902 LIFE OF OOBDEN. [omar

1863.
Ar. 59.

*hat individuality, which, more than all besides, is essential to the progres®
and elevation of our species. In the provinces, the anonymous system
has, practically, up to a very recent period, never been in operation ;
because, there, every man's occupation was more or less known to his
neighbours, And, if space permitted, I could trace the salutary effect
of this on the political progress of the last generation; for it would
be easy to adduce the names of half a score of men, the conductor?
of journals in Leeds, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Norwich
&o., &o., to whose able, honest, and energetic efforts, as leaders of
public opinion in their several localities, more than probably any
other traceable cause, the nation is indebted for its successful resistance
fo that reactionary spirit, which, from the end of the last century:
down to 1820, ran its course of tyrannical repression, and filled all but
the stoutest hearts with despair. These men have all passed away, bub
they should not be forgotten. And if, when my friend Dr. Smiles, himself
 a distinguished member of the fraternity, shall have completed his
biographies of our great discoverers, and improvers in physical science,
he should give us a volume of the lives of those pioneers of political
progress, it will be seen that their triumphs are traceable to something
wore than an investment of capital in presses and type, with an impersonal
editorial staff, —that they were in each case due to the open and avowed
writing, and the personal example of the individual man, who was living
in clear daylight, under the full gaze of his neighbours, whom he Was
not only stimulating, but leading in the path of duty, and by whom he
was in turn cheered and sustained. I might also, if space allowed, refer
to the advantages which open and avowed journalism might afford to the
electoral body, in the choice of representatives to Parliament. Those
members of the House of Commons connected with the public press
who have been elected during my experience, and who, with the exceplion
 of the first-named, were connected with provincial journals,—Messrs.
Miall, Baines, Macguire, Fagan, Lucas, and others,—whatever may be
the differences of opinion as to their views, will be acknowledged by
all who have sat with them, as having been, in every case, among the
foremost of their party, for political intelligence and honour.
I have said enough to show that I take a more exalted view than
most men, of the mission of those who instruct the public through the
newspaper press, and that, while asserting their title to the most
honourable posts, 1 am assailing only a system by which they are huddled
clandestinely into inferior employments, as the result of a secret and
illicit intercourse with the Government of the day. And I revert to the
question —has not the country a right to be informed, on my responsibility,
that this illicit intercourse has been carried on between the Zimes and
khe Government ; and is the Daily Telegraph justified in intercepting