Leader (1850-1860), 24th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1083, Untitled Article

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  they must be largely followed , and strenuously urged forward . ¦ _
  
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  . BLONDEST OR NO BLONDIST . What is truth ? This question used to be considered the expression of the most ultra-scepticism . We , unfortunately , have advanced a stage further in the science of hypothetical incredulity . What we now-a-days want to know is , whether there is such a thing as truth at all ? Our doubts are not as to the nature , but as to the existence of truth . The Blondin myth has destroyed the last remnants of our faith . In our present state of mental bewilderment we dare not say that we believed , still less that we had reason to believe . As a mere form of words , however , not as an actual opinion , we state that we fancied , that we had received an impression , that an acrobat , called Blondin , had crossed and recrossed the Niagara
  
  on a tight-rope , in the presence of thousands of spectators . In blissful ignorance of the future , we paid but small attention to the impression , or report , or delusion , or whatever we must call it . There was nothing surprising in a man risking his life for money , and nothing was more in accordance with human nature than that crowds should assemble to see a man do an act of fool-hardy daring . Little did we think , indeed , that our whole prospects of future comfort in life were bound up in the " Blondin " question . Suddenly a man comes forward , and informs us that Blondin never did cross the Niagara ; that it was all a gigantic hoax ; and that the thousands of persons who came to the falls to see Blondin , agreed to say that they had seen him in order to hoax others . We don't even know whether there was
  
  such a man as Blondin ; we utterly disbelieve that there is such a river as Niagara , or that it falls Over anything . We even entertain grave doubts as to the existence of America , and suspect that Columbus was a Spanish Barnum . Our bewilderment is not relieved by the supposition , that , after all , the confession of the candid correspondent may be a lie . If so , matters are no better . The potentiality of lying disclosed is onl y more astounding . If anything is certain at all , it is that no man tells a fie without a prospect of being believed . All our principles of action are based on this hypothesis . If , then , the correspondent who professed to raweal the " Blondin "
  
  hoax told a lie , he must have expected to be believed . In his opinion , therefore , it was not improbable that the public would believe that ten thousand persons or so , of their own number , would combine , without cause or motive , to tell a lie . Thus , by their own showing , the Americans are not only a nation of liars , but know themselves to be liars . The old metaphysical paradox is revived with which our youthful intellects were perplexed . A B says that all the Americans are always liars ; but A B is himself an 'American— -therefore he is a liar , and the Americans are not liars . Our mental
  
  powers grow paralysed . We once knew a gentleman , who married the daughter of a successful apothecary . At the wedding breakfast the bottle went frequently round , and the bridegroom was called on for a speech . " In vino vcritas ; " and the speaker expressed his feelings towards his father-in-law's family by the remark , " You are all a set of petty pettifogging practitioners . " Peroeiving his error , he made a desperate effort to retrieve himself by adding , " and iTalso am one of you . " ] n the same way we can see no possible escape from our metaphysical difficulties except by the general confession : We are all liars . There is nothing false and nothing true . Evil is only a lower form of good , and falsehood is only WA %
  
  ~~~> w »^* ¥ VAWMAMVhU IA MVU * To speak seriously , however , whetlier the Blondin story bo true or not , this extraordinary fancy of the Americans for hoaxes is a ourious , and not altogether a pleasant , trait of national character . Within the space of a few years , how many hoaxos wo can remember in the United States . There was the " Woolley Horse" of Fremont ' s expedition , the Blaok Nurse of Washington , and the Great Sea-Serpent story . There was , also , the famous Arrpw-Snuth duel in the railway oars of Georgia , the rights of which nobody knows to tluis day . We were recently told by an American that many persons in the •? State *" considered the Atlantio telegraph to have been a noax , and that no messages ever were aent at all trom one side or the other . Barnum himself has
  
  made hoaxing into a science , and is honoured as a prophet in hisJawn country . The odd fact is , not that there should be hoaxes , but that every inventor of a hoax can reckon securely on the tacit , if not the activei assistance of indifferent spectators to carry on the deception . We plead guilty to not understanding the charm of these national hoaxes . A nation combining to hoax itself appears to bear a decided resemblance to the individual who , according to common stories , cut off his nose to spite his face . ^ ^
  
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  THE FRENCH PRESS . [ prom a correspondent . ] Fob some time past hopes have been entertained by the literary public of France that the Imperial Government was about to modify the laws on the press . The exact reasons for this expectation it is rather hard to determine . No doubt , during the war considerable license was allowed to the press in discussing the policy of the Government . The reason of this liberty probably arose from the fact that the Emperor * had no very distinct policy of his own , and intended to be guided by circumstances . The war , while it lasted , was the one great subject
  
  of national interest in France . For the time , therefore , the French press really expressed the feelings of the country , and rose in consequence both in reputation and influence . At the recent amnesty , after the war , all " avertissements " which had been inflicted on different newspapers were cancelled by act of the Government . This act was a favour , and nothing more . If Parliament were to enact that all fines inflicted on publicans were to be considered as not having been imposed , it would be undoubtedly a great boon to licensed victuallers who were in danger" of losing their licenses . But the evils of the " licensing system " would remain unaltered . The
  
  French press starts with the same liabilities as before , but the old score against it is rubbed out . Still , from "whatever cause , an expectation had arisen that this concession was only a prelude to more important ones . With that promptitude of action , which I believe to be one of the main causes of the success of the Imperial Government , this expectation has been at once dispelled . The Mo niteur announces this week that the restrictive laws on the press are a fundamental part of the constitution , and will never be modified . At the same time , great latitude is to be allowed in their interpretation . The convict is still to wear his chain , but the links are to be made of the lighest and moat elegant materials .
  
  It is very difficult for a foreigner , and , I suspect , even for a native , to ascertain exactly what degree of freedom is allowed to the press . There is certainly much more license of language allowed now , than theye was some four or five years ago . On the whole , I am dispqsed to think that , with regard to the press , the Empire is true to its policy of looking at facts , not at theories , and cares much more about the effect likely to be produced by any article , than about its actual words or sentiments . There is certainly no uniform standard on which the censorship as conducted . In spite of the assertions the Times is constantly in the habit of making
  
  English newspapers are but little read in France , and exercise no practical influence . In consequence , Galignani is allowed to publish anything from the English journals not a direct personal attack on the Emperor . The columns of the Ddily Telegraph and the Morning Advertiser are perhaps the only ones from which extracts on French matters could hardly be reprinted . In much the same way the Jievue des Deux Mondes , which is the organ of the Montolembeit party , and is certainly tho most outspoken of the opponents of tho Government , has a very limited and entiroly a class circulation ; its readers belong almost exclusively to tho Orleanist faction , which is daily sinking in influence . The Jieveu des JDew ~
  
  Mondes may , thoreforo , bo satoJly allowed to say pretty much what it likes , and is allowed , in fact , to do so . On tho samo principle the Legitimist papers , the . Gazette da Prance , the Unions , and JJ Union are suffered to oxpross their Royalist aspirations and regrets with considerable freedom . By the same rule the Democratic and Socialist party , which , however beaten down , is still the only formidable opponent of tho Govornraent amongst French parties , is scarcely allowed to have an organ in the press . Probably the Siccle is'the nearest approach to a democratic journal , and ; in consequence , any expression of hostile sentiments in its columns is most carofully suppressed . Long experience of France has convinced me , that
  
  It is impossible to arrive at any statistics as to the increase or decrease of circulation in French newspapers since the restrictive laws have been enacted . There axe certain facts , however , which strike even a very casual observer . The number of newsvendors in the streets is obviously diminished . There are no placards as of old on the walls setting forth the respective merits and circulation of rival newspapers . The number of Parisian journals one meets with in provincial inns and cafes is , I fancy , much smaller , and few new newspapers appear to be started . , , . . articles has
  
  the great bulk of the public who read newspapers at all , have no decided political opinions , and belong to no political party . As long as the Imperial Government can rely on the passive adhesion . of this floating body it is safe . The constant endeavour of the Empire , is to hinder any thing that would arouse temporary excitement or hostility to the Government . The papers , therefore , which address themselves to this great indifferent public , like the Debuts , the Presse , or the Constitutionnel , are carefully debarred from using personal invective or appealing to popular passions , the only two ways by which national excitement can be aroused in France . Covert inuendoes and delicate allusions are innocuous , because they are ineffectual . A hardened dram-drinker is not likely to be intoxicated by any quantity of smallbeer .
  
  The merit of the political obviously declined * . On the other hand , in the palmy days of the Paris press , the most brilliant writing invariably consisted of party abuse and political invective , and a slashing article requires somebody to slash at . The correspondence and the non-political articles appear to me to contain mo re valuable and better written information than formerly . One curious and inevitable effect of the system of forcing contributors to sign their articles is the amount of personalities indulged in between the writers of different newspapers . We should stare with surprise if Mr . Smith , of the Argus , were always alluding to the fact that the tailor ' s bill of Mr . Jones , of the Mercury , was neither paid nor likely to be paid , and if Mr . Jones were daily to give currency to a report that Mrs . Smith was not exactly happy in her marriage . Yet , " mutatis mutandis" this is the sort of thing you see daily introduced into the articles of respectable French journals .
  
  With regard to the future of the French press , I am not over sanguine . Even their bitter experience does not seem to have opened their eyes to the fundamental truth , that real freedom of the Press requires perfect liberty for the expression of all opinions . Each party thinks it monstrous that the expression of their own opinions should be circumscribed , but sees no abstract injustice in suppressing what they hold to be the erroneous opinions of their opponents . The liberty of the individual never has been appreciated in France , and I fear never will be . Viatob .
  
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  w FRANCE . Paris , September 22 nd . Great joy reigned of late in Paris , and now , alas ! the cause of that rejoicing is over . Everybody , except the initiated few who are about the Emperor s person , believed that the liberty of the press was about to be decreed ; but the Moniteur , in stern official language , annihilates our expectations . The hopes that were roused after the Italian victories and upon the proclamation of the amnesty to political offenders are manifestly without foundation . There were Deonle . and these many of them warm
  
  supporters of the Empire , who fondly believed that we were on the eve of a very liberal regime , which would embrace perfect representative institutions , freedom of discussion , and liberty of tho press . Prince Napoleon , who is well known to be in favour of liberty , and for which partiality he has obtained , the soubriquet of the red prince , " intends , it is said , to leave Franco , in disgust with the turn which affairs have taken . Whether he ever believed in those political changes is more than doubtful : He knows his cousin too well , but political , causes may actuate him to take this step . Tho Prince is said to He a thorn in the Emperor ' s side , and he will not be
  
  sorry to got rid of one whose political opinions are so at variance with his own . The Prince is certainly very popular , but ho has not yet had an opportunity of displaying bis talents , whioh are said to bo very considerable . He resembles tho first Napoleon in his features , and unites to the graces of a eoraoiy person , the enjoyment of robust health and t « o aavantages of a highly cultivated mind . Speaking of the Prince , reminds raq . of his friend , Emfiie Girardin , who has announced a now pamphlet , to bo called " Napoleon HL and Franco , which is probably dostinod , like everything whioli proceeds from his pen , to create a groat sensation .
  
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  STd . 496 . Sept . 24 , 1859 . ] THE 1 EAITEB . 1083
Citation
- Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1859, page 1083, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2313/page/15/

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