1827.] The Newspaper Press of Ireland. 341 



articles which have appeared in the Morning Post have been more dis- 

 tinguished by nerve and brevity than by elegance ; and they certainly 

 deserve all the praise and gain which consistency can confer on public 

 writings. On many topics merely local, and in the discussion of which 

 local interests alone were involved, the Morning Post has been perhaps 

 the most useful print in Dublin ; and we need but refer to its files to find 

 the many vigorous and successful exertions it has made against the abuses 

 of the toll-system, and the grand array of corporate exactions. Of late, 

 however, I believe the Morning Post has not been so popular, or had so 

 large a sale, chiefly in consequence of its very determined hostility to a 

 certain popular Catholic leader : but, in truth, I am bound to record that 

 its devotion to the cause of civil and religious liberty in the abstract is very 

 apparent; and I do not know whether even now it does not sell as many 

 numbers as any other morning paper. 



Saunders's News Letter is the last of the Dublin morning papers, and 

 the least worthy of note. In many respects it resembles that very washer- 

 woman-like journal, the London Morning Herald. Like the Herald, 

 Saunders affects to have no political opinions, and to be quite neutral ; 

 but, like the Herald too, it is always to be found advocating every 

 measure opposed to freedom and liberality ; and it is the chosen champion 

 of Orangeism, Protestant ascendancy, and the Dublin corporation. Never- 

 theless, Saunders drives a profitable trade. There never is an original 

 article in his columns ; but they abound with advertisements : and there is 

 not a cadet,* from Connaught to Cape Clear, who does not pay his 5s. 5d. 

 for an affiche, containing all the many mental as well as bodily qualifica- 

 tions of the advertiser. These, with the array of horses and carriages to 

 be sold, houses to be let, and matters lost and found, vouchsafe unto the 

 proprietor, in all their various alternations, an abundant quantity of meat, 

 drink, and raiment ; and Mr. Potts is, in consequence, ' a man well to do 

 in the world." 



Among the three-day journals, the Dublin Evening Post takes the first 

 rank; and I doubt if there be many journals in the great metropolis better 

 conducted. The Post is a paper received with traditionary reverence by 

 the liberal gentry and substantial yeomen throughout Ireland ; and it must 

 be confessed that its character for honesty, ability, and devotion to its party 

 remain unquestioned, as indeed they are unquestionable. In the stormiest 

 periods of Irish history, the Post was under the direction of Father Taafe, 

 the author of a History of Ireland, a man of unquestioned patriotism, and 

 what was considered as valuable in those days " most potent in pot- 

 ting." But, however settled were the political sentiments of Taafe, his 

 religious opinions appear to have been worn loosely ; for, whether from 

 necessity or caprice, he abandoned the profession of the Catholic religion, 

 and became a parson, with the appendages of 4.0 per annum in money, 

 and a sum untold of obloquy and disgrace. The public affection, which 

 had so fondly lingered over even the errors of the priest, became diverted 

 from the apostate ; and he was now assailed with as much ignominy as he 

 had been formerly caressed with gross and deluding flattery. The shock 

 was too much to bear. Taafe sought consolation in the fascination of the 

 wine-cup, but found it only in death. The conduct of the Dublin Even- 

 ing Post now devolved on its printer, the celebrated John Magee, of whom 

 so many anecdotes are related in Sir Jonah Harrington's Memoirs of his 

 Own Times. Magee was full of shrewdness and eccentricity ; and, com- 



* A cant term for a servant out of place. 



