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EDITED BY
Jingrong Tong and Shih-Hung Lo

An international comparative perspective

Digital Technology and Journalism
 Jingrong Tong · Shih-Hung Lo
Editors

Digital Technology
and Journalism
An International Comparative Perspective
Editors
Jingrong Tong Shih-Hung Lo
Brunel University London National Chung Cheng University
London, UK Chiayi County, Taiwan

ISBN 978-3-319-55025-1 ISBN 978-3-319-55026-8 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55026-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017943662

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction
on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and
information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication.
Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied,
with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have
been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover image: EyeEm/Alamy Stock Photo

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature

The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Acknowledgements

The book is an outcome of the research project “News and journal-

ists in the social media age: a comparative study of mainland China and
Taiwan” cofunded by the British Academy UK and the National Science
Council of Taiwan under the scheme of International Partnership and
Mobility 2013 (RS15G0089). We are grateful for their support. Some
of the papers were discussed in the workshop on Comparative research
in News and Journalism Studies, University of Leicester, Leicester, 2014.
We would like to thank Felicity Plester, Martina O’Sullivan, Heloise
Harding, Camille Davies, Ben Doyle, Eva Hodgkin, Sophie Auld and
other staff at Palgrave Macmillan for supporting the project throughout.
Thanks also go to the anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments.

v
 Contents

1 Introduction: Digital Technology and Journalism:

An International Comparative Perspective 1
Jingrong Tong

Part I The Impact of Digital Technology on the Practices,

Professionalism and Cultures Of Professional Journalism

2 The Invisible Hand of the Unaccountable Algorithm:

How Google, Facebook and Other Tech Companies Are
Changing Journalism 25
David R. Brake

3 News Photography and the Digital (R)evolution:

Continuity and Change in the Practices, Styles,
Norms and Values of Photojournalism 47
Marco Solaroli

4 UGC Creators and Use of Their Content by Mainstream

Media 71
Glenda Cooper

vii
viii Contents

5 Uncertainty, Tabloidisation, and the Loss of Prestige:

“New Media Innovations” and Journalism Cultures in
Two Newspapers in Mainland China and Taiwan 91
Jingrong Tong and Shih-hung Lo

Part II The Interaction Between Digital Technology and

Professional Journalism in Periods of Social Change

6 Journalism Culture and Professional Identity in Transit:

Technology, Crisis and Opportunity in the Greek Media 115
Maria Touri, Ioanna Kostarella and Sofia Theodosiadou

7 Evaluating the Role of the Internet and Mainstream

News Journalism in the Development of the Northern
Ireland Peace Process 141
Paddy Hoey

8 Digital Technology, Journalism and Politics in Sri Lanka’s

Ethnic Conflict 165
Thusiyan Nandakumar

Part III The Rise of Citizen Journalism and Alternative Media

9 The Importance of Citizenship: Theoretical Issues

in Studying Citizen Journalism in International Context 191
Vincent Campbell

10 Independent Media, Social Movements,

and the Traditional News Media in Taiwan 215
Yuan-Hui Hu

11 The Roles of Online Alternative Media in Facilitating

Civil Society Development in Macau: The Case Study
of Macau Concealers and All About Macau Media 237
Chang Su
 Contents ix

Part IV Journalists on Twitter

12 Indian TV Anchors on Twitter: Technological Practice

and Textual Form 263
Vibodh Parthasarathi and Ananda Mitra

13 Practising Journalism on Twitter? A Computational

Analysis of British Journalists’ Use of Twitter Before the
2016 EU Referendum in the UK 291
Jingrong Tong and Landong Zuo

Part V Methodologies and Methods

14 Researching the Fluid and Multisited Appropriations

of Digital Technologies in African Newsrooms 317
Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara and Admire Mare

15 Explaining Outcomes in Comparative Digital Journalism

Research: Challenges and Analytic Choices 347
James Stanyer

Index 363
 Editors and Contributors

About the Editors

Jingrong Tong is senior lecturer in digital media and culture at

Brunel University London. Her current research focuses on digital
technology and journalism, digital data analysis, and environmental
communication. She is the author of two books on investigative journalism
in China.
Shih-hung Lo (Ph.D. LSE) is professor in communication at National
Chung Cheng University. He teaches in the areas of communication the-
ory, comparative analysis of qualitative data, comparative telecommunica-
tion policies, and Chinese media studies. His research interests include
communication theory, political economy of communication, Chinese
media studies, digital journalism, telecommunication policies, and media
sociology. He is the coeditor of Social Media and Journalism, Quality
Journalism Development Association: Taipei, Taiwan (with Jingrong
Tong 2014). He is a freelance writer for various news media in mainland
China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Contributors

David R. Brake LSE, London, UK

Vincent Campbell University of Leicester, Leicester, UK

xi
xii Editors and Contributors

Glenda Cooper City University of London, London, UK

Paddy Hoey Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, UK
Yuan-Hui Hu National Chung Cheng University, Minxiong, Taiwan
Ioanna Kostarella Department of Journalism and Mass Media, Aristotle
University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece
Shih-hung Lo National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan
Hayes Mawindi Mabweazara School of Writing and Journalism,
Falmouth University, Falmouth, UK
Admire Mare Department of Journalism Film and Television,
University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa
Ananda Mitra Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, USA
Thusiyan Nandakumar Tamil Guardian, London, UK
Vibodh Parthasarathi Jamia Milla Islamia, New Delhi, India
Marco Solaroli University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
James Stanyer Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK
Chang Su Zhaoqing University and Macau University, Zhaoqing, China
Sofia Theodosiadou Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki,
Greece
Jingrong Tong Brunel University London, London, UK
Maria Touri University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Landong Zuo Independent Researcher, London, UK
 List of Figures

Fig. 11.1 Picture selected by Macau Concealers from the

Hong Kong comedy movie Love on Delivery,
satirizing the “Gathering of Martial Arts Heroes”
held in Macau by Tam Chon-Weng, the secretary
for social affairs and culture, in extravagant use
of public finance funds 245
Fig. 11.2 Work by an internet user published on Macau Concealers,
criticizing the improper response of the secretary
for transport of Macau, Raimundo Arrais do RosárioLuo,
when the public complained about traffic problems 247
Fig. 12.1 Typical narrative map created from a corpus of Tweets 274
Fig. 12.2 Narrative map of J1 277
Fig. 12.3 Narrative map of J2 278
Fig. 12.4 Narrative map of J3 279
Fig. 13.1 Overall daily trend of tweets published between
May 24 and June 23 2016 299
Fig. 14.1 Online observation of a Chronicle entertainment reporter’s
Facebook activities 332
Fig. 14.2 News tips, comments and complaints on @Verdade’s physical
“Facebook wall” 336
Fig. 14.3 Cartoon lampooning Maputo’s rich and famous
for their opulence and extravagancy on @Verdade’s
physical “Facebook wall” 337
Fig. 14.4 @Verdade’s weekly social media posts on the newsroom’s
noticeboard 338

xiii
 List of Tables

Table 6.1 Descriptive statistics 122

Table 6.2 Frame packages for newspapers 123
Table 6.3 Frame packages for news blogs 125
Table 12.1 Categorisation of the study period into phases 269
Table 12.2 Volume and frequency of journalists’ Tweets
across phases of the study period 270
Table 12.3 Typology of journalists’ tweets over the
entire study period 275
Table 12.4 Share of tweets containing handles and hashtags
across phases of the study period 275
Table 12.5 Number of tweets with different types of Shovelware
across phases of the study period 276
Table 12.6 Positive correlations across phases of study 280
Table 13.1 Tweeting activities of British journalists and general
Twitter users 301
Table 13.2 Top ten Twitter accounts mentioned 304
Table 15.1 Causal recipe explaining high levels of personalised
mediated political communication in democracies 353
Table 15.2 Causal recipe explaining not high levels of personalised
mediated political communication in democracies
(the negation) 353
Table 15.3 Crisp and fuzzy sets 355
Table 15.4 Intermediate solutions for the personalisation
of political communication 358

xv
 CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Digital Technology

and Journalism: An International
Comparative Perspective

Jingrong Tong

This book is part of a growing academic effort aimed at trying to under-

stand the transformation of journalism in the digital era. An omnipres-
ent feature of the era in which contemporary journalism operates is its
highly digital nature. The latest developments in a wide spectrum of digi-
tal technologies—ranging from computers, mobile devices, multimedia
instruments, software and applications, and social media to interoperable
systems—as well as in communication technologies, such as optical fibres
and satellites, have greatly enhanced humanity’s ability to generate, store,
process, handle, and transmit information in digital form. Information
has become a pillar of our society and a driving force underlying social
development (Castells 1996). As a result, the pervasiveness of digital
information and the omnipresent application of digital technologies have
been seen in almost all aspects of our daily lives. Although some tradi-
tional nondigital modes of communication have been preserved, such
as print book publication and physical campus-based education, many

J. Tong (*)
Brunel University London, London, UK
e-mail: jingrong.tong@brunel.ac.uk

© The Author(s) 2017 1

J. Tong and S.-H. Lo (eds.), Digital Technology and Journalism,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-55026-8_1
2 J. Tong

activities in our lives, such as bank transactions, shopping, and playing

games, have gone digital. Human communication is now deeply tech-
nology-mediated; behind it stands not only machines, such as computers,
social media tools and smart phones, but also algorithms and soft-
ware. Ordinary people—especially the younger generations who can be
dubbed “digital natives”—have already gotten used to living their lives
in the digital form. Such a highly digitalised society certainly has several
profound implications for journalism.
It is clear that journalism has changed along with the advent of digi-
tal technology. Broadcast journalists no longer need to carry heavy tapes
with them when they go out to shoot their stories. At the same time,
print journalists are taking cameras with them in order to send back
photos and even videos that can be used for their multimedia websites.
Media convergence makes newspapers and broadcasters look alike and
do similar things. Amateur citizen journalists and even algorithms may
do the job of journalists, while journalists have started to make stories
out of data rather than people. Computer programmers are hired and
become part of newsroom teams. News comes in ever more diverse
forms and stories are told in innovative ways to cater to the reading hab-
its and catch the eye of digital natives. A noticeable example of this is
that the short, fluid, and fragmented style of liveblogs complements the
traditional narrative of the inverted pyramid to tell news stories, espe-
cially during fast-moving events, such as disasters and terrorist attacks.
Changes in journalism are happening every day and these changes are
too many to enumerate. However, what is more important than merely
listing the changes is how to understand them and whether they are pro-
found enough to alter the very nature of journalism.

Beyond the Two ‘What’ Questions

In academic literature, there are two ‘what’ questions ­ surrounding
the understanding of these changes in journalism: one is the ques-
tion of “what has changed journalism?” and the other is “what changes
are there in journalism and with what consequences” Probing the first
question may lead into the trap of debating between the advocates of
technological determinism and those with social constructionist views.
Traditionally, it has been argued that the use and popularity of the tools
of digital technology has transformed or shaped journalism (e.g. Pavlik
2000; Paulussen 2012; Stanyer 2009). Another school of scholars
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 3

however have rejected this technologically deterministic view by argu-

ing for the importance of social and cultural factors in transforming jour-
nalism and even the technologies of journalism (e.g. Cottle and Ashton
1999; Cummings 2014; Macgregor 2014).
This binary way of thinking about the problem is based on two
misunderstandings about technology and its relationship to society.
Firstly, technology and society influence each other in a loop, which
is similar to the concept ‘cumulative feedback loop’ put forward by
Castells (1996: 31)‚ rather than in a single direction. The invention,
development, and application of technology are not isolated from the
society within which they appear and vice versa. The intertwined rela-
tionship between technology and society makes it unnecessary and
impossible to completely distinguish the influences of technology from
those of society. Digital technology and society are both the cause and
consequence of each other in their interwoven relationship, and they
develop in the interaction between them. By interaction, we mean that
advances in digital technology will result in changes in society that, in
turn, nurture further changes in digital technology, and this process
goes on indefinitely. Take smart phones as an example: The invention
of the first generation of smart phones obviously changed the whole
communication mode and reading/aesthetic styles of people that,
in turn, fed back into the invention of the later generations of smart
phones. The changes in journalism should be examined within the
interaction between digital technology and society. It is neither digi-
tal technology nor society alone that shapes journalism, but the joint
force of the two.
Secondly, this way of understanding digital technology merely as
technological instruments ignores the symbolic meaning of digital tech-
nology, which is also “a manifestation of human knowledge” (Palan
1996, pp. 13–14). Human beings employ any means available to them
to understand the complexity of the world so that they can gain psy-
chological security and cognitive assurance. Technology is sometimes
used as a metaphor and a source of analogies to explain reality. In other
words, our perception of the world may come from our understand-
ing of what technology is about. Our conception of the world alters
as technology develops. In this way, technology affects our views of
the world and our ways of “understanding, interpreting, and consti-
tuting reality” (Palan 1996). Technological advances thus mean new
understandings of things and of the world that, in turn, trigger social
4 J. Tong

changes. Therefore, technology should not simply be seen as an instru-

ment or a tool, but as “a social and hence symbolic activity by which
humanity has learned to express itself” (Palan 1996, p. 14). An apt
example of this is that we might understand how our society works
through comparing it to a machine in the industrial era, but conceiving
it as a network and as a jungle of symbols in the information era. When
it comes to journalism, with the invention and application of digital
technology that replaces pen and paper in the past, the way journal-
ism is conceived by the public and by journalists themselves is changed
accordingly, which consequentially influences the relationship between
journalism and other social entities, as well as the self-identity and cul-
tures of journalism.
Therefore, it is not accurate to see either technology or society as a
determining force or to see technology as merely a tool. Digital tech-
nology is woven into the fabric of the society in which it is introduced,
and this exercises real influence on journalism on two levels. The first
originates from the instrumental function of digital technology in meet-
ing the communication needs of human beings. The domino effects
caused by the introduction of digital technology in a social setting are
undeniable. The use of digital technology as a tool has the potential
for changing the practices and professionalism of journalism in the first
place. However, this is not the whole picture. When digital technology
becomes a primary factor disturbing the existing power relations in a
society, a series of social changes that may have influences on journal-
ism may be triggered. This is because at this point digital technology
becomes the lever of power that different social actors strive to control
so as to gain power against their rivals. Changes in journalism occur in
an interactive process between social actors and digital technology. On
the second level, digital technology exercises its symbolic influence on
journalism through changing our conceptions of what journalism should
be and do, which may fundamentally alter the definition of journalism
and raise new issues. It is, thus, vital to move beyond the false dichotomy
of technological determinism or social constructionism and instead to
look at what is actually happening to journalism in the process as well as
implications for our understanding of journalism.
The need to break down the technology versus society dichotomy
also comes from our desire for interesting interpretations and theoretical
understandings of empirical patterns found in different societies. Articles
in edited volumes, such as that of de Burgh (2005), have told us stories
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 5

from different societies as to what journalism is and what roles and

responsibilities it has. These articles suggest that the definitions and the
roles and responsibilities of journalism are socially dependent. It is right
to consider the role played by social factors in shaping journalism and
to acknowledge the variances in journalism in different social settings.
However, if we merely turn to social factors for a universal interpretation
of the differences in journalism in different societies, this may only result
in descriptive accounts of different patterns and contextual explanations
for those differences. It is more interesting to use these experiences from
different societies to develop and enhance our theoretical and general
understanding of journalism.
The second “what” question is often associated with another case of
dichotomised thinking, which asks whether the introduction of digital
technology will lead to the success or demise of journalism. Optimistic
and pessimistic views coexist on the impact of technology on journalism
(e.g. Cohen 2002; Yuan 2013; Pavlik 2010; Garrison 2001; Waisbord
2001; Ursell 2001; Russell 2001; Pavlik 2011; Giannakoulopoulos et al.
2012; Paulussen 2012; Zelizer 2009; Örnebring 2010; Ashuri 2016;
Culver 2014; Spyridou et al. 2013; Blondheim 2000; Quinn 2004;
Hardt 1990; Fenton 2010b; Lewis and Usher 2013; Fenton 2010a).
The former believes that technology can help improve journalism
through innovation (Steensen 2011; Blondheim 2000; Quinn 2004).
The latter sees technology as a threat to the survival and growth of jour-
nalism and as damaging the industry and democratic role of journalism
(Bromley 1997; Hardt 1996; Tsui 2009; Newton 2009; Paulussen 2012;
Alexander et al. 2016). Both views largely see technology as being a sub-
ject that exercises power over journalism wherein journalism is an object
passively sitting at the receiving end of such power. That is to say, tech-
nology either benefits or impedes journalism, and there is no third way.
This is, thus, quite technologically determinist in itself.
The reality however is more complicated than the simple dichotomy.
The “Success versus. Demise” views do not take into account the initia-
tives of journalists in the first place. Journalism is an occupation whose
practitioners actively seek to move upwards in the process of profession-
alisation. As is the case with other professions, journalists tend to defend
their occupational boundaries and professional status. They would not
passively and mechanically receive the effects of technology on the occu-
pation of journalism, although on some occasions they might not be able
to do anything about the effects and have to accept them as exemplified
6 J. Tong

in what happened in Wapping. It is true that there are precedents where

particular occupations, such as typists in newsrooms and switchboard
operators, have almost disappeared following the adoption of certain
advanced technologies. Journalism however would not disappear partly
because the job of journalism is largely based on brain rather than brawn
or technical skills (except some forms of journalism, such as churnalism,
which may not require much brain, or even writing skills) and partly
because the occupation of journalism has been woven into the fabric of
society to be an inseparable and integrated part of it, with great socio-
political importance.
In addition, digital technology can offer opportunities while also
being a threat to the survival of journalism. A simple example for this
is that launching online platforms can be double-sided: on the one
hand, having online publications can help traditional media outlets
engage with online readers and advertisers (a positive sign of this is
that Times advertisers agreed to pay the same rates for tablet publica-
tions as print in 20151), but on the other hand, news going online
may result in more problems, such as facilitating free online reading,
which may cannibalise paid-for publications; a falling quality of jour-
nalism as a result of the pursuit of immediacy and attempting to tai-
lor content to the interests of online readers; and high requirements
for the multimedia skills of journalists, which may have a number of
negative implications for journalistic labour and even challenge the
whole idea of news and journalism. Although the overall market envi-
ronment is destroying the business model of serious journalism, it is
down to individual news organisations and journalists to make the
most of digital technology and the digital environment and to look
for new sustainable business models. Rather than being completely
tied to the adoption of certain digital technologies, the future of
journalism is forged in the overall environment in which journalism
interacts with the combined forces of digital technology and social
dynamics.
Therefore, it is necessary to go beyond the two pairs of dichot-
omised thinking in order to more accurately interpret the actual situa-
tion. In reality, digital technology is neither universal in its influence
in different types of social settings nor dysfunctional in the face of the
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 7

power of social factors. Journalism in China, for example, faces severe

problems in the media market, such as the downsizing and even closure
of newspapers, the dramatic decline in print readership and advertising,
and the failure of news organisations’ digital strategies. These problems
can also be found in media markets in the UK, even though the social
context of Britain significantly differs from that of China. However, the
causes for and consequences of such problems and the response of news
media to them greatly vary in the two countries. In China, where politi-
cal factors play an important role, journalism has become more depend-
ent on the government for financial support in the face of adversity. A
well-known example is that the Shanghai Newspaper Group started to
receive RMB 50 million annually from the Shanghai municipal finan-
cial department from 2014 in order to deal with the financial difficulties
faced by the newspaper group.2 This phenomenon however would be
extremely unlikely in the UK. This example is used here to demonstrate
that digital technology may have similar influence in different societies,
but contextual factors may also play their respective parts and join digi-
tal technology in shaping journalism. Examining the interaction between
journalism and the joint forces of digital technology and social factors in
the process where such an interaction takes place is more important to
an understanding of the changes taking place. We need to look at actual
events and their meanings in the process, in which we can see the inter-
action between journalism, digital technology, and social dynamics.
In order to contribute to the general theory about the impact of
digital technology on journalism, we need to take on an alternative but
more constructive approach and to consider the detailed scenario. In this
approach, we shall examine what changes have occurred in journalism
following the adoption of digital technology, how they have happened
and how to understand such changes (i.e. what they mean for our under-
standing of journalism and its social role). The focus of our examination
should be shifted from merely considering what impact digital technol-
ogy has had on journalism to understanding how the changes have hap-
pened in response to the joint forces of digital technology and society in
the whole process. This question can be answered by drawing on experi-
ences collected from different social settings and by taking an interna-
tional comparative perspective.
8 J. Tong

What Can an International Comparative

Perspective Offer?
What an international comparative perspective can offer is closely related
to the purpose of social science research. As journalism scholars, we
commit to the journey of seeking knowledge of journalism. To achieve
this purpose, we need both theory and empirical evidence, the relation-
ship of which is intertwined. Theoretical ideas provide us with the abil-
ity to structure our descriptions of the world (Ragin 1992). Theoretical
ideas, however, would not stand and be developed without the support
of empirical evidence. If being limited under certain ‘scope conditions’
(a term that means to specify the conditions where the hypotheses hold),
empirical evidence can be used to articulate and update theories (Walker
and Cohen 1985). We need to establish a link and a dialogue between
theoretical ideas and empirical evidence in order to make sense of these
theoretical ideas and elaborate them (Ragin 1992, 2014). Therefore, to
grasp a general understanding of journalism, we need both theoretical
ideas and empirical evidence.
However, our understanding of journalism is indefinite and our
knowledge is always in the continuum between unknown and known.
This is because knowledge is ‘justified true beliefs’ and achieved in a
process of distinguishing true knowledge from false knowledge through
looking for and validating hard evidence (Steup 1996, p. 3; Anderson
and Baym 2004). Empirical evidence is indefinite too. Just as Ragin
rightly argued, the ‘empirical world, however, is limitless in its detail,
complexity, specificity, and uniqueness’ (Ragin 1992, p. 217). Empirical
evidence may also be contradictory: Evidence arising from one context
may disagree with that emerging from another context and may even
be against a general theory that is drawn from particular social contexts.
Sociological theories are therefore conditional (i.e. theories can only be
correct under certain conditions) (Walker and Cohen 1985) and knowl-
edge changes along with evidence, which varies from context to context
and accumulates over time.
To use comparative checking can help settle the disputes between
contradictory findings found in different contexts (Hopkin 2010)
and thus contribute to knowledge accumulation and theory building.
Comparative studies are “a means of establishing social science generali-
sations” (Hopkin 2010). In social science, the primary purpose of using
comparisons is to establish theoretical generalisations (generate theory)
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 9

on a particular subject and to help formulate an understanding of that

subject (Ragin et al. 1998; Glaser and Strauss 2012). Good case studies
can contribute to social scientific theory building (Flyvbjerg 2006). One
of the most enlightening roles of comparative studies is to grasp the situ-
ation in one social context by comparing it to those in other contexts.
When it comes to journalism, which is a socially dependent occupation,
we are not able to understand it if we only rely on evidence collected
from one social setting. We must compare how journalism behaves in
different social settings to gain a general knowledge of what journalism
is. The examination of the impact of digital technology on journalism
particularly needs such comparisons.
However, the cases included in this volume are not parts of a single
research project that has a rigid and systematic research design, but of
individual studies with value in themselves. One may ask whether they
are comparable. This of course depends on how we compare them and
what we compare. Let us have a look at the two common approaches
to comparative studies. An important and common approach to interna-
tional comparative studies of journalism is large-scale quantitative cross-
country studies that usually use surveys or quantitative content analysis
as the primary research methods (a summary of comparative journal-
ism studies can be found in Hanitzsch 2009). Representative examples
of this include (Mellado et al. 2012; Hanitzsch and Berganza 2012;
Hanitzsch et al. 2011; Hanitzsch 2008). Statistically measurable variables
are essential in a quantitative comparative study that often involves the
collection of large numbers of data from different controllable and com-
parable social settings (Hopkin 2010; Ragin 2014). Although impor-
tant, research of this kind requires designing universal but comparable
variables for all countries involved, which may be difficult given that the
design of variables is dependent on the situation in a particular social
context. In addition, the large scale of cross-national research is likely to
use quantitative research methods, such as surveys, which require exten-
sive financial support, but may only give superficial answers to questions
that require more in-depth data. A context-specific research design may
be needed for understanding journalism in individual countries. To sum-
marise, research of this kind may not be suitable for all kinds of studies,
especially for those that require contextually tailored research design to
collect the kind of rich data that will form in-depth understandings. In
addition, the impact of digital technology on journalism is not quantita-
tively and statistically measurable in itself. It would be extremely difficult
10 J. Tong

for researchers to design universal variables that are applicable in social

settings where the impact of technology on journalism is shaped by
the combination of contextual conditions. We will have to adopt some
qualitative research means to understand such an impact. For research
like this, qualitative case studies of journalism in different social settings
rather than large-scale quantitative cross-country studies may be able to
help us develop and build theories based on the rich evidence collected.
Compared with quantitative research, qualitative comparative research
offers a more useful approach for us with a focus on “process-tracing”
(Pierson 2004). It aims to examine varied social phenomena in the cases
by identifying the combined effects of conditions in those cases (Hopkin
2010; Ragin 2014). International comparative studies of cases‚ however‚
often involve the establishment of western-centric paradigms. Classic
comparative studies, such as Four Theories of the Press (Siebert et al.
1956), or more recently de-westernising media studies (Curran and Park
2000) and studies comparing media systems (Hallin and Mancini 2004,
2012) have constructed Western-centric normative paradigms or typolo-
gies to explain differences in the definition and role of journalism in dif-
ferent societies. While their paradigms are, of course, seminal and useful,
there are two limitations. One is that their discussions are largely under-
taken within and thus limited to an Anglo-American scholarly context,
and the other is that the use of paradigms restricts our thinking within
the dichotomy between those fitting within paradigms and those that do
not. The establishment of a paradigm sets up standards for judging the
traits of journalism. It is useful in terms of understanding the differences
and similarities between the paradigm and the type of journalism exam-
ined. However, establishing a paradigm can be problematic and biased
as a result of the risk of using the features of journalism in one (often
Western) society as the standard to judge journalism in other societies.
The problem and bias also comes from the danger of losing the ability to
detect and capture the uniqueness of different types of journalism in dif-
ferent societies. A consequence of this is that the general understanding
of journalism will be largely limited to the dichotomised logic between
paradigms and nonparadigms—or, for example, Western and non-West-
ern. With globalisation accelerating, it is vital to look beyond Anglo-
American traditions and take into account experiences and practices from
elsewhere, although this does not mean we cannot consider journalism
as practised in countries within the Anglo-American paradigm. Although
important, the de-westernising approach proposed by Curran and Park
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 11

still offers paradigms based on the political division between democracy

and authoritarianism and the economic division between neo-liberal and
regulated market systems (Curran and Park 2000). To break from this
Western-centric paradigmatic approach, we should use different ideas
and evidence about journalism to contribute to the general knowledge of
the occupation of journalism. When it comes to the relationship between
technology and journalism, rather than providing normative paradigms,
experiences collected from around the globe can give us better grounds
to form our understanding of journalism in the digital era, especially how
journalism changes in response to changes in the media environment and
in news production following the adoption of digital technology in its
interaction with social dynamics.
An international and comparative perspective can offer us cases and
experiences developed in different social settings that can be used to
form an understanding of the particular subject of journalism. It is not
about testing theoretical assumptions or rigidly measuring and compar-
ing (quantitative) variables. It is more about how to use the bottom-up
evidence to inductively develop or build theory about journalism and the
relationship between digital technology and journalism in intellectual
inquiry. This perspective will offer an opportunity to comprehend what
is happening to journalism in different societies. This is the aim of this
volume.
This volume, with an international and comparative perspective,
attempts to contribute to the field, focusing on examining how jour-
nalism changes in terms of its practices, culture, genres, and roles as
the popularity of digital technology in society grows as well as how to
understand such changes in the process. It sees journalism as an occupa-
tion with an intention to move upwards in the professionalization pro-
cess and that changes in journalism, as previously argued, result from
the interaction between it and the combined influence of digital tech-
nology and social factors. The chapters, most of which are drawn from
experiences in different societies, contribute to answering questions
about changes in journalism in the digital era. Most of the individual
contributions present useful case studies that tell us about the rela-
tionship between technology and journalism in specific social settings.
These cases in the volume are comparable because they offer us insights
into processes, where we can see how the combination of factors inter-
acts with journalism. This is not a systematic comparative analysis
adopted within a single research project, but the text offers a qualitative
12 J. Tong

understanding of the impact of digital technology on journalism based

on evidence coming from different social settings. We are not going to
compare designed measurable variables. We are going to explore the
opportunity to compare the varied relationship between technology and
journalism observed in different contexts and the conditions that have
jointly caused that relationship. Our discussions can be used to induc-
tively inform our knowledge of journalism in the digital era in general
and, in particular, how journalism changes upon the adoption of digital
technology.

The Contributions
The volume comprises five sections. The four pieces in the first section
address how journalism changes under the influence of digital technol-
ogy from different angles. Their discussions reveal the influence of dig-
ital technology at both instrumental and symbolic levels as well as how
this influence is exercised in the interaction between journalism, digi-
tal technology and society. One major feature of the environment in
which journalism operates in the current digital era is that the control
of news dissemination and distribution has gradually moved away from
global news agencies and organisations to giant new media players such
as Google, Facebook and Twitter. Their algorithms rule what news
audiences read and the way they read it; and they are even influencing
the way journalists produce news. Brake’s chapter (Chap. 2) discusses
the problems of the algorithms operated by Google, Facebook and
other technology companies and their potential impact on journalism.
He looks into how biases are produced with, and by, these algorithms
and examines closely how the pervasiveness of algorithms may influ-
ence the news values journalists abide by in selecting news topics, news
sources from which journalists gain information about their stories and
news distribution. Brake’s account raises our awareness of the subtle
power of the ubiquitous algorithms that exist in each and every pore of
the media environment, from where we gain information about world
events.
The proliferation of the content—photos, videos, and text—pro-
duced by ordinary Internet users (UGC) prominently features in the new
media environment. News organisations across the world have started
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 13

incorporating UGC into their news in different ways. Integrating UGC

however blurs the boundaries and distinctions between professional jour-
nalists and amateur Internet users, which results in journalism beginning
to defend its boundaries. In Chap. 3, Solaroli analyses how international
photojournalists symbolically struggle for authority for example by dis-
cursively shifting their professional norms from “objectivity” to “trust-
worthiness”. In so doing, they attempt to handle the dual challenges to
the authority and professional norms of journalism that have resulted
from the rise of nonprofessional citizen photojournalists and the digital
retouching and enhancing of photographs. In Chap. 4, Cooper examines
the way in which the BBC and The Guardian in the UK used UGC in
their liveblogs to report on the 2011 Japan earthquake and tsunami, and
she explores the impacts of such integration of content on those users
whose online content was used and related ethical issues. Solaro and
Cooper present two cases of the boundary work of journalism, which
show both the instrumental and symbolic influence of digital technol-
ogy on journalism. As a result of this influence, along with the adop-
tion of digital technology, changes are appearing not only in journalistic
techniques and the form of news, but also in the professional norms and
principles of journalism.
While suffering from fundamental deficits in media markets, news-
rooms across the world are undergoing a structural transformation as a
response to the new requirements for news in the digital era. Journalism
is subject to change from the increasing digitisation of newsrooms, the
launch of multimedia platforms, the laying-off of journalists, and the clo-
sure of news outlets. In Chap. 5, Tong and Lo report that “new media
innovations” in newspapers in both mainland China and Taiwan have led
to remarkable similarities in their journalism cultures. Their study con-
firms that digital technology and market incentives worked together and
resulted in the rise of tabloid journalism and the loss of journalistic pro-
fessional esteem in the two newsrooms, while political culture and media
control in the mainland case pushed this trend even further. Their chap-
ter reveal the importance of the interaction between digital technology,
social factors and journalism.
The digital era is full of social changes, tensions, and conflicts. Overall,
the world has not completely recovered from the 2007/2008 financial
recession that started in the USA and then spread and engulfed almost
14 J. Tong

all countries in the global market. All of these events and their conse-
quences—companies and banks bailed out, public funding cuts, debts
and austerity—leave people worried about the future of their countries.
A series of terrorist attacks also happened worldwide, increasing the feel-
ings of insecurity; this has led to a rise in xenophobia and the potential to
cause conflicts between ethnic groups. While Western democracies such
as the UK and the US are experiencing political turmoil, there are no
signs of a move in a democratic direction in countries such as Sri Lanka.
Social dynamics, intertwining with changes in society caused by digital
technology in the background make the questions of how journalism is
changing and what the changes mean even more intriguing.
The second section of the volume contributes to answering these
questions by looking particularly at how the interaction between digi-
tal technology and journalism taking place in a period of social changes
influences journalism culture and the democratic role of journalism.
The three chapters recognise the changes in journalism occurring as a
result of the adaptation of journalism to the digital environment, but also
acknowledge the roles played by social factors. In Chap. 6, Touri and
her collaborators examine how digital technology and changes in society,
especially austerity and financial uncertainty, have transformed journalis-
tic practices in Greece. They argue that the traditionally partisan journal-
ism culture in Greece shows a tendency toward being audience-centred
and moving towards more “factually-based and transparent news report-
ing”, as a result of competition and pressure from the emergence of news
blogs, against the background of austerity.
In Chap. 7, Hoey looks into the respective roles played by the
Internet and traditional journalism in the development of the Northern
Ireland Peace Process. He reports that although digital technology has
opened up the public sphere and offered opportunities for journalism to
fulfil its democratic role, the deeply rooted sectarian division in Northern
Ireland has continued to a considerable extent to make both traditional
journalism and the Internet dysfunctional in bridging the divide. In
Chap. 8, Nandakumar discusses the relationship between digital technol-
ogy, journalism and politics in Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict, in particular,
the extent to which digital technology helps to break through media
control and offers new territory and tools for those who want to chal-
lenge oppressive politics in Sri Lanka. He largely celebrates the opportu-
nities digital technology offers to journalists to oppose state repression,
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 15

although meanwhile he reserves his worries about the push back by the
Sri Lankan state and the remaining danger for journalists.
The third section of the volume contributes to the discussions around
the concept of citizen journalism and alternative media along with their
democratic potential. In Chap. 9, Campbell proposes to shift attention
from “journalism” to “citizenship” in our attempts to define “citizen
journalism” and argues it is especially important to conceptualise “citi-
zenship” so as to understand citizen journalism in the different civic con-
texts in which it operates. His argument makes us think about the extent
to which citizen journalism can complement traditional journalism in
making a very organic contribution to democracy and fulfilling its demo-
cratic role in society.
In Chap. 10, Hu gives a vivid account of how new communication
technologies have helped to transform the news ecosystem in Taiwan in
a way that undermines the democratic role of traditional news media.
He also discusses how and to what extent the emergence of independ-
ent media complements traditional journalism in fulfilling its demo-
cratic mission and facilitates social movements, as exemplified in the 318
movement protests. His study of Taiwan shows how traditional journal-
ism, social movements, changes in the relationship between politics and
press, and new communication technologies affect each other and how
their interaction is transforming the news ecology and the relationship
between journalism and politics in Taiwan.
In Chap. 11, Su analyses and evaluates the plural roles played by
online alternative media outlets—Macau Concealers and All About
Macau Media—in facilitating the development of civil society in Macau.
While recognizing the limitations, he rejoices in the liberating power of
these online newspapers to form alternative discourses that oppose the
dominant social and political discourses constructed by Macau’s ruling
governments. He also identifies parts played by social dynamics and new
ideologies, such as neoliberalism, in helping the emergence of alternative
media and the formation of their different discourses.
Journalists are an important but special group of Internet users in that
their job is journalism but they are also ordinary Internet users, using the
Internet for their own interests. What practices do journalists have on the
Internet? Are they practicing journalism on social media? In the fourth
section of this volume, Parthasarathi and Mitra (Chap. 12) report the
journalistic practices of three Indian TV anchors on Twitter and examine
their political opinions, as expressed on Twitter, 13 months prior to the
16 J. Tong

2014 Indian general election. Their careful analysis of the different mes-
saging behaviour of these journalists and the changes in their political
stances over time depicts a clear picture of how they used Twitter to dis-
seminate information and commented on and responded to the changes
in the political climate. Tong and Zuo (Chap. 13) examine whether the
tweeting activities of twenty journalists from four British national news-
papers during the month before the UK’s EU referendum can be seen as
journalistic practices. Their analysis reveals the prominent differences in
tweeting activities between these journalists and ordinary Twitter users
and there are several noticeable journalistic traits visible. These two chap-
ters contribute to changing our understanding of what journalism is and
on which platforms it is practiced.
Research about journalism in the digital age faces some challenges in
terms of research methodologies. If the previous two chapters examining
journalists on Twitter propose some new approaches and methods for
researching journalism, the two chapters in the fifth section suggest the
continued importance of traditional research approaches and methods.
In Chap. 14, Mabweazara and Mare discuss the applicability of tradi-
tional research approaches as well as the importance of contextual factors
in influencing the appropriation of new digital technologies in news-
rooms. They offer a very interesting account of their ‘field’ experiences,
researching with journalists in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, which sug-
gests journalists’ use of new digital technologies in the two countries are
influenced by local social, economic, and political factors. In Chap. 15,
Stanyer discusses the challenges and possible analytic choices for con-
ducting comparative journalism research in the digital era. He proposes a
Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) approach, which can be used as
a “set of techniques” in carrying out actual comparative digital journal-
ism studies.
What do the contributions in this volume then tell us about jour-
nalism in the digital era? There are four implications. Firstly, a clear
argument constructed across different chapters in the volume is that
journalism changes not because the tools journalists or ordinary peo-
ple use to produce messages have changed but because the total envi-
ronment in which journalists work has changed—in aspects ranging
from information flow and production, economics and media markets,
to politics—and because the understanding of journalism has changed.
It is these changes in the environment that result from the interac-
tion between digital technology and society rather than merely digital
 1 INTRODUCTION: DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND JOURNALISM … 17

technology that transform journalism. Secondly, several chapters in this

volume suggest that journalists in different social contexts are collectively
defending the boundaries of their profession and their authority. Despite
this, the occupation of journalism is facing an urgent need to update
skills and to adapt to the new digital environment. It is also facing an
overall renewal of journalistic labour—not only through the departure
of those who are either disappointed by the new situations or unquali-
fied for the digital environment but also due to the arrival of new recruits
who are technologically literate and willing to embrace the new chapter
of journalism. Thirdly, the practice of journalism has expanded to take
place through online alternative media, which differ from traditional
news outlets. In the process, while there are some changes in the con-
cept and form of journalism, the democratic role of journalism remains
the same as it was in the old media era. Journalism is still expected to
serve the needs of democracy, to balance and scrutinise power, and to
tell the truth, which is the most essential element of journalism. Digital
technology can especially empower journalism and assist it in fulfilling its
democratic role in developing or authoritarian countries where expres-
sion space may be repressed and limited and where digital technology
becomes a lever for power that can be used by different social actors,
including journalists and citizen journalists. Finally, new opportunities
have been created for researchers to study journalism. Both traditional
and new research methods and approaches have their own merits for
examining journalism in the digital era, though we as researchers need
to know how to select among them. In a nutshell, therefore, while digi-
tal technology affects journalism at the instrumental and symbolic levels,
journalism reforms, develops, and zigzags its way through the interaction
between digital technology and society.

Note
1. http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/digital-breakthrough-times-advertisers-
agree-pay-same-rate-tablet-edition-print.
2. http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/821745.shtml.

References
Alexander, J. C., Breese, E. B., & Luengo, M. (Eds.). (2016). The crisis of jour-
nalism reconsidered. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Another random document with
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and observed, he had staid too long, and that she needed rest. Rest,
repeated she, detaining him, oh, be not so deceived; I need no rest, I
can find none that cheers me like seeing you. He again took his seat,
and with composure observed, that she had promised him coffee:
and that he would remain, on condition she would try to be quiet and
listen to our chat. She smiled, and I took my post.
Again he offered to leave her, when, with composure, she said, my
dear Percival you must indulge me; this is the last time I will
mention business which may distress you; but I shall not be easy
until I have finally settled my concerns with this world. Whatever
you find done in this way, when I am dead, remember what I have
already said, I have done all in love, and have been as just as I could
be to you. You will find my will in that cabinet, continued she,
directing his attention to it. Lady Maclairn has my instructions in
respect to all that it contains except the will; she will inspect it in
your presence.
Here is a present for my niece. May it prove to her, what of late it
has been to me, a blessing! The captain paced the room in silence.
This picture, my dear and invaluable friend, continued she,
addressing me, you will see buried with me. She gazed intently on the
miniature of Mr. Philip Flint, which she wears in her bosom. Poor
fellow! added she mournfully, he will not soon forget Lucretia! He
will regret that he was not with me.—I cannot stand this! said the
agitated captain, and were I not convinced, Lucretia, that even in this
depression of your mind, there is a healing power more potent than
all human aids, you would break my heart.—I will spare your
feelings, answered she, only let me say a few words more: I wish to
have your concurrence. I have nominated Mr. Greenwood to succeed
Snughead in the Farefield living; but if you think he would like the
presentation better from you, speak, and it shall be so managed. “I
do not believe,” added Mrs. Allen, “that the captain could have
uttered a word, had his friend’s being made an archbishop depended
on it; he was quite overcome by his feelings.”
“At length he ventured to say, should you like to see Mr.
Greenwood? He would be sorry to see me, replied she; he is a good
man, and will pity me; but I wish not to see him. I have no want of
his assistance;” she raised her eyes to Heaven, and paused. “You may
imagine,” continued Mrs. Allen, “that her exertions had subdued her.
The captain no sooner left her, than she went to her bed; and I have
the comfort of quitting her in a peaceful sleep.”
This recital, my Lucy, will affect poor Mary; but it will do her no
harm hereafter. Her mind wants firmness for the trials of life; and
she must acquire strength by the usual means. I have occasion for
more patience and fortitude than I possess. I tremble for the
consequences which will result to Mrs. Allen, should Miss Flint
continue long in her present condition. What will you say to the cares
and attention that devote my dear friend to her room the whole day?
What will you say to her swelled legs, got by watching her through
half the night? Will it be any comfort to you, when she is on a sick
bed, to be told that her piety and prayers are the cordials that quiet
the perturbed spirit of the miserable invalid? I have yet much to do
with my rebellious one; and I honestly confess, that, sincerely as I
rejoice at Miss Flint’s present temper of mind, I should murmur to
give a saint to her funeral obsequies. My serious remonstrances have
answered; Mrs. Allen is gone to bed, and I will take care she shall not
quit it to-night, to traverse half clothed, the passages to that of
another.
What with fogs within, and fogs without, it has been necessary for
me to make a sun of my own. Sir Murdoch has undertaken to teach
me to paint in oil colours; and I have begun to copy a landscape “très
riant,” for I cannot help laughing at my imitation of a good copy.
In continuation.
I was summoned below stairs. The enclosed will explain the cause.
Sir Murdoch and his son set out for Putney to-morrow morning; and
we are in a bustle; and somewhat anxious about the roads and cold
weather. I must help Lady Maclairn in this alarm.

Adieu, your’s,
R. Cowley.
 LETTER LXII.
From Mr. Serge to Sir Murdoch Maclairn.
Putney, Dec. 3.

My dear and honoured friend! It is all over with Jeremiah Serge!

The public papers will tell you that he is desolate. To-morrow I shall
lose sight of her precious remains! But what of that! Do I not see her
always before me? Do I not hear her voice, and the blessed
consolations she gave me. My name was in the last sigh that
conveyed her to her God! Oh! she was a child, Sir Murdoch, worthy
of a heavenly Father! She was too good to be lent me long! and yet I
never forgot to be grateful for the loan: my daily prayers were thanks
to God, for the blessings she imparted! so affectionate, so gentle, so
wise, and yet so young! What a bulwark of defence has my age and
weakness lost! I do not know why I write to you; but I am so
oppressed by my thoughts, and my kind friends here fatigue me.
They cannot help it. They do for the best; but what can be done for
me! Is it not hard to see the sapless trunk left to the wintry blasts;
and the blossoms of the spring cut off? If my child had been spared
only a little while, she might have closed my eyes, and I had been at
rest. But I must not murmur against God! My Caroline warned me
not to grieve as “one without hope.” And I will hope, Sir Murdoch,
that my present feelings will soon effect my deliverance. I shall soon
be re-united to my child. I am very ill, and I think it is better to tell
you what also disturbs me in this hour of tribulation before I send
away this letter. I have not been negligent in regard to my worldly
concerns, as these relate to the security of my wife and children; for I
lost no time, in executing that duty, after you had so graciously
consented to be my children’s friend. But my heart is now set upon
seeing you and Malcolm once more before I die. You are a good man,
Sir Murdoch, and, in the sight of God, that is the only title that will
survive you. I think you will not refuse to come to me: no comfort on
earth would be so welcome; but do not delay your journey, if you
mean to see me; for indeed I am sinking fast. My poor wife is on a
sick bed; she might have foreseen the blow more than she did, but we
have all our faults! Poor soul! She finds at this hour that life needs
more than a doublet of silk, to guard the pilgrim in his rough
journey! I am sure Malcolm will second me in my request. Tell him,
that poor Caroline spoke of him not an hour before she died, and
called him her good brother Malcolm.
God preserve you, Sir Murdoch, from knowing the sorrow which
fills the heart of

Jeremiah Serge.
 LETTER LXIII.
From Miss Cowley to Miss Hardcastle.
Friday morning.

My letter[1] of Monday last contained the intelligence of the good

baronet’s safety, and the comfortable hopes that are entertained at
Putney, that Mr. Serge will not need executors to his will, for some
time at least; for the sight of the travellers has been a cordial to him.
This morning we had another letter; it was from Malcolm; all the
business which occasioned the journey had been finished to poor Mr.
Serge’s contentment; but he had exerted himself too much; and the
gout had overtaken him. Malcolm adds, that the doctor regards this
indisposition as favourable to his friend’s general health, and that he
is chief nurse; Mrs. Fairly attends her mother with assiduity, though
unwell herself; she is, he says, the shadow of the Leonora we know,
and he thinks her in a consumption. Her husband, from time to time,
attends her; but his reception is cold and ceremonious in Mr. Serge’s
room, and he is not less restrained on his part with the guests. Sir
Murdoch is in perfect health, and the counsellor shares, in his leisure
hours, and contributes to his amusement.
1. This letter does not appear.
Lady Maclairn summons me to perform my part of the task we
have before us; she has finished her part of it, and I have to fill the
second sheet of paper to Putney. You will soon find me with you
again; but my good father must have this hour, and the satisfaction
of knowing that his wife is easy and reasonable, as is your

Rachel Cowley.
 CHAP. X.

LETTER LXIV.
Sunday morning.

Will my Lucy need from me the obvious reflexions, which will result
from the perusal of this letter? “No:” nor have I time to make them,
though the impressions on my mind are such as will indelibly
remain, as admonitions to warn me against too much security in this
world’s air bubbles!
I had so well sustained my part with my pen, in writing to Sir
Murdoch, that I had produced a cheerfulness on the pensive brow of
his wife; and she detained me with her, until it was too late to finish
my letter to you. I therefore continued to read and chat with my
friend till near the dining hour. The appearance of Doctor Douglass
was nothing new; but we were equally struck with his manner and
countenance; and her ladyship, with alarm, asked him, whether
Lucretia was worse. “No,” replied he, with visible distress, “there is
no material change; but she has asked for you.” Lady Maclairn
immediately quitted us to go to her sister’s room. “She is dying,”
observed I, “you think so, I am certain; why do you flatter Lady
Maclairn with hopes?” “Poor creature!” answered he, “I wish she had
only this shock to support, there would then be little to justify my
fears for her; but I am a coward, Miss Cowley, and you must assist
me, and yet I tremble even in soliciting your aid; for these exertions
can do you no good.” “Never think of me,” said I eagerly. “What are
the dreadful tidings you bring?” “That a sinner is departed,”
answered he with solemnity; “that Lady Maclairn has no longer a
brother. Let me conduct you to your apartment,” continued he,
seeing me pale and trembling, “I must consult you; and we shall be
interrupted here.” I made no reply; but yielded to his assistance.
A burst of tears relieved me. “Wherefore is it,” observed poor
Douglass, with compassion, “that you seem destined, by Providence,
to be the support of this unfortunate family; and, by the continual
exertions of your fortitude and humanity, thus to diminish your own
comforts and weaken your health?” I admire you, and I reverence
your Mrs. Hardcastle; but your strength of mind is uncommon! “Try
it,” replied I, “let me hear the whole of this dreadful affair; it cannot
be worse than I apprehend.” “Nor is it better,” answered he; “and we
have to guard against surprises. It must be discovered. The public
papers will have the intelligence, and Lady Maclairn must be
prepared; are you equal to the task?” “I trust I am,” answered I,
“otherwise my strength of mind is no virtue.” He grasped my hand,
and said some words, expressive of his approbation, then proceeded
to inform me, that Captain Flint had found on his table the preceding
evening, on returning from his sister’s, the packet which he now
produced. “I was sent for,” added the doctor, “and we passed nearly
the whole night in reading the contents, and consulting the best
means of communicating them to Lady Maclairn. The captain
declared he was unable to do it; and thought himself peculiarly
disqualified for the office, it being no secret, that he despised the
man, and was not surprised at his end.” “I have no heart on such
occasions,” continued Douglass, rising and pacing the room. “I have
a trick of looking beyond “this diurnal sphere,” and I hate to
announce the death of the wicked. There are the letters; I will leave
you for an hour and then return; you may want me as a physician.”
To the hasty perusal of them, followed my thanks to Providence for
the absence of Sir Murdoch; and without suffering the energy of my
mind to relax, I sent for Lady Maclairn to my room. She instantly
perceived my emotion, and I at once acknowledged that I had bad
news to communicate from Jamaica; and which Captain Flint was
unequal to the task of doing. She gasped for breath. “Nothing can
equal,” continued I, “Mr. Philip Flint’s solicitude for you, thank God!
he has stood the shock: his friends are without alarm for him. Mr.
Flamall’s death must be supported, my dear Lady Maclairn; let me
see you composed.” “It was sudden?” said she, fixing her eyes on my
face, “It was——I made no other answer, than falling on her shoulder
and weeping.” “It is enough,” said she, trembling and sinking from
my embrace. I was terrified, for she did not faint as I expected, but
with her eyes fixed, and with a deadly groan she articulated the name
of Duncan. I immediately perceived the dreadful idea, which had
taken possession of her mind. “He is at rest, my dear friend,” said I,
“and now blessed for his faithfulness to you.” I was proceeding, but
she heard me not. Horror had transfixed her to her seat. She was as
cold as marble, and not a tear fell. I rang the bell with violence. The
doctor entered at the same moment; he instantly bled her, and she
was put into my bed. Douglass watched her, under great uneasiness,
until she appeared to me to be dead. I really thought she was, when
her eyes closed and her stiffened limbs relaxed. “Take courage,” said
he, “the worst is passed; she will recover.” The event shewed his
judgment; for in a few minutes she burst into violent sobbings, and
the death-like coldness of her hand gave place to a friendly
perspiration. He gave her a cordial; and ordering no one to disturb
her by speaking, I was left with her. By his orders, I neither checked
her tears, nor evaded her enquiries. I believe, however, that she
dosed for some time, as not a sigh escaped her. At length, putting
aside the curtain, she spoke, and I approached her. “Angel of mercy
and goodness,” said she, kissing my hand, “tell me, has no one seen
my distress?” “The servants saw you in a fainting state,” replied I.
“But they never saw me so ill I believe,” observed she with anxiety,
“Did nothing escape me?” I satisfied her at once on this point, and at
her request briefly, and I think wisely, informed her of the leading
events contained in the captain’s letters. She wept, and I proceeded.
“In this trial of your faith and fortitude,” said I, “it is not possible you
can overlook the merciful Being, who has secured Duncan from guilt,
by removing him to an abode of peace.” “I cannot express my
thankfulness,” replied she, “but I feel the gratitude.—But my
wretched lost brother!” She shuddered anew— “He is before an
unerring Judge,” replied I, interrupting her. “It neither becomes you
nor myself to limit infinite mercy. You are now called upon, by that
God of mercy, to submit to his power and to trust in his goodness
and compassion. Let it be your concern to perform, with courage, the
part assigned you. It has been a difficult one; but not beyond your
strength. Remember that you are still a wife, and a mother; and your
duties will give you patience and peace.”
 Emulate the man in whose sorrows you have shared; “he was
faithful to the end.” Deprive him not of the glory of having loved your
reputation and your honour more than his own. To Lady Maclairn he
sacrificed his fondest hopes, his vengeance on his oppressor, his ease
in life, and even the name of her faithful Duncan to his last moments.
Weep for him! continued I, with my eyes streaming; neither religion
nor virtue forbid this tribute to his memory; but live to preserve Sir
Murdoch Maclairn’s peace. “I would die rather than disturb it,” said
she with agony. “It is my misery, my past punishment, that whilst my
soul mourns the fate of a man ruined by my affection, another not
less worthy, not less beloved has been involved in all the perils of my
miserable condition and conduct. I cannot live without Maclairn’s
esteem and tenderness; I cannot die without affecting him. I must
still wear the odious cloak of deceit; I must still impose on his noble
unsuspecting nature. Oh fatal consequences of my quitting the paths
of truth!” added she, with interrupted sighs; “wretched fruits of my
weak credulity and childish fears! Had I been firm, had I shown
myself to the world as the reprobated widow of poor Duncan, I
should long ere this have smiled at its contempt, or been at peace in
my grave. But for what am I not now answerable?” “Not for your
brother’s wickedness,” replied I eagerly, “you have a fair account, my
dear friend, to set against the errors of your youth; recollect the place
you have filled in society, the years of suffering your tender cares
have mitigated, the duties of the mother you have performed, the
happiness you have administered; and I will add, the pangs your
courage has sustained in order to effect the tranquillity of others.
Secresy is now a duty, and an obligation enforced upon you, by every
motive of virtue and utility. Let me see you, what you may be; unless,
by recalling the past, you destroy your health, and my hopes. The
storm is passed; and if you experience not the joy of an unclouded
sky, yet the evening of your days may be serene and quiet.”
She promised me to be all I wished, and to brace every nerve
against her husband’s return. I think she is more composed to day;
and at her request I have been with Miss Flint. As I expected, she
began by lamenting her ladyship’s sudden indisposition, and added,
that Percival also had a cold which prevented her seeing him. I gave
her hopes of her sister’s speedy recovery, and endeavoured to keep
up the conversation; but she soon dosed, which I find she again does
half her time, and I left her without being noticed.
 Good night, I am going to bed, and to sleep if I can. Mrs. Allen will
be with Lady Maclairn. I direct my letters to Sedley. You will
understand by the accompaniments my reason for so doing. Mary
might wonder at not being trusted; Mr. Sedley will give you this
packet. Adieu. Let me know that the intelligence is secure in your
hands. My friend wishes you to keep these with the other papers: she
has read them.
I am really quite worn out with one or two night’s watching; but do
not fancy me sick, should I be lazy. We expect Sir Murdoch the day
after to-morrow; and I may have too much business on my hands to
write to you before Saturday.
 LETTER LXV.
From Mr. Paget to Capt. Percival Flint.
(Enclosed in the preceding.)

DEAR SIR, Kingston, Jamaica, &c.

The melancholy contents of this letter will sufficiently account for

its being written by a stranger to you. The duty assigned to me will,
however, at once show me the friend of Mr. Flint, and the painful
witness of the distress, into which all his family are plunged.
The sudden death of Mr. Flamall, his uncle, is an event, which,
under the common circumstances of human life, would require
precaution, in the communication of it at Farefield Hall. But my
poor friend has to dread every thing, lest the catastrophe of his
uncle’s end, should reach his mother through the channel of the
public papers. He conjures you to consult his brother Malcolm in
those measures which are necessary to prevent this blow reaching
the hall too suddenly for his mother’s strength. Before I begin the
detail of those particulars, which you will naturally wish to have
before you, permit me to have the satisfaction of assuring you, that
my patient, and I may add my dearest friend, Philip Flint, is in a
degree recovered from the illness brought on by the first agitation of
his spirits; his amiable wife is well, and as yet a stranger to the
shocking tale. I will now begin my melancholy task.
The arrival of a large vessel in this port, from New York, and
commanded by a Captain Nelson, may be assigned as one of those
cases which have produced the event before me. In consequence of
Mr. Flamall’s having a concern in the cargo, he was induced to quit
his retirement; and to come to the Creek plantation, near this place.
To this circumstance I was a stranger, however, having, as Mr. Flint’s
friend, dropped a man, generally condemned for his inflexibility; and
at present forgotten by that society, which for some time he had so
carefully, and gloomily avoided.
 I happened to be at the general rendezvous, a coffee-house here,
when a merchant, of the name of Gilpin, an intimate friend of mine,
entered, with Captain Nelson, the newly arrived stranger. I was
presented to him by my friend: and, in a way, which the captain and
myself both appeared to understand. I found, that Mr. Gilpin had
long known this gentleman; and in a few minutes I thought I had
long known him myself, from the frankness of his manner. We were
settling our plan for dining together; when one of the waiters told
Mr. Nelson, that “Mr. Flamall was on horseback at the door, and
wished to speak to him for a minute.” The captain instantly obeyed
the summons, and, in a few minutes, he returned to the room, and I
saw Flamall pass the window. I remarked to some one near me, that
he looked ill and dejected. The captain, was now disturbed by a more
serious business. Some one in the passage called loudly for
assistance; and the captain was told, that “his steward was in the
agonies of death in the corridor.” We flew to the spot; and, as a
medical man, it became my duty to succour the sick one. He had
been suddenly surprised, by the bursting of a large blood vessel, and
the case was critical and justly alarming. I was, however, struck by
the uncommon interest which the captain appeared to take in the
poor man’s preservation. Every accommodation the house could
afford was speedily procured; and I saw my patient in a spacious
bedroom, with a negro woman for his attendant, whom I knew was a
good nurse. Some abatement of the hæmorrhage, having succeeded
to bleeding in the arm, and other remedies, I left him to his repose;
and joined my friends at Mr. Gilpin’s, whose house was not remote
from my patient. Captain Nelson listened to my account of him with
the utmost anxiety. “I would give half I am worth,” said he, grasping
my hand, “to save this man.” This complaint came on in a moment,
they tell me: he was apparently well when I passed him; and that was
not five minutes before you saw him; those near him say it was a fit;
for they heard him groan, and he rose from his seat, as if to seek air,
when he fell back and the blood gushed from his mouth. I saw, in this
account, his hopes of the man’s recovery; which I could not
encourage, and wished not to depress.
After dinner he attended me to visit him. “I have known this man
many years,” said he. “I have no doubt of his having been
unfortunate; his education and manners speak the gentleman: his
conduct and industry the honest man. His reserve and dejection have
imposed on me a respect for his misfortunes; and to this hour I only
know, that his name is Charles, and that he is a very extraordinary
man; for his fidelity to me, has not lessened his influence with my
people; who all love him as their best friend. To-morrow morning, I
shall bring his boy on shore to be with him.” “Then he has a son?”
observed I. “One of his adoption,” answered he; “and his motives for
so doing, will give you his character. I had lost sight of him for some
years, having left him in London. In his passage from thence to New
York, where, as it appears, he was as poor as when I first saw him, he
was a common seaman: one of the crew, a native of New York fell
sick and died on the passage, recommending to Charles his aged
mother, and his child, this boy. He promised to take care of them,
and he kept his word; for taking up his abode in the old woman’s
miserable hovel, he supported the family by his labour. In this
situation, I again met him. The death of the woman, and my offer to
take the boy with him, induced him to accept the post of ship steward
on board my ship; where he has been several years. You will judge of
him as a schoolmaster, when you see George.” “Poor lad!” continued
the captain, “he will break his heart; but I will be his friend.”
I returned to my patient, but did not allow him to speak; he was
told that his George would be with him in the morning, and his hand
only was offered to the captain.
On entering the room the following day, I found George at his post.
The patient was raised by his pillows; and one of the finest youths,
my eyes ever beheld, filled the space they had left. He was bending
over the sick man, in an attitude convenient for his head to rest on
the lad’s shoulder, who was, as I judged, between fifteen and sixteen,
and in the full vigour of youth. He raised his penetrating large black
eyes to my face, whilst I made my enquiries of the woman, relative to
the condition of his father. Her replies were not unfavourable; and
never shall I forget the look of gratitude I then received! But
overcome by his sensibility, he wept most bitterly, and hid his face.
Captain Nelson entered at this moment. “Why, how is this, my boy,”
cried he endeavouring to hide his feelings, “Did you not promise to
have a good heart! The doctor will soon set us all to rights again; so
have courage.” The doctor, my dear Sir, was not so sanguine; but
recommending silence and repose took his leave: George assuring
me, that he would watch his father’s eyes, and those would tell him
what he wanted. In the evening I was with him again. All was in
order, and a silence, like death, prevailed in the room. George was
reading a French Telemachus; the patient was dosing; and the negro
woman was dismissed for some hours of needful rest. The next day I
had hopes, that my patient had a chance; but the following morning I
found, to my surprise, only the nurse with him. On enquiry, I learned
from her, that his father had sent him with a letter to the Creek
plantation. “Why did you not find a porter?” asked I. “Because he
said,” answered she, in a low whisper, “he could not die contented,
unless he knew that it was delivered to Mr. Flamall.” Though by no
means pleased with this exertion of writing, I said but little to the
sick man, contenting myself with his answer. “I shall write no more.”
I prolonged my stay, partly to supply nurse’s absence, whom I sent
for something needful, and partly to gratify my curiosity. The sick
man’s person was calculated to excite it. His physiognomy was noble;
his features regular; dark blue eyes, which, though sunk and dimmed
by his condition, were expressive of manly fortitude; his hair was of a
light chestnut colour, but in places, striped with the signs of age, for
it was even changed to nearly white; he was extremely fair; and the
paleness of death was relieved, by a lingering colour in his lips.
Observing the beauty of his teeth, I asked him his age. He replied,
that he believed he was turned of fifty. He was neatly dressed in a
blue and white cotton waistcoat and trowsers; and reclined on the
outside of the matrass. A statuary would not have wished for a more
perfect model of the human form! He was in height, I should think,
within six feet. I observed to him, that his chest was not made to
oppress his lungs; and that I flattered myself, the malady which had
so suddenly overtaken him, might have for its course, a less
dangerous source. He smiled, and said, he had never had any
tendency to consumptive symptoms; nor did he ever attribute his
want of health to a weak constitution. At this instant George entered,
covered with dust, and exhausted by heat and fatigue. He
approached the bed, and said, “I have seen Mr. Flamall, and given
your letter into his own hand.” “It is well:” replied my patient, with
an emotion that alarmed me; for I was still feeling the pulse, and
those would have betrayed it, without the suffusion which passed his
cheek. I turned towards George, and after lecturing him with
kindness, for his imprudent speed, I insisted on his leaving the room,
and laying down for some hours. A sign, from his father which he
understood, made him docile, and he retired. Soon after I left the
sick room, cautioning the nurse, neither to admit Mr. Flamall nor
any message from him or others to reach her charge; and taking
some sherbet in my hand, I sought George’s little room. He had
obeyed me, and had taken off his clothes. I told him the
consequences which would result from any exertion or surprise to his
father; warning him to be on the watch. He said, he did not believe
his father expected either a visit, or an answer from the gentleman in
question. He had told him not to wait for any orders; and had
appeared only anxious, that his own letter should reach him safely.
I proceeded to the coffee-house, where, as I expected, I met
Captain Nelson. I gave him this detail; and he thought no more of it,
I believe, for he was surrounded by busy faces; and he told me, that
he should be with Charles soon, and would meet me at Mr. Gilpin’s
before sunset.
I dined with my friend; and we were quietly conversing, when
Captain Nelson bursting into the room, said with agony, “it is all over
with him! nothing can now save him!” I waited not for more
intelligence, but seizing my hat, hastily made my way to the sick
man, Nelson following me. It was, indeed, “all over with him;” all our
care and attention availed nothing! For in a few hours he died. Poor
Nelson, during this scene of painful suspense, lamented, in terms of
the bitterest grief, that he had caused the relapse. He said, that he
had found him quiet and apparently easy. “The nurse said George
was sound asleep, and mentioned your orders,” added the captain. “I
asked Charles what were his connexions with Mr. Flamall;” he calmly
replied, that he had known him in his youth. “And was that all?”
asked I; “come, be open with me, you have had George in your head,
I dare say, and fancying to make a friend for the poor lad; but give
yourself no concern about him. Let the worst come to the worst, he
will never want a father whilst I have a guinea; so try and be a man
again, and the brother of one who loves you as a brother.” He
grasped my hand with convulsive strength. “My God!” said he aloud,
“I thank thee, and die satisfied that thou art a God, merciful and
gracious!” “The blood again gushed from his mouth; and I flew to
Gilpin’s.”
I will pass over the sorrow of his poor George, in order to hasten to
the next still more serious and shocking event. Mr. Sinclair, the
brother of my patient, Mrs. Flint, brought me a summons to
“Upland,” the residence of the family, prepared to expect hourly the
lady’s want of my assistance. I accompanied her brother home; but
found Mrs. Flint, though in her own apartment, with her female
friends, perfectly contented with my being within the house. The
interval was devoted to my friend Philip’s amusement, whose anxiety
for the safety of his wife was apparent. We were rallying him on this
subject; and drinking to the health of his expected blessing, when
Mr. Sinclair was called from the table. I will pass over the detail.
Juba, an old and freed slave of the late Mr. Cowley’s, but who has
from his master’s death remained in his post of superintendent at the
Creek house, was the bearer of the intelligence which follows; and
which you will conceive produced the most dreadful sensations of
horror and surprise. “Mr. Flamall was dead, and by his own hand!”
Sinclair and myself lost no time, in returning with Juba, leaving Mr.
Flint to the care of Mr. Lindsey, and Mr. Montrose, his friends, and
inmates.
On the road Juba gave us the following particulars. On the
preceding morning, he it was, who saw George, who enquired of him
for Mr. Flamall, saying, he had a letter to deliver to him, which he
was ordered to give to no other person. “I asked the lad from whom
he had received his commission,” continued the faithful Juba, and he
replied, from Captain Nelson’s steward. Knowing that we had many
bales in his ship, I immediately concluded, that the letter referred to
business, relative to these goods; and I was on the point of telling the
young man, that I would be answerable for the safety of the letter;
but at that moment, Mr. Flamall appeared, and took it himself. I
shall be at Kingston to day, said he, holding the letter carelessly in
his hand, and shall speak to your captain. The lad bowed, and was
retreating; when Mr. Flamall asked him to rest, and take some
refreshment. He declined the offer, replying that his father would
want him. I entered the house; and he departed. Mr. Flamall was not
long, I believe, before he went to his apartment. He saw no one for
some hours; at length he rang his bell, and ordered his horse to be
prepared. We have lately observed him as a man struggling with
something wrong in his mind. He has been very odd at times; and his
groom said, he was in one of his silent fits; and chose to go by
himself. He did not return home, till a late hour in the evening. The
horse appeared heated and fatigued. He went to his bed room,
saying, that he wanted nothing then, and should ring in the morning,
when he did. Hour succeeded hour. We heard him pacing in the
library; and we began to fear that all was not right with him. “His
servant was curious, as well as uneasy; he stopped me on the
staircase, to tell me, that he had peeped through the key hole, that
his master was in his wrapping gown and night cap, and was writing,
and with a countenance that made him tremble: another servant was
going to make his observations by the same means,” continued poor
Juba, “when the report of a pistol checked him, and appalled us all.
We burst into the room. It was too late! you will see such a corpse! I
lost not, however, my presence of mind; one look at the shattered
mangled head of the poor wretch was enough for me! But whilst
others were gazing on the scene of horror, I secured the written
papers on his desk; which I will now give you.”
Juba drew the rumpled sheets of paper from his bosom, and
presented them to Mr. Sinclair. It is needless for me to add, that the
horrid explosion, had done its work. The aim was sure!
Herewith, you have the copies of the two letters above mentioned.
Mr. Sinclair recommends caution to you in respect to their
mysterious contents.
I shall have perhaps time to add something more to this letter; but
lest I be mistaken, receive, Sir, the unfeigned regard, and sympathy
of your very humble servant,

Thomas Paget.
 LETTER LXVI.
(Enclosed in Mr. Paget’s.)

To Mr. Flamall.
Shouldest thou start, Flamall, at the sight of these well known
characters, for my hand, like my heart, has but one for my purposes.
Should thy knees tremble, and the blood recede in terror from thy
cheek, bless Heaven! Hail these indications of its mercy! Thou hast
not yet outlived humanity, thou art not yet abandoned to everlasting
destruction. Be it so! Oh God, infinite in goodness, almighty in
power!
Were I certain, Flamall, that with the form of man there were yet
one single spark left unextinguished of the spirit of a man, I would
invite thee to my dying couch, for it is near thee. I would bid thee
compare it with thy nightly bed of prosperous villany. And here settle
those accounts of the guardianship and gains. Though for years in
bondage, I have been free from guilt. No parent will demand from
me a ruined oppressed son; no confederate in vice and cruelty and
treachery will point to me as the betrayer of his soul! But thou wilt
recall to memory the issue of thy crimes; and the names of thy agents
in mischief.
I die in peace. My wife knows my innocence and my wrongs. If it
be needful for thy repentance, apply to her; and with the tale of thy
brotherly care, of an innocent, and virtuous orphan-sister, thou
mayest have the relation of the woes thou hast inflicted on thy ward
Charles.
Detain not the messenger: I wait his return to breathe my last sigh
on his faithful bosom. Thou hast been defeated, Flamall! The tear of
affection will fall on my remains; and I shall be remembered as one
who has not lived to be the fell destroyer of my fellow-man, nor as
one abandoned by his Maker.
 LETTER LXVII.
From Mr. Flamall to Mr. Philip Flint.
(Enclosed in Mr. Paget’s.)
Horror! unutterable horror! anguish, despair! Twist not thus my
brain! he is dead! and died with his hopes! expecting to be welcomed
in a new existence, by assembled angels, hailed by spirits like his
own, and received by a God of mercy who will recompense his long
sufferings and faith.—Delusions all! The tales of the nursery made up
for children! I reject them. When these atoms which compose this
palpitating frame are disunited I shall be at peace: for I shall be
nothing. But wherefore do I pause? What is to me the world to which
I now cleave? Why does my heart turn to thee, Philip? I know thou
also abhorrest me, yet I would not have thee curse me, for of all men,
I have a claim to thy pity. I love thee still. I would bless thee, but I
dare not. For if there be a God, whose awful indignation takes
cognizance of sin; my blessing would be converted into a malediction
on thy head. Blot me from thy memory; acknowledge not the name of
Flamall, nor permit thy children to know, that I was once thy guide,
thy friend——Nay——Distraction! Why do I hesitate——
Mr. Paget in continuation.
It is needless to make any comments on the foregoing letters. It is
but too apparent, that Flamall was the aggressor; beyond this all is
conjecture. We have, on our part, acted with caution. Captain Nelson
has been questioned closely, as to his knowledge of the person,
supposed to have been the cause of the dreadful end of Mr. Flamall.
He repeated, on oath, his evidence in favour of this unknown, and
adhered to the account he had before given me of his acquaintance
with him; adding, that he had not a doubt of his having been an
injured man. His sorrow, for his loss, was not concealed; for he even
shed tears, and with an oath affirmed, that not only himself but every
man in his ship had lost a brother. Poor George was with him, and
looked the picture of despair: he was examined also: he had never
heard his father and protector name Mr. Flamall until the morning
he gave him the letter. Not a single paper was found in his chest,
except a note, in which he gives, with his blessing, his little property
of clothes, linen, and a few books to this boy. Thus, has every enquiry
terminated. I cannot help believing, that you will be gratified by
knowing, that Captain Nelson means to protect the lad in question.
Mr. Flamall has been careful to leave no traces behind him, that
may help to elucidate this mystery, or throw a light on any other of
his private concerns. Not a paper, nor a letter escaped his vigilant
cautions. Juba tells us, that from the time his nephew’s marriage was
announced, he has suspected his mind to have been deranged at
times, and that he was continually reading and burning letters and
papers when in his room. One striking proof of his former connexion
with the unfortunate stranger, Charles, is much talked of. He called
at the house where he lodged and died; and to the enquiries he made
concerning the sick man, one of the servants answered, that he was
dead. He said, he wished to see him, having known him in his youth.
The negro woman attended him to the deceased man’s room. He
looked attentively at the corpse; appeared agitated, and sighing said,
“his troubles are over.” But such was the impression the object before
him had produced, that he left the house, and forgot his horse, which
he had tied to the door he had passed. A waiter perceiving it,
followed him with the animal; he mounting, and without speaking,
put him on his full speed.

Thomas Paget.