12 s. ii. OCT. 2i. i9i6.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
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be true, it is still more true that France needs the
friendship of England."
While The Morning Post was a firm sup- porter of Palmerston, it was not slavishly so. Peter Borthwick said of it, " it was Postite before all things," and so it remained under his son's control. Palmerston's bishops, appointed as they were under the influence of his relative Lord Shaftesbury, came in for Morning Post criticism.
Algernon Borthwick frequently got in advance of his competitors in the matter of early news. During the war in the Crimea he possessed special sources of information ; thus on the 8th of August, 1855, General Simpson, who had succeeded Lord Raglan in the chief command, complained that The Morning Post had given the exact strength of our guards, and particulars of the trenches and the times of relief, which were read by the Russians in Sebastopol " some days before they reach us here."
During the negotiations for peace in 1856 many difficulties arose, and The Morning Post became very indignant about the part Prussia was playing, and openly threatened that if she did not join the allies in making war on Russia, the allies would make war on her. Greville refers to the article as being " indecently violent and menacing," and continues bitterly : " The Morning Post derives its only importance from being the Gazette of Palmerston and of the French Government " (' The Greville Memoirs,' vol. viii. pp. 1, 2).
On the 14th of January, 1858, the Orsini attempt to assassinate the French Emperor, which had been planned in this country, took place in front of the Opera-House in Paris. Great indignation was expressed against England, and indiscreet addresses from French colonels nearly led to war. Borth- wick had predicted that " the Anglo-French alliance was failing." When Palmerston brought in his Conspiracy Bill, although it received the strong support of the Post, and was a moderate measure, merely making conspiracy to murder a felony instead of a misdemeanour, it was defeated on the second reading by 19, although on the first reading it had received a majority of 200 (Ashley's ' Life of Palmerston,' vol. ii. p. 354). The friendship shown by the Post for the French Emperor led to the accusation that the paper had been " nobbled " by Napoleon, and sub- sidized by Walewski (' Memoirs of an Ex- Minister'). This Borthwick emphatically denied, and, as proving that the conduct of the paper was independent, pointed out that after January, 1859, the Post was being
seized and prohibited in France, on account
of its strictures upon the Imperial policy at
Villafranca. The fact is that the whole-
action of the paper has been from first to
last patriotic, seeking to associate France-
and England in permanent friendship.
When Crompton died in September, 1858,. Borthwick found, to his dismay, that Crompton had not left the paper to him, although he had always been led to believe that he was to be his heir and successor in the ownership of The Morning Post. Still, he remained editor, and wrote to his mother that he was " too much blessed not to bear a cheery and hopeful and happy heart...."
During the war of 1870 the Post strongly supported France. On the 2nd of July the Emperor of the French said to Prince Metternich that he now felt confident of the peace of Europe and of transmitting the- crown to his son at his death. Two days only elapsed before The Morning Post announced the Hohenzollern candidate for the throne of Spain. Borthwick, who had been married on the 5th of April, went to Paris to watch events, and on the 24th of August the Post made the statement, in a leading article, that it was proposed by Prussia to transport convoys through Bel- gium. The writer gave expression to strong indignation against such a violation, and used arguments so convincing that Borth- wick was able to write to his wife :
" The leader was so conclusive, and so thoroughly did its work, that Granville and Gladstone, who had given in to the Prussian proposition, have to-night withdrawn their sanction, and have by telegraph altered the position of our guaranteed neutral state."
The files of The Morning Post for 1870-71 give evidence of " the diabolical frightful- ness " which has been recently recalled by devastations in Belgium. The traditions of soldierly honour were then, as now, dis- gracefully flouted. The Post of the 9th of February, 1871, said :
" The Union of Germany points to an era of physical force in which all who desire to hold their own must be prepared to meet such force with something more than moral arguments or diplomatic negotiations."
On the death of the Emperor at Chisle- hurst on the 9th of January, 1873, the paper contained an appreciative obituary notice :
" The exile had achieved everything, and had seen it all collapse in utter wreckage .... but one- fact remains he left behind him the most magnificent and fascinating capital in Europe."
JOHN COLLINS FRANCIS. (To be continued.)
