You were not impressed by the information that
such and such a paper was being edited and brought out at Lisbon or
Innsbruck if you chanced to see the principal leader-writer or the art
editor lunching as usual at their accustomed restaurants. The _Daily
Intelligencer_ was determined to give no loophole for cavil at the
genuineness of its pilgrimage, and it must be admitted that to a certain
extent the arrangements made for transmitting copy and carrying on the
usual features of the paper during the long outward journey worked
smoothly and well. The series of articles which commenced at Baku on
'What Cobdenism might do for the camel industry' ranks among the best of
the recent contributions to Free Trade literature, while the views on
foreign policy enunciated 'from a roof in Yarkand' showed at least as
much grasp of the international situation as those that had germinated
within half a mile of Downing Street. Quite in keeping, too, with the
older and better traditions of British journalism was the manner of the
home-coming; no bombast, no personal advertisement, no flamboyant
interviews. Even a complimentary luncheon at the Voyagers' Club was
courteously declined. Indeed, it began to be felt that the
self-effacement of the returned pressmen was being carried to a pedantic
length. Foreman compositors, advertisement clerks, and other members of
the non-editorial staff, who had, of course, taken no part in the great
trek, found it as impossible to get into direct communication with the
editor and his satellites now that they had returned as when they had
been excusably inaccessible in Central Asia.
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