The hostility of the Duke of Wellington towards newspapers was not confined to war correspondents in the Spanish peninsula and to editors in London , but was all embracing in extent and
character. Nor again was it a temporary feeling growing out of irritation with Henry Crabb Robinson. As early as 1810 he had written to Croker stating with much emphasis his entire and
absolute disapproval of the English press and of newspapers in general. “ The licentiousness of the press," he writes, “ and the
presumption of the editors of the newspapers, which is one of the consequences of their licentiousness, have gone near to stultify the people of England.” “ Nothing will suit editors (friends and foes are alike) but that the enemy should be swept from the face
of the earth .” 12 The Spanish peninsula under the Duke of Wellington was not a fertile soil for the development of war correspondents and the
representative of The Times after a few months returned to London .
It has been said that the Crimean War was the first in which newspaper correspondents were in the field . Yet how unwelcome they were to the government officials at home and to the com
manding officers in the field is abundantly evident from all the contemporaneous records. William Howard Russell had been
sent by The Times to the Crimea in February, 1854, to report the operations of the English expedition and on leaving he had been told by Delane, “ You will be back by Easter , depend upon
it, and you will have a pleasant trip .” 13 Of the character of this " pleasant trip ” the letters of Russell to The Times give abundant
proof.14 The effect of these letters can best be understood by a were dated Paris, October 8 , and November 19, 1812 , and enclosed extracts
from the London Courier, Morning Post, Times, Statesman , and Morning Chronicle , containing minute details in regard to the numbers, situation ,
and destination of the Sicilian , Spanish , and Anglo -Portuguese armies, and the most exact account of the reinforcements sent from
England . One of
the letters is endorsed by Wellington — " Advantage of English newspapers."
12 L . J. Jennings, ed ., The Correspondence and Diaries of John Wilson Croker, I, 36 – 38 ; from Cartaxo, December 10 , 1810 . 13 J . B . Atkins, The Life of Sir William Howard Russell, I, 124 .
14 W . H . Russell, The War: from the Landing at Gallipoli to the Death of Lord Raglan ; The War: from the Death of Lord Raglan to the Evacuation of the Crimea . These two volumes contain the letters written by Russell to The Times from the seat of war in
