The Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4059, 29 February 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 29, 1876.

Mb Councillor Quick 1 Who is Mr Councillor Quick ? What is Mr Councillor Quick ? -These are the questions that have been agitating the local public since that gentleman; gave vent to a grand display of eloquence anent the Press on Friday. Surely never did man of woman bom achieve greatness so speedily, and do suddenly, as Mr Councillor Quick. Until Friday last he Was an unknown quantity in public affairs, civic or otherwise. There is no record of his having ever 'brought forward anything for the good of the City, or for the .benefit of the citizens. He seems to have been contented with the rdfa of a silent member, and therein perhaps he has exhibited the highest degree of wisdom of which he is capable. There is an old fable, pertinent to the occasion, of a certain ignoble animal which, having encased itself m the skin of a lion, assumed a grand position junongst the beasts of the forest; but .unhappily for itself the creature .opened its mouth and spake,; thereby betraying its real entity. Mr Quick should have taken a lesson therefrom. ! i So long as he spake not, the people were content to regard him as a respectable mediocrity. The lion’s skin of the civic dignitary to which he has somehow attained protected him But an ass is always an ass, and it is sufficient for him to open his mouth to ensure his being rated at his real value. Mr Quick’s occasion for extinguishing himself occurred most opportunely The Mayor had refused to permit Mr Bright to deliver a lecture on Freethonght in the circus tent, which had been erected on the Southern .Market Reserve, and a portion of the Press spoke in dienantly thereupon. This was Mr Councillor Quick’s opportunity. He retorted on the Press that it was impertinent; that nobody knew who its writers were; that it took “ more than its fair share in the lead of things,” Now, pray let us ask again, who and what is Mr Councillor Quick that he should take it upon himself to make these assertions ? Is he not himself “ impertinent ” to the last degree when he attacks the Press in this unseemly manner ? If its writers are not indicated by name, after the Trench fashion, is it not certain that, unless they were men of intelligence and capacity, they could not hold their position for a day 1 And as to their taking more than a fair share in public affairs (which we presume is what this incidental orator meant by the curious phrase imputed to him, is it not the duty of the Press to expound the views of the community, and to instruct the public—aye, and even the City Council if need be—upon the question of the day ? But why waste words upon a man whose speeches evince that he knows nothing whatsoever of that whereof he ventures to.apeak? This self-constituted censor has the hardihood to assert that “any person who had sufficient money to purchase a press, or sufficient credit to get what he wrote printed, coold become a part of the Press for the time being.” Of a verity there is more required than the Quicks of this generation {dream of to fit a man for the position of a public ivriter. Their Work is done, as Opu mixecV his . colors, with brains. Education, iuteUi,gence, observation, and withal experience -—ithese are: the elements that must bp. combined and matured to qualify any man for the service of the Press, We are not aware that these qualifications are needed to fit a • man for the porition of Cits- Councillor. ladwd#

so far as our knowledge extends (and Mr Councillor Quick is not a brilliant exception), the ratepayers’ representatives are not always chosen because of their remarkable intelligence br ability; and it is: fairly open to question whether their united ; sagacity would enable them to conduct a newspaper ' with success for a single week, without resort to some of those unnamed persons Whom >Mr Quick superciliously affects to Contemn. It is quite true that there is no examination to be passed, nor any curriculum to be gone through, before a writer is permitted to contribute to the columns of the Press. Had any such absurdity been insisted upon,- the Press and _the world would have: been a few centuries backward; but what examination or Curriculum is needed before a man is suffered’ to assist in the goyemment pf a City ? And. if any such had been required, would it ever have been possible for Mr Councillor Quick to have had any opportunity of talking nonsense in high places? . ; ; :