ANONYMOUS JOURNALISM.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 162, 23 May 1862, Page 3

ANONYMOUS JOURNALISM.

Mr. Thomas Hughes has contributed to Macmlllan's Magazine an elaborate protest against Anonymous Journalism. He finds those amongst -whom he lives constantly debating the point whether anonymous writing ought to be tolerated. They certainly might discover some more important topic for discussion ; and it seems as if Mr. Hughes, weary of the perpetual controversy, had determined to set the subject for ever at rest by publishing his opinion. His tone is oracular. lie holds that anonymous journalism benefits three sets of persons — the proprietors, whoso property it makes more valuable ; the editors, who gain importance and prestige ; and the writers, who can say anonymously what they could not venture to express if their names appeared. Certainly this last suggestion is anything but complimentary 'to the literary profession. Mr. Hughes scans to think that certain high-class journals would be less unfair and spiteful, certain lowclass journals less coarse and abusive, if it were re«e for the writers to sign their articles. We much it. The man who can produce such articles as which Mr. Hughes disapproves of is ns proud of his art as any superior artist, and would not shirk from seeing his name in print at the bottom of something sarcastic and truculent. Does Mr. Hughes fancy that Sydney Smith would not have written the passage in which he compares Methodists to certain unpleasant insects—a pass.ige which greatly disgusts our muscular Christian —if his name hud been appended to the article in which it occurred ? Depend on it that the witty Canon was proud of that sharp paragph—just as. Byron was of his most biting stanzas—just'as any small writer of the day is of his ■waspish little sarcasms. In desiring to see newspaper and magazine articles divested of anonymity, Mr. Hushes loses sight of the character and purpose of newspapers and magazines. The idea of a leading periodical is that it shall be the organ of a party, the exponent of a creed. Such for example has " isluckwood's Magazine" shown itself throughout its splendid career. But "Fraser" has become—what " Macmillan " was from its commencement—a mere monthly collection of tales and essays ; an excellent miscellany, but not a magazine. We are glad t» find in these miscellanies an essay by Mr. Stuart Mill, or Mr. Froude, or Mr. Maurice; and it is well that periodicals exist in which such fugitive essays may appear, liut we repeat that they do not fulfil our idea of the functions of a magazine. Still less do the three other shilling magazines, which go so far as to advertise the editors' names. It is fortunate that as yet the political and literary journals have not ip Ifke manner departed from their originaLidea; but Mr. Hughes is anxious that they should, and seeks to know which leaders Tom Towers writes in the {' Jupiter.'' We can guile understand his feeling on, $ie subject. He is an angular man, a man with strong tendencies to self r.sserti'pu ihe could not pledge himself to Biipport a party, even though Mr. Maurice, Mr. Kinwley and he were the sole members of it. Dut p'yerv large number of the writers who affix their na;r.o.s to their essays do it from vanity alone. We wouj.l not have this vanity encouraged. If a man's style is not so marked that it can at once bo recognised, that man ought perhaps not to -write at all. Readers of old magazines know well that every artiole hy Carlyle and Thackeray, Wilson and Lcckhart, Cglerid?e and Maginn, may be recognised at once. These are men with styles;" but half the writing of the present time is a poor imitation of Macauley in the newspapers, or of piokens in the miscellanies. Wo have not remarked upon the ease of evading Mr. Ilnghcs's rule ; of course nothing would be simpler than to have one or two persons at every newspaper office, whose duty it would be to sign their names to the articles. But we object to his propesition, on the ground that a political or literary journal or magazine is more useful to the public than a rncro collection of articles contributed by individuals, each of whom is responsible for his own. The one is a power and influence, with definite work to do ; the other is a mere display ot unorganised cleverness. The one has the discipline and concentration of an army ; the other has the disorder and weakness of a mob.— The Liturunj Budget. Civil Service Exajiijtatioss.—ln the present eport, the Civil Service Commissioners have not published their ordinary examination papers. This is no great loss, particularly as they give sixty or seventy pages of the papers set to candidates for the Indian Service. Any of our readers who desire to ascertain the character of the examination, or the extent pf their own miscellaneous information, may try gxp_eriments_ on the following questions:—"Does ptliical opinion control public action, or does the course of events modify ethical {pinion in modern times 1" —"The English language is a dead one." *' Explain this remark of Mr. Kemble's1?" " What is the explanation of the eager desire of manufacturers for ' new markets!" " What is the English Law of ■\Vreck at the present moment V Compare the critical with the philosophic habit of mind." The conversational tone of the questions on English literature Js peculiar : —'' Who was most esteemed as ,a writer of English prose in the time of Henry the Eighth V "To come to poets of a later period : state your estiuiate^^jhe merits and demerits of Spenser as a poet I'JBSVhat is your conception of the character Aupf HanofcS'' The following question would puzzle jHEhe Marriage Law Defence Association : —"When a '^^man dies, leaving four sons, a daughter, and two widows, who form a joint family, can any of those persons insist on a partition being nmdci" A full answer to some of the historical questions would make a thick volume, For instance :—" Give an account of the administrations which sucieedcd each other from the accession of George 111, to the accession of George IV." Some of the questions may he rather tco difficult, and some of them a little absurd, but, on the whole, as a test of~general ability, the examina tions seem to be fair enough.— Athetitsum. During rifle practice, the men of H.M. steamer Trident, in the vicinity of Messina, a stray ball killed a Calabrese waterman.

, Tiik Last Kedkrai.. Auvak.'j.'age.—On the part, of^ the rebel generals.the.movement appears to lniye been fr.mi the tirst,' an ill-advised"proceeding upon any1 supposition of- consequences. . No advantage was to be gained by success of sufficient importance to be weighed against the risks encountered. It would' eeeiu, indeed, that other than military considerations must have bteu .permitted to weigh in the councils of the confederate commanders^ ,' The sentence, often! fatal in war, that "something' must be done," had! been pronounced, by public opinion. The.Soutljerni papers luu! long been eoiuplali'niiig" of ,'the L defeijsjye attitude of their government,, and' the','decay "of', the! spirit of the soldier which niust ensue. A general despondency was taking possession of the people/ One alter another the" promises of their leaders had l.een falsified. The hope of getting Washington for a capital had long before disappeared. The recognition of the confederacy oy the great powers of Europe, which they had been: told must inevitably follow a dearth of cotton, seemed as distant as ever. * The effects of the blockade upon' the prices of articles of general consumption had not been sensibly mitigated by the arrival of a few small vessels, for the most part carrying anus and stores for Jefferson Davis and his accomplices. And all this while the military power of the United States was visibly increasing" and drawing closer round the rebellion. lii vain did their president assure them in his message that the unionists had not gained a foot of ground, and that the territory of the seceded states was inviolate. The newspapers of his own capital rebuked the vanity of the falsehood. There can be no doubt that it was to silence the rising spirit of dissatisfaction that this last movement under General Zollieoffer was resolved on. Events may prove that the recent federal success has facilitated a movement which many take to be General M'Lcllan's design in the campaign in the south west — the seizure of the Virginia and East Tennessee railroad, and the cutting off the confederate army from its supports. We incline to believe, however, that its chief value is to be looked for in its moral effects. For the present, the grand combined operations of war are rendered impossible by the state of the roads. Hut the hour for which the long months of winter, the daily warlike exercises, the enormous military expenditure of the lastsix months, have been only in preparation—the hour which will decide whether the wealthy and populous north has the virtues which are the ultimate guarantee of the integrity of States, whether it has the valour to maintain in arms the will of the nation as it has been constitutionally expressed—is at hand. We trust that the Government of the United States is impressed with the necessity of bringing the war to an early termination by rapid and decisive operations; and if, as we may reasonably hope, the Federal troops engaged at Mill-spring ir.ay be taken as representative specimens of the Union army such ns it has become under the hands of General M'Lellau, the result cannot be doubted. — Daily Times. The Gmbai- Pythoxess at the Zoological Gardens.—An advertisement from the Zoological Society announces that at the society's gardens "the large python may bo now seen incubating her eggs." The egg laying occurred four weeks ago. The plethoric condition of the serpent occasioned uneasiness. Some supposed that she had "bolted a stray blanket; it was considered whether something might be done to relieve the great reptile, when she extruded, as well as the keeper can estimate, about 100 eggs. These, enclosed in a. white leather-like substance, are about the size of those of a goobe. the majority of a dirtywhite appearance, connected by a membrane. Among them are two small red eggs, and many aie indented - —probably by the great pressure of the serpent's body. It is remarkable that this prolific extrusion of eggs, which might be supposed to have exhausted the animal, and consequently exeiied hunger, has had apparently an opposite effect. At all events, the reptile has not broken fast for twenty-three weeks, her husband having, meanwhile, indulged in occasional rabbits. Once, and once only, has the keeper seen her absent from her interesting incubatory operation ; and then, before he could get round to the back of the cnge to have a better view of the eggs, she was on them again. In fact, she much resembles au old hen with, a brood, puffed up by a maternal pride and conceit, and is in a high, excitable condition. It will bs interesting to watch the result. Immediately opposite the pythoness's cage is a lively member of the viper family, which was hatched in the gardens in 1860 from an egg : and we understand that a boa was born in I'aris from an egg .hatched by the female. Thus the Zoological Society may reasonably look forward to an increase of its interesting collection of reptiles; and though the fellows are not probably particularly desirous to have <m accession of 100 pythons to their stock, yet a few lively baby pythons would undoubtedly be an important addition to the attrnotion of their unrivalled gardens during the ensuing season, when our metropolis will be crowded by sightseeing visitors.— Athcnamm. A New Emmrb for Colonists.— (Morning Herald} There, is open to us at our extreme west, on the waters of the Pacific—we might almost as correctly say at our extreme east, for it may be reached either way with less difference of time than might be imagined—a colony enjoying a magnificent climate, a soil of matchless fertility, enriched by noble lakes, watered by navigable and which if, at least, a California in its production of gold, is far more than a California in the character of its government and the manner of its inhabitants. That it will now offer additional and irresistible attractions to the industry and enterprise of Europe, and even of' Asia, can hardly be questioned. Victoria, the sent of the government, though founded but the other day, is already a thriving city, and its site, on the south-western edge of .Vancouver's island, commanding the narrow street which separates it from the continent, marks it out as the future Liverpool or London of the Pacific. It is senicely-i fuither from Japan, the Great Britain of the Asiatics,' than we are from New York ; and the dry that railways connect the western and eastern coasts of our Amcr rican possessions, Victoria must become the highway and entrepot of a commerce with Asia wliose extent can now only be dimly conjectured, but which must more than realise those glowing pictures of eastern wealth, magnificence, and luxury, which biblical prophecy has associated with the milennial glories of the Jewish race. While Europe will certainly find by this route its shortest way to the wonderful repositories of the products of human skill and industry, where more than a th}rd of the human family have been making and accumulating wealth for thousands of years, thr>se immense and thicklypeopled regions, occupying the richest sites on our globe, stretching from the Russian settlements down to Southern China, and thence to the fair isles of the Malay and Hindoo, must come on the other side, and become tributary under the benign power of commerce, to that new Tyre of the nations, whose foundation is one of the proudest distinctions of the colonial government of Sir Edward Billwer Lytlon. Though we by no mcang with to stimulate any increased exodus of our people, we see no use in suppressing our opinion that the magnificent opportunities here opened to the British government emigrant will be largely used. The existence of an English government, judiciously enforcing our system of laws; offers that guarantee of order and personal security which the English mental organisation asks as the first excellence of social life, without which liberty is but a disguised curse, and, pecuniary prosperity but an equivocal boon. The rich arable and glazing soil, the fisheries, the immense forests, the beds of coal, combined with the attractions of the gold mines, and the new openings offered in so many new directions to commerce and industry, must speedily draw to these favored regions an immense population, whose utility will be doubled by their finding themselves at once tinder! a constituted government, equally efficient in directing worthy and repressing lawless energies. The mere soil, acquired at the cheap rates at which government offers it, will of itself be sufficient to enrich the first settlers ; and all the rest can be but a question of time. No man drawing the horoscope of such a colony can fail to see that so fine an island in its nook of inlets backed by so rich and fertile a continent, enjoying the temperate yet bracing climate of our own country, in relation like it to two immense continents, at like distances, too;- is predestinated as the scene of a great maritime and commercial empire. Cruelty.—A cat wandered into a workshop at Dudley. It was seized upon by two men, Oater and Merryman, who, after saturating its coat with oil, set it on fire. The poor creature was in a blaze in a moment, and ran about the shop uttering the most pitiful cries. The cruel tormenters,. however, only laughed at its pain, until the unfortunate animal set fire to some shavings in the room,when they threw water .over the shavings, but leftthe-poor cat to burn. A third person who was- present then t!ri"e\y water over the cat, and, to put an end to its misery, stoned it to death. Being taken before thexnagistrates, they were fined £5 each. • :;; >;•'',"; -... The war with the savage tribes on the south-eastern' frontier of Bengal has become more serious. More troops have been ordered up.'■':."".-" -:■' A plan suggested by the Emperor, for establishing a communication between Algeria and Senegal by means of caravans, is about to be carried into execution, . ■■-'■■■■