The press, patriotism, and public discussion: C. p. scott, the manchester guardian, and the BOER WAR, 1899–1902

Historical Journal

Volumn 44, Issue 1, 2001, Pages 177-197

  Hampton, Mark ^a  

^a Wesleyan College   (Georgia)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 85014250929     PISSN: 0018246X     EISSN: 14695103     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0018246X01001479     Document Type: Article

References (138)

1. For example, Alan Lee, The origins of the popular press in England, 1855–1914 (London, 1976)
2. James Curran and Jean Seaton, Power without responsibility (5th edn, London, 1997)
3. Laurel Brake, Subjugated knowledges: journalism, gender and literature in the nineteenth century (London, 1994)
4. Stephen Koss, The rise and fall of the political press in Britain (2 vols., Chapel Hill, 1984)
5. Aled Jones, Powers of the press: newspapers, power and the public in nineteenth-century England (Houndsmill, 1996)
6. Michelle Tusan, ‘The making of the women's political press: gender and advocacy journalism in Britain, 1858–1930 (D. Phil. thesis, Berkeley, 1999)
7. Joel Wiener, ed., Papers for the millions: the new journalism in Britain, 1850s to 1914. (New York, 1988).
8. For a recent exception see Jones, Powers, esp. pp. 180–203. This connection also emerges in the work of some scholars not primarily interested in the press.
9. See, for example, H. C. G. Matthew, ‘Rhetoric and politics in Great Britain, 1860–1950’, in P.J. Waller, ed., Politics and social change in modern Britain: essays presented to A. F. Thompson (Brighton, 1987).
10. For a more sweeping interpretation, see, of course, Jürgen Habermas, The structural transformation of the public sphere: an inquiry into a category of bourgeois society, trans. Thomas Burger (1962 ; Cambridge, MA, 1989), esp. pp. 181–195.
11. Miles Taylor,‘“Imperium et libertas?” Rethinking the radical critique of imperialism during the nineteenth century’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 19 (1991), pp. 1–23
12. Hugh Cunningham, ‘The language of patriotism? 1750–1914’, History Workshop Journal, 12 (1981), pp. 8–33
13. Paul Ward, Red flag and union jack: Englishness, patriotism and the British left, 1881–1924 (Woodbridge, 1998).
14. Compared to Cunningham and Taylor, Ward gives greater prominence to left-wing definitions of patriotism at the end of the nineteenth century; nevertheless, even he admits that ‘Cunningham's conclusion that,“In the age of imperialism it was impossible to demarcate a patriotism of the left”, may be substantially correct.’ See Ward, Englishness, p. 7.
15. This paragraph and the following one are drawn from Mark Hampton, ‘Understanding media: theories of the press in Britain, 1850–1914’, Media, Culture and Society, 23 (forthcoming, 2001).
16. J. L. Hammond, C. P. Scott of the Manchester Guardian (London, 1934)
17. idem, C. P. Scott 1846–1932: the making of the Manchester Guardian (London, 1946)
18. John Black Atkins, ‘C. P. Scott: a great editor’, The Spectator 40 (1932)
19. Ivor Brown, ‘C. P. Scott’, in William Inge, ed., The post-Victorians (London, 1933).
20. David Ayerst, Guardian: biography of a newspaper (London, 1971), pp. 165–457.
21. Peter Clarke, Lancashire and the new liberalism (Cambridge, 1971), pp. 153–97. Marshall McLuhan has observed that ‘content’ conveyed via one medium constitutes a separate medium in its own right.
22. To focus on the content of Scott's journalism, therefore, is to focus on media such as speech and language, rather than on the possibilities for using a newspaper itself. See McLuhan, Understanding media: the extensions of man (Cambridge, MA, 1994), pp. 8–9.
23. Richard Price, An imperial war and the British working class: working class attitudes and reactions to the Boer War, 1899–1972 (London, 1972), p. 10.
24. For the background of the Boer War see A. N. Porter, The origins of the South African war: Joseph Chamberlain and the diplomacy of imperialism, 1895–1899 (New York, 1980)
25. G. H. L. Le May, British supremacy in South Africa, 1899–1907 (Oxford, 1965)
26. Thomas Pakenham, The Boer War (New York, 1979)
27. Arthur Davey, The British pro-Boers, 1877–1902 (Capetown, 1978)
28. Stephen Koss, The pro-Boers: the anatomy of an anti-war movement (Chicago, 1973).
29. On the effects of the First World War on the character of British politics and discourse, see Paul Fussell, The great war and modern memory (New York, 1975)
30. Nicholas Hiley, ‘Making war: British news media and government, 1914–1916’ (D. Phil. thesis, Open University, 1984)
31. Nicoletta F. Gullace, ‘Sexual violence and family honour: British propaganda and international law during the First World War’, American Historical Review, 102 (1997), pp. 714–747.
32. Taylor, “Imperium et libertas?”, pp. 4–5.
33. “Imperium et libertas?”, p. 14.
34. Cunningham, ‘The language of patriotism?’
35. Philip Harling, ‘Leigh Hunt's Examiner and the language of patriotism’, English Historical Review, 111 (1996), pp. 1159–1181
36. Miles Taylor, The decline of British radicalism, 1847–1860 (Oxford, 1995), p. v
37. A. J. P. Taylor, The trouble makers: dissent over foreign policy (London, 1957).
38. Allan Bell, The language of news media (Oxford, 1991), pp. 33–55.
39. Ayerst, Guardian, p. 188.
40. William Haslam Mills, ‘The Manchester Guardian: the paper and its readers: a century of history’, Manchester Guardian (MG), 5 May 1921 (centenary number), p. 51.
41. Ayerst, Guardian, pp. 240–242.
42. For example, Stewart Weaver, The Hammonds: a marriage in history (Stanford, 1997)
43. Stefan Collini, Liberalism and sociology: L. T. Hobhouse and political argument in England, 1880–1914. (Cambridge, 1979).
44. Paula M. Krebs, Gender, race, and the writing of empire: public discourse and the Boer War (Cambridge, 1999), p. 22.
45. See also William Grahame Rush, ‘The activism of ideas: J. A. Hobson's opposition to aggressive imperialism, 1896–1902’ (D. Phil. thesis, Cambridge, 1998).
46. J. A. Hobson, The psychology of jingoism (London, 1901), pp. 22, 108–9
47. Krebs, Gender, pp. 22–29.
48. C. P. Scott, ‘A hundred years’, MG, 5 May 1921 (centenary number), p. 35.
49. C. P. Scott, ‘The function of the press’, Political Quarterly, 2 (1931), 59–63.
50. See Mark Hampton, ‘The fourth estate: theories, images, and ideals of the press in Britain 1880–1914 (D. Phil. thesis, Vanderbilt, 1998), chs. 2 and 3.
51. Scott, ‘A hundred years’, p. 35
52. C. P. Scott to Dr. J. Evans, 26 June 1923, Guardian Archives 336/ 90.
53. Scott, ‘A hundred years’, p. 35.
54. See also Scott, ‘Function of the press’, p. 60, for the importance of impartiality.
55. This policy contrasted with both the developing government policy of unconditional surrender and with the ‘Stop the War’ campaign led by W. T. Stead, which called for an immediate cessation to military conflict. See Price, An imperial war, pp. 15–26.
56. On the capture of the mantle of ‘patriotism’ by the political right, see Cunningham, ‘The language of patriotism?’
57. idem, ‘The Conservative party and patriotism’
58. Robert Colls and Philip Dodd, eds., Englishness: politics and culture, 1880–1920 (London, 1986), pp. 283–307.
59. Copy of proposed letter, Guardian Archives 122/85
60. Scott to John Morley, 6 Sept. 1899, Guardian Archives 122/89.
61. Times, 22 June 1899, in Guardian Archives 136/166.
62. For a list of Scott's speeches, see Guardian Archives 137/1.
63. ‘To the electors of the Leigh division of south-west Lancashire’, Guardian Archives 136/94.
64. ‘Electors of Leigh division’, Guardian Archives 136/224.
65. ‘A lying leaflet’, Guardian Archives 136/227.
66. Stead to Scott, 27 Jan. 1900, Guardian Archives 123/5.
67. Stead to Scott, 19 Sept. 1899, Guardian Archives 122/116.
68. Scott to Hobhouse, 20 Dec. 1899, Guardian Archives 132/83.
69. Scott to Cadbury (Copy), 26 Dec. 1901, Guardian Archives 124/48
70. Cadbury to Scott, 3 Jan. 1902, Guardian Archives 124/55
71. Cadbury to Scott, 13 Jan. 1902, Guardian Archives 124/58.
72. On Cadbury's career in public service, see A. G. Gardiner, Life of George Cadbury (London, 1923).
73. Gardiner served as editor of Cadbury's Daily News. On Gardiner, see Stephen Koss, Fleet Street radical: A. G. Gardiner and the Daily News (London, 1973).
74. His manager, George Binney Dibblee, noted that ‘the M. G. cannot be a literary magazine as well as a sporting journal & a trade review & a daily newspaper all together’. Dibblee to Scott, 1 June 1900, Guardian Archives 131/37.
75. See Hampton, ‘The fourth estate’, pp. 187–189.
76. The remainder of this article is based on reading every leader published between Sept. 1899 and June 1902, and sampling papers between Oct. 1899 and June 1902 for my analysis of the other facets of the newspaper. According to Allan Bell, ‘In testing samples to represent a full year of news copy, those of 6, 12, 18, 24 and 48 days of a year were all adequate… Samples larger than 12 days provided little additional reliability.’ Bell, Language, p. 23.
77. I have, therefore, selected every twelfth issue between 4 Oct. 1899 and 4 June 1902, for a total of twenty-eight to twenty-nine per year. Following this procedure, seven consecutive selected issues would be from, e.g., Tuesday, Monday, Saturday, Friday, Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, so that I have avoided the accidents that might arise from giving a particular day too much prominence. See Bell, Language, pp. 9–32.
78. Indeed, Bell has noted that increasingly much that is described as ‘news’ is in reality reports of speeches and press releases. See Bell, Language, pp. 56–83.
79. Taylor to Scott, 12 Jan. 1901, Guardian Archives 130/153.
80. Hobson and J. B. Atkins had served as the Guardian's correspondents before the war and during its early stages. After July 1900, however, the Guardian did not have a correspondent in South Africa for the duration of the war (Ayerst, Guardian, p. 281), so that its dependence on news services increased.
81. Jones, Powers of the Press, p. 41.
82. MG, 24 Apr. 1901, p. 5.
83. MG, 6 Oct. 1899, p. 7.
84. MG, 30 Oct. 1899, pp. 6–7.
85. MG, 15 Jan. 1900, p. 6.
86. MG, 25 Sept. 1899, p. 7.
87. See Peter Bailey, Leisure and class in Victorian England: rational recreation and the contest for control, 1830–1885 (New York, 1987), pp. 154–175.
88. MG, 25 Sept. 1899, p. 7.
89. The term belongs to Stefan Collini, Public moralists: political thought and intellectual life in Britain, 1850–1930 (Oxford, 1991). MG, 19 Oct. 1899, pp. 6–7.
90. See, e.g., H. R. Fox Bourne, English Newspapers, II (London, 1887), p. 387.
91. On public discussion and opposition to the Crimean War, see Olive Anderson, A liberal state at war: English politics and economics during the Crimean War (New York, 1967)
92. for continuities between the opponents of this war and the Pro-Boers, see Taylor, “Imperium et libertas?”
93. Davey, Pro-Boers, pp. 7–15.
94. Postcard dated 26 Dec. 1899, Guardian Archives 324/7/19.
95. Guardian Archives 324/7/20.
96. Card dated 6 Mar. 1900, Guardian Archives 324/7/33.
97. See, e.g., Guardian Archives 324/7/21–4.
98. Press cutting, Guardian Archives 122/91.
99. MG, 17 Oct. 1899, pp. 6–7.
100. MG, 13 Nov. 1899, p. 7.
101. Cunningham, ‘The language of patriotism?’
102. MG, 5 Feb. 1900, p. 7.
103. MG, 5 Oct. 1901, p. 7.
104. MG.
105. MG.
106. MG, 22 Feb. 1900, p. 6.
107. MG, 11 May 1901, p. 9.
108. MG, 2 Mar. 1900, p. 5.
109. MG, 28 Oct. 1899, p. 9.
110. MG, 30 Dec. 1899, p. 7.
111. MG, 5 May 1900, pp. 6–7.
112. Hobson made a similar point. See Hobson, Imperialism, pp. 196–222.
113. MG, 8 Mar. 1900, p. 7.
114. MG, 10 Mar. 1900, p. 9.
115. MG, 16 Feb. 1900, p. 5.
116. MG, 2 Aug. 1901, p. 5.
117. MG, 27 Feb. 1900, p. 7
118. MG, 24 Oct. 1900, pp. 4–5.
119. MG, 2 Jan. 1902, pp. 4–5
120. MG, 15 Aug. 1901, p. 9.
121. Emily Hobhouse's campaign anticipated the British government's response to German attrocities in Belgium during the First World War. See Nicoletta F. Gullace, ‘Sexual violence and family honor: British propaganda and international law during the First World War’, American Historical Review, 102 (1997), pp. 714–747.
122. MG, 14 Oct. 1899, p. 7
123. MG, 2 Apr. 1900, pp. 6–7
124. MG, 14 Dec. 1900, p. 5.
125. MG, 7 Oct. 1899, p. 9.
126. MG, 21 Oct. 1899, p. 9
127. MG, 2 Mar. 1900, p. 5.
128. MG, 21 Mar. 1902, p. 5.
129. MG, 28 Sept. 1900, p. 4.
130. MG, 15 May 1901, p. 7.
131. MG.
132. Ayerst, Guardian, p. 280.
133. Koss, The pro-Boers, p. xxxi.
134. Andrew S. Thompson, ‘The language of imperialism and the meanings of Empire: imperial discourse in British politics, 1895–1914’, Journal of British Studies, 36 (1997), pp. 147–177.
135. Clarke, Lancashire, p. 155. Clarke suggests that this correspondent was a printer on the paper.
136. Scott credited the loss of ‘casual sales’ to the Mail partly to its ‘war policy’, but much more to its cheaper price and ‘general practices’. Scott to Hobhouse, 4 Jan. 1900, Guardian Archives 132/84.
137. Dibblee wrote to Scott on 22 Dec. 1899 that ‘Twice during the last weeks the D.M. train has been late & immediately demands came in to us from the news agent with the comment that they can sell a great many more Guardians when the Mails do not arrive. You see, for some people we are already become the second paper.’ Dibblee to Scott, 22 Dec. 1899, Guardian Archives 131/ 31.
138. See D. L. LeMahieu, A culture for democracy: mass communication and the cultivated mind in Britain between the wars (Oxford, 1988), pp. 26–31.