7th of March she was anchored in the harbor of Cork, Ireland; having thus occupied nearly twenty-five days in making the trip. She was beaten in the race by the sailing packet Patrick Henry, which had also left New York on the 10th of February. Fast-sailing yachts have since made better time across the ocean; but the voyage of the Romer is an important part of the history of early journalism in New York; and if the experiment failed, it was through no want of daring or of skill on the part of those who handled her.*

An incident of this period of New York journalism should here be cited, in illustration of the animosities and personal abuse which too often found public expression. The Courier and Enquirer, having been worsted in an argument with the Tribune, took its revenge in unmannerly and wholly unjustifiable abuse of Greeley. The blackguardism of which Webb was guilty in 1844 might have been forgotten, but for the dignified and caustic rejoinder it drew forth from Greeley. Greeley was so merciless, and Webb so completely quelled, that the brief controversy attracted general attention. Twenty-six years have since gone by, but the articles are still worth reading.

In the Courier and Enquirer of January 27, 1844, appeared the following:

"The editor of the Tribune is an Abolitionist; we precisely the reverse. He is a philosopher; we are a Christian. He is a pupil of Graham, and would have all the world live upon bran-bread and sawdust; we are in favor of living as our fathers did, and of enjoying in moderation the good things which Providence has bestowed upon us. He is the advocate of the Fourierism, Socialism, and all the tomfooleries which have given birth to the debasing and disgusting spectacles of vice and immorality which Fanny Wright, Collins, and others exhibit. He seeks for notoriety by pretending to great eccentricity of character and habits, and by the strangeness of his theories and practices; we, on the contrary, are content with following in the beaten path, and accomplishing the good we can, in the old-fashioned way. He lays claim to greatness by wandering through the streets with a hat double the size of his head, a coat after the fashion of Jacob's of old, with one leg of his pantaloons inside and the other outside of his boot, and with boots all bespattered with mud, or, possibly, a shoe on one foot and a boot on the other, and glorying in an unwashed and unshaven person. We, on the contrary, eschew all such affectation as weak and silly; we think

*For a detailed account of the voyage, see Appendix F.

there is a difference between notoriety and distinction; we recognize the social obligation to act and dress according to our station in life; and we look upon cleanliness of person as inseparable from purity of thought and benevolence of heart. In short, there is not the slightest resemblance between the editor of the Tribune and ourself, politically, morally, or socially; and it is only when his affectation and impudence are unbearable, that we condescend to notice him or his press."

In the Tribune of the following day appeared this reply:

"It is true that the Editor of The Tribune chooses mainly (not entirely) vegetable food; but he never troubles his readers on the subject; it does not worry them; why should it concern the Colonel? . . . . It is hard for philosophy that so humble a man shall be made to stand as its exemplar, while Christianity is personified by the hero of the Sunday duel with Hon. Tom Marshall; but such luck will happen. As to our personal appearance, it does seem time that we should say something. Some donkey,

a while ago, apparently anxious to assail or annoy the Editor of this paper, and not well knowing with what, originated the story of his carelessness of personal appearance; and since then, every blockhead of the same disposition, and distressed by a similar lack of ideas, has repeated and exaggerated the foolery, until, from its origin in the Albany Microscope, it has sunk down at last to the columns of the Courier and Enquirer, growing more absurd at every landing. Yet, all this time, the object of this silly raillery has doubtless worn better clothes than two-thirds of those who thus assailed him, — better than any of them could honestly wear, if they paid their debts otherwise than by bankruptcy; while, if they are indeed more cleanly than he, they must bathe very thoroughly not less than twice each day. The Editor of the Tribune is the son of a poor and humble farmer; came to New York a minor, without a friend within two hundred miles, less than ten dollars in his pocket, and precious little besides; he has never had a dollar from a relative, and has, for years, labored under a load of debt. Henceforth he may be able to make a better show, if deemed essential by his friends; for himself he has not much time or thought to bestow on the matter. That he ever affected eccentricity is most untrue; and certainly no costume he ever appeared in, would create such a sensation in Broadway, as that James Watson Webb would have worn, but for the clemency of Gov. Seward. Heaven grant our assailant may never hang with such weight on another whig executive! - We drop him."

Colonel Webb made no reply. Mr. Greeley had flattened him.

The personalities of this period were not confined to attacks by newspaper editors upon their rivals. Bennett, who had been for five years the leader in the "personal" department, was very fond of talking about himself; and the columns of the Herald were devoted, at intervals, to accounts of his private affairs. The most curious specimen is given below, as an illustrative incident. It is the announcement of the intended marriage of the Editor of

Four years later, Greeley's paper became notorious, through the "Slievegammon" hoax, which in itself is a curious bit of

the Herald, and it appeared in the leading column of that journal, on the 1st of June, 1840, under a flaming caption:

-

"TO THE READERS OF THE HERALD — DECLARATION OF LOVE - CAUGHT at LAST GOING TO BE MARRIED - NEW MOVEMENT IN CIVILIZATION.

"I am going to be married in a few days. The weather is so beautiful; times are getting so good; the prospects of political and moral reform so auspicious, that I cannot resist the divine instinct of honest nature any longer; so I am going to be married to one of the most splendid women in intellect, in heart, in soul, in property, in person, in manner, that I have yet seen in the course of my interesting pilgrimage through human life.

"I cannot stop in my career. I must fulfil that awful destiny which the Almighty Father has written against my name, in the broad letters of life, against the wall of heaven. I must give the world a pattern of happy wedded life, with all the charities that spring from a nuptial love. In a few days I shall be married according to the holy rites of the most holy Christian church, to one of the most remarkable, accomplished, and beautiful young women of the age. She possesses a fortune. I sought and found a fortune — a large fortune. She has no Stonington shares or Manhattan stock, but in purity and uprightness she is worth half a million of pure coin. Can any swindling bank show as much? In good sense and elegance another half a million; in soul, mind and beauty, millions on millions, equal to the whole specie of all the rotten banks in the world. Happily, the patronage of thẻ public to the Herald is nearly twenty-five thousand dollars per annum, almost equal to a President's salary. But property in the world's goods was never my object. Fame, public good, usefulness in my day and generation; the religious associations of female excellence; the progress of true industry, these have been my dreams by night, and my desires by day.

"In the new and holy condition into which I am about to enter, and to enter with the same reverential feelings as I would heaven itself, I anticipate some signal changes in my feelings, in my views, in my purposes, in my pur suits. What they may be I know not-time alone can tell. My ardent desire has been through life, to reach the highest order of human excellence, by the shortest possible cut. Associated, night and day, in sickness and in health, in war and in peace, with a woman of this highest order of excellence, must produce some curious results in my heart and feelings, and these results the future will develop in due time-in the columns of the Herald.

"Meantime, I return my heartfelt thanks for the enthusiastic patronage of the public, both of Europe and of America. The holy estate of wedlock will only increase my desire to be still more useful. God Almighty bless you all. "JAMES GORDON BENNETT."

In the postscript to this announcement, Bennett gives notice that he shall have no time to waste upon the editors who attacked him, "until after marriage and the honeymoon."

On the 8th of June, 1840, the marriage was announced at the head of the editorial columns of the Herald, as follows:

"MARRIED.

"On Saturday afternoon, the 6th instant, by the Rev. Doctor Power, at St. Peter's Catholic Church, in Barclay street, James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor and editor of the New York Herald, to Henrietta Agnes Crean. What may be the effect of this event on the great newspaper contest now waging in New York, time alone can show."