THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1882. A MALIGNED INNOCENT.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2450, 11 February 1882, Page 3

THE GLOBE. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1882. A MALIGNED INNOCENT.

It' there is one persom more than another in Christchurch deserving the deepest sympathy at the present moment, it is that eminent journalist Mr. James Caygill. It appears from the subjoined apologetic notice, which is published in the Dunedin “ Saturday Advertiser,” that the Christchurch “ our own” has, to use a colloquialism, been “going” for Mr. Caygill, with reference to his management of a certain evening journal in Christchurch. The gist of the apology, as published, is as follows : . . . .

“It is with regret that we have to acknowledge that a paragraph referring in rather harsh terms to a respected citizen of Christchurch was allowed to escape our notice and find its way into these columns a few weeks ago. The passage in question contained some ungenerous comments on Mr. Caygill’s management of the Christchurch * Telegraph.’ Wo have good reason for stating that the gentleman referred to is much esteemed in public and in private life, and we desire to make the amende honorable by expressing our regret that the observations of one of onr correspondents should have caused him annoyance. ” Anyone who has had the pleasure of reading the learned and most amusing disquisitions on things in general forwarded by the Christchurch correspondent, will agree with us in expressing the utmost astonishment at anything the least personal and offensive coming from Ms pen. In this respect ho is facile prineeps amongst journalists, and more especially conespondeuts. He roars you gently as a sucking dove, and leaves to others the saying of bitterly personal things which never—well, only on very rare occasions like the present—flow from his pen. With respect to tho distinguished citizen who has been tho sufferer on the present occasion, we desire to bear onr testimony to what is stated in the paragraph quoted above, as to the esteem in which he is held, both publicly and privately, and therefore wo have given the apology the widest possible circulation by reproducing it. The gentleman referred to has won for himself much well-deserved kudos by conducting a journal upon an entirely novel and original plan. His ingenious cooking of telegrams (which had already appeared in other journals) so as to resemble original en«o will long be remembered Lore as a

• austerpiece of the art of conveyance. The simple proprietors of the other evening papers went through the for- » mality of paying a large sum for the • privilege of publishing these telegrams, 7 but Mr. Caygill, with an enterprise and ) originality of thought which will surs round his name with a halo in years to come, could not be fettered to the dull 1 beaten path of etiquette. As is the case ’ with genius in all walks of life, it has ! been his fate to be unappreciated. Not • only so, but his great scheme for publishing a paper containing telegrams paid for by other persons, as well as general news, has not met with that warm support from his reverend and other coadjutors in the enterprise which one would have expected. It is true that, with regard to the news portion of the idea, the same policy prevails, which, at any rate, must be a kind of balm to the wounded spirit of Mr. Caygill. But that ho should be “ cribbed, cabined, and confined,” and prevented from treating the public to those gems of newspaper literature with which he used to regale them in the shape of manipulated telegrams is indeed hard. In the admiration one felt for the audacity and bitter shallowness of the device, the moral aspect of the question was apt to be overlooked. The fact that they were sto— “ conveyed the wise it call ”■—was not so present to the mind as it should be; but Nemesis, in the shape of the Christchurch correspondent, has come at last, and our readers can understand how very deficient of any sense of the fitness of things must be the mind of the man who could thus attack so esteemed a gentleman. We feel sure Mr. Caygill will rejoice to receive our sincere condolences with him, and no doubt the honest and unvarnished testimony to his many virtues which we have been able to bear in the course of these remarks will be equally treasured by him. It has this great recommendation, that it is true and entirely devoid of that fulsome flattery, which on occasions when one is asked to speak as to the good qualities of a friend considerably detracts from the weight of that testi- i mony. It is matter for congratulation that an opportunity has been afforded us | to indicate the character of a gentleman i who has been so much maligned as Mr, ' Caygill has, and should he on any | future occasion require a similar service we shall only be too ready to render it.