Dr. Johnson once said, with profound wisdom, that no man
Was ever written down except by himself. It is just as true that newspapers cannot be talked down by public debate. In our opinion, the Northcliffe Press, by its vein of levity and excitable criticism, and by ill-balanced and angry attacks on individuals, like the notorious Daily Mail "leader" upon Lord Kitchener, has of late been steadily writing itself down. The Government have only interrupted the process by running to the House of Commons to complain while refraining from the action to which their complaints point. The adoption of such an attitude is merely encouraging people to ask : " Why don't they act ? " and to answer as the Irishman answered in the well-known story. When the Englishman remarked : " You tell me there are forty thousand Irishmen ready to rise in County Cork I Why the devil, then, don't they rise 1 " he received the reply : " Because, Sir, they are afraid of the police !" Wo do not suppose for a moment that the Government are really afraid of the Northcliffe Press, but their action undoubtedly has suggested to' many minds that they are. War is a stern business, and the wales at stake are too mighty to bo treated as the Government treated the problem which they brought before tho House of Commons on Tuesday night. The Government may be, and no doubt are, a very clever set of men, but they certainly do not understand how to deal with the Press.
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