Page:Notes by the Way.djvu/251

 NOTES BY THE WAY.

��181

��of entertainment be as much as possible at the command of those

who advertise most largely and steadily." In 1834 Lord Brougham

was severely taken to task by The Globe, and Coulson, being on

terms of friendship with him, retired, his place being taken by John John Wilson.

Wilson, who occupied the editorial chair for more than thirty years ;

he was a quiet, scholarly man, living in seculsion in the midst of his

family at Tooting. The general control of the paper was in the

hands of Mr. Moran, the sub-editor ; his whole heart was in his

duties ; a better sub-editor a paper never had, and the variety

which he contrived to introduce into the columns of The Globe is

described as something wonderful.

The Globe w y as for many years recognized as the official Whig organ, and in an article which appeared in The Quarterly in 1839, on ' The Bedchamber Conspiracy,' complaint was made of the appearance in The Globe, " a ministerial evening paper," of informa- tion from an inspired quarter, which had reached it contrary to ministerial etiquette. The Globe in its Centenary article states that the channel through which many valuable items of news came to the readers of The Globe was Lord Palmerston, who took an active part in shaping the policy of the paper, and the fact is beyond dispute, " as the archives of the office can prove," that he wrote articles in the paper, and continued his connexion until the time of his death.

The Globe has been twice taxed with utilizing information with- out due authority. Lord Panmure had flatly declined to tell Sir James O'Dowd, who was on the reporting staff, the number of troops in the Crimea, December, 1855 ; the precise number within twenty appeared next day in The Globe. The minister was indignant, but O'Dowd quietly pointed out that the official gazette had stated the number of sick then in hospital, and that it repre- sented 9 per cent of the total force. The other occasion, as will be well remembered, was the publication of the Salisbury-Schouvaloff Treaty in July, 1878.

The abolition of the paper duties in 1861 had brought about keen competition with the morning papers. Col. Torrens died in 1864, and in 1866 the paper was sold, and acquired by a small Conservative syndicate, of whom the late Lord Iddesleigh, then Sir Stafford Northcote, was one. This complete change of front created a great sensation. The necessity for another evening Conservative organ in the metropolitan press was considered urgent, as the tone of the London papers was reflected in the Parliamentary representation of the metropolis, not a Conservative being returned within the four corners of London and Middlesex.

On the 28th of June, 1869, the price of the paper was reduced Reduced to a to its present one of Id. Since its change of politics its editors have penny, been Mr. Wescomb, from Exeter ; Mr. R. B. Patterson, who after- wards went to The Edinburgh Courant ; Mr. H. N. Barnett ; Mr.

��Lord

Palmerston

supplies

news.

��It is charged

with

utilizing

information

without due

authority.

��Acquired by a

Conservative

syndicate.

�� �