The Times

“ And the Times has a long leader on the subject—a very high-class, well-written leader, with three pieces of Times Latin—status quo is one—and it reads like the voice of Somebody Impersonal of the Greatest Importance suffering from Influenza Headache and talking through sheets and sheets of felt without getting any relief from it whatever. ”

“ As for the Times, on which you all use your scissors so industriously, it is managed with vast ability, no doubt, but the blood would tingle many a time to the fingers' ends of the body politic, before that solemn organ which claims to represent the heart would dare to beat in unison. Still it would require all the wise management of the Times, or wisdom enough to do without it, and a wide range and diversity of talent, indeed, almost sweeping the circle, to make a People's Journal for England. The present is only a bud of the future flower. ”

“ When, therefore, one finds the Times abiding for a long while (which is not invariably its way) by one constant view of a question, one may be sure that it is supported in that view by an active, business-like, prominent, and probably even predominant body of its countrymen; but it by no means follows that the deeper convictions of the nation, its hearty sentiments of right, for which it would be prepared to do or die, are either represented or roused by the newspaper. The Times, during the American War, was cursed—or cursed its readers—with prophets, seers, and oracles, in its correspondents ”

“ Rude health and spirits, an Oxford education, and the habits of society are implied, but not a ray of genius. It comes of the crowded state of the professions, the violent interest which all men take in politics, the facility of experimenting in the journals, and high pay.
The most conspicuous result of this talent is the "Times" newspaper. No power in England is more felt, more feared, or more obeyed. What you read in the morning in that journal, you shall hear in the evening in all society. ”

“ How can they read without blushing at their own conduct such declarations as that recently uttered by the great organ of English opinion, the foremost of English journals? The Times, which no one will accuse of partiality in this instance, says: "In the natural distribution of subjects, the history of enterprise, discovery, and conquest, and the growth of republics, fell to America, and she has dealt nobly with them. In the wider and multifarious provinces of art and science she runs neck and neck with the mother-country, and is never left behind!" ”

“ The politics of the Times are an inscrutable mystery to most men, even to the majority of Englishmen; but the simple solution of the mystery is, that the Times either follows the lead of public opinion, or that it contradicts public opinion only when—more far-sighted than its contemporaries—it foresees a change ”

“ Deeds, not words, prove sincerity, and by future endeavours to entertain and inform, The Times will evince their zeal in the service of The Public, and their feelings for the favours bestowed upon the Universal Register. ”

“ In both the Times and the Herald was an inconspicuous personal in the modest retirement of the advertising section, of obscure wording and small type:
Now is the time for all good men and true to get a cautious move on the trail sit tight coming up. ”

“ Scotsman is shocked, The Times is speechless, and takes three columns to express its speechlessness; ”

“ But as with other empires, its tone is prone to be official, and even officinal. The "Times" shares all the limitations of the governing classes, and wishes never to be in a minority. If only it dared to cleave to the right, to show the right to be the only expedient, and feed its batteries from the central heart of humanity, it might not have so many men of rank among its contributors, but genius would be its cordial and invincible ally; it might now and then bear the brunt of formidable combinations, but no journal is ruined by wise courage. ”

“ But the Times is a paper which is seldom found in any hands but those of the highly educated. ”

“ The Times mentioned among the qualities which make it tolerable at all the swiftness and firmness of the telling, and the extraordinary dexterity with which the plot moves from death to death. 'It could never have appealed to the cultured classes,' said the Morning Post, 'but had all the elements of popular success. ”

“ NINE O’CLOCK P.M.: HOUSE OF CALL FOR THE VICTORIA AUDIENCE.
[277]
Do you ever read the supplement of the “Times” newspaper? Of course you do; at least, you must diurnally peruse one column at least of that succursal to the monster journal, specially interesting to yourself. Almost every one who can read is anxious to consult the “Times” every morning for one purpose or other. ”

“ By this time the “Times” has become tight and replete with matter, as one who has dined well and copiously. Nothing is wanting: city correspondence, sporting intelligence, markets, state of the weather, prices of stocks and railway shares, parliamentary summary, law and police reports, mysterious advertisements, and births, deaths, and marriages. ”

“ Look at the three leading newspapers, the morning, the evening, and the weekly registers of the direction, warmth, and pressure of public thought, as noted by keen observers, who are shrewd and weatherwise as to the signs of the times, and are seldom wrong when they hoist a storm signal. More and more each of these secular papers occupies its best columns with religious questions, and not with the mere facts or gossip on the subject, or with records of philanthropy, important as these are, but with deep essential doctrines, and prolonged arguments about the very kernel of truth. ”

“ Now a daily without illustration is rare. American humor finds expression in Puck, Judge, and Life; criticism in the Nation, in many other weeklies, and in the Saturday or Sunday editions of the dailies. The Times publishes a Saturday supplement composed wholly of book reviews and literary comment. Among religious journals, which often include literary criticism, are the Observer (Presbyterian) ”

“ And so with the desire for news came into existence an ardent desire for an education in the so-called ‘three R’s.’ As to the style of the reading matter in the Pioneer Newspapers, it conformed, with notable exceptions, to the conditions, social and political, of the times. As a matter of fact, politics were paramount in pioneer days and up to the triumph of Responsible Government, or to the middle of the 19th Century. ”

“ Certainly, however, after all allowances made, the prestige of the Times must have received a perceptible shock. The other daily papers which I have named, along with the Times, as Southern partisans, represent divers sections of Liberalism; and there must be more than I am cognizant of to say in detail of their views of various phases and at various periods in the contest. ”

“ Of the period of which this book treats, there have been political histories, and scurrilous books written anent the Royal Family, ad nauseam: and the Diaries which have been published, bearing on this time, deal only with the acts, and sayings, of the higher classes—leaving the life of the vastly greater proportion of the population—the middle classes—untouched. No better source of information as to their mode of living, their amusements, the tattle, and passing follies of the times, can possibly be found, than in the Newspapers of the day; and I selected the commencement of the Times, 1 Jan. ”

“ "THE times that tried men's souls,"* are over- and the greatest and completest revolution the world ever knew, gloriously and happily accomplished. ”

“ A newspaper is a living organism, threaded through with the nerves of men and women, inspired by their spirit, animated by their ideals and thought, the living vehicle of their own adventure of life. So The Tribune seemed to us then, in that last [Pg 108] hour, when we looked back on our labor and comradeship, our laughter, our good times together on “the rag,” as we had called it. ”

“ The principal Liberal ones are the "Times," "Globe," "Telegraph," "Daily News," and "Star." Of these five journals, three were for the South, and only two for the North,—the two which I have named last. Two other Liberal daily papers are but little known to me,—the "Advertiser" and the "Sun": I believe the latter was at any rate not decidedly Southern. Everybody knows that the Times is the Englishman's paper par excellence; it would hardly be unfair to call us "a Times-led population," unless, indeed, one prefers the term, "a popularity-led Times." ”

“ Converse with ten ordinary middle-class Englishmen,—men of business or position, receiving or imparting the current of opinion which is uppermost in their class,—probably nine of them will express views which you will find amplified in the columns of the Times. That journal is neither above their level nor below it; as matters strike them, so do they also strike the Times. Englishmen do not particularly respect the Times ”

“ So she had looked in on Mark, reading his correspondence with his copy of The Times airing on a chair-back before the fire—for he was just the man to retain the eighteen-forty idea that you can catch cold by reading a damp newspaper. ”

“ The Political Head of The Times, like that of Janus, the Roman Deity, is double faced; with one countenance it will smile continually on the friends of Old England, and with the other will frown incessantly on her enemies.
The alteration we have made in our head is not without precedents. The World has parted with half of its Caput Mortuum and a moiety of its brains. The Herald has cut off half of its head, and has lost its original humour. The Post, it is true, retains its whole head and its old features; and as to the other public prints, they appear as having neither heads nor tails. ”

“ These events, recorded in the newspaper, are as much history as events which happened in the days of 46 Roman power, as recorded by Julius Caesar, Livy, and other writers of those times. Thus the man who reads a daily newspaper, or a weekly newsmagazine, is making definite use of history—otherwise he wouldn’t bother to read!
Equally, events which happened to us in our daily work last year, last week, even today, are as much historical events as things which occurred centuries ago. ”

“ Modern editorials have been reprinted, as those from the London Times,—"third leaders" that "are meant to turn the reader from affairs and interests of the moment to a consideration 'of man, of nature, and of human life' in their larger, more permanent aspect. In one or another form they represent the daily demand and supply of material for thought. ... They are journalism; but in them journalism is extending itself towards, is even becoming, literature." ”

“ I am surprised to see the air of perfect good faith with which articles from the London Times, upon the revolutionary movements, are copied into our papers. There exists not in Europe a paper more violently opposed to the cause of freedom than the Times, and neither its leaders nor its foreign correspondence are to be depended upon. ”

“ He was naturally of serious temper and retiring disposition, and, though in parliament and in the discharge of other public duties he could not but be conscious of the immense influence he wielded, he never presumed in his own person on the power he derived from 'The Times.' He spoke with gravity, as became one who directly or indirectly had made more public opinion than any man of his time ”

“ The fee simple of the premises and the capital involved in the undertaking, together with the sole management of the paper, were retained by the founder of 'The Times' in his own control, and passed successively to his son and grandson.
[Materials for a biography of the founder of 'The Times' are scanty and meagre. They have already been cited in the text; but some private information has been communicated by Mr. Arthur F. Walter, the present chief proprietor of 'The Times' and the great-grandson of its founder.] ”

“ In the Letter-press, it has been the Writer’s aim to assemble as much as possible of that part of American story which history has not yet found leisure to put into form, and which romance and poetry have not yet appropriated—the legendary traditions and anecdotes, events of the trying times of the Revolution, Indian history, &c. ”

“ The Times and its coadjutors will have a free field, but if attacks should come as thick as locusts they will not frighten me away from that course which I conscientiously believe to be the course of honor, truth, right, and duty. ”

“ For many years he was a leader-writer on political topics on the ‘Daily Telegraph,’ and frequently acted as special correspondent of the ‘Times,’ the ‘Standard,’ and other newspapers. During 1862 and 1863 he was a contributor to the ‘Athenæum,’ to the ‘Seven Days' Journal,’ and to the ‘Leader.’ Falling into pecuniary difficulties, he was, on his own petition, made a bankrupt on 9 Jan. ”

“ There never was a time when men wrote so much and so well, and that, without being of any great account themselves. [pg 329] While our literature in this day, especially the periodical, is rich and various, its language is elaborated to a perfection far beyond that of our Classics, by the jealous rivalry, the incessant practice, the mutual influence, of its many writers. In point of mere style, I suppose, many an article in the Times newspaper, or Edinburgh Review, is superior to a preface of Dryden's, or a Spectator, or a pamphlet of Swift's, or one of South's sermons. ”

“ In the gigantic “Thunderer” of to-day, with its abstract editor, we lose these little personal touches which bring us face to face with the demi-god that launched the dread bolts in those times.
As we write, the paper-boy comes for “The Times,” from which we have extracted a good pennyworth this morning, and we see him collecting his papers at door after door, all the way up the street. What a comment this upon a little paragraph in the “Times” of October, 1798, to the following effect:
The keepers of several reading-rooms in Fleet Street have been fined 5l. ”

“ The great event by which it is distinguished, and by which it will forever be distinguished from all other days of the year, has justly claimed thoughtful attention among statesmen and social reformers throughout the world. ”