The one is the history of the will;
the other, that of the intellect. The first is a tale of woe, even of
terror: it is a record of agony, struggle, fraud, and horrible murder
_en masse_. The second is everywhere pleasing and serene, like the
intellect when left to itself, even though its path be one of error.
Its chief branch is the history of philosophy. This is, in fact, its
fundamental bass, and the notes of it are heard even in the other
kind of history. These deep tones guide the formation of opinion, and
opinion rules the world. Hence philosophy, rightly understood, is a
material force of the most powerful kind, though very slow in its
working. The philosophy of a period is thus the fundamental bass of
its history.
The NEWSPAPER, is the second-hand in the clock of history; and it is
not only made of baser metal than those which point to the minute and
the hour, but it seldom goes right.
The so-called leading article is the chorus to the drama of passing
events.
Exaggeration of every kind is as essential to journalism as it is to
the dramatic art; for the object of journalism is to make events go
as far as possible. Thus it is that all journalists are, in the very
nature of their calling, alarmists; and this is their way of giving
interest to what they write.
Pages:
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97