with the demand. The Sim was the pioneer in this mechanical improvement, as well as in the publication of such gigantic " fakes." Shortly afterward the Sun passed into the hands of the Beach family, who retained its management for thirty years, 1 837-1 868. The Sun in those early days did not aspire to be an intellectual force in the community. It never quite escaped from the pre- dominant character of a "want" newspaper, but the results of its pecuniary success were far-reaching. Here was a paper which wore no party uniform, scarcely seemed to entertain any political preferences, was subsidized by no party managers, and yet in two years it had acquired a larger circulation than any of its contempt- uous comrades could show. It reached the working-people as they never did, and within ten years it had prospered enough to com- mand the best facilities for the transmission of news from distant points. It was still more of an advertiser than a ;/f«vpaper, and it lacked the weight of any strong individuality, but it had answered its problem. Quite different, much more efficient, but equally independent solutions were shortly afterwards offered by two observant journal- ists, James Gordon Bennett and Horace Greeley. James Gordon Bennett was completely described in Parton's clever phrase, as a "man with a French intellect and Scotch habits." He was a native of Scotland, and was born and educated amid Catholic surround- ings, but even in youth the bonds of that faith rested very lightly upon him. He declared that the perusal of Franklin's autobiog- raphy sent him to America. In 18 19, being about twenty years old, he landed at Halifax and gradually worked his way down the coast as far as Charleston, S. C. He picked up any job that came in his way, from school -teaching to reporting, but after 1823 he was steadily engaged in newspaper work in New York. His life in the South had inspired him with contempt for the negro slave and with admiration for the planter aristocracy, so that he naturally enlisted in the ranks of the conservative democracy. As reporter for the New York Enquirer in 1827 he wrote from Washington a series of gossipy letters about public men and affairs at the national capital. These letters were avowedly modelled by him upon the letters of Horace Walpole and were the first professional efforts of the kind. They were written in the interest of Andrew Jackson, and of the Regency in New York, and they were then deemed graphic and amusing pictures of Washington life. Amusing they