DR. JOHNSON ON PUBLICITY.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
SIR,—A little time ago you thought it well to publish some quotations from Bacon which had a bearing on politics of to-day. I have by chance come across Johnson's opinion on the question of keeping the public fairly advised as to how things are managed or mismanaged. He says (in his " Obser- vations on the Present State of Affairs") :—" The time is now come in which every Englishman expects to be informed of the national affairs, and in which he has a right to have that expectation gratified. For whatever may be urged by Ministers, or those whom vanity or interest makes the followers of Ministers, concerning the necessity of confi- dence in our governors, and the presumption of prying with profane eyes into the recesses of policy, it is evident that this reverence can be claimed only by counsels yet nnexecuted, and by projects suspended in deliberation. But when a
design has ended in miscarriage or success it is then a proper time to disentangle confusion and illustrate obscurity; to show by what causes every event was produced, and in what effects it is likely to terminate ; to lay down with distinct particularity what rumour al ways huddles in general exclamation, or perplexes by undigested narratives ; to show whence happiness or calamity is derived, and whence it may be expected; and honestly to lay before the people what inquiry can gather of the past." I have not noticed your own criticism of the publication of despatches, but I think Johnson's words probably express very well what many Englishmen feel to-day.—I am, Sir, &c., A. B.
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