No event of the first importance was ever so badly
reported in England as this civil war. The correspondents seem to rely on the newspapers on each side, which are full of partizan statements; they seldom attempt to be fair, and never give the smallest indication of the motives at work. They are, too, as a rule, either blind par- tizans or labouring under some most unusual apprehension. The Times' agent who telegraphs, is sufficiently unprejudiced to try to give a clear account, and his facts usually turn out correct, but the other correspondents of that journal hate the Parisian leaders for being " low men " till they cannot even describe their acts. A. correspondent of the Daily News actually telegraphs whole columns of sneers at the Commune's agents, while the Telegraph's corre- spondent forwards bitter nonsense, taken apparently from the Gaulois. The telegrams are pieced on to the letters, and the letters distributed all over the papers, particularly in the Times, till the inquirer feels as if he were wading through a sort of his- torical Bradshaw. Is it quite impossible—we ask it in the interest of all newspaper readers—to give us a kind of summary, with refer- ences to the sources of information, after the method of condensing Parliamentary reports?
