USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts. 1630-1880, Vol. II > Part 53
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He endeavours in the rest of his Letters to no. fier the foolifh Pretences of the Pretendehing Protestant, and that he will govern us according ." Law. He fays, that being bred up in the Re: gion and Politics of Fraide, he is by Elucairn ! Itated Enemy to our Liberty and Relig ;6. fh the Obligations which he and his Fam y ower the French King, muft necefarily make to : wholly at his Devotion, and to follow his tamp.g., that if he Git upory the Throne; the three Nations muft be oblig'd to pay the Debt which h French King for the Education of himf . and f Entertaining his fuppofed Father and I. And fince the King muft reftore him by 'a. if ever he be teftored, he will fea his own Debt before thofe Troops les; The Pretender being a good Proficient in and Ramin Schools, he will never stock fufficiently aveng'd, but by the utter Rdf Proteftant Subjects, both as Hereticks apu The late 'Queen, 'his pretended MotH cold Blood when the was Queen of Brillen to turn the Weft of Scotland into a hut will be then for doing fo by the greatett Nation ; and, no doubt, is at Pains to hide be tended Son educated to her own Mind:,, he fays, it were a great Madnefs in th take a Prince bred up in the horrid Schild titude, Perfecution and Cruelty, and Rage and Envy. The Jacobites, he fa .. Scotland and at St. Germains, are impl their prefent Straits, and knowing th ftances cannot be much worfe than! prefent, are the more inclinable to the He adds, That the French King knows D'orj be a more effectual way for himfelf it :: Univerfal Monarchy, and to ruine thi Prof. Intereft, than by fetting up the Pretend ' Throne of Great Britain, he will in all ? attempt it ; and the' he Should be perly the Defign would mifcarry, in the clofel not. but reap fome Advantage by iml + three Nations.
... From all this the Author concludes. Intereft of the Nation, to provide for S 1. and fays, that as many have" already Alarm, and are furnithing themfelyes and Ammunition, he hopes the Gover not only allow is but enomination it fin on ought all to app
kadro
390
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
was for the week from Monday, April 17, to Monday, April 24, 1704.1 The imprint at the bottom of the reverse page reads: " Boston, printed by B. Green, sold by Nicholas Boone at his shop near the old Meeting-house." It was founded by John Campbell, postmaster, and was printed weekly on a small folio sheet. The early numbers were most unpromising. Extracts from the London Flying Post concerning the pretender James VIII. of Scotland, two or three arrivals from the nearer ports, the death of two eminent citizens, the appointment of a judge of the admiralty and his deputy, the text of a sermon which the Governor had ordered to be printed, and the publisher's advertisement soliciting business were all it contained. Campbell2 was not a brilliant genius. He wrote little, and that awkwardly, and with effort. His patrons were few and sparing, and he wrestled with them continually on account of their delinquencies. The London newspapers were then in the early summer of their prosperity, and the News-Letter was largely dependent on them, though it copied little of their enterprise or spirit.3 The more important State-papers issued by the home government were regularly printed. The progress of European wars and the great events of the world, after much delay, were recorded with tolerable regularity. Comparatively slight account was made of do- mestic occurrences. Two or three advertisements, the principal arrivals and clearances, and now and then a remarkable incident in this or a neighboring village, sufficed for the news of a continent. When, after his exclusive possession of this field for fifteen years, a second newspaper was established, and then a third, Campbell regarded the intruders with extreme aversion, and quarrelled with them to the end. In the fierce con- troversy of 1721, caused by the effort to introduce inoculation for small-pox, the News-Letter took bold ground in its favor. But in disputed questions generally, and especially in those long fatal to good understanding between the royal governors and the people, Campbell himself took no part, even if he recognized their existence. He had no scruples, however, about printing rancorous and abusive letters on one side or the other, which served to keep the community in a fever of agitation. He had the instincts and the pru- dence of a soldier of fortune, and never even by accident indulged in an
1 " April 24, 1704. I went to Cambridge to see some books on the Revelation, and there met with Mr. Pignet. Went into Hall and heard Mr. Willard expound Rom. 4, 9, 10, II, and pray. I gave Mr. Willard the first News-Letter that ever was carried over the River. He shew'd it the Fellows. I came home in company with Mr. Adams." - Sewall Papers, ii. 100.
2 He was a Scotchman by birth, and a book- seller. While the freedom of printing was re- strained he had sometimes written news-letters for the information of leading persons in New England. Nine of these letters, consisting in great part of occurrences abroad gathered from ships arriving in Boston and from various
sources, written from April to October, 1703, to Governor Fitz-John Winthrop, of Connecticut, are now in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. See Proceedings, March, 1867, p. 485, where they are printed; one of them is given by Hudson.'
3 [The Editors of the Sewall Papers, iii. 84, are led to infer from an entry of the diarist - " 1716, May 23. The Lieut .- Governor asked the Council's advice about a paragraph taken out of the Flying Post, printed by Fleet " - that Thomas Fleet, who came to Boston about 1712, and set up a printing-office, may have occasion- ally issued a broadside of this title, even before the News-Letter had a regular rival. - ED.]
391
THE PRESS OF THE PROVINCIAL PERIOD.
expression which could ruffle the sensibilities of that greater soldier of fortune, Governor Joseph Dudley, then playing an important part in the affairs of the Province.
Campbell was removed from the post-office in 1719,1 but continued to publish the News-Letter until 1722, when it passed into the hands of Mr. Green, the printer. The new publisher entered upon his work with a pro- found sense of its value and importance. He early announced his purpose to print, besides the foreign and domestic news, articles on the state of religion in the world, in which he solicited the co-operation of the most eminent men. He desired also to make his paper useful as a history of Nature, and to this end he sought the assistance of ingenious gentlemen in all parts of the country. He had no taste for conflict. He would strive, he said, " to oblige all his readers by publishing those transactions only that have no relation to any of our quarrels, and may be equally entertaining to the greatest'adversaries." He often gave to his account of remarkable inci- dents a religious application, or an impressive moral. He died Dec. 28, 1732. His successor, after stating that Mr. Green had much of that primitive Christianity which had always been the distinguishing glory of New Eng- land, mentioned also his "eminency for a strict observing the Sabbath; his household piety; his keeping close and diligent to the work of his calling; his meek and peaceable spirit; his caution of publishing anything offensive, light, or hurtful; and his tender sympathy to the poor." Green was printer for the Governor and Council of Massachusetts forty years, and during the greater part of that time the most eminent and successful printer in America.2
Mr. Green was followed by his son-in-law, John Draper, in whose hands the News-Letter grew in reputation and influence. For thirty years it was identified with the best interests of the town and the Province. Draper was an industri- John Draper ous, painstaking, and scrupulous journalist, and served the public with religious fidelity. He died in 1762, transmitting the charge to his son, Richard Draper,3 who,
1 [In August of this year, Campbell says, in an appeal to his readers, referring to his occa- sionally issuing full sheets instead of half sheets, that "he cannot vend three hundred at an im- pression."-ED.]
2 The printing of the News-Letter was trans- ferred, from 1707 to 1711, to John Allen, who had opened a printing-office in Pudding Lane, now Devonshire Street. Before this time he had been associated with both Green and Harris, and his name appears in the imprint of several books printed early in the century. It was the custom of master printers, when their business was on a small scale, instead of hiring those who had served a regular apprenticeship as journey- men, to admit them as special partners in the work, and to draw a portion of the profit. In
this way James, the Indian printer, was associ- ated with Bartholomew Green, in printing an edition of the Psalter in 1709 in the Indian and English languages, and occasionally with other master printers who needed his special services. [See Dr. Trumbull's chapter on " The Literature in the Indian tongue," in vol. i .- ED.] Timothy Green, a nephew of Bartholomew, and grandson of Samuel of Cambridge, had an office at this time in Middle now Hanover Street, where he printed and sold books. Thomas, History of Printing, i. 104-5.
8 In May, 1768, the Gazette and News-Letter, and the Boston Post-Boy made a partnership of convenience, one half of each paper being iden- tical, and called the Massachusetts Gazette, Pub- lished by Authority ; the other half bearing the
392
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
though in feeble health, was esteemed the best compiler of news in his day. He was remarkable for the delicacy of his mind and the gentleness Richard Draper of his manners.1 In the great controversy then coming on he strongly supported the royal cause, and added the King's arms to the title of his paper, as a sign of his devotion. He pub- lished the News-Letter till 1774, when he died, leaving it to his widow, who managed it in person with the assistance of a young man named Boyle. He sympathized with the rising revolution, and was soon forced to retire, being succeeded by John Howe,2 who conducted the News- Letter till the British troops left Boston, and the paper ceased to exist. It was published without interruption seventy-two years. In its later years it was devotedly loyal to England, and came to be thoroughly hated in the colony. The ablest loyalist writers contributed to its pages, employing argument, ridicule, satire, and denunciation in support of their cause. It was the only paper printed in Boston during the siege, and it defended all the acts of the British troops. .
The second newspaper established in Boston, bearing the date Dec. 14-21, 1719,3 was published by William Brooker, who had succeeded Campbell as postmaster. The facsimile is of one of the earlier numbers. It was printed weekly, by James Franklin, on a half-sheet of printing foolscap, enlarged to a whole sheet after a time, one page being often left blank. The head of the sheet was illustrated by engraved cuts on either side of the title, one representing a ship of awkward design, the other a postman sounding his horn, and mounted upon a horse at full speed. The appearance of a rival to the News-Letter caused much agita- tion,and the inhabitants had their first taste of an unsavory controversy. Philip Musgrave succeeded Brooker in a few weeks both as postmaster and publisher, and Franklin, the printer, was displaced by Samuel Kneeland, who had opened an office the year before in Cornhill. In 1726 Thomas Lewis became postmaster, and the Gazette passed into his hands. Henry Marshall . succeeded him as postmaster and publisher the following year, with Bar- tholomew Green, Jr., as printer. Marshall died in office in 1732, and John Boydell became postmaster and publisher, with Kneeland again as printer. Boydell conducted the paper with excellent judgment and ability until his
name of each paper respectively, and remaining under the separate control of its own proprietor. This arrangement continued a year and a half. Thomas, History of Printing, ii. 27.
1 Sabine, Loyalists, ii. 387.
2 Boyle was a printer and bookseller on Marl- boro' now Washington Street, near Bromfield Street. He lived till 1819, highly respected by the community. Howe went with the British troops to Nova Scotia, where he made a fortune and established a family, which has borne an
honorable and distinguished name in the history of that Province. Mrs. Draper retained the ownership of the News-Letter to the end. She was a devoted loyalist, and is remembered in Trumbull's McFingal. She left Boston with the British troops, and received a life-pension from the British government.
3 [The following day, December 22, the first American newspaper established outside of Bos- ton appeared in Philadelphia, - the American Weekly Mercury .- ED.]
NEW - ENGLAND: Nº. 98
THE BoftonGazette
Published by Authority.
From MONDAY October 2. to MONDAY October 9. 1 7 2 1.
By His Excellency SAMUEL SHUTE Efq;
Captain General and GOVERNOUR in Chief, many ciber Blessings beflowed on a Sinful People.
in and over His Majefty's Province of the M.Jachufetts Lay in New England, &C. A Proclamation for a General THANKSGIVING. F Orajunimuch as amiuft the various awful Rebakes of Heaven, with wbub we are rightes. My oficted, in the Contagious and Mortal Sickness among us, effect- ally IR the Town of Bofton'; The long and im- moderare Kains, which have been fo buriful to ibe Husbandry and Fishery ; And the threatning Aspect of afairs with Respect to our Frommers : We are ftili under the bigheft and moft indifpen- Sible Obligations of Gratitude for the many In- frances of the Divine Goodness in the Favours vouchfofed 10 us in the Course of ibe Year poff ; Particularly, Fir ibe LIFE of our Gracious So- vereign Lord the KING, Their Royal Highnefes the Prince and Princess of Wales and their Ifjue, and the increase of the Royal Family ; The Pre- Servation of His Majesty's Kingdoms and Do. minions from the terrible and dejolating Pefti- lence, which bath for so long a time been wafting the Kingdom of France ; And the happy Success of His Majesty's Wife Counfils for Reftoring and Confirming ibe Peace of Europe ; For the Conti- nuance of our valuable Privileges, borb Civil and Eccleftaftical ; and the Divine Blejhng upon this Government in their Administrations , Particu~ Harly, In Succeeding the Methods taken to prevent. the Infules of the Eastern Indians ; For giving So great a Measure of Health within this Pro-
vince, and Moderating the Marcalicy of the te has as was tale in our lift, been for want of fresh Ob- Small Pox, Jo what a great Number of Persons. are Recovered from that Diftemper ; And for. granting us fo comfortable a former Harveft, and fo hopeful aProspect of the latter :
I Have therefore thought ful with the Advice of His Majesty's Council,10 Order and Appoint Thursday the Twenty Sixth Instant, "to be Oyerved as a Day of Publick THANKS- GIV IN G throughout this Province, Atrialy forbidding all Servile Labour thereon, andex- tertung barb Minifters and People in theit~
pettive Affemblies on ibe faid Day, to offer up bumble and fincere THANKS to Almigbry GOD, for His many Favours, as afirefaid, and for
Given at Bofton, the Eighteenth Day of Sep- tember, 1721. And in the Nighth Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign LordGEORGE, by the Grace of GOD of Great Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith, &c: .
By Order of the Governour, with Advice of the Council. S. SHUTE.
J. Willard, Secr.
GOD Save the KING.
The following Advices from Foreign Parts are taken from the Weekly Journal of July 22.
Letters from France ftill are very full of the Preparations making for the Congrefs of Cambray, and of bringing the long Contention between Spain and the Allies; to a Speedy Conclusion. However, notwithitand- ing the great Hurry they feem ;uft now to be in upon this Head, they do not even yet tell us, when this to much expected Treaty is to begin, nor let us into the Reafod for its being delayed; fo that we are much in the dark. about this Affair ; and confidering the uncertain Situation of Things, if we should continue fo for fome time longer yet, it would be no manner of Surprize to us.
We can really fee nothing in Our Accounts, that can afford us any Satisfaction as to the Plague in France ; for tho' much has been pretended this Week to the contra- ry, it does not appear to us to have ahated any thing of it's former Fury, as with much Affurance has been given out. If the Voilence of it has Been lefs in one Fart,
jects to prey upon ; and the Fury with which it has broke out anew, in the Courfe ofits dreadful Progrefs, has made it fufficiently evident, that upon the whole, the Devaftations continue equally great to what the Diftemper ever occofioned fince it come to its Height. And indeed if we confider the fure Footing it has got, the vat Number of People and Places infected, and allow the Contagion to be of fo malignant a Nature as it has all along been reprefented tous, 'cwill be much more un- expected, as 'tis really more improbable, to find it abating; and growing lefs, during the violent hot Weather which is now in France, than to hear that ir proceeds in che Tame querageous Manner it has already done, till after the Summer Seufon is cver, and the Cold fers in to check its Advances
VOL. II. - 50.
394
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
death in 1739. He was greatly esteemed by the community. From 1716 until his death he held various offices of trust, all of which " he discharged John Boy, dell with such singular diligence, integrity, and goodness that this community never lost a more useful and valuable mem- ber than he was in his degree and station."1 The Gazette was printed for his heirs until 1741, when it became the property of Kneeland and Green, and was united with the New England Weekly Fournal, which they had already well established. Of the founders and early publishers of the Gazette very little is known. The newspaper fell into their hands, not because they were especially qualified to carry it on, but as an attachment to the post-office. The means of distributing papers were altogether too limited to make it an object for any one but a very rash or a very bold man to venture alone in this unpromising field.
The New England Courant, the third newspaper in Boston, first appeared Aug. 17, 1721, issued from the office of James Franklin, in Queen now Court Street.2 It was printed weekly on a half-sheet crown printing paper, and led a short and stormy life. Franklin, the elder brother of Benjamin Franklin, began business in Boston in March 1716, with press and type brought from London, where he had served his apprenticeship. He printed pamphlets for booksellers, and was the first printer of The Boston Gazette. Offended by the loss of that position, and " encouraged by a number of respectable characters who were desirous of having a paper of differ- ent cast from those then published," he began to print The Courant at his own risk, - his venerable father and many of his friends remonstrating against it as a most rash experiment. The community at that time was in a highly inflamed condition. The people were pitiably poor, and they were divided into nearly equal parties as to the causes of and the remedy for their poverty. Governor Shute had for four or five years been vainly struggling to enforce his prerogative, and had succeeded in provoking an obstinate opposition on the part of the representatives.3 " In the memor- able year 1720," says Governor Hutchinson, " the contests and dissentions in the government rose to a greater height than they had done since the re- ligious feuds of 1636-37." Religious and social disputes also arose among the people, dividing them by a different line; and last of all came the in- oculation controversy, which the terrors of the small-pox then raging did nothing to assuage.
1 The Boston Gazette, Dec. 17, 1739.
2 [See the Introduction to this volume .- ED.]
3 His commission as Governor instructed him, among other things, to "provide by all necessary orders that no person have any press for printing, nor that any book, pamphlet, or other writing whatsoever be printed without his special leave and license first obtained." In the session of 1719, the House having made answer to the Governor on some point in controversy, and having refused his repeated request that it
should be withheld from the press, he declared that having "the power of the press " he would prevent the publication which they designed. But the Attorney-General advised him that there was no law investing him with that authority, notwithstanding the article in his instructions which presumed it to exist. He could not main- tain the pretension ; the answer was published in the News-Letter ; and the liberty of printing was thenceforward established in Massachusetts. Palfrey, History of New England, iv. 405.
[ N. 80
THE New-England Courant.
From M O N D A Y February 4. to MO # DAY February 11. 1 7 2 3.
The late Publisher of this Paper, finding fo thany Inconveniencies would arife by his carrying the Minuferipis and publick News to be fupervis'd by the Secretary, as 10 render tus carrying it ou unprofitable, bas intirely drops the Undertaking. The prefent Publither having received the follow- ing Piece, defires . the Readers ro accepi of it as a Preface 10 what they may hereafter meet with in This Paper ..
Non egn mordaci diftrinzi Carmine quienquant, Nulla vonenato Litera onita Foco et.
ONG bas the Prefs groaned in bringing forth an baleful, but numerous Brood of Par- ty Pamphlets, malici- L ous Scribbles, and Bil- llogfgate Ribaldry. The Rancour and bitternels it has unhappily infu- led into Mens minds, and to what a Degree it has fowred and leż- ven'd the Tempers of Peifons formerly eftcemed fome of the moit [weet and affable, is too well. known here, to need any further Proof or Reprefeniation of the Matter.
No generous and iinpartial Perfon chen can blame the ptefent Undertaking, which is defigned purely for the Diverfion and Merriment of the Reader. Pieces of Pleafancy'and Mirth have a fecret Charın in chem to allay the Heats and Tumors of our Spirits, and to wake a Man. forget hismeftlefs Re- fentinents. They have a ftrange Power to tüne the harfb Diforders of the Soul/ and reduce us to a fe- rene and placid State of Mind.
The main Defigd of this Weekly Paper will be to entertain the Town with the moft comical and diverting Incidents of Huumnane Life, which in fo large a Place as Bolton; will not fail of a aniverfal Exemplification : Northall we be wanting 10 fill up thefe Papers with a grateful Interfperfion of more ferious Morais, which may be drawn from the moft ludicrous and odd Parts of Life.
As for the Author, that is the next Queftion. But tho' we profels our felves ready to oblige the ingenious and courteous Reader with' moit Sorts of Intelligence, yet here we beg a Referve. Nor will it be of any Manner of Advantage either to them or to the Writers, that their Names fhould be pub- lifhed ; and therefore in this Matter we defire the Favour of you so fuffer us to' bold our Tongues : Which tho at this Time of Day it may found like a very uncommon Requeft, yet it proceeds from the very Hearts of your Humble Servants.
By this Time, the Reader perceives that more .han one are engaged in the prelent Undertaking. Ver is there one Perfon, an Inhabitant of this Town of Bofton, whom we honour as a Doctor ht the Chair, or a perpetual Dictators -
The Society had delign'd to prefent the Publick with his Effigies, but that . the Limner, to whom he was prefeuted for a Draught of hi i Countenance, defciyed ( and this he is ready to offer upon Oath ) Nineteen Featutes in his Face; more than ever he beheld in any Humane Vifage before; "which fo nifed the Price of bis Picture, that our Mafter himfelf forbid the Extravagance of coming up to ir. And then befides, the Limmer objected a Schilin ir his Face, which faits it from his forthead in a
ftrait Line dowd to his Chin, fa foch fort, that Mr. Painter procefts it is a double Face, dod l'u hi've Four Pozads for the Pourtrainmsc. However, tho' this double Face has Spoilt as of a pretty Picture, yes we all rejoiced to fee old Janks in our Company-
There'is no Man in Bolon bettet qualified thed old Janus for ACouranteer, or if you pleafe, an Obs feroator, being a Man of fuch remarkable Optickss. as to look two ways at once.
As for his Motals, he is a chearly Chiftian, is the Country Phrafe expreffes it. A Man of good Temper, courteous Deporiment, found Judgment } a mortal Hater of Nonfenfe, Foppery, Formality, and endlefs Ceremony.
As for his Club, they aim at no greater Happi- nefs of Honour, than the Publick be made to knows that it is the utmoft of their Ambition to attend up- off and do all imaginable good Offices to good Old Fanui the Couranteer, who is and always will be the Readers humble Servant.
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