English journalism has suffered, though we most sincerely hope and
believe only for a time, a very severe loss in the resignation by Mr. Lathbury of the post of editor of the Guardian. Mr. Lathbury's coolness, good-sense, and inde- pendence of view in matters political and literary, as well as theological, made him an almost ideal editor at a period of storm and crisis in Church affairs. His wide tolerance and open-mindedness always ranged him against extreme and fanatical courses. Though his sympathies were in many particulars with the extremists, he most distinctly, though no doubt without vituperative epithets, cast his influence on the side of obedience to episcopal authority, and that influence will be greatly missed just now. Mr. Lathbury's sound and yet sympathetic judgment in literature made the Guardian under his editorship one of the best literary newspapers in London. Perhaps the most strongly marked characteristic of Mr. Lathbury's method of dealing with public questions was his refusal to create a man of straw, label the creation as his " opponent," and then proceed to demolish him triumphantly. He tried to understand the views he combatted. That, no doubt, often spoils a promising controversy, but it also saves much heat and misunderstanding.
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