Mr. Lockhart to John Murray.
December 21, 1825.
MY DEAR SIR,
I am delighted, and, what is more, satisfied with Disraeli's title—the Representative. If Mr. Powles does not produce some thundering objection, let this be fixed, in God's name.
Strange to say, from this time forward nothing more is heard of Mr. Benjamin Disraeli in connection with the Representative. After his two Journeys to Scotland, his interviews with Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Lockhart, his activity in making arrangements previous to the starting of the daily paper, his communications with the architect as to the purchase and fitting up of the premises in Great George Street, and with the solicitors as to the proposed deed of partnership, he suddenly drops out of sight; and nothing more is heard of him in connection with the business.
It would appear that when the time arrived for the proprietors of the new paper to provide the necessary capital under the terms of the memorandum of agreement dated August 3, 1825, both Mr. Disraeli and Mr. Powles failed to contribute their several proportions. Mr. Murray had indeed already spent a considerable sum, and entered into agreements for the purchase of printing-offices, printing-machines, types, and all the paraphernalia of a newspaper establishment. He had engaged reporters, correspondents, printers, sub-editors, though he still wanted an efficient editor. He was greatly disappointed at not being able to obtain the services of Mr. Lockhart. Mr. Disraeli was too young—being then only twenty-one, and entirely inexperienced in the work of conducting a daily paper—to be entrusted with the editorship. Indeed, it is doubtful whether he ever contemplated occupying that position, though he had engaged himself most sedulously in the preliminary arrangements in one department, his endeavours to obtain the assistance of men of commerce in the City; however, he was by no means successful. Nevertheless, Mr. Murray was so far committed that he felt bound to go on with the enterprise, and he advertised the publication of the new morning paper. Some of his friends congratulated him on the announcement, trusting that they might see on their breakfast-table a paper which their wives and daughters might read without a blush.
The first number of the Representative accordingly appeared on January 25, 1826, price 7_d_.; the Stamp Tax was then 4_d_. In politics it was a supporter of Lord Liverpool's Government; but public distress, the currency, trade and commerce were subjects of independent comment.
Notwithstanding the pains which had been taken, and the money which had been spent, the Representative was a failure from the beginning. It was badly organized, badly edited, and its contents—leading articles, home and foreign news—were ill-balanced. Failing Lockhart, an editor, named Tyndale, had been appointed on short notice, though he was an obscure and uninfluential person. He soon disappeared in favour of others, who were no better. Dr. Maginn [Footnote: Dr. Maginn's papers in Blackwood are or should be known to the reader. The Murray correspondence contains many characteristic letters from this jovial and impecunious Irishman. He is generally supposed to have been the prototype of Thackeray's Captain Shandon.—T.M.] had been engaged—the Morgan O'Doherty of Blackwood's Magazine—wit, scholar, and Bohemian. He was sent to Paris, where he evidently enjoyed himself; but the results, as regarded the Representative, were by no means satisfactory. He was better at borrowing money than at writing articles.
Mr. S.C. Hall, one of the parliamentary reporters of the paper, says, in his "Retrospect of a Long Life," that:
"The day preceding the issue of the first number, Mr. Murray might have obtained a very large sum for a shore of the copyright, of which he was the sole proprietor; the day after that issue, the copyright was worth comparatively nothing…. Editor there was literally none, from the beginning to the end. The first number supplied conclusive evidence of the utter ignorance of editorial tact on the part of the person entrusted with the duty…. In short, the work was badly done; if not a snare, it was a delusion; and the reputation of the new journal fell below zero in twenty-four hours." [Footnote: "Retrospect of a Long Life, from 1815 to 1883." By S.C. Hall, F.S.A., i. p. 126.]