LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENTS.
[To ma EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sin,—There is one point in the Walter affair, just terminated at law, which is of considerable public interest.
The counsel for the plaintiff stated in Court that it in necessary for " foreign correspondents " of English newspapers to be on good terms with the members of the respective Governments from whom information may principally be derived. Nothing can be more true. But, as a result, I have long noticed to what degree English " foreign correspondents "' have become partial to foreign Governments ; while thirty or forty years ago they generally sided with the Opposition abroad, always likely to be less in the wrong than the Govern- ment pro tem.
Formerly, English daily papers were remarkable for the full accounts they were in the habit of deriving from their correspondents abroad regarding the political and social con- dition of foreign countries. Now, these correspondents. confine themselves to telegraphing mostly would-be diplo- matic and other gossip, of no real interest to the generality of the public, who, consequently, nowadays are absolutely in the dark as to the real state of the politics, and still more so• the social complexion, of Continental nations.—I am, Sir, &c.,.
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