In popular language the term "Newspapers" has a more restricted application than is given to it in the language of the law. Its use is confined, or almost confined, to such periodical publications as contain more or less of political intelligence, published at short intervals; whilst in the phraseology of the British statutes and law-books the word "Newspaper" is defined to include—(1.) "Any paper containing public news, intelligence, or occurrences, printed in any part of the United Kingdom, to be dispersed and made public;" (2.) Any paper, printed at intervals, not exceeding twenty-six days, of which advertisements are the sole or principal contents; and (3.) "Any paper containing any public news, intelligence, or occurrences, or any remarks or observations thereon, printed in any part of the United Kingdom for sale, and published periodically, or in parts or numbers, at intervals not exceeding twenty-six days between the publication of any two such papers" (provided such paper shall not exceed in dimensions and bulk two sheets of paper, each twenty-one inches in length, by seventeen inches in breadth; and provided also that such paper shall be published for sale for a less sum than sixpence). These definitions and provisions were enacted with reference to duties which have since been repealed, but they have still the force of law, although within smaller limits. And to this cause it is owing that publications, which none of their readers would speak of as "newspapers," still continue to bear that designation in the official returns of the Stamp-Office and the Post-Office.

The elaborate machinery, the wide circulation, and the vast influence of newspapers, are now such familiar things, that it needs some mental effort to conceive of their absence, without an undue depreciation of the public opinion of the days when newspapers were unknown. It is even difficult thoroughly to apprehend the facts that those days are little more than two centuries removed from us, and that the newspaper of a period considerably less distant than one century, was utterly unlike any publication that now bears the name. A few men, indeed, of high principle and vigorous intellect,—of some of whom we shall have to speak hereafter,—earlier employed themselves in political writings, which were periodically issued; but those writers were rather pamphleteers than journalists. The true predecessors of the broad-sheets of our own day were for the most part little better than court newsmen, slenderly endowed even as respects syntax and orthography, who were usually content to retail meagre intelligence in disjointed paragraphs, without a syllable of useful comment or intelligible inference; and of whom not a few were in the habit of filling up occasional blanks by the insertion of false news on one day, and the contradiction of it on another. In this article it will be our aim to indicate, however briefly, the successive steps by which publications of such a class have been transformed into what even statesmen are accustomed to honour with the name of a "fourth estate" of the realm; to show in what manner the legislation affecting newspapers has been gradually amended in Great Britain, though by no means at an equal pace with the improvement of the press itself, and that this amendment of British law is pregnant with instruction for other countries; and, finally, to sketch, as far as our needful limits will permit, the growth and present statistics of newspapers in the principal countries of continental Europe, as well as in the United States of America.

I.—THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

The first journalists were the writers of "news-letters." The early dependents of great men, each employed in keeping his own master or patron well-informed, during his absence from court, of all that transpired, the duty grew at length into a calling. The writer had his periodical subscription-list, and instead of writing a single letter, wrote as many letters as he had customers. Then one, more enterprising than the rest, established an "intelligence-office," with a staff of clerks; and thus realized in sober prose Chaucer's poetical vision of The House of Fame:

"When one had heard a thing, I wiss, He came straight to another wight, And gan him telling anon, right; The same tale that to him was told.

Whether the tidings were sooth or false, Yet would he tell it matterless, And ever more with more increase Than it was erst: Thus North and South Went every thing, from mouth to mouth."

Of the earlier news-letters good examples may be seen in Sir John Fenn's collection of Paston Letters, and in Arthur Collins's Letters and Memorials of State (better known, perhaps, as the Sydney Papers). Of those of later date, specimens will be found in Knowler's Letters and Dispatches of Stratford, and in other well-known books. In the recently-published Diary of Narcissus Luttrell, examples of manuscript news-letters occur as late as the reign of William III.

By the pains and critical acumen of Mr Thomas Watts, the fiction of the British Museum, the old and obstinate fiction, that of English "for the first printed newspaper, mankind are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh," Mercury is at length gradually disappearing from current literature, although it has been many times repeated since the first publication of his able pamphlet. The remarkable tenacity of life which characterizes misstatements that have once gained the public ear, may still therefore make it desirable to enumerate the principal reasons which led to the conviction that the English Mercurie of 1588 is a forgery. As adduced by Mr Watts himself, they run thus:—(1.) The obvious resemblance of the type to Caslon's "English font" of the middle of the eighteenth century. (2.) The rigid maintenance of that distinction between u's and v's, r's and j's, which was utterly unknown to the printers of the sixteenth century. (3.) The preservation of the original MSS., from which the printer worked, written in a modern hand, with modern spelling, and with corrections,—obviously those, not of a transcriber, but of an author,—which the printer has copied; these MSS., being on paper manufactured in the early part of the reign of George III.; and (4.) Serious misstatements of fact, and anachronisms of date, of a kind which could not occur in the statements of persons who had taken part in the events they profess to narrate. These

---

1 Cymbal.—"This is the outer room where my clerks sit, And keep their sides, the Register in the midst; The Examiner, he sits private there, within; And here I have my several rolls and files Of news by the alphabet, and all put up. Under their heads."—Johnson, The Staple of News (acted in 1625). points have been thoroughly established; and it may now be hoped that the English Mercurie is finally relegated to its proper niche in the gallery of literary impostures.

Although no genuine newspaper of the sixteenth century can be produced, English pamphlets, as well as French, Italian, and German, occur with such titles as Neues from Spaine, and the like. In the early years of the seventeenth they became very numerous. In 1614 we find Butler (the anatomist of Melancholy) pointing a sarcasm against the non-reading habits of "the major part," by adding, "if they read a book at any time ... 'tis an English Chronicle, St. Honor of Bordeaux, Amadis de Gaul, &c., a play-book, or some pamphlet of news." The most eminent conveyors of reading of this sort were Nathaniel Butter, Nicholas Bourne, and Thomas Archer; and by them was issued, in May 1622, the first authentic periodical newspaper which is now known to exist:

"The Weekly News from Italy, Germany, &c., London, printed by J. D. for Nicholas Bourne and Thomas Archer." Butter's name does not occur on this number, but on many subsequent numbers it appears in connection sometimes with Bourne's and sometimes with Archer's name; so that there was probably an eventual partnership in the new undertaking. Butter had published Neues from Spaine in 1611, and he continued to be a publisher of news until 1641, if not later. It is to him that a passage in the fourth act of Fletcher's Fair Maid of the Inn obviously refers:

"It shall be the ghost of some lying stationer. A spirit shall look as if butter would melt in his mouth; a new Mercure Gallo-Belgicus." — Act iv. sc. 2.

In The Certain Neues of this Present Week [ending 23d August 1622] the publisher inserted this advertisement:

"If any gentleman or other accustomed to buy the weekly relations of newes be desirous to continue the same, let them know that the writer, or transcriber rather, of this newes hath published two former newes; the one dated the second, the other the thirteenth of August, all which do carry a like title, and have dependence one upon another; which manner of writing and printing he doth purpose to continue weekly, by God's assistance, from the best and most certain intelligence." There are on the face of these early papers many indications that they were published without legal sanction or cognisance. They touched very slightly on home news; and it is probable that for a time the censorship did not much care to interfere with their scraps of foreign intelligence. But as their numbers increased, jealousy appears to have been excited, and forced suppressions to have been imposed. One of the latest which bears Butter's name, entitled The Continuation of the Forraine Occurrents for 5 weeks last past, January 11, 1640 (o.s.), contains this address:—

"The Printer to the Reader—Courteous reader, we had thought to have given over printing our foreign avisoos, for that the licenser (out of a partial affection) would not oftentimes let pass apparent truth, and in other things (oftentimes) so cross and alter, which made us almost weary of printing; but lie being vanished, and that office fallen upon another more understanding in these forraine affaires, and as you will find more candid, we are again, by the favour of His Majesty and the State, resolved to go on printing, if we shall find the world to give a better acceptation of them than of late, by their weekly buying them." These hopeful anticipations do not appear to have been realized in the individual case of the writer; but a vast number of competitors for public support quickly presented themselves in the stirring times which England was then entering upon, and their productions were eagerly read. November 1641 is especially noticeable for the publication, in the form of a newspaper, of the earliest authentic report of the proceedings of Parliament. Diurnal Occurrences, or the Heads of several Proceedings in both Houses of Parliament, was usually, notwithstanding its title, a weekly periodical, and it sometimes contained ordinary news in addition to its staple matter. This was followed, within five years, by a long train of newspapers, most of which were published weekly, such as The English Post, Ireland's True Diurnal, England's Memorable Accidents, Weekly Intelligence, The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer, The Spy, Mercurius Anglicus, M. Anglicus, M. Civicus, M. Rusticus, The Weekly Account, The Parliament's Scout, M. Britannicus, The Scotch Intelligencer, The Scottish Mercury, The Welch Mercury, Mercurius Cambro-Britannicus, The Kingdom's Weekly Post, Le Mercure Anglois (in French), The London Post, The Country Messenger, and a multitude more. Nearly the whole of these papers are characterized by clumsiness of arrangement, by extreme paucity of original comment on the news narrated, and very frequently by the fierce virulence of such comments as do appear. The papers of this period which stand out most saliently from the rest are, the Mercurius Britannicus, M. Pragmaticus, and M. Politicus of Marchmont Nedham; and the Mercurius Anglicus of John Birkenhead. Nedham was unquestionably both the ablest and the readiest man that had yet tried his hand at a newspaper. He commenced Britannicus on the 22d August 1643, zealously advocated in it the cause of the Parliament, and continued its publication until 1647. At that period he changed sides for a time, under circumstances of which we know nothing, save from the reports of his enemies. According to them, "obtaining the favour Newspapers of a known royalist to introduce him into His Majesty's presence at Hampton Court, ann. 1647, he then and there ten by knelt before him, and desired forgiveness for what he had written against himself and his cause; . . . and soon after wrote Mercurius Pragmaticus, which, being very witty, satirical against the Presbyterians, and full of loyalty, made him known to, and admired by, the bravadoes and wits of those times. . . . At length . . . Lenthall and Bradshaw . . . persuaded him to change his style once more [in favour of] the Independents, then carrying all before them. So that, being bought over, he wrote Mercurius Politicus, so extreme contrary to the former, that the generality for a long time . . . could not believe that that 'intelligence' could possibly be written by the same hand that wrote the M. Pragmaticus. . . . The last [i.e., the Pragmaticus] were encouraged by the parliamentees to be stifled, but the former, the Politicus, which came out by authority, and flew every week into all parts of the nation for more than ten years, had very great influence. . . . He was then the Goliath of the Philistines, the great champion of the late usurper, whose pen, in comparison of others, was like a weaver's beam."

Birkenhead's M. Anglicus was also begun in 1643, and con-

---

1 So Crabbe, writing in similar strain a hundred and seventy years later:—

"To you all readers turn, and they can look: Pleased on a paper who abhor a book; Those who ne'er deligned their Bible to peruse, Would think it hard to be denied their news." —The Newspaper, 1785.

2 The Courant, or Weekly News from Foreign Parts, of Oct. 9, 1621, mentioned by Nichols (Literary Anecdotes, iv. 38), is of doubtful authenticity. It is described as "a half-sheet in the black letter, 4to, out of High Dutch, printed for Nath. Butter." Yet it is probable that future researches will discover papers, serially published, of even earlier date. Publications of this sort have been usually too little cared for in our great libraries.

3 Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses (by Bliss), iii. 1182. A new Mercurius Britannicus appeared in June 1647, but did not long continue. Another, entitled M. Britannicus again Alive, was published in May 1648, and the title was often subsequently revived. tinued, although irregularly, until nearly the close of the civil war. According to Wood, Charles I. "appointed him to write the Mercuri Aulicus, which being very pleasing to the loyal party, His Majesty recommended him to the [University] electors that they would choose him moral philosophy reader," which was done accordingly. He was assisted in the composition of Aulicus by George Digby and by Dr Peter Heylin. He had considerable powers of satire after a coarse fashion, and was one of the few rough-weather royalists who were permitted to bask in the sunshine of the Restoration.

Under Cromwell, the chief papers were M. Politicus and The Publick Intelligencer (of which the first number appeared on the 8th October 1655). These publications were issued on different days of the week, and at length they became conjointly the foundation of our present London Gazette. Even at their origin they were in some degree official papers. The Intelligencer underwent several modifications of title at various periods, and was for a time edited by Nedham. In 1659 the Council of State caused the following announcement to be published:—"Whereas Marchmont Nedham, the author of the weekly news-books, called Mercurius Politicus, and The Publick Intelligencer, is, by order of the Council of State, discharged from writing or publishing any publick intelligence; the reader is desired to take notice that, by order of the said council, Giles Dury and Henry Maddiman are authorized henceforth to write and publish the said intelligence, the one upon the Thursday and the other upon the Monday, which they do intend to set out under the titles of The Parliamentory Intelligencer, and of Mercurius Publicus." After the Restoration, a monopoly of newspapers was attempted to be set up in favour of Roger L'Estrange, by a royal grant of "all the sole privilege of writing, printing, and publishing all narratives, advertisements, mercuries, intelligencers, diurnals, and other books of public intelligence; . . . with power to search for and seize unlicensed and treasonable, schismatical and scandalous books and papers." L'Estrange continued the papers above mentioned, but changed their titles to The Intelligencer and The News. In the first number of the former he paints both himself and his epoch in unmistakable colours:—"Supposing the press in order," he says, "the people in their right wits, and news or no news to be the question, a public Mercury should never have my vote; because I think it makes the public too familiar with the actions and counsels of their superiors, too pragmatical and censorious, and gives them not only an itch, but a kind of colourable right and license to be meddling with the government." But then, hebethinks him, that in some shape or other the government is sure to be attacked; and therefore ends thus:—"So that, upon the main, I perceive the thing requisite; and (for ought I can see yet) once a week may do the business; for I intend to utter my news by weight, not by measure. . . . The way as to the vent that has been found most beneficial to the master of the book, has been to cry and expose it about the streets, by Mercuries and hawkers, but whether that way may be so advisable in some other respects may be a question." But not even in that day was such a scheme workable. L'Estrange's papers continued only until 1665, and within that short period had their competitors, though of a miserable kind. The first number of The Oxford Gazette was published (whilst the court was at Oxford, on account of the great plague then raging in London) on the 14th November 1665, and became The London Gazette with the twenty-fourth number, issued on the 5th February 1666. For a very long period it retained its original size of a single leaf in small folio. It contained no news or documents but such as were palatable to the court; and these were retailed in the most meagre fashion, without a scintilla of literary ability. After the Revolution, however, it shared, to some small extent, in the general improvement of the press; and has now been published twice a week, without interruption, and in a continuous and uniform series, for nearly two centuries.

The excitement which attended the "Popish plot," and Restricting the "Exclusion Bill," largely increased the number of newspapers, without much elevating their character. The increase led to a new "Proclamation for suppressing the printing and publishing unlicensed news-books and pamphlets of news" (May 12, 1680), in which it is set forth that, "of late, many evil-disposed persons have made it a common practice to print and publish pamphlets of news, without license or authority, and therein have vended . . . idle and malicious reports," &c. Great efforts were made to give effect to this proclamation by the infliction of punishments of atrocious severity; but when English printers were terrified into submission, Dutch printers supplied their places. News-pamphlets poured in from Holland in spite of the utmost efforts of licensers and custom-house officers, and helped to prepare the way for the downfall of the Stuarts.

A few incidental paragraphs and announcements may deserve to be culled from the London newspapers of this period, of news by way of a small sample of their quality. In the fifthith papers of Domestic Intelligence, or News both from City and Country (9th July, 1679), we read:—"Whereas, on Charles II. Thursday the 18th instant, in the evening, Mr John Dryden was assaulted and wounded in Rose Street, in Covent Garden, by divers men unknown: if any person shall make discovery of the offenders to the said Mr Dryden, or to any justice of peace, . . . he shall not only receive fifty pounds, . . . but if the discoverer be himself one of the actors, he shall have the fifty pounds without letting his name be known, or receiving the least trouble by any prosecution." [In the present day such an advertisement as this would entail a fine of fifty pounds on the newspaper in which it appeared.] In No. 37 of The True News (27th March, 1680), it is announced that a project is set on foot "for conveying of letters, notes, messages, amorous billets, and all bundles whatsoever under a pound weight, and all sorts of writings (challenges only excepted), to and from any part of the city and suburbs; to which purpose the projectors have taken a house in Lime Street for a general office, and have appointed eight more stages in other parts at a convenient distance; a plot which, if not timely prevented by the freemen porters of the city, is like to prove the utter subversion of them and their worshipful corporation." The London Gazette of the 3rd December 1683 informs its readers that "there is a considerable sum of money already paid in to Mr Child at Temple Bar, towards the lottery of the jewels of his late R.H. Prince Rupert. For the satisfaction of all such as have any doubts of the fair and equal proceeding in the drawing thereof, . . . His Majesty will be pleased publicly, in the banqueting-house, to see the blanks told over, . . . and to read the papers in which the prizes are to be written, which . . . His Majesty will mix amongst the blanks." In this instance, it will be noticed, the style of the gazetteer is sufficiently prolix to necessitate abridgment, but usually it is of the concisest. Deeds which still sound in our ears like a trumpet are narrated in the same bald manner as are the merest trivialities of the court. Thus, No. 1884 ends with this paragraph:—"This day Algernon Sidney, Esq., was brought from the Tower to the place appointed for his execution on Tower Hill, where he was beheaded on a scaffold erected for that purpose?" and No. 1886 with the following:—"On Monday last, His Majesty and Her Royal Highness were pleased to do Sir William Jennens the honour to see his new-erected bagno in Longacre, and very well to approve thereof."

The very day which followed the abdication of James II. was marked by the appearance of three newspapers—The Universal Intelligence, The English Courant, and The London Courant. Within a few days more, these were followed by The London Mercury, The Orange Gazette, The London Intelligence, The Harlem Courant, and others. The Licensing Act, which was in force at the date of the Revolution, expired in 1692, but was continued for a year, when it finally ceased. On the appearance of a paragraph in The Flying Post of 1st April 1697, which appeared to the House of Commons to attack the credit of the exchequer bills, leave was given to bring in a bill "to prevent the writing, printing, or publishing of any news without license;" but the bill was thrown out in an early stage of its progress. That Flying Post which gave occasion to this attempt was also noticeable for a new method of printing; which it thus announced to its customers:—"If any gentleman has a mind to oblige his country friend or correspondent with this account of public affairs, he can have it for twopence . . . . on a sheet of fine paper, half of which being left blank, he may thereon write his own affairs, or the material news of the day."

But it was in the reign of Queen Anne that the newspaper press first became really eminent for the amount of intellectual power and of versatile talent which was employed upon it. It was also in that reign that the press was first fettered by the newspaper stamp. The accession of Anne was quickly followed by the appearance of the first London daily newspaper, The Daily Courant (1703), published and edited by the well-known printer Samuel Buckley, and this by a crowd of new competitors for public favour of less frequent publication. The first number of one of these, The Country Gentleman's Courant (1706), was given away gratuitously; and the following special pretensions were put forward on its behalf:—"Among the crowd of newspapers that come out weekly, it is hoped that this may find as favourable a reception as any, when its usefulness is rightly considered; for here the reader is not only diverted with a faithful register of the most remarkable and momentary [i.e., momentous] transactions at home and abroad, . . . . but also with a geographical description of the most material places mentioned in every article of news, whereby he is freed the trouble of looking into maps."

Shortly after the commencement of The Daily Courant, Defoe began his famous paper The Review. At first he called it A Weekly Review of the Affairs of France, purged from the Errors and Partiality of News-Writers and Petty Statesmen of all sides. But this long and singular title was objected to by friends and ridiculed by foes. With the eighteenth number Defoe dropped the words "of the affairs of France," although on the title-page of his second volume he returned to the original designation, thus modified:—A Review of the Affairs of France, with Observations on Transactions at Home. At the outset it was published weekly, afterwards twice, and at length three times a week. It continued from February 1704 to May 1713; and a complete set is of extreme rarity. From the first page to the last it is characterized by the manly boldness and persistent tenacity with which the almost unaided author utters and defends his convictions on public affairs, against a host of clever and bitter assailants. He waxed very wrath at times—as well he might—but expresses his anger much oftener by incisive sarcasm than by the coarse personalities which were then so common. The work is as much marked by genial humour as by keen insight; and if in its style it lacks polish, it undeniably abounds in vigour. Especially memorable is it as the first newspaper which bears plainly on its face that the author was far more intent on making patriots than on making money. In that corner of his paper which he entitled "Advice from the Scandalous Club," and set apart for the discussion of questions of literature and manners, and sometimes topics of a graver kind, Defoe to some extent anticipated the Tatlers and Spectators of a later day. He thus explains the purpose which he had there in view:—"As to our brethren of the worshipful company of news-writers, . . . . they shall meet with no ill treatment. But if they tell a lie that a man may feel with his foot, and not only proclaim their folly but their knavery; if they banter religion, sport with things sacred, and dip their pens in blasphemy; our Scandalous Club is a new corporation erected on purpose to make inquisition of such matters, and will treat them but scurvyly, as they deserve." The essays of Queen Anne's day, though in their origin they partook of the character of newspapers, open a theme too wide for the scope of this article, and more properly belong to the subject of Periodical Publications.

The year 1710 was marked by the appearance of The Swift's Examiner, or Remarks upon Papers and Occurrences (No. 1, August 3), of which thirteen numbers had appeared antago- by the co-operation of Bolingbroke, Prior, Friend, and nista. King, before it was placed under the sole control of Swift, who, as Sir W. Scott has said, "not satisfied with directing his artillery on the main body of the enemy, singled out for his aim particular and well-known individuals. Wharton, whose character laid him too open for such an attack, was the first of these victims. Sunderland, Godolphin, Cowper, Walpole, and Marlborough himself, became the butts of his satire; but he is less justifiable where it is exerted against Lord Somers, whose services to his country, independent of ancient friendship and undeniable virtues, ought to have silenced such reproaches as had no better foundation than private scandal." The Whig Examiner, avowedly intended "to censure the writings of others, and to give all persons a re-hearing who had suffered under any unjust sentence of The Examiner," followed on the 1st September; and The Medley three weeks afterwards. In the same year a paper, entitled The British Mercury (No. 1, March 27), The British was established by the proprietors of the Sun Fire Office, Mercury. In subsequently commencing a new series of this paper, its conductors prefixed a sort of summary—from their own point of view, of course—of the previous history of English newspapers. After describing the renewed activity of the press at the Revolution period, the writer proceeds:—"Such a furious itch of novelty has ever since been the epidemical distemper, that it has proved fatal to many families; the meanest of shopkeepers and handicrafts spending whole days in coffee-houses to hear news and read politicks, whilst their wives and children wanted bread at home; and their business being neglected, they were themselves at length thrust into gaols. . . . Hence sprung that inundation of Postmen, Postboys, Evening Posts, Supplements, Daily Courants, Protestant Postboys, amounting to twenty-one every week, besides many more which have not survived to this time, and besides the Gazette, which has the sanction of public authority; and this Mercury, only intended for and delivered to those . . . . insured by the Sun Fire Office. Yet has not all this variety been sufficient to satiate the immoderate appetite of intelligence, without ransacking France, Holland, and Flanders, whence the foreign mails duly furnish us with the Gazettes or Courants of Paris, Brussels, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Hague, Rotterdam, Leyden, and some others not so common, besides the French and Holland Gazettes-a-la-Main."

This increasing popularity and influence of the newspaper press could not fail to be distasteful to the ruling powers. Prosecutions were multiplied, yet with small success. At

---

1 "We hear that when the exchequer notes are given out upon the Capitation Fund, whosoever shall desire specie on them will have it at 5½ per cent., of the Society of gentlemen that have subscribed to advance some hundreds thousands of pounds." (See Parliamentary History of England, v. 1164.)

2 Life of Swift, i. 130. length some busy brain struck out amidst its cogitations the fertile expedient of a newspaper tax. To whom the first idea was owing is not now known. All that our parliamentary history records on this point is, that "some members in the Grand Committee of Ways and Means suggested a more effectual way for suppressing libels," &c. The immediate or ostensible occasion, it may be added, of the enactment lay simply in the publication of a Dutch state-paper by the writer of the Daily Courant, one of the best journals of the time. The duty imposed was a halfpenny on papers of half a sheet or less, and a penny on such as ranged from half a sheet to a single sheet (10 Ann., c. xix., § 101), and it came into force on the 19th July 1712. The first results of the tax cannot be more succinctly or more vividly described than in the following characteristic passage of the Journal to Stella:—"Do you know that Grub Street is dead and gone last week? No more ghosts or murders now for love or money. I plied it close the last fortnight, and published at least seven papers of my own, besides some of other people's; but now every single half-sheet pays a halfpenny to the queen. The Observer is fallen; the Medleys are jumbled together with the Flying Post; the Examiner is deadly sick; the Spectator keeps up, and doubles its price.—I know not how long it will hold. Have you seen the red stamp the papers are marked with? Me thinks the stamping is worth a halfpenny." It is one of the "curiosities of literature" that the first commissioner of the stamp-office was Richard Steele, who did not, however, long retain the post.

Swift's doubt as to the ability of the Spectator to hold out against the tax was justified by its discontinuance in the following year. But the impost which was thus fruitful in mischief, by suppressing much good literature, wholly failed in keeping out bad. Some of the worst journals that were already in existence kept their ground, and the number of such cretins increased. An enumeration of the London papers of 1714 comprises The Daily Courant, The Examiner, The British Merchant, The Lover, The Patriot, The Monitor, The Flying Post, The Postboy, Mercator, The Weekly Pocquet, and Dunton's Ghost. Another enumeration in 1733 includes The Daily Courant, The Craftsman, Fog's Journal, Mist's Journal, The London Journal, The Free Briton, The Grub Street Journal, The Weekly Register, The Universal Spectator, The Auditor, The Weekly Miscellany, The London Crier, Read's Journal, Oedipus, or The Postman Remounted, The St James's Post, The London Evening Post, and The London Daily Post.

Twenty years later the last-named publication became the well-known Public Advertiser. Nor ought it to be forgotten, that to this multiplicity of newspapers we are indebted for the foundation of that storehouse of curious information, The Gentleman's Magazine. The title-page of the first volume avows that it is "collected chiefly from the public papers;" and in his preface the editor remarks, that "upon calculating the number of newspapers, it is found that... no less than two hundred half-sheets per month are thrown from the press in London, and about as many printed elsewhere in the three kingdoms." Towards the middle of the century the provisions and the penalties of the Stamp Act were made more stringent, and the jail population largely increased by the number of offences against it. Yet the number of newspapers continued to rise. Johnson, writing in 1758, bears testimony to the still growing thirst for news:—"Journals are daily multiplied, without increase of knowledge. The tale of the morning paper is told in the evening, and the narratives of the evening are bought again in the morning. These repetitions, indeed, waste time, but they do not shorten it. The most eager peruser of news is tired before he has completed his labour; and many a man who enters the coffee-house in his night-gown and slippers, is called away to his shop or his dinner before he has well considered the state of Europe." Five years before this remark appeared in the Idler, the aggregate number of newspapers annually sold in England, on an average of three years, amounted to 7,411,757. In 1760 it had risen to 9,464,790, and in 1767 to 11,300,980.

The first newspaper purporting by its title to be Scottish (The Scotch Intelligencer, 7th September 1643), and papers of the first newspaper actually printed in Scotland (Mercurius Politicus, published at Leith in October 1653), were both of English manufacture; the one being intended to communicate more particularly the affairs of Scotland to the Londoners; the other to keep Cromwell's army well acquainted with the London news. The reprinting of the Politicus was transferred to Edinburgh in November 1654, and it continued to appear (under the altered title, Mercurius Publicus, subsequently to April 1660) until the beginning of 1663. Meanwhile, an attempt by Thomas Sydserfe to establish a really Scottish newspaper, Mercurius Caledonius, had failed after the appearance of ten numbers, the first of which had been published at Edinburgh on the 8th of January 1661. It was not until March 1699 that a Scottish newspaper was firmly established, under the title of The Edinburgh Gazette, by James Watson, a printer of eminent skill in his art. Before the close of the year the Gazette was transferred to John Reid, by whose family it long continued to be printed. In February 1703 Watson started The Edinburgh Courant, of which he only published fifty-five numbers. In 1710 the town council authorized Mr Daniel Defoe to print the Edinburgh Courant in the place of the deceased Adam Bog. Four years earlier the indefatigable pioneer of the Scottish press, James Watson, had commenced the Scots Courant, which he continued to print until after the year 1718. To these papers were added, in October 1708, The Edinburgh Flying Post; and in August 1709, The Scots Postman. Five years later this paper appears to have been incorporated with the Edinburgh Gazette, and the conjoined publications appeared twice a week. In December 1718 the town council gave a privilege to James M'Ewan to print the Edinburgh Evening Courant (a journal which still subsists) three times a week, on condition that before publication he should "give one coppye of his print to the magistrates." The Caledonian Mercury dates from the 28th of April 1720. At one period it was published thrice, and afterwards twice a week. Its first proprietor was William Rolland, an advocate, and its first editor Thomas Ruddiman. The property passed to Ruddiman on Rolland's death in 1729, and remained in his family until 1772. It now appears daily.

The early newspapers which in title and subject-matter are Irish, belong, like their Scottish contemporaries, to the London press. Such, for example, are Ireland's True Diurnal (February 1642), and Mercurius Hibernicus (1644). Such also was The Irish Courant, published almost half a century later (No. 1, April 4, 1690); but this Revolution journal had been preceded by The Dublin News-Letter, printed in 1685, "by Joseph Ray in College Green, for Robert Thornton, at the Leather Bottle in Skinner Row;" and was followed in 1690 by The Dublin Intelligence (No. 1, September 30, 1690), which was also printed.

---

1 See the Burney collection of newspapers in the British Museum; and Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, iv. 33-97. 2 This was followed by The Scotch Dove, the first number of which is dated "Sept. 30 to October 29, 1643," and by The Scottish Mercury (No. 1, Oct. 5, 1643). In 1648 a Mercurius Scoticus and a Mercurius Caledonius were published in London. The Scotch Dove was the only one of these which attained a lengthened existence. by Joseph Ray. *Falkener's Journal* was established in 1728, and appeared daily. *Endaile's News-Letter* began in 1744, took the title of *Saunderson's News-Letter* in 1754 (when it appeared three times a week), and became a daily newspaper in 1777. It is said still to possess the largest circulation which has ever been attained by an Irish daily paper.

Waterford possessed a newspaper as early as 1729, entitled *The Waterford Flying Post*. It professed to contain "the most material news both foreign and domestic," was printed on common writing-paper, and published twice a week at the price of a halfpenny. *The Belfast News-Letter* was started in 1737, and it still flourishes. The more famous *Freeman's Journal* was long pre-eminent amongst the Dublin papers for ability and vigour. It was established by a committee of the first society of "United Irishmen" in 1763, and its first editor was Dr Lucas. Flood and Grattan were at one time numbered amongst its contributors; although the latter, at a subsequent period, is reported to have exclaimed in his place in the Irish Parliament, "the Freeman's Journal is a liar, . . . a public, pitiful liar." The relations between the journalism and the oratory of Ireland have been not infrequently of this stormy character.

The history of newspapers during the long reign of George III. is a history of criminal prosecutions, in which individual writers and editors were repeatedly defeated and severely punished; whilst the press itself derived new strength from the protracted conflict, and turned ignominious penalties into signal triumphs. From the days of John Wilkes to those of Leigh Hunt, every conspicuous newspaper prosecution gave tenfold currency to the doctrines that were assailed; and if some timid malcontents were occasionally cowed into silence and retreat, the ranks were the stronger for their absence. In the earlier part of this period, men who were mere traders in politics—whose motives were obviously base, and their lives contemptible—became powers in the state, able to brave king, legislature, and law courts, by virtue of the simple truth that a free people must have a free press. Yet the policy that had utterly failed in 1763 continued to be clung to in 1819.

One of the minor incidents of the *North Briton* excitement led indirectly to valuable results with reference to the much-vexed question of parliamentary reporting. During the discussions respecting the Middlesex election, Almon the bookseller collected from members of the House of Commons some particulars of the debates, and published them in the *London Evening Post*. The success which attended these reports induced the proprietors of the *St James's Chronicle* to employ a reporter, in their turn, to collect notes in the lobby and at the coffee-houses. This repeated infraction of the "privilege" of secret legislation, entailed the memorable proceedings of the House of Commons in 1771, with their fierce debates, angry resolutions, and arbitrary imprisonments—all resulting, at length, in that tacit concession of publicity of discussion which has ever since prevailed.

The three metropolitan newspapers which at different periods of this reign stood pre-eminent amongst their competitors were *The Public Advertiser*, *The Morning Post*, and *The Morning Chronicle*. The far more striking predominance of *The Times* is, as we shall see hereafter, a thing of later date. The first-named paper owed some of its popularity to the letters of Junius. The *Post* and the *Chronicle* were mainly indebted for their success (in bygone days) to the personal qualities of individual editors.

It need hardly be said that the *Public Advertiser* was already a successful and rising journal when it published the first contribution of Junius. To none other would the letters of Junius have been sent. Many of them had appeared before the smallest perceptible effect was produced on the circulation of the paper; but when the "Letter to Letters of the King" came out (19th Dec. 1769, almost a year from the beginning of the series), it caused an addition of 1750 to the public copies to the ordinary impression. The effect of subsequent letters was variable; but when Junius ceased to write, the monthly sale of the paper had risen to 83,950. This was in December 1771. Seven years earlier the monthly sale had been but 47,515. The *Public Advertiser* did not, however, long retain the position into which it had been so rapidly elevated. The *Morning Chronicle* was begun in 1769. William Woodfall ("Memory" Woodfall, as he was called) was its printer, reporter, and editor; and continued to conduct it until 1789. James Perry succeeded him as editor, and so continued, with an interval during which the editorship was in the hands of the late Mr Sergeant Spanke, until his death in 1821. In the days of the "Black Acts" the *Chronicle* was the most uncompromising opponent of the government, and Perry's editorial functions were occasionally discharged in Newgate; in 1819 the daily sale nearly reached 4000. When sold in 1823 to the late Mr Clement, the purchase-money amounted to £42,000. Mr Clement held it for about eleven years, and then sold it to the late Sir John Easthope, for a much smaller sum than it had cost him. Of its subsequent fortunes, it is enough here to say, that in 1854 its average circulation had sunk to 2791 copies daily. But no loss of popularity can deprive it of the distinction of having been the first newspaper which was adorned by literary criticism of the highest order.

The *Morning Post* dates from 1772. For some years it was in the hands of the notorious "Parson Bate" (afterwards known as Sir Henry Bate Dudley), and it attained some degree of temporary popularity, though of no very enviable sort. In 1795 the entire copyright, with house and printing materials, was sold for £600 to Peter and Daniel Stuart, who quickly raised the position of the *Post* by enlisting Mackintosh and Coleridge in its service, and by giving unremitting attention to advertisements and to the copious supply of incidental news and amusing paragraphs. A few years ago there was a long controversy about the share which Coleridge had in elevating the *Post* from obcurity to eminence. That he greatly promoted this result there can be no doubt. His famous "Character of Pitt," published in 1800, was especially successful. It largely increased the sale of the paper, and created a demand for the particular number in which it appeared that lasted for weeks, a thing almost without precedent. Nor were newspaper-owners likely to be at all insensible to the value of talents which bore such a golden stamp. Mr D. Stuart, indeed, was once silly enough to write,—after quoting the anecdote of the city bookseller Sir Richard Phillips having slapped Coleridge on the shoulder at a dinner party, saying, "I wish I had you in a garret without a coat to your back,"—"In something like this state, I had Coleridge." But, when in a better mind, he has borne testimony on this point which is unexceptionable. To write the leading articles of a newspaper, he says, "I would prefer Coleridge to Mackintosh, Burke, or any man I ever heard of. His observations were marked by good sense, extensive knowledge, deep thought, and well-grounded foresight. They were the writings of a scholar, a gentleman, and a statesman, without personal sarcasm, or illiberality of any kind." But unhappily, we must add, these noble qualities lacked another. In his best days the poet-philosopher never possessed that capacity for steady, persistent, punctual labour which is the sine qua non of periodical literature, and for the want

---

1 Debates of the Irish House of Commons, 3d March 1769. of which we have all of us seen names synonymous with genius become symbols of failure. To say, therefore, that it was less to the powers of Coleridge, than to the energetic enterprise and the eminent business qualities of the new proprietors, that the Morning Post owed its extraordinary rise, from a daily circulation in 1795 of 350, to one in 1803 of 4500 copies, is consistent alike with the ascertained facts, and with the obvious necessities of the case.

But it may well excite some degree of wonder to find a journal which had attained such a position sinking within a very few years to a depth of degradation which carried it far below its competitors as it had formerly risen above them. When Stuart sold his paper in 1803, with its circulation exceeding by one half that of its most popular daily rival, and with a character for honest independence which was still more enviable, he could hardly have anticipated that in 1812 he would read in its columns a poetical address "to the Prince Regent," which, for unblushing falsehood and venal adulation, might challenge the enslaved press of Austria or of Russia. "Glory of the People," "Protector of the Arts," "Mecenas of the Age," "Conqueror of Hearts,"—such were the epithets thickly strewn in a eulogy which was wound up in this fashion:

"Thus gifted with each grace of mind, Born to delight and bless mankind; Wisdom, with pleasure in her train, Great Prince, shall signalize thy reign!"

It was for lashing this vile parasite in terms of manly indignation, and for vigorously enforcing the pregnant truth, "Flattery in any shape is unworthy a man and a gentleman; but political flattery is almost a request to be made slaves," that John Hunt and Leigh Hunt were sentenced to a fine of one thousand pounds; to be, each of them, imprisoned two years in separate gaols; and to give heavy security for good behaviour for five years more.

Whilst the general influence of the newspaper press was becoming both more extensive, and, in the main, incomparably more civilizing, the steady industry of official persons was constantly employed in endeavours to restrain and diminish it. In 1756 an additional halfpenny had been added to the tax. In 1765 and in 1773 various restrictive regulations were imposed (5th Geo. III., c. 46; and 13th Geo. III., c. 65). In 1789 the three halfpence was increased to twopence (29th Geo. III., c. 50); in 1797 to twopence-halfpenny (37th Geo. III., c. 90); in 1804 to threepence-halfpenny (44th Geo. III., c. 98); and, in 1815, was altered to fourpence, less a discount of 20 per cent. Penalties of all kinds were also enhanced, and obstructive regulations were multiplied. Very obviously, these restrictions failed in a great degree of their immediate purpose. Yet their prejudicial effect in elking out the existence of the worst portion of the press, by fettering fair competition, is incalculable. Happily for humanity, there are, and will always be, men to whom obstacles become spurs in the career which conscience has traced for them. Their delight in the chase rises with the difficulty of the country. When once engaged in political conflict, they will, like Defoe, neither give nor take quarter. But the legislation which offers to such men the widest field for their energies, multiplies the basenesses of weaker men, and gives impunity to their crimes.

Before proceeding to notice the later history of the metropolitan newspapers, it may be desirable to glance at the rise and progress of the English provincial press. A glance at it is all that can here be attempted.

The earliest provincial paper with which we are acquainted is The Stamford Mercury, a publication which is still in existence, and of which its proprietors can say, with some English reasonable pride, that it has appeared weekly, without interruption, for a hundred and sixty-two years. Next to press, this came the Norwich Postman, first published in 1706, in small quarto, and of meagre contents. The stated price of this paper was a penny, but its proprietor notified to the public that "a halfpenny is not refused." Two other papers were started in Norwich within a few years afterwards,—Early pa. The Courant in 1712; The Weekly Mercury, or Protestants Packet (which still exists) in 1720. Worcester seems Norwich, to have been the third country town in England to boast of Worcester, a newspaper; the Worcester Postman appearing in 1708, &c., and the Worcester Journal having begun its more fortunate career (still continued) in 1709. The Newcastle Courant followed in 1711; The Liverpool Courant in 1712; the Salisbury Postman, and the Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, each in 1715; The Nottingham Post in 1716; and the Kentish Post in 1717. The Courant is still published at Newcastle, and the Kentish Post (under the altered title of Kentish Gazette) at Canterbury. Farley's Bristol Journal has merged into the Bristol Times. The others have long since ceased to appear.

The Leeds Mercury was established in the year 1718; The Leeds and, for the purpose of evading the Stamp Act, was made Mercury, to extend to twelve pages, small quarto (or a sheet and a half; the stamp being then levied only on papers not exceeding a single sheet). Like its contemporaries, it was published weekly, and its price was three-halfpence. In 1729 it was reduced to four pages of larger size, and sold, with a stamp, at twopence. From 1755 to 1766 its publication was suspended, but was resumed in January 1767, under the management of James Bowley, who continued to conduct it for twenty-seven years, and raised it to a circulation of 3000. Its price at this time was fourpence. The increase of the stamp duty in 1797 altered its price to sixpence, and the circulation sank from 3000 to 800. It was purchased in 1801 by the late Edward Baines, who first began the insertion of "leaders." It took him three years to obtain a circulation of 1500; but the Leeds Mercury afterwards made rapid progress, and became one of the most important and valuable of the country papers, as it still continues to be.

New-Year's-Day 1719 was marked in Manchester by Early Mas the appearance of the first number of the Manchester Chester Weekly Journal, published by Roger Adams. This paper was followed in 1730 by the Manchester Gazette (afterwards called the Manchester Magazine), published by Henry Whitworth. Harrop's Manchester Mercury was begun on the 3rd March 1762, and continued to exist until the close of 1830. Both of the papers last named, although alike characterized by that utter absence of literary talent which usually marked the provincial press of the period, were of violent politics, on opposite sides. The Magazine was Whiggish and Hanoverian; the Mercury, Tory and Jacobitical. A controversy, which lasted for more than a year, between the former and the Chester Courant (a paper that may be regarded as in some sort a continuation of the Manchester Journal above-mentioned, the publisher of which had removed to Chester), is not the least curious of the many episodes of the rebellion of 1745–6. It grew out of the following paragraph, which had appeared in the Mercury of 23rd Sept. 1746:—

"If I might give a short hint to an impartial writer, it would be to tell him his fate. If he resolves to venture upon the dangerous precipice of telling unbiased truth, let him proclaim war with mankind à la mode de pays de Pôle—neither to give nor to take quarter. If he tells the crimes of great men, they fall upon him with the iron hands of the law; if he tells their virtues, when they have any, then the mob attacks him with slander. But if he regards truth, let him expect martyrdom on both sides, and then he may go on fear less; and this is the course I take myself." Manchester, Sept. 29.—Last Thursday, about four in the morning, the heads of Thomas Siddal and Thomas Deacon were fixed upon the Exchange. Great numbers have been to view them; and yesterday, between eight and nine in the morning, Dr Deacon, a non-juring priest, and father to one of them, made a full stop near the Exchange, and looking up at the heads, pulled off his hat, and made a bow to them with great reverence. He afterwards stood some time looking at them.

The incident here recorded was but the spark which fell amidst a large accumulation of combustible matter. Party feeling was at that period in an especial state of excitement in Lancashire; and the paper war which followed afforded matter enough for a volume, under the title of Manchester Vindicated: Being a complete Collection of all the Papers recently published in Defence of that Town in the Chester Courant.

Thirty years later, the American revolution rekindled the local bigotry of faction, beneath the mask of patriotism, with even more than its former fierceness. At this period the Manchester Mercury published special supplements from time to time, as intelligence came from the seat of war; and whenever the news was unfavourable to the Americans, prefixed headings to the supplements, which served the double purpose of exulting in their defeat and exciting popular hatred against such of the townsmen as were known, or supposed, to regard the colonists in the light of an injured people. Thus, on the 7th January 1777, an extra sheet was published, entitled "No. 1312.—A New Year's Gift for all true lovers of their King and Country, and a Receipt in full to the most wicked, daring, and unnatural Rebellion that ever disgraced the Annals of History, fomented and abetted by a Junto of Republicans on this side the Atlantic." Joseph Harrop, printer of the Manchester Mercury, with unspeakable pleasure again presents his friends, gratis, with the following London Gazette Extraordinary," &c. In the next paper this paragraph was inserted:

"We are assured by a gentleman just arrived from America, that when Washington found himself reduced to the necessity of quitting his strong entrenchments near King's Bridge, he declared that all was over with the colonies, and dropped some intimation of not wishing to survive the misfortunes of the day. Mr Washington, it is understood, is now in concert with Mrs Gibbon, a widow, married to a very amiable lady; but it is said that Mrs Washington, being a warm loyalist, has been separated from the General since the commencement of the present troubles, and lives very much respected in the city of New York."

The next supplement begins thus:—"Ye republican fomenters and abettors of rebellion, blush and tremble at your deeds." And another:—"The hour is now approaching when all those vile republican miscreants, as well on this as on the other side the Atlantic (who have fomented a most wicked and horrid rebellion against the best of kings and the best of ministers), must answer for all their mal-practices," &c.

Nor did the utter failure of these predictions teach the conductors or the patrons of the Mercury the wisdom of moderation. The same paper, under the same management, fostered the "Church and King" mobs of 1792; incited innkeepers to put up boards bearing the words, "No Jacobins admitted here;" and denounced all opposition to the government of the day as seditious and treasonable. When these frantic counsels had borne their natural fruit of outrage on the property and persons of reformers, the Mercury defended the criminals, and those who had failed to put the law in force against them, in these words:—"The fact stands thus: If any man, at such a crisis as this, will publicly make use of expressions inimical to the welfare of the government under which he lives, the consequence cannot be arrested by the best-regulated police, because it will be summary?" At this time, Manchester possessed no paper of any shade of liberalism. The printing-office of the Manchester Herald, which had been started on the 31st March 1792, as the advocate of moderate reform, was partially destroyed by a mob in the month of December following; the local authorities of the town standing by and applauding the act; and the paper itself ceased to appear in March 1793. The York Courant Other English papers Mercury and The Salisbury Journal date from 1720 prior to The Gloucester Journal from 1722; The Reading Mercury from 1723; The Chester Courant (already mentioned) and The Chelmsford Chronicle from 1730; The Kendal Courant appeared in 1731; The Derby Mercury dates from 1732; The Sherborne Mercury (now called The Western Flying Post) from 1736; The Hereford Journal from 1739; Aris's Birmingham Gazette from 1741; The Bath Journal from 1742; and The Cambridge Chronicle from 1748. The total number of existing provincial newspapers, the first publication of which is prior to 1750, is eighteen. Twenty-nine others have dates which range between the years 1750 and 1790. Most other country papers date their origin subsequently to the middle of the last century.

The Times is usually dated from the 1st of January Origin of 1788, but was really commenced on the 18th January The Times 1785, under the title of The London Daily Universal Register, printed logographically. This "word-printing" process had been invented by a person named Henry Johnson's Johnson several years before, and is the subject of two patents for patents, bearing date, respectively, 9th November 1778, logographic and 16th October 1780. The first of these is described as a "method of printing with types or figures so connected as to prevent the possibility of error in all business where figures are used, particularly in taking down the numbers of blanks and prizes in the lottery." The second is described as a "method of casting and moulding types for the purpose of composing by or with entire words, with several words combined, with sentences, and syllables, and figures combined, instead of the usual method of composing and printing with single letters," &c. These patents were Johnson's; but the invention was eagerly taken up by Mr Walter (himself a printer), who was sanguine of its success. His Daily Register contained four pages, was printed on a halfpenny stamp, and was at first sold for twopence-halfpenny, afterwards for threepence. In Nos. 510 and 511 Mr Walter made a long address to the public on the advantages of the logographic plan, and of the obstacles it had encountered. "Embarked in a business," he writes, "into which I entered a mere novice, . . . want of experience laid me open to many and gross impositions; and I have been severely injured by the inattention, ignorance, and neglect of others. These reasons, though they will not excuse, will account for and palliate the errors . . . of the logographic press," &c. And he proceeds to state that the impediments thrown in his way, by the typefounders in particular, were such as to oblige him to erect a foundry for himself. In short, it is the old story of all inventors, differenced in this case from many others by the circumstance, that here there were difficulties in the way of ultimate and permanent success which seem to have been really insuperable.

Another obstacle in Mr Walter's path will be best described in his own words:—

"The Universal Register has been a name as injurious to the The Daily logographic newspaper as Tristram was to Mr Shandy's son Universal But old Shandy forgot he might have rectified by confirmation Register the mistake of the person at baptism—with the touch of a bishop changed have altered Tristram to Trismegistus. The Universal Register, into The from the days of its first appearance to the day of its confirmation, Times, has, like Tristram, suffered from unusual casualties, both laughable and serious, arising from its name, which, on its introduction, was immediately curtailed of its fair proportion by all who called for it,—the word Universal being universally omitted, and the word..." Register being only retained. 'Boy, bring me the Register?' The waiter answers, 'Sir, we have not a library, but you may see it at the New Exchange Coffee-House.' 'Then, I'll see it there,' answers the disappointed politician; and he goes to the New Exchange, and calls for the Register, upon which the waiter tells him that he cannot have it, as he is not a subscriber, and [for] presents him with the Court and City Register, the Old Annual Register, or the New Annual Register. . . . For these and other reasons, the parents of the Universal Register have added to its original name that of the Times, which, being a monosyllable, bids defiance to corrupters and mutilators of the language." (The Times, or Daily Universal Register, printed logographically . . . for J. Walter, at the Logographic Press, Printing-House Square, &c. No. 1, 1st January, 1789.)

Within two years Mr Walter had his share in the Georgian persecutions of the press, by successive sentences to three fines and to three several imprisonments in Newgate, chiefly for having stated that the Prince of Wales and the dukes of York and Clarence had so misconducted themselves "as to incur the just disapprobation of his Majesty." In 1803 he transferred the management of the journal to his son, the late Mr Walter (together with the joint proprietorship), by whom, as is well known, it was carried on with remarkable energy and consummate tact. To Lord Sidmouth's government he gave a general but independent support. That of Mr Pitt, which succeeded, he opposed, especially on the questions of the Carthaginian expedition and the malversation of Lord Melville. This opposition was characteristically resented by depriving the elder Mr Walter of the printing of the Customs department, which he had performed for eighteen years; by the withdrawal of government advertisements from the Times; and by the systematic detention at the outports of the foreign intelligence addressed to its editor. Mr Walter, however, was strong and resolute enough to brave the government, and to beat it. He organized a better system of news transmission than had ever before existed. He introduced steam-printing, and repeatedly improved its mechanism; The Times' although machines which now print 12,000 sheets in steam the hour may seem to threat into insignificance a press of printing which it was at first announced as a notable triumph that press, the new machine performed its task "with such a velocity and simultaneousness of movement, that no less than 1100 sheets are impressed in one hour;" yet Mr Walter's assertion was none the less true, that the Times of 29th November 1814 "presented to the public the practical result of the greatest improvement connected with printing since the discovery of the art itself."

The effort to secure for the Times the best attainable Growth of literary talent in all departments kept at least an equal pace the circulation of those which were directed towards the improvement of its mechanical resources. And thus it has come to pass the Times that a circulation which did not, even in 1815, exceed on the average 5000 copies, became, in 1834, 10,000; in 1844, 23,000; in 1851, 40,000; and in 1854, 51,648. In the year last named, the Morning Advertiser, the most popular of its daily contemporaries, attained an average circulation of but 7668; whilst that of the Daily News was but 4160; that of the Morning Herald, 3712; of the Morning Chronicle, 2800; and of the Morning Post, 2667. But this extraordinary fact will be best appreciated if the average daily circulation of the Times, for a few years past, be compared with that of all its daily contemporaries of the London press collectively:

| Year | Circulation | |------|-------------| | 1846 | 28,594 | | 1847 | 29,409 | | 1848 | 35,225 | | 1850 | 38,019 | | 1851 | 40,081 | | 1852 | 42,384 | | 1853 | 44,578 | | 1854 | 51,648 |

Of the many curious incidents which occur in the public history of the Times, one only can here be mentioned. That one is too honourable to journalism, and has been too useful in its results to the community, to be passed over. In 1840, the then Paris correspondent of this paper (Mr O'Reilly) obtained information respecting a gigantic scheme of forgery which had been planned in France, together with particulars of the examination at Antwerp of a minor agent in the conspiracy, who had been there, almost by chance, arrested. All that he could collect on the subject, including the names of the chief conspirators, was published by the Times on the 26th of May in that year, under the heading, "Extraordinary and Extensive Forgery and Swindling Conspiracy on the Continent (Private Correspondence)." The project contemplated the almost simultaneous presentation, at the chief banking-houses throughout the Continent, of forged letters of credit, purporting to be those of Glyn and Company, to a very large amount; and its failure appears to have been in a great degree owing to the exertions made, and the heavy responsibility assumed, by the Times. One of the persons implicated brought an action for libel against the printer, which was tried at Croydon in August 1841, with a verdict for the plaintiff, one farthing damages. A subscription towards defraying the heavy expenses (amounting to more than £5000) which the Times had incurred, was speedily opened, but the proprietors declined to profit by it; and ultimately it was determined, that of the sum (£2625) which had been raised, an amount not exceeding one hundred and fifty guineas should be expended on two commemorative tablets,—the one to be placed in the Times office, and the other in the Royal Exchange; the remainder of the money being funded, and the dividends applied to the support of two "Times' scholarships," in connection with Christ's Hospital and the City of London School, for the benefit of pupils proceeding thence to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. This scheme was carried into effect in 1842.

For upwards of sixty years from the establishment of the Repeated Times, only one of the many attempts that were made to found a new daily paper in London was successful. The new attempt to establish the New Times (started by Dr Stoddart, better known as "Dr Slop"); of London the Representative (in which the late Mr John Murray daily risked and lost a very large sum); and of the Constitutional (originated by a joint-stock subscription, under the title of "The Metropolitan Newspaper Company"). All these failures were complete, notwithstanding that neither talent, industry, nor money seems to have been wanting to give the newspapers a fair start. Of the latter, indeed, about £50,000 was lost in these three unsuccessful attempts. The stamp may have had its influence in promoting these miscarriages, but the main cause of them lay in the unremitting energy, the wide forecast, and the practical wisdom with which their most formidable rival provided for and anticipated the wants of the public. The lesson is an instructive one, well deserving to be thoroughly studied by all whom it may concern.

In the exceptional case, that of the Morning Advertiser, the new paper attained commercial success by reason of its special character, as being at once the representative of the Morning interests and of the charities of the Licensed Victuallers. Every publican who subscribed to it had his share in the profits. The subsequent success of the Daily News (the Daily first number of which appeared in 1846), after a long and News. severe struggle, has been mainly due to the ready skill with which it corrected its early blunders, and turned them to future account. Its literary staff was strong, and its enterprise, especially in relation to the early attainment of foreign news, remarkable. For a time, too, it offered to the public a tolerably complete newspaper for twopence-halfpenny; but under the then existing circumstances this could not continue. In January 1847 the price was raised to threepence, and at this price it reached a daily sale at one time of 23,000 copies, and managed for a while to hold its own against a formidable combination of rivals. In February 1849 it resumed its original size, and was sold at the usual price of five pence. Its average sale in 1854 was (as we have seen) only 4160. But it has always held a highly respectable place in the ranks of metropolitan journalism.

London possessed no daily evening paper until 1788, nor did any evening paper attain an important position until the period of the war with Napoleon, when the Courier became the newspaper of the day. During the last three years of that war its average daily circulation reached 8000 copies. After the peace its popularity declined, and eventually a total change in its politics completed its ruin. The Globe and the Sun, as independent papers, and the Express and the Evening Mail, as offshoots respectively of the Daily News and of the Times, are now the principal journals of their class.

The London weekly press has always worn a motley garb. In its ranks are to be found some of the most worthless newspapers and some of the best. Weekly publication facilitates the individuality of a journal, both as respects its editorship, and as respects the class of readers to which it more especially addresses itself. From the days of Daniel Defoe to those of Albany Fonblanque and Robert Rintoul, there have always been newspapers bearing the unmistakable impress of an individual mind. And this characteristic quality, whilst it has strengthened and deepened the influence of good journals, has also, of necessity, increased the temporary power of bad journals. When to great force of character in the writer and its natural result, an almost personal intimacy between writer and reader, governments have been unwise enough to add the strength which inevitably grows out of persecution, the combination might well prove a formidable one. Cobbett's Weekly Register affords perhaps as striking an illustration of journalism, in its greatness and in its meanness, as could be culled from its entire annals since a newspaper was first issued.

When Cobbett commenced his Political Register in the year 1802, its plan was very different from that which he ultimately adopted. The author was at first chiefly anxious to make his work a good repository of state papers; but his point of view soon changed. What had been intended as a storehouse of materials for the future historian became a record of the varying moods of mind, under which a man of remarkable powers regarded the passing events of the day. The extraordinary success of the paper was mainly owing to the vividness with which these impressions were recorded; to the clear and vigorous English, racy of the soil, in which they were clothed; and, above all, to the evidence it carried on its face that the writer, whatever his other faults, was not to be bribed, and that he meant what he said—at least whilst he was saying it. Egotism beyond all precedent, hatreds the most vindictive, and inconsistencies so numerous, that after a time opponents ceased to take note of them, were qualities in this paper so apparent that he who ran might read; and three-fourths perhaps of the topics which came under notice were discussed with a lack of information and a shallowness of thought that were quite as striking as was the blaze of light in which the writer placed the remaining fourth. To William Cobbett no question was so difficult, and no name so sacred, as to call for modest or reverent silence. Of reverence, in truth, he had none. Cobbett's French Grammar seemed to him a greater work than the Paradise Lost; and the chief impression he derived from the writings of Addison was, that they afforded copious examples of faulty syntax. To him all subjects were almost equally welcome, were handled with like confidence, and afforded similar opportunities for bitter personality and fierce invective. Yet the Weekly Political Register maintained a popularity that was almost unexampled. Cobbett carried it on during thirty-three years, and amidst all varieties of fortune. Whether he was at home or on his travels, a prisoner in Newgate or an exile in America, the work went steadily on, until it had filled 88 volumes, and then his labour ceased but with his life. He owed to it an influence that was co-extensive with the empire, and that made his name a household word at the hearths of tens of thousands who had never set eyes upon him. But if it be asked, what was the real outcome of all this rare energy and untiring industry, in the way of the Weekly Register teaching on Chartism? Here and there it set a-thinking men who had capacity enough to seek further and better instruction elsewhere; but to a large proportion of its readers, the Register became a sort of political gospel. Nor is it uncharitable to say, that some of the worst excesses of "Chartism"—its bigotry and rancour, its short-sighted obstruction of social improvements, and its obstinate pursuit of courses leading to riot and outrage—are partly attributable to the one-sided teachings and the frantic violence of the Weekly Register. Misgovernment, indeed, was the seed-plot; but these were potent fertilizers. Whatever else may have been wanting to insure a large crop was amply afforded by the results of the pertinacious maintenance of the newspaper stamp, and of those other impediments which then so thickly studded the path of every temperate and truth-loving writer who sought to address himself to the masses of his countrymen, without either flattering their vanity or exciting their passions.

The manifest incongruity between the maintenance of the "taxes on knowledge" and the pretensions of a reforming stamped government, gave a strong impulse to the violation of the law, press of Between the years 1831 and 1835 many scores of un- stamped newspapers made their appearance. Poor Man's Guardians, Two-penny Dispatches, Destructives, People's Conservatives, London Democrats, and a host of other penny and halfpenny papers swarmed from presses that seemed to rival, in their mysterious itinerancy and sudden vanishing, the famous Marprelate press of the sixteenth century. The political tone of most of them was fiercely revolutionary. Some of them taught Marat's doctrine that the shortest and surest path to political amelioration lies through a sea of blood. Those of the latter class were characterized by Lord Brougham (when under examination in a committee of the House of Commons on the libel law), as competing one with the other in the ferocity of their writings. "Where one," he says, "charged public characters with all offences, another recommended their extirpation; where one maintained the lawfulness of rebellion, another maintained the propriety of assassination." Prosecution after prosecution failed to suppress the obnoxious publications. The total number of such prosecutions exceeded 700, and nearly 500 persons suffered imprisonment in the course of them. But the law continued to be systematically broken.

To Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton is due the credit of having Reduction grappled with this question in the House of Commons, in of the manner which secured the speedy reduction of the tax from fourpence to a penny, and paved the way towards its subsequent though long-delayed abolition. This reduction took effect on the 15th September 1836. At that date the number of newspapers stamped in Great Britain and Ireland was about 36,000,000 in the year, and the gross amount of duty upwards of £1,553,000. Of this sum English news- papers paid L473,910; Scottish newspapers, L17,999; and Irish newspapers, L31,287. In the year ending 5th January 1838, the first financial year during the whole of which the reduced duty was in operation, the number of stamps issued throughout the United Kingdom was raised to 53,897,926, and the gross amount of the duty was reduced to L223,425, 10s. 11d. Of this sum English newspapers paid L182,998, 3s. 2d.; Scottish newspapers, L18,671, 13s. 3d.; and Irish newspapers, L21,755, 14s. 6d.

In the year ending 5th January 1849, the number of stamps had risen to 86,465,684, and the gross amount of duty was L360,273, 12s. Finally, in the year ending 5th January 1855, the number of stamps issued to newspapers, exclusive of price-currents, &c., at the rate of one penny,—to which rate the parliamentary return before us is limited,—was

| Name of Newspaper | Date of Establishment | Periods of Publication in 1854 | Politics | No. of Penny Stamps in 1854 | Average Circulation in 1854 | |-------------------|-----------------------|-------------------------------|----------|-----------------------------|---------------------------| | Times | 1785 | Daily | Liberal | 15,975,739 | 51,040 | | News of the World | 1843 | Weekly | Do | 6,676,525 | 169,106 | | Illustrated London News | 1842 | Do | Do | 5,627,896 | 105,223 | | Lloyd's Weekly Newspaper | 1842 | Do | Democratic | 3,572,897 | 107,171 | | Weekly Times | 1847 | Do | Liberal | 3,902,169 | 75,941 | | Reynolds' Weekly Newspaper | 1850 | Weekly | Democratic | 2,496,256 | 48,003 | | Morning Advertiser | 1794 | Daily | Liberal | 2,392,780 | 7,644 | | Dispatch | 1801 | Weekly | Do | 1,882,933 | 38,183 | | Daily News | 1846 | Daily | Do | 1,485,099 | 4,744 | | Bell's Life in London | 1820 | Weekly | Do | 1,161,000 | 22,326 | | Morning Herald | 1781 | Daily | Conservative | 1,158,000 | 3,699 | | Manchester Guardian | 1821 | Twice a week | Liberal | 1,066,573 | 10,253 | | Dublin Telegraph | 1832 | Weekly | Do | 959,000 | 18,442 | | Liverpool Mercury | 1811 | Four times a week | Do | 912,000 | 4,384 | | Morning Chronicle | 1770 | Daily | Conservative | 873,500 | 2,790 | | Globe | 1803 | Do | Liberal | 850,000 | 2,715 | | Express | 1846 | Do | Do | 841,341 | 2,688 | | Morning Post | 1772 | Do | Conservative | 832,500 | 2,659 | | Sun | 1792 | Do | Liberal | 825,000 | 2,635 | | North British Advertiser (Edinburgh) | 1826 | Weekly | Neutral | 802,000 | 14,423 | | Evening Mail | 1789 | Three times a week | Liberal | 800,000 | 5,128 | | Saunders' News-Letter (Dublin) | 1746 | Daily | Neutral | 756,000 | 2,415 | | Dublin Daily Express | 1851 | Do | Conservative | 748,500 | 2,391 | | Leeds Mercury | 1718 | Twice a week | Liberal | 735,500 | 7,072 | | Glasgow Saturday Post | 1830 | Weekly | Do | 727,000 | 13,950 | | Stamford Mercury | 1695 | Do | Do | 689,000 | 13,250 | | Birmingham Journal | 1825 | Twice a week | Do | 650,750 | 6,257 | | Manchester Examiner and Times | 1846 | Do | Do | 636,000 | 6,115 | | Shipping and Mercantile Gazette | 1836 | Daily | Neutral | 628,000 | 2,019 | | Bell's Weekly Messenger | 1796 | Weekly | Conservative | 625,500 | 12,028 | | Dublin General Advertiser | 1837 | Do | Neutral | 568,000 | 11,500 | | North British Mail (Glasgow) | 1847 | Daily | Liberal | 563,000 | 1,805 | | Glasgow Herald | 1803 | Three times a week | Conservative | 541,500 | 3,471 | | Dublin Freeman's Journal | 1763 | Daily | Liberal | 480,000 | 1,333 | | Staffordshire Advertiser | 1795 | Weekly | Neutral | 425,633 | 8,185 | | Leeds Times | 1833 | Do | Liberal | 421,500 | 8,105 | | London Gazette | 1655 | Twice a week | Neutral | 420,000 | 4,035 | | Observer | 1792 | Weekly | Liberal | 419,000 | 8,057 | | Standard | 1827 | Daily | Conservative | 417,000 | 1,332 | | St James's Chronicle | 1761 | Three times a week | Do | 415,000 | 7,980 | | Scotsman (Edinburgh) | 1817 | Twice a week | Liberal | 359,000 | 3,451 | | Witness | 1840 | Do | Do | 297,000 | 2,855 | | Examiner | 1808 | Weekly | Do | 248,560 | 4,780 | | Spectator | 1828 | Do | Do | 142,000 | 2,730 |

The penny stamp, so far as it was compulsory, was at length entirely repealed by an act of Parliament, which received the royal assent on the 15th of June 1855. Mr Milner Gibson had, in the previous session, carried a resolution of the House of Commons affirming "that it is the opinion of this House that the laws in reference to the periodical press and newspaper stamp are ill defined and unequally enforced; and it appears to this House that the subject demands the early consideration of Parliament." This resolution necessarily brought the subject under the attention of the government, and especially of Mr Gladstone, then chancellor of the exchequer. That minister did not retain office long enough to introduce his measure into Parliament; but his successor took up the bill he had prepared, and with some modification carried it into a law. It continued to be practicable to stamp newspapers for transmission by post; and in respect of all newspapers any part of the impression of which should be so stamped, the existing regulations as to the declaration, registration, and recognisances of newspaper proprietors remained in force. In the course of the debates the chancellor of the exchequer acknowledged that the question had become "not simply a question whether we shall retain or shall not retain a revenue of L200,000."—(this was said on the assumption that about one-half of the net revenue arising from the stamp would continue to be received),—"but it is whether we shall enter upon a crusade against a large portion of the existing newspaper press, for the sake of enforcing a law which can only be enforced by means of the verdicts of juries, which are somewhat doubtful in their result." Mr Drummond amused the House after his fashion with a summary of the history of the newspaper press, as it shaped itself to his fancy, in the course of which he said that the writers in the Times "reminded him a good deal of what they called on board ship a 'handy-billy,'—a tackle that came in upon all occasions whenever it was wanted;" and also, "of a bit of bog he had near a farm of his. He once thought of draining it, and asked the opinion of the farmer, who replied,—No, no! I don't drain it; in wet weather there's something for the cow; and if there's nothing for the cow, there's something for the pig; and if there's nothing for the pig, there's something for the goose." So it was with the Times; if there was nothing in it for one man, there was sure to be something for another." In the division at the second reading, taken on an amendment professedly for delay, but substantially intended to defeat the measure, the ayes were 215, the noes 161, the majority 54. In the House of Lords no division took place; but Lord Montague recorded a protest against the bill, grounded partly on fiscal objections, and partly on the assertion that the proposed remission, "so far from being sought for as a relief" to the class of newspaper proprietors whose interests are primarily involved in the question, is, on the contrary, earnestly deprecated by them as being likely to lead, through an unjust and unchecked piracy, to the depreciation of their capital and the sacrifice of their commercial interests." It was pertinently rejoined by Lord Canning:—"This in no way affects the justice of the question. It will be remembered that not many shipowners petitioned for the alteration of the navigation laws, nor many farmers for the repeal of the corn laws."

Thus was struck out from the statute-book a law which had been thrust upon it at a time of unusual excitement, in opposition to the counsels of the best statesmen of the day, but which, nevertheless, continued in force for a hundred and forty-three years. During that long term it uniformly showed itself to be potent for mischief, and powerless for good. Any period of unusual stringency in the execution of it was invariably marked by rampant misgovernment, crowded gaols, and wide-spread discontent. At length the contrast between professions of anxiety for the promotion of popular education, and an obstinate perseverance in impeding the progress of one of the most efficient of popular educators, became too glaring to be longer endured. It deserves to be remembered, that at this final stage, although there was a formidable array of maintainers of the stamp, not one of the number was bold enough to avow any sympathy with the reasons for supporting it which had so often been candidly asserted by writers like L'Estrange, and by statesmen like North and Pitt. In these days no politician has either fear or dislike of an unshackled press. His only alarm is, lest in losing its fetters, it should lose its character.

The interval since the repeal is as yet too brief to afford materials for any satisfactory estimate even of the immediate results. We close this section of the subject, therefore, with a brief statistical statement of the present position of the British newspaper press; first, however, prefixing a tabular summary of the operation of the stamp duty at various periods of its existence.

| Year | Population at the Decennial Periods of the Census | Chief Political Events or Topics of the Year | Number of Stamps Issued | Rate of Duty (Net) | |------|--------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------|------------------------|-------------------| | 1753 | England, 6,189,366 | | | | | 1760 | Do. | | | | | 1790 | Do. | French Revolution | | | | 1801 | Great Brit., 10,942,646 | War with Napoleon | | | | 1806 | Do. | Do. | | | | 1811 | Do. | Defeat of Napoleon | | | | 1814 | Do. | Waterloo campaign | | | | 1815 | Do. | Congress of Vienna | | | | 1817 | Do. | Discontent in England | | | | 1818 | Do. | Peterloo massacre | | | | 1820 | Unit. King., 21,272,187 | Trial of Queen Caroline | | | | 1825 | Do. | Catholic Association | | | | 1828 | Do. | Commercial distress | | | | 1830 | Do. | Catholic emancipation | | | | 1831 | Do. | French Revolution of July | | | | 1832 | Do. | Reform Bill agitation | | | | 1834 | Do. | Peel-Wellington administration | | | | 1836 | Do. | Stamp duty reduced Sept. 15, to ld. | | | | 1837 | Do. | First year of penny stamp | | | | 1839 | Do. | Chartist agitation | | | | 1841 | Do. | Commencement of the systematic agitation of Corn Law repeal | | | | 1843 | Do. | Corn Law agitation | | | | 1844 | Do. | Repeal of the Corn Laws | | | | 1845 | Do. | Famine in Ireland | | | | 1847 | Do. | French Revolution of February | | | | 1848 | Do. | European insurrections | | | | 1849 | Do. | War with Russia | | | | 1851 | Do. | | | |

1 Inclusive of prices current, trade lists, &c., and of halfpenny stamps for supplements. The number of newspapers commenced from the early part of 1855, when the repeal of the stamp duty had become a certainty, although not actually accomplished, and which continued to be in existence at the beginning of 1857, amounts to 107. Eighty of these were started in 1855, and twenty-seven in 1856; twenty-six are metropolitan, and eighty-one provincial. Of the latter, the majority belong to towns which possessed no newspaper whatever under the compulsory stamp act, and the price of nearly one-third of them is but a penny. In some cases, however, a portion of these new cheap papers is printed in London, usually with pictorial illustrations, and to this is added a local supplement containing the news of the district.

The total number of the newspapers published throughout the United Kingdom at the beginning of 1857 was 711; and they may be classified as follows:

| Newspapers of | England | |---------------|---------| | | Metropolitan | Provincial | Wales | Scotland | Ireland | Total | | Liberal politics | 40 | 134 | 7 | 96 | 38 | 289 | | Democratic | 3 | | | | | 3 | | Conservative | 20 | 90 | 5 | 16 | 38 | 173 | | Neutral | 38 | 131 | 7 | 30 | 35 | 246 | | Total number | 101 | 355 | 19 | 112 | 111 | 711 |

If these existing newspapers be classified according to their respective dates of first publication, the enumeration will run thus:

| Date of Publication | England | |---------------------|---------| | | Metropolitan | Provincial | Wales | Scotland | Ireland | Isle of Man | Total | | First pub. prior to year 1700 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 22 | | 29 | | between 1701 & 1750 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 22 | | 1751-60 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 5 | | 1761-70 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 10 | | 1771-80 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | | 10 | | 1781-90 | 3 | 9 | | 1 | 1 | | 14 | | 1791-1800 | 6 | 9 | | 3 | 1 | | 13 | | 1801-10 | 3 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 6 | | 32 | | 1811-20 | 2 | 17 | 6 | 4 | 3 | | 32 | | 1821-30 | 7 | 20 | 1 | 5 | 13 | | 36 | | 1831-40 | 13 | 50 | 2 | 16 | 19 | | 101 | | 1841-50 | 27 | 47 | 4 | 29 | 27 | | 104 | | 1851-54 | 10 | 76 | 3 | 14 | 12 | | 116 | | in 1855 | 13 | 67 | 4 | 21 | 9 | | 116 | | 1856 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 7 | 3 | | 40 | | First publication uncertain | | | | | | | 7 | | Total number | 101 | 355 | 19 | 112 | 111 | 13 | 711 |

The decrease in the number of newspapers which passed through the post-office in the year 1855 (during exactly one-half of which the compulsory stamp had been abolished), amounted to about one-fourth of the aggregate number which had been posted in the preceding year. During the six months of the optional stamp the money received for impressed stamps was about £93,000, and that for postage stamps affixed on newspapers about £25,000. In the year 1856 the number of newspapers which passed through the post-office was nearly 71,000,000, and of these about three-fourths bore the impressed stamp, and one-fourth was franked by the ordinary postage stamps. The total gross revenue was therefore about £295,833. Prior to the abolition of the compulsory stamp the average weight of the newspapers passing through the post-office was three ounces and a half. It is now about two ounces and three-quarters. The reduction is due to the increase of the small and cheap papers. It is understood that *The Times* stamps about forty per cent, of its entire impression, the daily average of which exceeds 60,000. It need hardly be added that the alteration of the law, and the consequent multiplication of the cheaper newspapers, have diminished neither the circulation nor the well-earned influence of the leading journal.

The establishment of a newspaper still requires compliance with most of the regulations of the 6 and 7 Will. IV., c. 76. Notice must be given at the Inland Revenue Office in London, or at the district stamp-office in the country, of the contemplated publication, with particulars of (1.) title; (2.) precise locality of printing and publishing offices; (3.) names in full of printers and publishers; (4.) number of new shares held by each proprietor, if there be more than one, with their names, occupations, and places of abode. This declaration must be made by the proprietor or by the proprietors jointly, if not exceeding two; if otherwise, then by the two largest shareholders. The security of two sureties (£400 in London, £300 in the country) is still required as a provision against the infraction of the libel law. Each paper must bear the printer's and publisher's name as heretofore, and a copy must be deposited at the stamp-office (for which payment is made). The impressed stamp carries the paper bearing it through the post-office for any number of re-transmissions, if within fifteen days of publication. Afterwards it is subject to the ordinary regulations of the book-post. To entitle newspapers to transmission to the colonies or to foreign countries, they must, in addition to the payment of postage, according to the ordinary rates, be specially registered, and an annual fee of five shillings must be paid, which is due on the 15th June in each year. (Miscellaneous newspapers in the Burney and other collections of the British Museum; Nichols, *Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century*, iv. 33-97; *Returns relating to Newspaper Stamps*, 1836-1854; *Report of the Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps*, 1850, passim; Watts, *Letter to Antonio Panizzi, Esq.*, on the reputed English *Mercury* of 1588; Hansard's *Parliamentary Debates*, Sessions 1835, 1836, 1853, 1854, and 1855; Hunt, *The Fourth Estate*, passim; Coleridge, *Biographia Literaria*, Supp., 392-395; *Life of Edward Baines*, 346, seq.; *Edinburgh Review*, Oct. 1855, art. "The Newspaper Press;" Mitchell, *The Newspaper Press Directory*, for 1857, passim; *Second and Third Reports of the Postmaster-General*, 1856, 19; 1857, 10, seq.; Scott, *Memoirs of Swift*, 130, seq.; *First Report of the Commissioners on the Inland Revenue*, 1857, 28; exxiv.)

II.—THE NEWSPAPERS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Boston was the first city of America that possessed a local newspaper; but the earliest attempt in that direction, made in September 1690, was suppressed by the authorities. So far as is now known, the only copy of this pioneer of the vast newspaper press of the United States which escaped destruction, is the copy that may still be seen in the State Paper Office in London. It is a small quarto sheet, one of the four pages of which is blank; the other three contain a record of passing occurrences, not unlike the contemporary news of the English press; and with little on the face of it to justify, in any sense, the assertion that "it contained reflections of a very high nature." Although it purports to be "printed by Richard Pierce for Benjamin Harris," it is probable that the latter was both printer and editor, as he had already been of a London paper, and was again at a subsequent period. Nearly fourteen years afterwards (April 24, 1704), the first number of the *Boston Campbell's News-Letter* was "printed by B. Green, and sold by Nicholas Boone;" but its proprietor and editor—so far as it can be said to have had an editor, for extracts from the London papers were its staple contents—was John Campbell, postmaster of the town. In 1719 he enlarged his paper, in order, as he told his readers, "to make the news newer and more acceptable; . . . whereby that which seem'd old in the former half-sheets becomes new now by..." the sheet. This time twelvemonth we were thirteen months behind with the foreign news beyond Great Britain [or, in other words, the attention of the Bostonian politicians was engrossed on the siege of Belgrade, when their contemporaries in the mother country were intent on the destruction of the Spanish fleet on the coast of Sicily]; and now less than five months; so that . . . we have retrieved about eight months since January last; and he encourages his subscribers with the assurance that if they will continue steady "until January next, life permitted, they will be accommodated with all the news of Europe, . . . that are needful to be known in these parts." But Campbell's new plans were soon disturbed by the loss of his office, and the commencement of a new journal by his successor in the postmastership, William Brooker, entitled the *Boston Gazette*, "published by authority" (No. 1, 21st December 1719). The old journalist had a bitter controversy with his rival, but at the end of the year 1722, relinquished his concern in the paper to Benjamin Green, by whom it was carried on with higher aims and greater success. The following passage from an address to his readers (7th March 1723), may deserve quotation:

"The design of this paper is not merely to amuse the reader, much less to gratify any ill-tempers by reproach or ridicule, to promote contention, or to set any party among us. The author, on the contrary, laments our unhappy religious divisions, and he would always approve himself as a peaceable friend and servant to all. . . . He longs for the blissful times when wars shall cease to the end of the earth. . . . The publisher would therefore strive to oblige all his readers by publishing those transactions that have no relation to any of our quarrels. For this end he proposes to extend his paper to the history of nature among us, as well as of political and foreign affairs. . . . That so this paper may in some degree serve for the Philosophical Transactions of New England, as well as for a political history; and the things worthy of recording in this, as well as in other parts of the world, may not proceed to sink into eternal oblivion, as they have done in all the past ages of the aboriginal and ancient inhabitants."

Green conducted the paper until his death, at the close of 1733, and was succeeded by his son-in-law, John Draper, who published it until December 1762. By Richard Draper, who followed his father, the title was altered to *Massachusetts Gazette* and *Boston News-Letter*; and the maintenance of the British rule against the rising spirit of independence uniformly characterized his editorship and that of his widow (to whom, at a subsequent period, a pension was granted by the British government). It was the only paper printed in Boston during the siege, and ceased to appear when the British troops were compelled to evacuate the city.

The *Boston Gazette* began, as we have seen, in 1719. James Franklin, elder brother of the statesman, was its first printer. It lasted until the end of 1754; its editorship usually changing with the change of the postmasters. On the 17th August 1721, James Franklin started the *New England Courant*, now memorable for its connection with his illustrious brother. It was soon embroiled in a religious controversy, occasioned by the opposition of the clergy to the practice of inoculation. Many of Franklin's early writings are to be found in its columns; and in February 1722 he assumed its management, James Franklin having been forbidden by the General Court of Massachusetts "to print or publish the *New England Courant*, or any other pamphlet or paper of the like nature, except it be first supervised by the secretary of this province." "The main design of this paper," said the new editor, "will be to entertain the town with the most comical and diverting incidents of human life, which, in so large a place as Boston, will not fail of a universal exemplification. Nor shall we be wanting to fill up these papers with a grateful interspersion of more serious morals, which may be drawn from the most ludicrous and odd parts of life." The publication of the *Courant* ceased in 1727; and two years later Franklin established the *Pennsylvania Gazette*, which he continued weekly until 1765. But for his subsequent fame, both of these papers would perhaps have been utterly forgotten, although their pages might afford useful contributions towards a knowledge of the manners and condition of New England in that day.

To the *Boston Gazette* and the *Courant* succeeded the *New England Weekly Journal* (20th March 1727); incorporated with the *Boston Gazette* in 1741; and the *Weekly Rehearsal* (27th September 1731), which became the *Boston Evening Post* (August 1735), and under that title was for a time the most popular of the Boston newspapers. It aimed at neutrality in politics, and therefore did not survive the exciting events of the spring of 1775. Several minor papers followed, which may be passed over without notice. A new *Boston Gazette*, which began in Ede's Boston April 1755, has, however, claims to be particularized. For too long a time it was the main organ of the popular party, and expounded their policy with great ability, and in a dignified temper. Otis, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and Warren were amongst its writers. In January 1775 John Adams began the famous "Letters of Novanglus," the Letters of origin of which he has himself (in his Diary) described in Novanglus. These words:—"About this time Draper's paper in Boston swarmed with writers, and among an immense quantity of meaner productions appeared a writer (Daniel Leonard) under the signature of 'Massachusettensis.' . . . These papers were well written, abounded with wit, discovered good information, and were conducted with a subtlety of art and address wonderfully calculated to keep up the spirits of their party and to depress ours; to spread intimidation, and to make proselytes among those whose principles and judgment give way to their fears. . . . Week after week passed away, and these papers made a very visible impression on many minds. No answer appeared. . . . I began at length to think seriously of the consequences, and to write under the signature of 'Novanglus:' and continued every week in the *Boston Gazette*, until the 19th of April 1775. The last number was prevented from impression by the commencement of hostilities, and Mr Gill gave it to Judge William Cushing, who now has it in manuscript. An abridgment of the printed numbers was made by some one in England, unknown to me, and published in Almon's *Remembrancer* for 1775, and afterwards reprinted, under the title of *History of the Dispute with America*. In New England they had the effect of an antidote to the poison of 'Massachusettensis.'" This last-named writer spoke more truly than he knew, when he said in reply,—"The changes have been rung so often upon oppression, tyranny and slavery, that whether sleeping or waking, they are continually vibrating in our ears."

The *Massachusetts Spy*, under the indefatigable editor-Thomas' ship of the American historian of printing, Issiah Thomas, Massachu-did yeoman's service in this struggle, although of a differ-sotts Spy-ent kind from that of the *Boston Gazette*. The latter spoke chiefly to the thinkers and natural leaders of the people. The *Spy* was a light and active skirmisher who engaged his antagonists wherever he met them, and frequently carried the war into the enemy's country. The *Massachusetts Spy* began its career in July 1770, and had for a considerable time less than 200 subscribers. To its title were added the words "A weekly political and commercial paper, open to all parties, but influenced by none." But the progress of misgovernment, and the energies of its editor's own character, soon led to a change in this respect, which was sufficiently indicated by the introduction of a motto from *Cato*:

"Do thou, great Liberty, inspire our souls, And make our lives in thy possession happy, Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence."

In July 1774, during the operation of the *Boston Port Bill*, and soon after the landing of four British regiments, Franklin's odd device was adopted, representing Great Britain as a dragon, and the colonies as a snake divided into nine parts, with the motto, "join or die." But Boston grew too hot for the patriotic printer, and he had to remove to Worcester on the day of the battle of Lexington. Here the paper continued to be published until 1786; the lack of the stirring revolutionary matter being occasionally supplied by the republication in its columns of entire books, such as Robertson's *America* and Gordon's *History of the Revolution*. But this journal, like so many more, was for a time killed by a tax. The stamp duty imposed in March 1786, though amounting to but two-thirds of a penny, and very speedily repealed, led to the suspension of the *Spy* until April 1788. At that period it was resumed; and it still continues, being the oldest newspaper in Massachusetts.

At the commencement of the struggle for independence strength of In 1775, Massachusetts possessed 7 newspapers, New Hampshire 1 (founded in 1756, and entitled the *N. H. Gazette*), Rhode Island 2, and Connecticut 3; making 13 in all for the New England colonies. Pennsylvania had 8, of which the earliest in date was the *American Weekly Mercury* (No. 1, 22d December 1719); and New York but 3, the oldest of them being the *New York Gazette*, the publication of which had commenced on the 16th October 1725. Up to that period (1725) Boston and Philadelphia were the only towns possessing a newspaper throughout America. In the middle and southern colonies there were (in 1775), in the aggregate, 10 journals, of which Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina possessed each 2, South Carolina 3, and Georgia 1. The total number of the Anglo-American papers was 34, and all of them were of weekly publication.

The *New Hampshire Gazette* still exists, and is the New England press. In 1810 this State possessed 12 papers; in 1828, 17; in 1840, 27; in 1850 (the date of the last census), 32,—viz., 22 described as "political," and 10 as "miscellaneous." The earliest paper established in Vermont was the *Green Mountain Postboy*, first published in April 1781. In 1850 the number of newspapers was 30; 27 of which are described as "political." Maine possessed in 1850, 29; 4 of them of daily publication. Rhode Island had 13, of which 5 were daily; Connecticut had 28, including 7 daily papers; Massachusetts possessed in 1850 no less than 91 newspapers, with a collective circulation of 222,087 copies; and an aggregate circulation amounting in the year to 465,587,000. Of these, about two-thirds were published in Boston. Of the whole number, 22 were of daily, 4 of tri-weekly, 11 of semi-weekly, and 54 of weekly publication.

Pennsylvania had in 1810, 71 newspapers, and in 1850, 210, with a collective circulation of 338,336 copies, and an aggregate circulation, in the whole year, amounting to 59,717,508 copies.

The *Aurora* was the most notable of the early Philadelphia papers, next to Franklin's *Gazette*. Its hostility to federalism, and to Washington as the main pillar of the federalists, was so violent that, on the termination of his presidency, it sang so loud a *Nunc dimittis* as to excite a riot, in which its printing-office was destroyed. The *Daily National Gazette*, started in 1820, soon became prominent for its union of literature with politics. The total number of journals political and literary, published in Philadelphia, in 1856, was 76, 12 of which were of daily publication.

In New York, the *Gazette* already mentioned was followed by the *Weekly Journal* (No. 1, 5th November 1783), still memorable for the prosecution for sedition which it entailed on its printer, John Peter Zenger, and for the masterly defence of the accused by Andrew Hamilton. "The trial of Zenger," said Gouverneur Morris, "was the germ of American freedom." Gaines's *New York Mercury* was published from 1752 to 1783. Rivington's *Royal Gazette* was established in 1773, and in the first year of its existence is said to have attained a circulation of 3600. After the Revolution this paper was continued under the title *New York Gazette*, and *Universal Advertiser*. The first daily newspapers published in the city or State of New York was papers of *The New York Journal and Register*, commenced in New York at various periods. In 1810 the aggregate number of papers published within the State was 66, of which 14 belonged to New York city. Ten years later the city press included 8 daily journals, with an aggregate daily circulation of 10,800 copies. No one paper circulated more than 2000, and but two—the *Evening Post* and the *Commercial Advertiser*—attained that number. Both the papers last named continue to flourish. In 1832 there were 13 daily journals, with a collective daily circulation of 18,200; or, on the average, 1400 to each paper. In 1850 the number of daily papers (according to the census returns) was 51, with an aggregate annual circulation of 63,928,685, which will give an average daily issue of 3942 to each of them.

The penny press of America began in New York, and Penny the pioneer was the *Daily Sun* (No. 1, 23d September press of 1834), written, edited, set up, and worked off, by B. F. America's Day, a journeyman printer. Its circulation at first was 600 copies. In 1854 its average issue was 36,525 copies. Its success has been described with sufficient significance as mainly owing to "piquant police reports," at least at the outset. When sold, it fetched L50,000. The profit arising from its advertisements has been stated by Mr Horace Greeley to amount to L60 a day. The notorious *New York Herald* is also a penny paper; was started in 1835 (at first at a halfpenny); and its average circulation in December 1854 was 36,158. The *New York Tribune* was established in 1851 by Mr Horace Greeley, who is still its editor. Its circulation in 1851 was 19,000 copies, of which somewhat more than half was sold within the limits of the city. It has now a daily circulation of about 29,000 copies, and, in addition, issues as a weekly paper 163,000 copies, irrespectively of certain special issues for California and for Europe. These are amongst the prizes of New York journalism. How numerous the blanks are may be inferred from the statement, that between the years 1820 and 1850, 32 daily newspapers were founded and abandoned.

Elaborate as are the returns given in the United States' census in relation to this subject, they are only to be relied upon for precise information respecting newspapers when limited to those of daily issue. The classification of the main returns which bear on the matter is headed, "How often issued?" and, although there is a subsidiary classification headed "Character," it fails to elicit even the simple distinction between newspapers and magazines. This clasped arrangement comprises—(1.) "Literary and Miscellaneous;" (2.) "Neutral and Independent;" (3.) "Political;" (4.) "Religious;" (5.) "Scientific." If, however, we understand the second division as meaning periodicals of "Neutral and Independent" politics, the entire newspaper press of the State of New York in 1850 may be summed up thus:

| Character | No. of Papers | Average Circulation | Aggregate Annual Circulation | |----------------------------|---------------|---------------------|-----------------------------| | Neutral and Independent | 15 | 127,370 | 37,317,010 | | Newspapers attached to a | 263 | 390,755 | 45,463,015 | | political party | | | | | Total of the Newspaper press | 278 | 527,125 | 82,780,025 |

The total number of newspapers published in Maryland, in 1850 was 40, Delaware had 10, and New Jersey 45. The last-named State had no local paper before the Revolution, although a single number of one had been. published in 1765, under the title of the *Constitutional Gazette*, containing Matters interesting to Liberty, but not wise repugnant to Royalty. The earliest regular paper was the *New Jersey Gazette*, which began in December 1777.

The total number of newspapers in the Middle States at the date of the census (estimated as in the case of New York) may be taken at 583, exclusive of periodicals of a distinctly literary, theological, or scientific nature.

In the Southern States, the annals of newspapers, as of so much else, may be far more compactly dealt with than is possible in regard to the Northern and Middle States. Virginia, notwithstanding its precedence, possessed neither newspaper nor printing-office until 1736; so that (as respects one-half at least of the wish) there was once a prospect that the devout aspiration of Sir William Berkley might be realized. "Thank God," said this Virginian governor in 1671, "We have neither free school nor printing-press, and I hope may not have for a hundred years to come." The Virginia papers occasionally present to modern readers figures of Liberty at their head (sometimes with a banner, inscribed "Drapeau sans tache"), whilst in the body of the journal comes a string of advertisements headed "Cash for Negroes." Those who love America best may perhaps be apt to think that Sir W. Berkley's words would make an appropriate motto. This great question apart, several of the Virginia papers have evinced considerable ability and independence of spirit. The earliest journal established in the State was the *Virginia Gazette*, commenced in 1736. The *Richmond Inquirer*, which started in 1804, early attained a leading position. In 1810 the total number of Virginian papers was 23; in 1828, 37; at the census of 1850, 67; with an average total circulation of 56,188 copies. North Carolina, at the last-named date, possessed 37 newspapers, with an average total circulation of 25,439; South Carolina, 29, with a similar circulation of 36,415; Georgia, 26, with 23,846; Florida, 7, with 3500; Alabama, 46, with 25,336.

The statistics of the newspaper press of the entire Union may be thus epitomized, so far as respects the two classes designated in the census "Neutral" and "Political":

| States and Territories | Population | Total Circulation | No. | Total Circulation | No. | Total Circulation | No. | Total Circulation | No. | |------------------------|------------|-------------------|-----|------------------|-----|------------------|-----|------------------|-----| | Maine | 583,169 | | | | | | | | | | New Hampshire | 317,976 | | | | | | | | | | Vermont | 314,192 | | | | | | | | | | Massachusetts | 994,614 | | | | | | | | | | Rhode Island | 147,545 | | | | | | | | | | Connecticut | 370,792 | | | | | | | | | | New York | 3,097,394 | | | | | | | | | | New Jersey | 489,555 | | | | | | | | | | Pennsylvania | 2,311,786 | | | | | | | | | | Delaware | 91,532 | | | | | | | | | | Maryland | 683,034 | | | | | | | | | | Dist. of Columbia | 51,687 | | | | | | | | | | Virginia | 1,421,661 | | | | | | | | | | North Carolina | 869,039 | | | | | | | | | | South Carolina | 665,701 | | | | | | | | | | Georgia | 906,158 | | | | | | | | | | Florida | 87,446 | | | | | | | | | | Alabama | 771,623 | | | | | | | | | | Mississippi | 406,626 | | | | | | | | | | Louisiana | 517,762 | | | | | | | | | | Texas | 212,592 | | | | | | | | | | Arkansas | 209,897 | | | | | | | | | | Tennessee | 1,002,717 | | | | | | | | | | Kentucky | 982,405 | | | | | | | | | | Missouri | 682,044 | | | | | | | | | | Illinois | 831,470 | | | | | | | | | | Indiana | 988,416 | | | | | | | | | | Ohio | 1,260,329 | | | | | | | | | | Michigan | 397,654 | | | | | | | | | | Wisconsin | 305,391 | | | | | | | | | | Iowa | 192,214 | | | | | | | | | | California | 92,597 | | | | | | | | | | Oregon Territory | 13,294 | | | | | | | | |

Total: 23,112,872

---

(Seventh Census of the United States, 1850 (Washington, 1853), passim; Buckingham, *Specimens of Newspaper Literature*, 2 vols. (Boston, 1850), passim; Coggeshall, *The Newspaper Record* (Philadelphia, 1856), passim; *Life and Works of Franklin*, by Sparks, i. 23, 123, &c.; *Life and Works of John Adams*, ii. 405; *Proceedings of the New York Historical Society* for 1844; *Historical Notices of Newspapers published in North Hampshire*, in *Farmer and Moore's Collection*, iii. 174, seq.; Frothingham, *History of the Siege of Boston*, 31, seq.; *Minutes of Evidence before the Select Committee on Newspaper Stamps* (Evidence of Mr H. Greeley), Q. 2614-2664, 2978-3068, pp. 399-395, 438-448.)

---

III.—THE NEWSPAPERS OF FRANCE.

The long and eventful annals of French journalism Remaudot's begin with the *Gazette* established by Théophraste Re-Gazette-maudot in 1631, under the patronage of Richelieu, and very probably with his active co-operation. Renaudot was born at Loudon in 1584; studied medicine in Paris, and afterwards at Montpellier, where he took his degree; established himself in the capital in 1612, and soon became conspicuous both within and beyond the limits of his profession. Endowed by nature with great energy and versatility of talent, he seems at an early period of his career to have attracted the attention of the great Cardinal, and to have obtained permission to establish a sort of general agency office, under the designation of "Bureau d'Addresses et de Rencontre." An enterprise like this would, perhaps, naturally suggest to such a mind as Renaudot's the advantage of following it up by the foundation of a newspaper. According to some French writers, however, the project was formed by Pierre d'Hozier, the genealogist, who carried on an extensive correspondence both at home and abroad, and was thus in a position to give valuable help; according to others by Richelieu himself. Be this as it may, Renaudot put his hand zealously to the work, and brought out his first weekly number in May 1631. So much, at least, may be inferred from the date (4th July 1631) of the sixth number, which was the first dated publication; the five preceding numbers being marked by "signatures" only—A to E. Each number consists of a single sheet (eight pages) in small quarto, and is divided into two parts—the first simply entitled "Gazette," the second "Nouvelles Ordinaires de Divers Endroits." For this division the author assigns two reasons—(1.) That two persons may thus read his journal at the same time; (2.) That it facilitates a division of the subject-matter—the Nouvelles containing usually intelligence from the northern and western countries, the Gazette from the southern and eastern. He commonly begins with foreign, and ends with home news—a method which was long and generally followed, and which still obtains. Once a month he published a supplement, under the title of Relation des Nouvelles du Monde recues dans tout le Mois. "These monthly Relations of mine," he says, "serve to epitomize and to correct the weekly ones. For it is with news as with metals—when they come first from the mine, the metals are mixed with earth. In like manner, news are at the outset usually accompanied by mistakes and misconceptions, from which in a little time they get separated, just as the metals lose their dross in the furnace. Then you get them pure."

In October 1631, Renaudot obtained letters-patent to himself and his heirs, conferring the exclusive privilege of printing and selling, where and how they might please, "the gazettes, news, and narratives of all that has passed or may pass within and without the kingdom—". . . . [In the beginning of this document he had been designated "Master and General Intendant of the Address Offices of the Kingdom," and these offices are directly connected with the Gazette by the addition, after the words we have quoted, of what follows—] "conferences, prices-current of merchandise, and other printed matter of the said offices (autres impressions des dits bureaux)." At the end of the year, he collected his thirty-one numbers into a volume, and published them under the title, Recueil des Gazettes de l'Annee 1631; prefixing also a preface to the public, and a dedication to the king. In the former he says—

"The publication of gazettes is in truth new; but this novelty may win for them a favour which they will easily preserve. They will be maintained for their utility, both to the community and to individuals—to the community, by preventing those false reports which often serve to kindle turmouls and seditions; to individuals, by enabling every man to adjust his business according to the needs of the times. Thus the merchant will not betake himself for traffic to a besieged or ruined city, nor will the soldier seek for service in a country which is at peace; to say nothing of the advantage they will bring to those who have to write to friends, whose curiosity they had heretofore to satisfy with news often invented for the occasion, or founded on the guess-work of mere hearsay." . . . . "The difficulties," he adds, "which I mention as attendant on the composition of my Gazette are not put forward for the glorification of my work, but as an excuse for my style, if it does not always correspond with the dignity of my themes. Captains wish to have news of battles and sieges every day; lawyers to have law reports; devout persons to meet the names of favourite preachers and confessors. Some people, who understand nothing of the secrets of the court, wish to have them exposed at full length. Others are angry if their names do not meet the king's eye in the Gazette, for having bought the reverie of some unimportant office, or for having safely conveyed a state parcel. . . . . Some attach value to nothing but flowery language; others would have my narratives resemble a bare skeleton. . . . . Can you then, my reader, deny me your pity, or withhold your pardon, if my pen fail to please everybody, hold it as it may: any more than could the peasant and his son, in the fable, although they travelled first singly, and then together,—at one time afoot, and at another on the ass! . . . . Yet I should deceive myself were I to hope to curb your censure by my remonstrances. I cannot do it, and ought not, reader, if I could. The liberty to find fault is not the least of the pleasures attendant on reading of this sort; and it is for your pleasure that this novelty has been invented. Enjoy, then, at your ease your French liberty; and let every one say boldly that he would take away this, or change that, and that he could have done much better. I admit it. In one thing only I will yield to nobody—in the search after truth, though I will not vouch for its constant attainment!"

Renaudot's assailants were numerous, and made full use of "French liberty." Many, too, were the parodies by which it was sought to throw ridicule upon his enterprise. But he steadily pursued his course, rarely noticed his assailants, and at his death in October 1653, left the Gazette to his sons in flourishing circumstances. In 1752 the title "Gazette de France" was first used. Under this designation it continued to appear until the 24th August 1848. During the five memorable days which followed that date it suspension was suspended; on the 30th it was resumed as Le Peuple de la France, Journal de l'Appel à la Nation; and again modified on the 14th September to L'Etoile de la France, France la Journal des Droits de Tous. On the 25th October it became and its subsequent title it still continues to appear. A complete set extends to upwards of 300 volumes, of which 189 are in quarto, and the rest in folio. It scarcely need be added that such a set forms a collection of great value, not only for the history of France, but for that of Europe generally.

We pass over a group of Couriers (Le Courrier Français, Le Courrier de la Cour, Le Courrier Burlesque, Le Courrier Bourdelais, &c.), which properly form part of the extraordinary collection of pamphlets usually termed Marinarines. Most of these Couriers belong to the year 1649, but they are not serial newspapers. They come within the same category as the English news-pamphlets mentioned in a preceding section of this article.

In 1650, Paris had its newspaper in verse. Loret, the Loret's "courtier-poet," as he has been called, began this flimsy Muse Hisbut amusing, and now not uninstructive periodical, for the tortique, gratification of his patroness, Mademoiselle de Longueville.

"Pour complaire à ses volontés, Et mieux meriter ses bontés."

But the new Gazetierre was too witty, and too incisive in his stroke, to be long confined to the narrow though brilliant circle of the Hotel de Longueville. MS. copies were obtained, sometimes surreptitiously, sometimes by dint of pertinacious application. At length, after it had circulated from hand to hand for nearly two years and a half, some numbers were furtively printed under the title La Gazette du Temps, en Vers Burlesques.

"Des débiteurs de faux papiers, Pires cent fois que des fripées, Faisaient imprimer ses gazettes, Sans craindre ni loi ni syndic Pour en faire un lâche trafic."

The poor poet was fain to follow the example. He consoles himself by the reflection that the copies in MS. were always faulty, and gravely assures his readers that "printing is an excellent invention for producing simultaneously several copies of a work." Resuming his verse, however, he proceeds:

"Mais sache, lecteur débonnaire, Encor que des mains du rimeur Cette gazette épistolaire Passé en celles de l'imprimeur," The usual title of each Gazette, as printed by the author, is *Lettre en vers à Son Altesse Mlle. de Longueville*; but in 1656 he collected them under the title *La Muse Historique, ou Recueil des Lettres en Vers écrites à S. A. Mlle. de Longueville, par le Sieur Loret*. Livre premier. Dédicé au Roi (Paris, 1656, 4°). He continued the task almost until the day of his death, in April 1665. His last letter ends with this sad couplet:

"Le vingt-huit Mars j'ai fait ces vers, Souffrant cinq ou six maux divers."

The first complete edition appeared in 1658; and the words "Contenant les nouvelles du temps," are added to the title above mentioned.

Loret's *Gazette* will always have interest in the eyes of students, who care less for the "dignity" of history than for the fidelity of its local colouring, and the animation of its backgrounds, if we may so speak. It were as vain to look there for any deep appreciation of the events of those stormy times as for state papers or notes of diplomatic conferences. But it abounds in vivid portraits of the men and manners of the day. It paints rudely, yet to the life, the Paris of the Fronde, with all its effervescence and depression, its versatility and fickleness, its cowardice and its courage.

Of the *Mercure Galant*, established by Donneau de Visé in 1672, it may be said that it sought to combine the qualities of the *Gazettes*, both grave and gay. Like the former, it contained the state news and court circulars of the day. Like the latter, it amused its readers with satirical verses, and with sketches of men and manners, which, if not always true, were at least well invented. Reviews and sermons, law pleas and street airs, the last reception at the academy, and the last new fashion of the milliners, all find their place; nor can it be denied that the writer has redeemed the pledge implied in these words of his prospectus:—"If my letters" (for, like Loret, he cast his news into the epistolary mould) "be preserved, . . . they may hereafter become useful memorials, in which will be found many things not elsewhere to be met with." De Visé carried on his enterprise during more than thirty years, and at his death it was continued by that Rivière du Fresney, who has his little niche in Voltaire's portrait gallery:

"Et Du Fresney, plus sage et moins dissipateur, Ne fût pas mort de faim,—digne mort d'un auteur."

The successor of this worthy, Lefèvre de Fontenay, altered the title to *Mercure de France* (a designation retained, with some slight modification, until 1853). The *Mercure* passed through many other hands before it came into those of Panckoucke, at the eve of the Revolution. Amongst its more conspicuous writers, immediately before this change, had been Raynal and Marmontel. The latter, indeed, had for many years been its principal editor, and in his Memoirs has left us a very interesting record of the views and aims which governed him in the performance of an arduous task. And he there narrates the curious fact, that it was Madame de Pompadour who invented the plan of giving pensions to eminent men of letters out of the profits of the *Mercure*. To one of Marmontel's predecessors the "privilege," or patent, had been worth more than L1,000 sterling annually. This revenue was now to be shared amongst several, and to become a means of extending royal "patronage" of literature at a cheap rate. Marmontel's account of his conversation with Pompadour as to the selection of the patronized, is not the least amusing thing in those admirable *Memoirs*.

It is, too, to this pension-scheme that we owe the *Comtes Moraux*. Marmontel, who had long before lost his "patent" by an act of high-minded generosity, continued to share in the composition of the literary articles with Chamfort and La Harpe, whilst Mallet du Pan became the most prominent of political writers. In 1789 the latter published a series of remarkable articles on the well-known book of De Lolme. In the same year he penned some comments on the "Declaration of the Rights of Man," very distasteful to violent men of all parties, but which forcibly illustrate the pregnant truth they begin with:—"The Gospel has given the simplest, the shortest, and the most comprehensive 'Declaration of the Rights of Man,' in saying, *Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you.* All politics hinge upon this."

In 1790 the sale of the *Mercure* rose very rapidly. It attained for a time a circulation of 13,000 copies. Mirabeau styled it in debate, "the most able of the newspapers." Great pains were taken for the collection of statistics, with state papers, the absence of which from the French newspaper press had theretofore helped to depress its credit, as compared with the political journalism of England, and even of Germany. But in proportion as the Revolution marched on with more rapid strides towards an unchecked democracy, Mallet Du Pan evinced more and more unmistakably his rooted attachment to a constitutional monarchy. And, like so many of his compatriots, he soon found the tide too strong for him. The political part of the *Mercure* changed hands, and after the 10th August 1792 its publication was suspended.

All this time the *Moniteur* (*Gazette Nationale, ou le Moniteur Universel*) was under the same general management as the *Mercure Français* (so the title had been altered in 1791). The first idea, indeed, of this famous official journal appears to have been Panckoucke's, but it did not firmly establish itself until he had purchased the *Journal de l'Assemblée Nationale*, and so secured the best report of the debates. The *Moniteur*, however, kept step Contrast with the majority of the assembly, the *Mercure* with the minority. So marked a contrast between two journals, with the opinion of Panckoucke's one proprietor, gave too favourable a leverage to the republican wits not to be turned to good account. Camille Mercure Desmoulins depicted him as Janus,—one face radiant at the blessings of liberty, the other plunged in grief for the epoch of his that was rapidly disappearing. "When M. Panckoucke," he said, "leaves the printing-office of his *Moniteur Universel*, he is an ardent patriot; when he enters the editor's room of his *Mercure de France*, a sudden change comes over him, converting the patriot of the instant before into a furious aristocrat."

When resumed, after a very brief interval, the *Mercure Français* became again *Mercure de France*; its political importance diminished, whilst its literary worth was enhanced. During the later days of the Revolution, and under the imperial domination, its roll of contributors included the names of Geoffroy, Ginguené, Morellet, Lacretelle, Fontanes, and Chateaubriand. The statesman last named brought upon the *Mercure* another temporary suppression in 1807, by words which were in true union with the noblest deed of his chequered career,—that retire ment, namely, from the imperial service which he resolved and effected on the day that the news of the execution of the Duke of Enghien reached him, being the day after he had been appointed by Napoleon a minister plenipotentiary.

A few of these weighty words must find room. What may seem pedantic in their style is, it will be remembered, the local colouring of the time.

"... When in the silence of despair no sound makes itself heard, save the chain of the slave and the voice of the informer,—when all tremble before the tyrant, and it becomes as dangerous to obtain his favour as to incur his displeasure, then arises the historian..." who embodies the vengeance of the nations. It is in vain that Nero prospers. Tacitus is already born within the bounds of the empire. Beside the ashes of Germanicus, he grows up to man's estate, unknown and unnoticed; and already has a righteous Providence placed in the hands of an obscure child, the fame of the master of the world. If the part which the historian is called to play upon the world's stage be a noble one, yet it is often dangerous; but he ministers at an altar which, like that of honour, although abandoned, claims its sacrifice; the god is not annihilated because the temple is deserted."

Thus it chanced that alike under the brilliant despotism of Napoleon, and under the capricious malversation of Louis XV., the management of the Mercure was revolutionized for protests which conferred honour upon the journal, no less than upon the individual writers who made them. Resumed by other hands, the Mercure continued to appear until January 1820, when it was again suspended. In the following year it reappeared as Le Mercure de France au dix-neuvième Siècle, and in February 1833 it finally ceased. A complete set extends to no fewer than 1611 volumes.

The only other newspaper of a date anterior to the Revolution which needs to be noticed here, is the Journal de Paris, which was commenced on new year's-day of 1777. It had but a feeble infancy, yet lived, as rickety children sometimes do, for half a century. Its early volumes appear so insipid to a nineteenth century reader, that he wonders what can have been the cause of its occasional bickerings with the police. Its tameness, however, did not save it from sharing in the "suspensions" of its predecessors. After the Revolution, such men as Garat, Condorcet, and Regnaud de St Jean d'Angely appear amongst its contributors, but those of earlier date were intensely obscure. Its period of highest prosperity may be dated about 1792, when its circulation is said to have exceeded 20,000.

The police adventures of the writers of the MS. News Letters, or Nouvelles à la Main, were still more numerous; and if we may judge from the copious specimens of these epistles which yet survive, must also not unfrequently have arisen from lack of official employment, rather than from substantial provocation. Madame Doublet de Persan, the widow of a member of the French Board of Trade, was a conspicuous purveyor of news of this sort. For nearly forty years, daily meetings were held in her house, at which the gossip and table-talk of the town were systematically (and literally) registered; and weekly abstracts or epitomes were sent into the country by post. Piron ("Piron qui ne fit rien, pas même académicien"), Mirabaud, Falconet, D'Argental (the "ame damnée" of Voltaire, as Marmontel called him), and, above all, Bachaumont, were prominent members of the "society," and each of them is said to have had his assigned seat beneath his own portrait. The lady's valet de chambre appears to have been editor ex officio; and as he occasionally suffered imprisonment, when offensive news-letters had been seized by the police, so responsible a duty was doubtless "considered in the wages." News and anecdotes of all kinds,—political and literary, grave, gay, or merely scandalous,—were all admitted into the Nouvelles à la Main; and their contents, during a long series of years, form the staple of those Mémoires Secrets pour servir à l'Histoire de la République des Lettres, which extend to 36 volumes, have been frequently printed (at first with the false imprint,—Londres: John Adamson, 1777—89), and are usually referred to by French writers as the Mémoires de Bachaumont.

The journalism of the first Revolution has been the theme of many bulky volumes, and their number is still on the increase. Like all modern insurrections, in which legitimate and long repressed aspirations have been commingled with visionary but fondly-cherished dreams of a world wherein luxury should precede labour, and vice imperceptibly transmute itself into virtue, the period of the Revolution was marvellously fertile in every kind of intellectual effort. The simple recital of the mere titles of the newspapers which then appeared throughout France fills more than forty pages of larger dimensions than those which the reader has now before him. It is obvious, therefore, that a very casual glance at this part of our subject is all that can here be given to it.

When at least one half of the French people was in a ferment of hope or of fear at the approaching convocation of the States-General, most of the existing newspapers were still in a state of torpor. Long paragraphs, for example, about a terrible "wild beast of the Gevaudan"—whether wolf or bear, or as yet nondescript, was uncertain—were still current in the Paris journals at this momentous juncture; just as the "enormous gooseberry" fills up, at the dull season of the year, a blank in an English, or the "marvellous sea-serpent" a blank in an American, country paper. Mirabeau was amongst the foremost to supply the popular want. His Lettres à ses Conneveaux began on the 2d May 1789, and with the twenty-first number became the Courrier de Provence. Within a week Maret (afterwards Duke of Bassano) followed with the Bulletin des Séances de l'Assemblée Nationale, and Lehodey with the Journal des États Généraux. In June, Brissot de Warville began his Patriote Français. Gorsas published the first number of his Courrier de Versailles in the following month, from which also dates the famous periodical of Prudhomme, Loustalot, and Tournon, entitled Révolutions de Paris, with its characteristic motto,—"Les grands nous paraissent grands, que parce que nous sommes à genoux; levons nous!" A month later, Barère and Louvet began the Journal des Débats, and Marat the Ami du Peuple (which at first was called Le Publiciste Parisien). Le Moniteur Universel (of which we have spoken already), was first published on the 24th November, although numbers were afterwards printed bearing date from the 5th May, the day, it will be remembered, on which the States-General first assembled. Camille Desmoulins also commenced his Révolutions de France et de Brabant in November 1789. The Ami du Roi was first published in June 1790; La Quotidienne in September 1792.

Of all these prominent journals the Moniteur and the Débats alone have survived until now. A few of them lasted until 1794 or 1795; one continued until recently; but most of them expired either in the autumn of 1792, or with the fall of the party of the Girondins in September 1793. In some of these papers the energy for good and for evil of a whole lifetime seems to be compressed into the fugitive writings of a few months. Even the satirical journals which combated the Revolution with shafts of ridicule and wit, keen enough after their kind, but too light to do much damage to men who were terribly in earnest, abound with matter well deserving the attention of all students desirous of a thorough knowledge of the period. Of this class those more especially in which Peltier was concerned—as, for example, skirmish of the Actes des Apôtres, the Paris, and L'Ambigu—depicters of the Royalists themselves vividly enough, whatever may be the amount of credit due to their delineations of their foes, any press. Peltier's name is now best remembered for the famous trial which his incessant attacks upon Napoleon entailed on him. His fondness for drawing comparisons between the "yellow emperor" and the "black emperor," greatly to the advantage of the Haytian, so pleased the latter as to bring him very substantial and acceptable marks of gratitude, in the shape of numerous bags of coffee and hogsheads of sugar, which were speedily converted into cash for the gratification of tastes little in harmony with the ordinary resources of an exiled journalist. The sad contrast between the gratitude of the negro monarch and the indifference of the government of the Restoration towards services which had been long and faithful, prompted an epigram, which unfortunately alienated his distant benefactor:— So that the poor author died, if we accept the dictum of Voltaire, an appropriate death, in a garret, in the spring of 1825.

The consular government began its dealings with the press by reducing the number of political papers to thirteen. At this period the original number of daily journals had been nineteen, and their aggregate provincial circulation, apart from the Paris sale, 49,318, or 2600 each, on the average.

Under Napoleon, the Moniteur was the only political paper that was really regarded with an eye of favour. Even as respects the nation at large, the monstrous excesses into which the revolutionary press had plunged left an enduring stigma on the class. When M. Bertin acquired the Journal des Débats from Baudouin, the printer, for 20,000 francs, he had to vanquish popular indifference on the one hand, as well as imperial mistrust on the other. The men he called to his aid were Geoffroy and Fievée; and by the brilliancy of their talents, and the keenness of his own judgment, he converted the Débats into a paper having 32,000 subscribers, and producing a profit of 200,000 francs a year. When a special censorship was about to be imposed on it, in 1805, at the instance of Fouché, a remarkable correspondence took place between Fievée and Napoleon himself, in the course of which the emperor wrote, that the only means of preventing a newspaper from suspension was "to avoid the publication of any news unfavourable to the government, until the truth of it is so well established that the publication becomes needless, the bad news being in everybody's mouth." ("Toutes les fois qu'il parviendra une nouvelle défavorable au gouvernement, elle ne doit être publiée, jusqu'à ce qu'on soit tellement sûr de la vérité qu'on ne doive plus la dire, parce qu'elle est connue de tout le monde.") The censorship was avoided, but Fievée had to become the responsible editor, and the title was altered to Journal de l'Empire—the imperial critic taking exception to the word Débats as "inconvenient." The old title was resumed in August 1815. The revolution of July did but enhance the power and the profit of the paper. It has held its course with dignity as well as ability amidst recent perils, and may still be said, in the words which Lamartine applied to it in an earlier day, to have "made itself part of French history."

Shortly before the Journal de l'Empire became again the Journal des Débats (in 1815), a severance occurred amidst both the writers and subscribers, which led to the foundation of the Constitutionnel, which for a short time bore the title of L'Indépendant. The former became, for a time, the organ of the Royalists, par excellence, and furnished its due quota of "agre de Corse" and the like; the latter, the leader of the opposition. In 1824, however, both were in conflict with the government of the day. At that date the statistics of the Paris press were thus stated, in a secret report addressed to the ministry:

| Name of Paper | Circulation | |---------------|-------------| | Journal de Paris | 4,175 | | L'Etoile | 2,749 | | Gazette de France | 2,570 | | Le Moniteur Blanc | 2,250 | | Le Drapeau Blanc | 1,900 | | Le Pilot | 900 |

Total | 14,344 |

| Name of Paper | Circulation | |---------------|-------------| | Le Constitutionnel | 16,250 | | Journal des Débats | 13,000 | | La Quotidienne | 5,800 | | Le Courrier Français | 2,975 | | Journal de Commerce | 2,390 | | L'Aristarque | 925 |

Total | 41,330 |

The rapid rise of the Constitutionnel was due partly to the great ability and influence of Étienne, of Beranger, and of Saint Albin (who had been secretary to Carnot, in his ministry of 1815), all of whom co-operated in its early editorship; and partly to its sympathy with the popular reverence for the memory of Napoleon, as well as to the vigorous share it took in the famous literary quarrel between the Classicists and Romanticists (although in that quarrel it took what may now be called the side of the vanquished). Its part in bringing about the revolution of 1830 raised it to the zenith of its fortunes. For a brief period it could boast of 23,000 subscribers, at 80 francs a year. But the invasion of cheap newspapers, and that temporary lack of enterprise which so often follows a brilliant success, lowered it with still greater rapidity. When the notorious author of the Mémoires d'un Bourgeois, Dr Véron, purchased it, the sale had sunk to 3000. Véron gave 100,000 francs for the wretched Juif Errant of Sue, and the Sue fever rewarded him for a while with more than the old circulation. Recently it has been under the editorship of Césena, Granier de Cassagnac, and La Guéronnière; and it need scarcely be added that its glory has departed.

The cheap journalism of Paris began in 1836 (1st July), La Presse with the famous journal of M. De Girardin, La Presse, and Le Sicle, under the management of M. Dutacq. The first-named journal attained a circulation of 10,000 copies within three months of its commencement, and soon doubled that number. The Sicle prospered even more strikingly, and in a few years had reached a circulation (theretofore without precedent in France) of 38,000 copies.

The rapid rise of the newspaper press of Paris will be best appreciated, if we tabularize the number of stamps issued,—as has been already done for the British newspapers:

| Years | No. of Stamps | |-------|--------------| | 1828 | 28,000,000 | | 1836 | 42,000,000 | | 1843 | 61,000,000 | | 1844 | 62,283,200 | | 1845 | 65,000,000 | | 1846 | 79,000,000 |

At the date last mentioned the relative position of the twenty-six daily papers stood thus:

| Name of Paper | Circulation | |---------------|-------------| | Le Sicle | Between 31,000 | | La Presse | Between 20,000 | | Le Constitutionnel | Between 25,000 | | Journal des Débats | Between 10,000 | | L'Epoque | Between 15,000 | | Le National | Between 3000 | | Le Charivari | Between 3000 | | Gazette de France | Between 3000 | | Le Commerce | Between 3000 | | La Quotidienne | Between 3000 | | La Patrie | Between 3000 | | L'Estafette | Between 3000 | | L'Esprit Public | Between 3000 | | L'Univers | Between 3000 |

The Moniteur does not here appear, for the reason that the greater part of its circulation is official and gratuitous. It is just to add, that the vast disparity of circulation shown by this table (as for example, between journals like Le National and Le Sicle), affords no test whatever of public opinion, either as to their politics, or their ability. The business was simply an affair of story-telling. The most Rise of the trashy novelist, who had for a moment won the public ear, feuilleton, was able (for his brief period) to dictate terms to the shrewdest and most experienced proprietor of a newspaper. Thus it was that M. Dumas was enabled to make a contract with the proprietors of La Presse and Le Constitutionnel jointly, which brought him in 64,000 francs a year; and then to sell the right of reprinting his tales, for a round sum, to a certain M. Trompenas, who, according to the Paris wits, killed himself by a brain fever, brought on in a vain attempt to divide M. Dumas' lines into half-lines, in order to increase the number of volumes.

To a great extent, the inundation of newspapers which followed the revolution of February 1848, was but a parody—and a very poor one—on the revolutionary press of 1793. Most of them, of course, had very short lives. When Cavaignac took the helm he suppressed eleven journals, including La Presse and L'Assemblée Nationale. The former had at this period a circulation of nearly 70,000, and its proprietor, in a petition to the National Assembly, declared that it gave subsistence to more than 1000 persons, and was worth in the market at least 1,500,000 francs. In August, the system of sureties was restored. On the 13th June 1849 the present Emperor, as "President of the Republic," suspended Le Peuple, La Révolution Démocratique et Sociale, La Vraie République, La Démocratie Pacifique, La Réforme, and La Tribune des Peuples. On the 16th July 1850 the Assembly passed what is called the "Loi Tinguy," by which the author of every newspaper article on any subject, political, philosophical, or religious, was bound to affix his name to it, on penalty of a fine of 500 francs for the first offence, and of 1000 francs for its repetition. Every false or feigned signature was to be punished by a fine of 1000 francs, "together with six months' imprisonment, both for the author and the editor." The practical working of this law lies in the creation of a new functionary in the more important newspaper offices, who is called "secrétaire de la rédaction," and is, in fact, the scape-goat ex officio. In February 1852 all the press laws were incorporated, with increased stringency, into a "Décret organique sur la presse." The stamp duty for each sheet was fixed at six centimes, within certain dimensions, and a proportional increase in case of excess. By this law the newspapers are at present governed; and their price—La Presse only excepted—has returned to the tariff of 1835. The existing number of daily papers in Paris is but fourteen (the Moniteur included), and is made up of those to which an asterisk is prefixed in the preceding table, with the addition of L'Assemblée Nationale, Le Pays, L'Union, and the Journal des Faits. The relative circulation of the six leading papers recently stood thus:—

(1.) Siècle; (2.) Presse; (3.) Constitutionnel; (4.) Patrie; (5.) Débats; (6.) Assemblée Nationale. The number of provincial papers exceeds 500, but scarcely ten of them possess importance of any kind.

(Hatin, Histoire du Journal en France, 2d edit., 1853, passim; Gallois, Histoire des Journaux et Journalistes de la Révolution, 2 tom., passim; Marmontel, Mémoires, i. 277-291; Morellet, Eloge de Marmonet, ii. 12; Chateaubriand, Mémoires d'autre Temps, iii. § 1, 24, seq.; Mémoires de Mallet Du Pan, i. 29, seq.; Biographie Universelle, articles "Bachamont," "Donnec," "Doublet," "Garat," "Lore," "Panckoucke," "Renaudot;" Bulletin du Bibliophile, N.S., vii. 855-866; Lamartine, Histoire de la Révolution de 1848; Bibliothèque Impériale—Catalogue de l'Histoire de France, iv. 315-569, 1857, 4to.)

IV.—NEWSPAPERS OF GERMANY AND OF NORTHERN EUROPE.

No real serial newspaper can be shown to have existed in Germany of earlier date than 1615, when Egenolph Emmel, a bookseller of Frankfort, established one, of which little more is now known, than that in the following year his example was imitated, doubtless with some improvement, by the foundation of the Frankfurter Oberpostamtszeitung. Fulda appears to have been the next German town to possess a newspaper; then Hildesheim (1619), and Herford (1630). In the course of the century almost all German cities of the first rank possessed their respective journals. The earliest in Leipsic bears date in 1660. The Hamburgischer Correspondent dates from 1714, and was the Ham almost the only German newspaper which really drew its burgsche foreign news from "our own correspondent." Berlin had two Correspondents, those of Voss and of Spener, both of which are still published. They possessed in their earlier career some literary value, but were politically null. Some half-dozen papers which glimmered in the surrounding darkness were the reservoirs whence the rest replenished their little lamps. On the whole, it may be said that the German newspapers were of very small account, until after the outbreak of the French Revolution. Nor, indeed, can any journal of a high order be mentioned of prior appearance to the Allgemeine Zeitung, founded by Cotta (at first under the title of the Neueste Weltkunde) in 1798, and which is still at the head of the political press of Germany. Posselt was its first editor, but his want of nerve—perhaps of physical health—hindered the application of his high powers to political journalism; and to this constitutional impediment another was added, which is very honourable to his memory. His articles gave offence to the Austrian court, and the paper had to change both its title and its place of publication. It had been commenced at Tübingen, and removed to Stuttgart. It was now transferred to Ulm, and again from thence to Augsburg. It was Cotta's aim to make this the organ of statesmen and publicists, to reach the public through the thinkers, to hold an even balance between the rival parties of the day, and to provide a trustworthy magazine of materials for the historians to come; and, in the course of time, his plan was so worked out as to raise the Allgemeine Zeitung into European fame. L. F. Huber succeeded Posselt in the editorship. He was of a family which had already distinguished itself in that kind of literary enterprise which more especially aims at familiarizing to the minds of one country the great works and the prevailing thought of other countries. He died whilst yet in the prime of life, but not before he had rendered good service. Stegmann, Kolb, Mebold, and Altenbüßer have successively been the chief editors since Huber's death. Cotta was also the founder, at various periods, of the Morgenblatt, which became famous for its critical ability and tact; of Vesperus; of Das Inland; of Nemesis; of the Oppositionsblatt of Weimar (for a time edited by Bertuch); and even of the Archives Parisiennes. His ventures were not, of course, uniformly successful in this or in any other of the many spheres of his activity, but it is rare that men of like enterprise have made so few failures. Whilst French influence was dominant in Germany, the German papers were naturally enough little more than echoes of the Parisian press. But amidst the excitement of the "war of liberation" a crowd of new journals appeared. Niebuhr began a Pressische Correspondent; Görres undertook the Rheinische Mercur; by the war Wetzell, somewhat later, the Frankische Mercur, published at Bamberg; Friedrich Seybold the Necharzzeitung. Some of these journals lasted but two or three years. Most of the survivors fell victims to that resolution of the Diet (20th September 1819) which subjected the newspaper press, even of countries where the censorship had been formally abolished, to police superintendence of a very stringent kind.

The aspirations for some measure of freedom which burst forth again under the influences of 1830 led to the establishment of such papers as Siebenpfeiffer's Westbote; Loh- At the beginning of 1840 the whole number of Austro-German and Austro-Hungarian periodicals, of all sorts, was under 100; of which but 22 were (after a fashion) political newspapers; and of these nearly all drew their materials and their inspiration from the official papers of Vienna (Wiener Zeitung and Oesterreichischer Beobachter). These two were all that appeared in the capital. Agram, Pesth, Presburg, Limburg, and Prague had each two. No other city had more than a single journal, and that one a nullity, in the sense in which newspapers were regarded in France, and are still regarded in Britain or America. In 1846 the aggregate number of periodicals had grown to 155, of which 46 were political, but political only in the character of mere conduit-pipes for intelligence "approved of" by the government. What sort of journalists were likely to grow up in these Viennese leading-strings may be easily imagined. But it would have been impossible to have conceived beforehand the ludicrous exhibition of their talents which these writers made, when the short-lived freedom of the press burst upon them like a thunder-cloud in March 1848. Yet here, too, as elsewhere, some good seed was cast into the ground, which no busy enemy has been able quite to root up, and which has already produced the earnest of a harvest to come. In 1855 the number of political papers published throughout the entire territory, at present under Austrian government, the Italian provinces excepted, was 57. Their distribution and languages were respectively as follows:

| Cities | Number of Newspapers | Languages | |--------------|----------------------|-----------| | Vienna | 19 | German | | Lintz | 1 | German | | Salzburg | 2 | German | | Gratz | 1 | German | | Klagenfurth | 1 | German | | Laybach | 1 | German | | Trieste | 3 | German | | Prague | 4 | German | | Brunn | 3 | German | | Olmuts | 1 | German | | Troppau | 1 | German | | Innsbruck | 4 | German | | Pesth | 4 | German | | Presburg | 1 | German | | Agram | 2 | German | | Temesva | 1 | German | | Neustadt | 1 | German | | Hermannstadt | 2 | German | | Crotzdorf | 2 | German | | Limburg | 1 | German | | Cracow | 2 | German | | Zara | 2 | German |

In addition to these, but included in our total of 1551, 77 German newspapers were published in the Swiss cantons, and 14 in the Baltic provinces of Russia. Many of those reckoned in this enumeration have ceased to appear, but others have taken their places; and the total number in 1855 was estimated to be a little above 1600.

In 1856 the leading papers of Vienna,—namely, the Ost Deutsche Post, the Oesterreichische Zeitung, and the Wanderer,—were in a thriving state. The imposition in the autumn of 1857 of a heavy stamp duty on Austrian newspapers, together with an additional 50 per cent. on the tax upon advertisements, coming, too, as they have come, at a time of commercial difficulty, will destroy this prosperity, and will be another blow at the progress of opinion and free aspiration. But it is a step thoroughly Austrian, and will, when the end arrives, be found to have had its due reward.

In Prussia the influence of the events of 1848 upon the newspaper press was naturally much greater, and it has been also more enduring, than in most other parts of Germany. There the ground was to a great extent prepared for freer discussion, and the men who undertook it were better fitted for their work. But even here the contrast between the present reality and the past anticipation is not enlivening. There is much activity; little independence. The journals which enjoy the widest circulation are distinguished by literary merit and political servility. The Berliner Privilegierte Zeitung had 12,200 subscribers in 1855; the Berlinischen Nachrichten, 7600; the notorious Kreuzzeitung, the organ of the re-actionists (founded on the 1st July 1848), has 5000; the Zeit, 6600; the National Zeitung, 5400. Of the provincial press, the Kolnische Zeitung is foremost; next to it come the Gazettes of Konigsberg, Aix-la-Chapelle, and Breslau. In Sweden the earliest regular newspaper appears to have been the *Ordinarie Post-Tidende*, first published in 1643, and continued until 1680, which was followed by the *Svensk Mercurius* (1675–1683), and the *Relationes Curiosae* (in Latin, like their titles) which began in 1682, and ceased in 1701. In 1742 a Swedish newspaper in French (*Gazette Francaise de Stockholm*) was commenced, and was followed, in 1772, by the *Mercure de Suède*. But the press in Sweden had small political influence until so recent a date as 1820, when the *Arvus* was established by Johannsen. The strife between "Classicists" and "Romanticists" spread itself in Sweden, as in France, from the field of literature into that of politics. Crusenstolpe's *Faderlandet*, and Hjerta's *Afholdsbladet*, were long the most conspicuous of the Swedish journals; the former on the side of the royalists, the latter on that of the reformers. Hjerta's paper, in its best day, could boast of a circulation of 5000 copies; but on the accession of King Oscar it ceased to appear as an opposition organ. The official paper is *Post och Inrikes Tidningar*, the original title of which was *Seeriges Statstidning*. Almost every town in the provinces has its paper. The growth of the Swedish press during the present century may be thus epitomized:

| Year | No. of Papers | |------|--------------| | 1891 | 23 | | 1821 | 48 |

If in Sweden the political influence of the press is a novelty, in Denmark it is a newer thing still. Until 1830 Copenhagen had but two papers, and they filled their columns with mild extracts from foreign journals. Real activity in this direction dates but from the establishment of the Provincial States in 1834. The oldest existing paper is the *Berlingske Tidende*, which dates from 1749, and was at first published in German. It is now a semi-ministerial journal. The *Fædrelandet* belongs to the opposition, and in 1848–9 was in a glow of zeal for Scandinavianism and "Young Denmark." The total number of political journals existing in 1849 was 36. Those belonging to the provinces are of small account. The oldest Norwegian paper is the *Christiania Intelligensedeler*, founded in 1763. Next to this comes the *Adressecointors Efterretninger*, published at Bergen. *Den Constitutionelle* is the organ of the government, and has absorbed (for in newspaper affairs incorporation almost always means absorption) an older paper, called *Norske Rigstidende*. The *Morgenblad* is the journal of the popular party, and dates from 1819.

(*Allgemeine Deutsche Real-Encyclopädie, oder Conversations-Lexikon* (Zehnte Auflage, 1855), xv. 474–487, art. "Zeitungen"; *Journal of the Statistical Society of London*, iv. 127–131, art. "Statistics of Newspapers in various Countries," by P. L. Simmonds; *Biographie Universelle*, arts. "Bertuch," "Cotta," "Huber," "Posselt," &c.)

V.—NEWSPAPERS OF HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.

In respect of the first publication of a newspaper, Belgium takes rank before France, Germany, and Britain. The *Nieuwe Tydinghen van Antwerpen*, published by Abraham Verhoeven, dates from 1605, as appears by the privilege accorded to him for the exclusive retailing of news by the Archdukes Albert and Isabella. But as no copy of any number of this paper anterior to 1619 is now known to exist, the statement must stand open to correction upon a point which is at present doubtful,—the fact, namely, whether or not this "Tydinghe" was from its origin a regular periodical. M. de Jonghe possesses portions of it from 1619 to 1630. It seems probable that the *Gazette Extraordinaire* *Posttydinghen*, published by Wilhem Verdussen between 1637 and 1644, is a continuation of Verhoeven's paper. But be this as it may, that of Verdussen was certainly the foundation of the well-known *Gazette van Antwerpen*, which continued to appear until 1827.

Bruges had also its *Nieuwe Tydinghen uyt verscheyde Early jour- genstemmen*, published (in black letter) *Te Brugge*, by Nicholas Breyghel, in de Philips-Stoc-Stratee aen S. Donaes, Bruges. When this paper was commenced is uncertain, but various numbers of it exist with dates ranging between 1637 and 1645. In one of these (26th July 1644) a *Brusselsche Gazette* of the 24th of that month is quoted, but for which citation, no Brussels paper is known of earlier date than 1649. When the first number of *Le Courrier véritable des Pays-Bas* made its appearance, the publisher (Jean Mommaert) prefaces the first number by an address to the reader, in which he says—"I have long endeavoured to meet with somebody who would give employment to my presses in defending truth against the falsehoods which malignity and ignorance send daily abroad. I have at length found what I sought, and shall now be able to tell you weekly the most important things that are going on in the world." This paper became afterwards the *Gazette de Bruxelles*, then *Gazette des Pays-Bas*; and, under the last-named title, it continued to appear until 1791. The *Annales Politiques* Linguet's of Linguet was one of the most remarkable of the political journals of Brussels in the last century. For a time the editor won the favour of the Emperor Joseph II. by praising his reforms, and the government subscribed for 1200 copies of his paper at two louis d'ors each a year; but here, as in almost every other place of residence during his chequered career, Linguet at length incurred fine and imprisonment. His journal was at one time so popular that a printer in Brussels itself regularly and rapidly published a pirated edition of it. When the editor exposed the fraud in very severe terms, the pirate faithfully copied the censure without a word of comment. *Le National* was a famous paper for a short period prior to the revolution of 1830. Soon after its cessation [its presses were destroyed by the populace on the 26th August] the official journal, *Monitor Belge*, was established—*i.e.* the ministry deeming it indispensable, to the success of its great political enterprise, that a journal should be created which might expound its views, and act daily upon public opinion;" and, on decree of the regency, it was published accordingly.

The first newspaper published at Ghent, *Gazette van Gent*, Dutch appeared in 1667. *Den Vaderlander*, begun in October 1829, is one of the most widely-circulated of the Flemish newspapers. Holland has always been rich in newspapers, but they have usually had more weight commercially than politically. Those in most esteem are the *Algemeene Handelsblad* of Amsterdam; the *Harlemsche Courant*; and the *Staats Courant*, and *Journal de la Haye*, both of which are printed at the Hague.

(Warzee, *Essai Historique et Critique sur les Journaux Belges*, Gand, 1845, passim; *Algem. Deutsche-Real Encyclopädie*, ut supra; Kolb, art. "Linguet" in *Biographie Universelle*.)

VI.—NEWSPAPERS OF ITALY AND OF THE PENINSULA.

Of the manuscript gazettes or "notizie scritte" of Venice, Venetian little need here be said. They are memorable as indications of the Venetian policy, and also as having probably given us (from the small coin for which they might be read at certain public places) our word "gazzette;" but, like their congeners in England and in Germany, were not newspapers. The often-quoted bull of Pope Gregory XIII. was aimed rather at the writers than at the printers of news, and when these narratives or "relations" were at length printed, they were occasional, not periodical. Nor can it, we believe, be fixed with any certainty at what date or in what part of the country an Italian serial newspaper was first printed. In recent times Italy has had many admirable scientific and literary magazines, but political journalism has scarcely taken root in that soil. The *Diario di Roma*, the *Gazzetta di Napoli*, and many similar papers published "with approbation" in Lucca, Bologna, Milan, and Florence, have never possessed much influence either for good or evil.

In later days, however, Sardinia has formed a notable exception to this state of things. No fewer than 45 purely political papers were published in the Sardinian dominions in 1852, and of these 41 were in Italian and 4 in French. The leading journal was the *Parlamento*, which, in 1855, altered its name to *Piemonte*. The *Opinione* represents the party of progressive reform; the *Armonia* the clerical party. The popular paper, entitled *Gazzetta del Popolo*, had, at the last-named date, about 7000 subscribers. Of the vast crowd of journals of a popular kind, many of them marked by ability, but nearly all of necessity still more remarkable for extravagance, which rushed forth so tumultuously in many parts of Italy in 1847 and 1848, few survived the re-action and the repressive atrocities of 1849.

In Spain no newspaper of any kind existed earlier than the last century. Even within half a century of the present year, its capital contented itself with a single journal, the *Diario de Madrid*. The peninsular war, and the establishment of the Cortes, gave the first impulse towards something which might be called political journalism, but the change from total repression to absolute freedom was too sudden not to be grossly abused. The *Diario de los Cortes*, the *Semenario Patriotico* (published at Cadiz from 1808 to 1811), and the *Aurora Mallorquina* (published at Palma in 1812-13), are the first of the new papers that attained importance. Most of them fell with the Cortes in 1823. In the following year Ferdinand decreed the suppression of all the journals except the *Diario* and the *Gaceta* of Madrid, the *Gaceta de Bayona*, and certain provincial papers which dealt exclusively with commercial or scientific subjects. At the close of his reign but three or four papers were published in Madrid. Ten years afterwards there were 40; but their number is far more noticeable than their value. Spanish newspapers have been too often the mere stepping-stones of political adventurers, and not unfrequently the worst of them appear to have served the turn more completely than the best. Gonzales Bravo attained office mainly by the help of a paper of notorious scurrility,—*El Guirigay*. The *Universal* and the *Correo* were successively the tools of José Salamanca. At the end of 1854 the number of political journals published in Madrid was about 40, and the most conspicuous of them were *España* and *El Clamor Publico*. In Portugal the newspaper press is of still less account. The number of newspapers published in Lisbon in 1852 was 7; in Oporto, 5. The *Diario do Governo* is the official organ.

(Allg. Deutsche Real-Encyclopädie, ut supra, 456-460; Ford, Handbook for Spain, 3d edition, 666, 667; British Quarterly Review, vi., 315-332, art. "Newspaper Press of Spain.")

VII.—NEWSPAPERS OF INDIA; AND THE RESTRICTIONS IMPOSED ON THEM.

For a considerable period in the history of the government of India by the Company, the Indian press was very unimportant both in character and influence. It was permitted to shape its course and to gain a position as it could, under the potent checks of the deportation power and the libel law, without any direct censorship. Nor was it found difficult to inflict exemplary punishment on the writers of "offensive paragraphs."

Prior to Lord Wellesley's administration the most considerable newspapers published at Calcutta were *The World*, *The Bengal Journal*, *The Hurkaru*, *The Calcutta Gazette* (the organ of the Bengal government), *The Telegraph*, *The Calcutta Courier*, *The Asiatic Mirror*, and *The Indian Gazette*. Mr Duane, the editor of the first-named paper, was sent to Europe in 1794 for "an inflammatory address to the army;" as was Mr Charles Maclean, four years afterwards, for animadverting in *The Telegraph* on the official conduct of a local magistrate.

Lord Wellesley was the first governor-general who Lord Wellesley created a censorship (April 1799). The circumstances of the time were critical: the war with Tippoo was at its height. In writing to Sir Alured Clarke, Lord Wellesley thus expressed himself—"I cannot but suspect the existence of a systematic design of mischief among the editors of several papers, particularly *The Asiatic Mirror*, *The Telegraph*, and *The Post*. . . . To-day I find in *The Post* . . . a plain suggestion to Tippoo of the advantages which he might derive by sending his looters into the Carnatic; and in *The Mirror* . . . you will find a dissertation on the causes, nature, and extent, of the conspiracy discovered in Bengal. . . . I request you will embark the editor of that paper (whom I understand to be a Mr Bruce, a desperate Jacobin) for Europe in the first ship which shall sail from Calcutta." His lordship then proceeds to establish certain regulations for the future control of the press, and adds that he is determined, on his return to Bengal, to limit "the extravagant number of newspapers now published in Calcutta." Of the new press code, the most important section runs thus:—"1. No paper to be published at all until it shall have been inspected by the Secretary to government, or by some person authorized by him for the purpose." It is honourable to the memory of the noble marquis, that on maturer thought, when the passing excitements of the moment had given place to the judicial analysis of self-examination, and when policy had been tested by time, he indicated his changed views, and his desire that the decree of April 1799 should not be made a model, by striking out all the passages relating to the Calcutta newspapers from the revised *Dispatches*, which he was sending to the press.

According to Mr H. H. Wilson, the later historian of British India, "the duties of the censorship were leniently discharged;" and he inclines to think that "this control, and the improving tastes and feelings of the age, gave to the Indian chronicles a new character, and rendered them respectable, if not very authentic, vehicles of public information." But the Marquis of Hastings appears to have judged less favourably of their operation. He thought it more important to secure (to use his own words) "the Lord Hastings' salutary control which public scrutiny exercises overings in supreme authority, and the cheerfulness and zeal with 1818, which all ranks of society co-operate in measures the motives and objects of which they understand, and in which they concur." He therefore, in 1818, abolished the censorship. Whatever the "leniency" of its application may have been, the position of the newspaper press was unmistakable. We find it significantly marked by Lord Wellesley himself; when he wrote in 1804 to the Danish governor of Serampore, in reply to a complaint against a Bengal journal,—"The necessary orders have been communicated to the editors of the newspapers published in Calcutta, for the purpose of preventing the publication of any injurious reflections," &c.

The power of transporting obnoxious editors to Europe of course remained. Perhaps the most notorious of all instances of its exertion was that of the editor of *The Calcutta Journal*, the late Mr J. S. Buckingham, which occurred immediately after Lord Hastings' departure from India, and during the government of his temporary successor, Mr John Adam. What Lord Hastings had regarded as salutary Mr Adam stigmatized as highly pernicious. "The governor-general," he wrote, "protests against the assumption of this right of control over the government and..." its officers by a community constituted like the European society of India." The removal of Mr Buckingham was followed closely (14th March 1823) by a new licensing act, far exceeding in stringency that of Lord Wellesley, which had been cancelled five years before; and on the 5th of April 1823, by an elaborate "Regulation for Preventing the Establishment of Printing-Presses without License, and for Restraining, under certain circumstances, the Circulation of Printed Books and Papers." Of this document, it is enough to say, that it appears to have been framed with admirable fidelity on the Star-Chamber precedents of the sixteenth century. The first application of it was to the suppression of The Calcutta Journal.

Under the Marquis of Hastings, the germ of a native press had ventured to show itself. Persian and Bengal papers had just started up, when the new laws nipped most of them in the bud. In some cases, however, natives succeeded in obtaining the necessary licenses for the establishment of others. Meanwhile a question grew into importance which had not been provided for,—the right, namely, of the Company's servants to connect themselves with the European press, whether as writers or as proprietors. On this subject Lord (then Sir C.) Metcalfe recorded a remarkable minute in December 1828. At this date the repressive laws of 1823 had been already in practice relaxed. Lord Metcalfe was strongly in favour of increased liberty. He desired that ample power should always be possessed by the local government for "protecting the safety of the state," but thought that "to crush what is in itself capable of great good, from an apprehension that it may possibly, under circumstances as yet unconsidered, be converted into an evil, would be a forecast more honoured in the breach than in the observance;" and regretted "that the orders of the Court of Directors have not left employment in the press open to all their servants, except those in high official stations, . . . on the indispensable condition that such employment should not be allowed to interfere with the due discharge of public duties."

In the course of the elaborate inquiry into the administration of the government of India, which occupied both Houses of Parliament in 1832, prior to the renewal of the Company's charter, the statistics of the Indian press were thus stated:—(1. European.) Three daily newspapers, The Bengal Hurkaru, The John Bull, The Indian Gazette; one bi-weekly, The Government Gazette; and two weekly, The Bengal Herald, and The Oriental Observer. (2. Native.) Janrie Jehan Numa, Summacher Chanduwa, Sunbad Tuner Nassuk, Bunga Doot, Sunbad Coumouya. At this period every paper was published, under a license, revocable at pleasure, with or without previous inquiry or notice. But, in the words of Mr Sutherland, "Lord William Bentinck never interfered with the press, and it has been privately understood he never will do so." He was wont to say, according to another good authority, Mr Kaye, "I do not care a straw for the vituperations of the press; . . . but I have learned more from it than from all the other sources of information which have been open to me since I assumed the government of this country." At Madras, on the other hand, it remained under rigid restriction. The papers, said Mr Sullivan in 1832, "are submitted to the chief secretary before publication, and he runs his pen through . . . whatever may appear to him objectionable."

The Madras censorship was removed whilst the parliamentary inquiry of 1832 was still pending. The Bengal Hurkaru was, at the date of Lord W. Bentinck's government, the journal of largest circulation, its average issue (daily edition and tri-weekly editions together) being 1500.

One question only, and that but for a brief interval, disturbed Lord William Bentinck's love of free discussion. The too famous "Half-Batta" measure led him to think that a resolute persistence in an unwise policy by the home government against the known convictions of the men actually at the helm in India, and an unfettered press, were two things that could scarcely co-exist. It was on this occasion that Sir Charles Metcalfe recorded his minute of September 1830, the reasoning of which amply justifies the assertion—"I have, for my own part, always advocated the liberty of the press, believing its benefits to outweigh its mischiefs; and I continue of the same opinion."

This opinion was nobly carried out in the memorable law drafted by Mr (now Lord) Macaulay, and enacted by Sir Charles Metcalfe, as governor-general in 1835. Mr Macaulay's minute (16th April 1835) contained the pertinent question—"It is acknowledged that in reality liberty is, and ought to be, the general rule, and restraint the rare and temporary exception. Why, then, should not the form correspond with the reality? Why should our laws be so framed as to make it appear that the ordinary practice is in the highest degree oppressive, and that freedom can be enjoyed only by occasional connivance?" The law of 1835 totally abrogated the licensing system. It left all men at liberty to express their sentiments on public affairs, under the legal and moral responsibilities of ordinary life. It had the hearty approval of most Indian statesmen in the front rank. But it was as heartily condemned by the Court of Directors at home; and for Sir Charles Metcalfe, it virtually cancelled (as far as the East India Company was concerned) the honourable and eminent services of thirty-seven years.

And, after all, the directors discovered that they dared not insist on a return to the system of licenses. The press increased in vigour and influence, and as unquestionably rose in character. There were, as there will always be, discreditable exceptions, in which bad men employed in the light of day energies which, under the old system, would have found their vent in underground channels. But in the main the results have vindicated the policy. Lord Metcalfe's law remained in force until the outbreak of the wretched Sepoy mutiny.

The Act No. XV. of 1857 is entitled, "An Act to regulate the establishment of Printing Presses; and to Restraining in certain cases the Circulation of Printed Books and Papers." Like that of 1823, on which it is closely modelled, it absolutely prohibits the keeping or using of printing-presses, types, or other materials for printing, in any part of the territories in the possession and under the government of the East India Company, except with the previous sanction and license of government." It also gives full powers for the seizure and prohibition from circulation of all books and papers, whether printed within the Indian territories or elsewhere.

The results of this licensing act have yet to be learned. It is enacted for one year from its date; and the Minutes of the government at Calcutta expressly deprecate the criticism of its policy, otherwise than as a temporary measure. But the Court of Directors, more cautiously, in the despatch approving it (26th August 1857), take occasion to say,—“We do not think it necessary at present to enter on the general question of the freedom of the press in India.”

Whatever may be the eventual verdict of informed English opinion on the government of India by the Company, considered as a whole, there can be nothing premature in the assertion, that in their relations with the press, both the directors at home and the functionaries who have most fully

---

1 We give precisely the unusual orthography which appears in the Company's edition of the Reports relating to India. According to Mr Wilson there were in 1846 eight native newspapers printed in Calcutta, besides others at the different presidencies.