A Publisher and His Friends Part 40

You yourself would make a most admirable correspondent. The labour would be very light and very agreeable; and Mr. Murray would take care to acknowledge your kindness by various courtesies. If you object to say anything about politics you can omit mentioning the subject. I wish you would undertake it, as I am sure you would write most agreeable letters.

Once a month would be sufficient, or rather write whenever you have anything that you think interesting. Will you be so kind as to write me in answer what you think of this proposal? The communication may be carried on in any language you please.

Last year when I was at Coblentz you were kind enough to show me a very pretty collection of ancient gla.s.s. Pray is it yet to be purchased? I think I know an English gentleman who would be happy to possess it. I hope this will not be the last letter which pa.s.ses between us.

I am, dear Sir,

Yours most truly,

B. DISRAELI.

Mr. Maas agreed to Mr. Disraeli's proposal, and his letter was handed to Mr. Murray, who gave him further instructions as to the foreign correspondence which he required. Mr. Murray himself wrote to correspondents at Hamburg, Maestricht, Genoa, Trieste, Gibraltar, and other places, with the same object.

The time for the publication of the newspaper was rapidly approaching, and Mr. B. Disraeli's correspondence on the subject of the engagement of a staff became fast and furious.

By the end of December Mr. Lockhart had arrived in London, for the purpose of commencing his editorship of the _Quarterly Review_. The name of the new morning paper had not then been yet fixed on; from the correspondence respecting it, we find that some spoke of it as the _Daily Review_, others as the _Morning News_, and so on; but that Mr.

Benjamin Disraeli settled the matter appears from the following letter of Mr. Lockhart to Mr. Murray:

_Mr. Lockhart to John Murray_.

_December_ 21, 1825.

MY DEAR SIR,

I am delighted, and, what is more, satisfied with Disraeli's t.i.tle--the _Representative_. If Mr. Powles does not produce some thundering objection, let this be fixed, in G.o.d's name.

Strange to say, from this time forward nothing more is heard of Mr.

Benjamin Disraeli in connection with the _Representative_. After his two Journeys to Scotland, his interviews with Sir Walter Scott and Mr.

Lockhart, his activity in making arrangements previous to the starting of the daily paper, his communications with the architect as to the purchase and fitting up of the premises in Great George Street, and with the solicitors as to the proposed deed of partnership, he suddenly drops out of sight; and nothing more is heard of him in connection with the business.

It would appear that when the time arrived for the proprietors of the new paper to provide the necessary capital under the terms of the memorandum of agreement dated August 3, 1825, both Mr. Disraeli and Mr.

Powles failed to contribute their several proportions. Mr. Murray had indeed already spent a considerable sum, and entered into agreements for the purchase of printing-offices, printing-machines, types, and all the paraphernalia of a newspaper establishment. He had engaged reporters, correspondents, printers, sub-editors, though he still wanted an efficient editor. He was greatly disappointed at not being able to obtain the services of Mr. Lockhart. Mr. Disraeli was too young--being then only twenty-one, and entirely inexperienced in the work of conducting a daily paper--to be entrusted with the editorship. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he ever contemplated occupying that position, though he had engaged himself most sedulously in the preliminary arrangements in one department, his endeavours to obtain the a.s.sistance of men of commerce in the City; however, he was by no means successful.

Nevertheless, Mr. Murray was so far committed that he felt bound to go on with the enterprise, and he advertised the publication of the new morning paper. Some of his friends congratulated him on the announcement, trusting that they might see on their breakfast-table a paper which their wives and daughters might read without a blush.

The first number of the _Representative_ accordingly appeared on January 25, 1826, price 7_d_.; the Stamp Tax was then 4_d_. In politics it was a supporter of Lord Liverpool's Government; but public distress, the currency, trade and commerce were subjects of independent comment.

Notwithstanding the pains which had been taken, and the money which had been spent, the _Representative_ was a failure from the beginning. It was badly organized, badly edited, and its contents--leading articles, home and foreign news--were ill-balanced. Failing Lockhart, an editor, named Tyndale, had been appointed on short notice, though he was an obscure and uninfluential person. He soon disappeared in favour of others, who were no better. Dr. Maginn [Footnote: Dr. Maginn's papers in _Blackwood_ are or should be known to the reader. The Murray correspondence contains many characteristic letters from this jovial and impecunious Irishman. He is generally supposed to have been the prototype of Thackeray's Captain Shandon.--T.M.] had been engaged--the Morgan O'Doherty of _Blackwood's Magazine_--wit, scholar, and Bohemian.

He was sent to Paris, where he evidently enjoyed himself; but the results, as regarded the _Representative_, were by no means satisfactory. He was better at borrowing money than at writing articles.

Mr. S.C. Hall, one of the parliamentary reporters of the paper, says, in his "Retrospect of a Long Life," that:

"The day preceding the issue of the first number, Mr. Murray might have obtained a very large sum for a sh.o.r.e of the copyright, of which he was the sole proprietor; the day after that issue, the copyright was worth comparatively nothing.... Editor there was literally none, from the beginning to the end. The first number supplied conclusive evidence of the utter ignorance of editorial tact on the part of the person entrusted with the duty.... In short, the work was badly done; if not a snare, it was a delusion; and the reputation of the new journal fell below zero in twenty-four hours." [Footnote: "Retrospect of a Long Life, from 1815 to 1883." By S.C. Hall, F.S.A., i. p. 126.]

An inspection of the file of the _Representative_ justifies Mr. Hall's remarks. The first number contained an article by Lockhart, four columns in length, on the affairs of Europe. It was correct and scholar-like, but tame and colourless. Incorrectness in a leading article may be tolerated, but dulness amounts to a literary crime. The foreign correspondence consisted of a letter from Valetta, and a communication from Paris, more than a column in length, relating to French opera. In the matter of news, for which the dailies are princ.i.p.ally purchased, the first number was exceedingly defective. It is hard to judge of the merits of a new journal from the first number, which must necessarily labour under many disadvantages, but the _Representative_ did not from the first exhibit any element of success.

Mr. Murray found his new enterprise an increasing source of annoyance and worry. His health broke down under the strain, and when he was confined to his bed by illness things went worse from day to day. The usual publishing business was neglected; letters remained unanswered, ma.n.u.scripts remained unread, and some correspondents became excessively angry at their communications being neglected.

Mr. Murray's worries were increased by the commercial crisis then prevailing, and by the downfall of many large publishing houses. It was feared that Mr. Murray might be implicated in the failures. At the end of January, the great firm of Archibald Constable & Co., of Edinburgh publishers of Sir Walter Scott's novels, was declared bankrupt; shortly after, the failure was announced of James Ballantyne & Co., in which Sir Walter Scott was a partner; and with these houses, that of Hurst, Kobinson & Co., of London, was hopelessly involved. The market was flooded with the dishonoured paper of all these concerns, and mercantile confidence in the great publishing houses was almost at an end. We find Washington Irving communicating the following intelligence to A.H.

Everett, United States Minister at Madrid (January 31, 1826):

"You will perceive by the papers the failure of Constable & Co., at Edinburgh, and Hurst, Robinson & Co., at London. These are severe shocks in the trading world of literature. Pray Heaven, Murray may stand unmoved, and not go into the _Gazette_, instead of publishing one!"

Mr. Murray held his ground. He was not only able to pay his way, but to a.s.sist some of the best-known London publishers through the pressure of their difficulties. One of these was Mr. Robert Baldwin, of Paternoster Row, who expressed his repeated obligations to Mr. Murray for his help in time of need. The events of this crisis clearly demonstrated the wisdom and foresight of Murray in breaking loose from the Ballantyne and Constable connection, in spite of the promising advantages which it had offered him.

Murray still went on with the _Representative_, though the result was increasing annoyance and vexation. Mr. Milman wrote to him, "Do get a new editor for the lighter part of your paper, and look well to the _Quarterly_." The advice was taken, and Dr. Maginn was brought over from Paris to take charge of the lighter part of the paper at a salary of 700 a year, with a house. The result was, that a number of clever _jeux d'esprit_ were inserted by him, but these were intermingled with some biting articles, which gave considerable offence.

At length the strain became more than he could bear, and he sought the first opportunity for stopping the further publication of the paper.

This occurred at the end of the general election, and the _Representative_ ceased to exist on July 29, 1826, after a career of only six months, during which brief period it had involved Mr. Murray in a loss of not less than 26,000. [Footnote: The _Representative_ was afterwards incorporated with the _New Times_, another unfortunate paper.]

Mr. Murray bore his loss with much equanimity, and found it an inexpressible relief to be rid of the _Representative_ even at such a sacrifice. To Washington Irving he wrote:

_John Murray to Mr. Irving_.

"One cause of my not writing to you during one whole year was my 'entanglement,' as Lady G---- says, with a newspaper, which absorbed my money, and distracted and depressed my mind; but I have cut the knot of evil, which I could not untie, and am now, by the blessing of G.o.d, again returned to reason and the shop."

One of the unfortunate results of the initiation and publication of the _Representative_ was that it disturbed the friendship which had so long existed between Mr. Murray and Mr. Isaac D'Israeli. The real cause of Benjamin's sudden dissociation from an enterprise of which in its earlier stages he had been the moving spirit, can only be matter of conjecture. The only mention of his name in the later correspondence regarding the newspaper occurs in the following letter:

_Mr. Lockhart to John Murray_.

THURSDAY, _February_ 14, 1826.

I think Mr. B. Disraeli ought to tell you what it is that he wishes to say to Mr. Croker on a business _of yours_ ere he asks of you a letter to the Secretary. If there really be something worth saying, I certainly know n.o.body that would say it better, but I confess I think, all things considered, you have no need of anybody to come between you and Mr.

Croker. What can it be?

Yours,

J.G.L.

But after the _Representative_, had ceased to be published, the elder D'Israeli thought he had a cause of quarrel with Mr. Murray, and proposed to publish a pamphlet on the subject. The matter was brought under the notice of Mr. Sharon Turner, the historian and solicitor, and the friend of both. Mr. Turner strongly advised Mr. Isaac D'Israeli to abstain from issuing any such publication.

_Mr. Sharon Turner to Mr. D'Israeli._

_October_ 6, 1826.

"Fame is pleasant, if it arise from what will give credit or do good.

But to make oneself notorious only to be the football of all the dinner-tables, tea-tables, and gossiping visits of the country, will be so great a weakness, that until I see you actually committing yourself to it, I shall not believe that you, at an age like my own, can wilfully and deliberately do anything that will bring the evil on you. Therefore I earnestly advise that whatever has pa.s.sed be left as it is.... If you give it any further publicity, you will, I think, cast a shade over a name that at present stands quite fair before the public eye. And nothing can dim it to you that will not injure all who belong to you.

Therefore, as I have said to Murray, I say to you: Let Oblivion absorb the whole question as soon as possible, and do not stir a step to rescue it from her salutary power.... If I did not gee your words before me, I could not have supposed that after your experience of these things and of the world, you could deliberately intend to write--that is, to publish in print--anything on the differences between you, Murray, and the _Representative_, and your son.... If you do, Murray will be driven to answer. To him the worst that can befall will be the public smile that he could have embarked in a speculation that has cost him many thousand pounds, and a criticism on what led to it.... The public know it, and talk as they please about it, but in a short time will say no more upon it. It is now dying away. Very few at present know that you were in any way concerned about it. To you, therefore, all that results will be new matter for the public discussion and censure. And, after reading Benjamin's agreement of the 3rd August, 1825, and your letters to Murray on him and the business, of the 27th September, the 29th September, and the 9th October, my sincere opinion is that you cannot, with a due regard to your own reputation, _write_ or _publish_ anything about it. I send you hastily my immediate thoughts, that he whom I have always respected may not, by publishing what will be immediately contradicted, diminish or destroy in others that respect which at present he possesses, and which I hope he will continue to enjoy."

Mr. D'Israeli did not write his proposed pamphlet. What Mr. Murray thought of his intention may be inferred from the following extract from his letter to Mr. Sharon Turner:

_John Murray to Mr. Sharon Turner_.

_October_ 16, 1826.

"Mr. D'Israeli is totally wrong in supposing that my indignation against his son arises in the smallest degree from the sum which I have lost by yielding to that son's unrelenting excitement and importunity; this loss, whilst it was in weekly operation, may be supposed, and naturally enough, to have been sufficiently painful, [Footnote: See note at the end of the chapter.] but now that it has ceased, I solemnly declare that I neither care nor think about it, more than one does of the long-suffered agonies of an aching tooth the day after we have summoned resolution enough to have it extracted. On the contrary, I am disposed to consider this apparent misfortune as one of that chastening cla.s.s which, if suffered wisely, may be productive of greater good, and I feel confidently that, as it has re-kindled my ancient ardour in business, a very few months will enable me to replace this temporary loss, and make me infinitely the gainer, if I profit by the prudential lesson which this whole affair is calculated to teach.... From me his son had received nothing but the most unbounded confidence and parental attachment; my fault was in having loved, not wisely, but too well."

To conclude the story, as far as Mr. Disraeli was concerned, we may print here a letter written some time later. Mr. Powles had availed himself of Disraeli's literary skill to recommend his mining speculations to the public. In March 1825, Mr. Murray had published, on commission, "American Mining Companies," and the same year "Present State of Mexico," and "Lawyers and Legislators," all of them written by, or under the superintendence of, Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Powles, however, again proved faithless, and although the money for the printing had been due for some time, he paid nothing; and at length Mr. Disraeli addressed Mr. Murray in the following letter:

_Mr. Benjamin Disraeli to John Murray_.