Introduction
After witnessing a Russian village burn to the ground because a boy played with matches in a barn, journalist William Stead (1849-1912) was moved to be severe on those other ‘boys with matches’ — the hawkish British press, whose incendiary words could spark the powder kegs of European politics.
AND the boys with the matches, who are they? Alas! if the truth must be said, they are too often journalists, men of my own profession, who seem to imagine that the supreme duty of the editor is to exasperate national animosities and inflame prejudices that can only be slaked in blood.* Said Baron de Jomini to me one day in St Petersburg,* in his pleasant way, “Peace! The Governments would have no difficulty in keeping peace if only the journalists were well hanged. It is the newspapers that excite the passions which hurry Governments against their will into acts of war.”
We cannot string up our journalistic boys-with-matches; nay, we cannot even rap their knuckles; they must, if it please them, be free to strike as many lights as they please in the powder magazine of Europe.
Stead was never without a box of matches himself, though he would argue that he only lit fires when presented (as he said of his appointment as editor of the ‘Northern Echo’) with “a glorious opportunity of attacking the devil.” See The Man who Made the Headlines.
Antoine-Henri, Baron Jomini (1779-1869) a Swiss soldier who served in the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and simultaneously in the Russian military, a dual loyalty which he managed to maintain when Napoleon marched on Moscow in 1812 by taking a non-combatant role. After the Siege of Varna in the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, he shared his time between Brussels, St Petersburg and Paris.
Précis
Victorian journalist William Stead branded his colleagues ‘boys with matches’ for their irresponsibly bellicose rhetoric. Though Stead quoted Franco-Russian soldier Baron de Jomini, who jokingly recommended that the newsmen be hanged, he went on to stress that the freedom of the press was more important even than preventing Europe from blowing up as a result of media hysteria. (58 / 60 words)
Victorian journalist William Stead branded his colleagues ‘boys with matches’ for their irresponsibly bellicose rhetoric. Though Stead quoted Franco-Russian soldier Baron de Jomini, who jokingly recommended that the newsmen be hanged, he went on to stress that the freedom of the press was more important even than preventing Europe from blowing up as a result of media hysteria.
Edit | Reset
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, ought, since, unless, until, whereas, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Whom does Stead describe as ‘boys with matches’?
Suggestion
Bellicose British journalists spreading rumours about Russia. (7 words)
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Journalists wrote articles. They encouraged fear of Russia. Stead called them ‘boys with matches’.