CHAPTER XL SPECIAL CORRESPONDENTS. The special correspondent seems to be forced to combine in him- self the power of a first-rate steeple-chaser with the powers of the most brilliant writer — the most wonderful physical endurance with the most remarkable mental vigor. — Marquis of Salisbury. EWSPAPERS have from the first been greatly indebted to their correspondents for the vari- ety, scope, and importance of the intelligence contained in their columns. Long before such correspondents had a recognized status, the English journals which led the Press in the early part of the eigh- teenth century, either through interest or favor kept their readers posted in Continental politics by means of ex- tracts of public interest from letters received from abroad. With the growth of the Press, the practice developed, and correspondents were regularly retained, so that now- a-days a newspaper gains a character for enterprise or want of enterprise, just in proportion to the number and ability of its staff of home and foreign correspondents. The great newspapers, not of England alone but of all the world, have now their correspondents in every land, and nothing, even in the most remote corners of the earth, escapes their observation. The correspondent of a news- paper wields an immense power, which, exercised aright, is a potent engine for the good of humanity. To describe the gp-eat actors of the world and their work, is not the corres- pondent's only, or his most important, duty. He proclaims, through the Press, in a voice that is heard in the remote country village as clearly as in the crowded city, the mis- doings of the tyrant and the deceits of the charlatan. "At the very name of the Press," remarks Mr James
