680 



HKI'OHTING 



REPOUSStf 



letter only, and in many cases the speaker's name 

 was wholly omitted. Growing Udder by degrees. 

 Cave printed the names at length. The House of 

 Commons soon took the alarm. The publication 

 of the debates of either House had been repeatedly 

 declared to be a high breach of privilege as by the 

 Commons in 1588 anil by the Louis in 1698. The 

 Commons followed up several previous resolutions 

 to the same effect bv ordering, in 1728, 'that it is 

 an indignity to, and a breach of, the privilege of 

 this House for any person to presume to give, in 

 written or printed newspapers, any account or 

 minute of the debates or other proceedings ; that 

 upon discovery of the authors, printers, or pub- 

 lishers of any such newspaper this House will pro- 



1 against tin- ollenders with the utmost seventy." 



In 1738 Speaker Onslow called the attention of the 

 House to the breach of its standing orders by Cave 

 and others ; and the result was another thundering 

 resolution against the publication of debates ' either 

 while, parliament is sitting or during the recess,' 

 and a threat to proceed against offenders with the 

 'utmost severity.' The reports, notwithstanding, 

 still appeared, but under the disguise of ' Debates 

 in the Senate of Lillipnt,' in tin- Uriitii-iimn'.i 

 .!/</" :<"'. and 'Debates in the political Club,' 

 in the London Magazine. Dr Samuel Johnson 

 was employed by Cave ill the composition of his 

 parliamentary debates, and the reports from 1740 

 to ITI.'t are held to have been entirely prepared by 

 him, sometimes with the assistance of the alx>ve- 

 inentioned Gutluie. When it was olmerved to 

 Johnson that he dealt out reason and eloquence 

 pretty equally to Ixith parties, he remarked : ' I 

 took care that the Whig dogs should not have the 

 best, of it.' It was not till thirty years later that 

 the parliamentary debates descended from the 

 in.iga/ines to the newspapers. The latter had, 

 however, for some time resolved to report the 

 ili 'bates, and they took advantage of the popular 

 i-xci'enient arising out of the Luttrell-Wilkes elec- 

 tion for Middlesex to try the right of the House to 

 interdict the publication of its iinx-ccdings. 



The ever-memorable contest between parliament 

 and the press U-gan at the close of the year 1770. 

 The House of Commons followed up another solemn 

 threat by prompt action ; and the Lord Mayor of 

 London and Alderman Oliver were sent to the 

 Tower for refusing to arrest some printers of 

 rejMirts on the warrant of the Speaker. John 

 A\ ilkes taking an active share in the controversy. 

 The city of^ London loudly protested against the 

 arbitrary proceedings of the House, and the whole 

 country responded to the appeal. The power of 

 parliament to imprison ceases at the end of the 

 current session, and on the day of prorogation, 

 July 23, the Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver 

 marched out of i he 'Power in triumph, and at night 

 the city was illuminated. Ne.xt session tin- House 

 of Commons tacitly acknowledged itself beaten. 

 The printers defied the House, rontinncd to pub- 

 lish their proceedings, and slept, notwithstanding, 

 i in their U-ils. In a short time the House of 



Lords also conceded the (loint. and the victory 

 was complete; though it is still in the power of 

 any niemiM-r, who may call the Speaker's attention 

 to the fa. -t that ' strangers are present," to exclude 

 'he public and the n-pmiers from the House. This 

 power has frequently ln)en exercised during living 

 memory, but on such occasions some one or more 

 tanben who have dissented from this course have 

 taken notes of the s|>oeches, and have avowedly 

 sent them to the ncwspap' 



The old machinery of newspaper re|>orting was 

 hiiscciitjhlii of immense improvement. One of the 

 WixMlfalls (a brother of the \Voodfnll of .lunius) 

 li.nl HO retentive n memory that when editor of the 

 Morning Chronicle he used to listen to a debate in 



the gallerv, and write it out next day, the biking 

 of notes ix-ing at that time forbidden. His sue- 

 oeMor established a corps of parliamentary reporter"! 

 to attend the debates of both Houses every night 

 in succession. He thus brought out the night'* 

 debate on the following morning, anticipating his 

 rivals by ten or twelve hours. The impiovement 

 in the reports of the debates from the period of the 

 American Revolution until the year 1815 was but, 

 gradual. At the close of the French war, however, 

 the publication of parliamentary debates became 

 an object of national importance, and in the course 

 of a few years a-sumed its present full, detailed, 

 and accurate character. Increased facilities for the 

 discharge of their important and arduous duties 

 wen- from time to time given to the reporters, who 

 till then had no means of entering the Strangers' 

 Gallery except those which were common to the 

 public generally. Amongst the professional parlia- 

 mentary rejiorters of this period Charles Dickens 

 was conspicuous. He was at work for the Mnniimj 

 Chronicle in 1834, and was one of the best reporters 

 of his time. 



The system of iwrliamentary reporting under- 

 went a change of great importance about 1847, 

 when the electric telegraph was brought into 

 general use by companies formed to work it. They 

 proposed to supply papers out of London with 

 London news, and a report of parliamentary 

 debates was part of the news thus supplied. In 

 order to get this rcjiort the Telegraph Company 

 obtained admission to the gallery for its reporters, 

 and thus broke the monopoly which the London 

 daily newspapers had up to that time enjoyed. 

 Subsequently, when the electric telegraphs passed 

 into the hands of the government, the parliamentary 

 reports for newspapers out of London were provided 

 by press agencies, and the accommodation in the 

 Importers' Gallery had to be increased for them. 

 With the growth of provincial newspajiers the 

 demand for more reimrts than the agencies sup- 

 plied was felt, and the more ]>owerful newspapers 

 endeavoured to secure special reports for them, 

 selves by the assistance of reporters who were 

 engaged on the London press. In this way they 

 were able to get ami publish reports often mucli 

 longer than those printed in London. This, bow- 

 ever, was only done at great inconvenience, and an 

 effort was made to obtain for leading provincial 

 newspapers a right of admission to the Reporter! 

 Gallery. These claims were considered by a s|ieciM 

 committee of the House of Commons, which in 

 1879 reported in favour of them ; next year the 

 long-coveted privilege was granted, and the repre- 

 sentatives of some of the provincial pa|K>rs take 

 their regular 'turns' (relieving one another at 

 short intervals) along with those of the metro- 

 politan dailies. See I'endlcton. A< I'-.t/m/ic 

 in;/ u, t/ic Olden Times and To-day ( 1 <)). 



IN-pOHSSI 4 (Fr.). This term is applied to a 

 peculiar method of ornamenting metal which 

 resembles Kmliossing (q.v.). Itrielly stated, it is 

 metal-work formed in iclief by striking the slu. t 

 usually a thin one, from U-hind with a hammer or 

 punch', the rough forms so produced U-ing after- 

 wards chased or otherwise finished. After tin- 

 par Is which rennire to lie convex are ' raised ' from 

 the lack or inside of any object, such as a vase or 

 Hal dish, it is either filled with or placed on a bed 

 of pitch and then worked upon tin- face with small 

 punches, and afterwards with chasing, engraving, 

 and other tools. Stamping produces work some- 

 what similar in general appearance, but of a much 

 more mechanical nature, since the die used deter- 

 mines exactly the pattern, and no variety is 

 obtained. See DIKSINKINI:. Some kinds of 

 hammered iron, again, such as open ornamental 

 gates and grilles, are rather examples of forging 



