CHAPTER VII. OLD AND NEW JOURNALISM— LONDON. The newspaper is the only instrument which can drop the same thought into ten thousand minds at the same moment. — De Tocqueville. OSMOPOLITANISM is the distinctive feature of the London morning Press of to-day. In each issue it places before its readers intelli- gence telegraphed from every capital in the globe. The news of the world is brought into com- petition with that of our own country, and, as a conse- quence, an important change has, within the present generation, come over the contents of our daily papers. Ordinary home topics which once enjoyed considerable prominence now have to be content with less space. It is true that the Parliamentary report is still an important feature, but, with exceptions, it no longer takes that leading position in the popular morning journals which it did in pre-telegraphic days. Parliament has several times de- plored this, and at last has sought to secure a full record of its proceedings by means of an official report, and by installing, in 1889, a shorthand writer on the floor of the House of Lords. There was in 1877 an interesting debate on the new order of things. While in former days Par- liament declined to recognize the Press, and put obstacles in the way of reporting the proceedings of the two Houses, now — that is at the time of the debate — to quote the words of the Marquis of Hartington, Parliament " came to the Press in the attitude of a suppliant, and addressed a humble prayer to the representatives of the Press that they would see whether they could not devote a little 3'
