SHARP PRACTICE BY A NEWSPAPER REPORTER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1198, 13 February 1885, Page 3

SHARP PRACTICE BY A NEWSPAPER REPORTER.

The reeent disclosures ns to obtaining surreptitiously Government secrets leads one to a period 50 years ago, when cleverer things were done than are even aceom plished now. When the Duke of Welling ton was Prime Minister one of tne morning newspapers gave the programme of a very important Government proceeding about to be adop-ed. It startled all panics and created an immense sensation among the Tories; for that political party had received no information that the Cabinet intended any such move ; nay, the majority of the Cabinet Ministers themselves were equally in the dark; and yet the announce-

mum was true. The Duke was full of wmth at tlio premature ilisjp, y of his pi ins and equally full of an [.rise, su mg that tiniß« pi -i,s had not Iwoii c i ..oiitte ito paper. The clue tn the mystery was,. .1 m a time, obtaiue I, The Uuke of Wellington was rather deaf during the later portion of h : 8 life, and (as is usually the ease uadei such circumstances) adopted a somewhat loud tone in conversation. One evening, after a stirring debate in the House of of Lords, the Uuke walked home arm inarm with another peer, a trusted member of his party, but not a member of his Go vernmunt. In the course of conversation he cave the outline of a scheme \Vhich he had determined to.put into effect, bat of which he had said nothing to his colleagues in the Cabinet. A penny-a-liner happened to he outside the House of Lords. He caught some wor Is fr m the lips of the loud-talking Duke, saw at once that they bore an important relation to the exciting politics of the day, ami resolved to attempt a neat thing in the way of business. Laying aside honour and delicacy as troublesome companions, he followed the two peers at a o utions distance, and picked i.p the loud words as they fell upon his ear. The night was dark, the tread of his steps was made sofi for the occasion, and he escaped detec tion during a long portion of the Duke’s walk to Apsley House. Returning to his lodgings, the ‘ liner ” got up an account of the monotonous policy intended by the noble Duke at the head of Her Maj sty’s Government., written in the proper newspaper style. Knowing that none of the papers would place trust in any flimsy from a “liner” if sent in the usual way, on a subject so peculiarly special and momentous as this, he adopted another plan. Mr Black, editor of the Morning Chronicle, had that day given a “ leader ”.of his own, in which the Duke was severely handled for refusing to make known his plana in the House of Lords. Tiie “liner ” went to Mr Black, handed him the article he had prepared, and, on being pressed, candidly avowed the manceavre he had adopted. The temptation was too great to bo resisted ; Mr Black accepted the “liner’s” article, paid for it handsomely, and inserted it next morning as a double-leaded leading article. The effect was immense. The conductors of the other papers were surprised and vexed at being thus forestalled by the Chronicle. The Wigs were elated at the disclosures made ; the Tories were mortified at having been thus kept in the dark by the Minister of their choice; the Duke’s colleagues in the Cabinet were something more than mortified at having been deemed equally unworthy of his trust; and the clubs discussed the affair day after day.— British and Colonial Printer and Stationer.