No More Learning

CHAPTER V.
A CENTURY OF NEWSPAPERS. THE ORANGE INTELLI GENCER OF 1688 TO THE TIMES OF 1788.
" For almost all that keeps up in us, permanently and effectually, the spirit of regard to liberty and the public good, we must look to the unshackled and independent energies of the press. — Hallam's C'awititutional History.
The Orange Newspapers. —The Career of Tutchin. — Judge Jeffreys. — Defoe. — The time of Pope and the first Daily Paper. — Bolingbroke. —Swift. —Addison. —The first Stamp Act and its effects. —Steele expelled the House of Commons. —Fielding. —Foote. —Burke. —Dr. Johnson. —Smollet. —Wilkes. — Churchill. —Junius. —Chatterton. — The House of Commons and the Printers.
THE press was emancipated from the censorship soon after the Revolution, and the Government
(as Macaulay says) immediately fell under the censor ship of the press. Both Whigs and Tories looked to the Papers of the time to gain support for their different opinions, and the people were thus again openly and avowedly appealed to for a judgment on political questions. The Government set up the Orange Intel ligencer for the promulgation and support of their policy, whilst the opposition were equally provided with journals in which the character and proceedings of the authorities were unscrupulously criticised. All
this was favourable to the cause of rational liberty; since, in the contest of argument, there was little fear
but truth would ultimately gain an advantage over
error. The Newspapers too became a sort of safety-
valve by which the effervescing elements of society VOL. I. L
162 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
(so to speak) might find at least a partial means for venting sentiments, which when restrained become dangerous. The press grew rapidly with its increased freedom, and became active, unscrupulous, and influ ential. Speaking of this period, Hallam says : —" vigilance, and indeed for almost all that keeps up in us, permanently and effectually, the spirit of regard to liberty and the public good, we must look to the un shackled and independent energies of the press. " In the reign of William the Third, and through the influence of the popular principle in our constitution, this finally became free. The licensing act, suffered to expire in 1679, was revived in 1685 for seven
In 1692, it was continued till the end of the session of 1693. Several attempts were afterwards made to renew its operation, which the less courtly Whigs combined with the Tories and Jacobites to defeat. *
Both parties indeed employed the press with great diligence in this reign ; but while one degenerated into malignant calumny and misrepresentation, the signal victory of liberal principles is manifestly due to the boldness and eloquence with which they were promul gated. Even during the (short) existence of a cen sorship, a host of unlicensed publications, by the negligence or connivance of the officers employed to seize them, bore witness to the inefficacy of its restric tions. The bitterest invectives of Jacobitism were
* Commons' Journals, 9th January, and 11th February, 1694-5. A bill to the same effect, sent down from the Lords, was thrown out, 17th April, 1695. Another bill was rejected on the second reading in 1697, 3rd April.
For
years.
mount's publication. 163
circulated in the first four years after the Revolution. * Politicians were severely criticised by their opponents, but, since both sides had to pass the same ordeal, the ultimate result was a gradual diminution of partizan violence and a growing moderation, both in the exercise of power and in the acrimony of opposition. " States men had a scrutiny to endure which was becoming day by day more severe. The extreme violence of opinions abated. The Whigs learned moderation in office ; the Tories learned the principles of liberty in opposition. The parties almost constantly approxi mated, often met, and sometimes crossed each other. There were occasional bursts of violence ; but, from the time of the Revolution, those bursts were constantly becoming less and less terrible. "t
The press, though enjoying more liberty, was still occasionally brought in contact with the law when the
Government chose to regard its productions as danger ous. Thus, before the expiration of the licensing act, a publication, entitled " King William and Queen Mary Conquerors," said to have been written by C. Blount, was ordered (1693), by the two Houses of Parliament, to be burned by the common hangman, whilst the licenser, Mr. Bohun, was removed from his office for allowing it to be printed. ! In 1744 Sir John Knight's speech in Parliament against the bill for naturalizing Protestant foreigners having been
* Somer's Tracts passim. John Dunton the bookseller, in the History of his Life and Errors, hints that unlicensed books could be published by a douceur to Robert Stephens, the messenger of the press, whose business it was to inform against them. —Note to Hallam.
t Macaulay's Essays, Vol. p. 204. Tindal's Rapin, Book XXV.
L 2
X
I. ,
in i THE FOURTH ESTATE.
printed and circulated by the Tory party, it was ordered by the House, that the speech contained false and scandalous and seditious expressions and reflec tions, and that it be burnt by the hangman. The
attended in Palace Yard to see this order executed. At the end of the same year,* a complaint was made to the House of Commons that a
News-writer, named Dyer, had presumed to take notice of their proceedings in one of his productions, and an order was issued that this offender against the privileges of Parliament, should be summoned by the Serjeant- at-Arms, to attend at the sitting of the House ; a command which he obeyed, and after an examination he acknowledged his offence, and was ordered to kneel at the bar, whilst the Speaker reprimanded him "for
his great presumption. " The Commons afterwards came to a resolution " that no News-letter writers do, in their letters or other papers that they disperse, presume to intermeddle with the debates, or any other proceedings of this House. "t Here was a direct avowal of a determination to keep all their proceedings out of print. The Parliament objected, in fact, to the scrutiny of the people ; but some of their debates were printed, nevertheless, from time to time. Dyer appears not to have been altogether intimidated by the Speaker's censure, for we find on record a story which shows that he still continued to issue his News-letters, and
to mention in them the names of peers of Parliament. " One Dyer," says Kennet, "was justly reprimanded by
the Speaker for presuming to represent the proceed ings of the House. But such a gentle rebuke could
* Dec. 21, 1694. t Pari. Hist, Vol. V. , p. 363.
Serjeant-at-Arms
THE FLYING POST. 165
not reform a fellow who wrote for two very necessitous causes, for the Jacobite party and for bread. But the Lord Mohun rebuked him more effectually some time after; for finding him at one of his factious coffee houses, and showing him a letter, wherein his lordship was named, Dyer owned not knowing my lord; who immediately laid on him with cudgel he had
provided for that purpose, and made him swear to have no more to say of the Lord Mohun. "
In 1697 the Parliament set about the task of re trieving the public credit, and to supply the want of
money the currency of exchequer bills. The News paper known as the Flying Post* thus referred to the
proceedings: — "We hear that when the exchequer notes are given out upon the capilation fund, who soever shall desire specie on them, will have at 5j per cent, of the society of gentlemen that have sub scribed to advance some hundred thousands of pounds, "t The House voted this passage to be malicious insinuation, in order to destroy the credit and currency of the exchequer bills. They ordered the printer, John Salisbury, to be sent for in custody and they
gave leave to bring in bill to prevent the writing, printing, or publishing any News without license. But when such bill was presented by Mr Pulteney
was thrown out before the second reading. " Here was the attempt to revive the licensing act which Hallam refers to. It was, as we have seen, defeated in an early stage of its progress, and this result may be partially attributed to the circulation of tract,! written
Published April 1697. Pari. Hist. , Vol. V. , p. 1164. State Tracts, William III. , Vol. II. , p. 614.
t
1,
by
t
it,
*
it
a
a
a
;
a
it
a
16C THE FOURTH ESTATE.
like Milton's, to urge the Parliament to leave the press unshackled. The question was well put before the Legislature in this pamphlet, and its author had the satisfaction to find that printing was to remain for a time without any additional trammels. Meantime Newspapers had gone on increasing. From the day of the first appearance of the Public Intelligencer in 1661 till 1688, there had appeared altogether about seventy different Journals. Some of these lived but a
few numbers, others were more permanent ; whilst one of them, the London Gazette, remains still in existence. Within the four years next after 1688, no less than twenty-six Papers were added to the list. The word Reform now found its way into the heading of a Paper conducted by Dr. J. Wellwood, whose lucubrations
the Mercurius Reformatus. Other novelties also appeared; and the competition, begotten of in creased supply, had the effect of tasking the inventive faculties of projectors. Thus the Flying Post, in 1695, suggests, " that 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 of J. Salisbury, at the Rising Sun in Cornhill, on a sheet of fine paper, half of which being blank, he may thereon
write his own affairs, or the material News of the day. " Here we see an indication that the News-letter* was not forgotten; and this is still further shown in the case of another Journal published by Ichabod Dawks
* The last two volumes of the Stepney Papers in the British Museum contain — " Letter of News transmitted to Mr. Stepney from the Secretary of State's office by Mr Ellis, by Mr Yard, and Mr Warre," Vol 21 ; " Papers of News transmitted to Mr. Stepney by Mr Cardonnel, (Secretary to the Duke of Marlborough,) during the campaigns of
graced
QUEEN ANNE. 167
in 1696, which was printed in script, and on letter-
paper to imitate an ordinary handwriting, a portion being left blank to be filled up by the purchaser before
he despatched it by post. The increase of such prints was encouraged by the increased facilities for their circulation. The Post Office, which had been esta blished by Charles the First, was interrupted by the Civil Wars only to be put on a more secure footing when those wars were at an end ; and, when William
and Mary occupied the throne, the postal service was still further extended, and many of the Journals were
published on the days most convenient for despatch through its medium.
Anne ascended the throne on the 8th of March, 1 702, and her reign is memorable in the annals of the press. It was marked by a law giving copyright to authors, by the establishment of the first daily Newspaper, by the appearance of great names in the list of writers for the public prints, and by the impo
sition of a stamp upon Newspapers, and a duty on advertisements.
In May 1702 the Parliament took cognizance of several publications which were alleged to contain libellous and dangerous matter. Amongst other offenders was Dr. Drake, who escaped with a censure ; whilst another writer saw his production burnt by the hangman ; and a third, the Rev. Dr. Bincke, was reported to the bishop of his diocese as a preacher and
1702—1706, and from Sir Lambert Blackwell, Mr. Chetwynd, and Mr. Broughton, English ministers resident in Italy during the same period. " These letters are respectively entitled " Whitehall News, " Edinburgh News," " Camp News," " Italian News. " &c.
Queen
1G8 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
publisher of scandalous and offensive remarks. All the writings thus denounced had a character regarded
then as politically dangerous.
At the opening of the year 1 704, the editor of the
Paper called the Observator fell under the displeasure of the Parliament, in consequence of some remarks he had made on occasional conformity. A resolution was adopted, " That the Observator, from the 8th to the 11th of December, 1703, contains matters scandal ous and malicious, reflecting on the proceedings of the House, tending to the promotion of sedition in the kingdom; and that Tutchin the author, How the
printer, and Bragg the publisher of that Paper, should be taken into custody by the Sergeant-at-Arms. " Tutchin set the House at defiance, absconded, " went on in his way of writing," and made some further sharp remarks upon a speech of a member of Parliament, Sir John Packington. Upon this the Commons were
again appealed to, and they adopted an address to the Queen, praying that a proclamation be issued for appre hending the contumacious writer, printer, and pub lisher, and offering a reward to any person who should betray their hiding-place.
The writer who thus braved the wrath of the Legis lature had suffered much, and unjustly, at the hands of his political opponents; and, as in the case of Lilburn, a youth of suffering and wrong would seem to have prepared Tutchin for a manhood of determined action against those whom he regarded as his political foes. In the chronicles* of that assize in which the path of
* The Western Martyrologj', or The Bloody Assizes, quoted in State Trials, Vol. XIV. , p. 1195.
THE TRIAL OF TUTCHIN. 169
" Mr. John Tutchin, a young gentleman of Hampshire, who, having had the misfortune, with many others of his acquaintance, to be in the interest of the Duke of Monmouth, was taken a prisoner by the county guard. " When seized he concealed his real name, and was committed to Dorchester gaol as Thomas Pitts, and there being no evidence against him he was acquitted. Before Tutchin could leave the prison, Jeffreys learned who he really was, and determined to be revenged for the deception that had been practised. He set the
to endeavour to extort a confession from the acquitted prisoner, but in vain ; and Tutchin was once again brought into court, when Jeffreys, " not caring to indict him again for rebellion, pretended that the crime of changing his name deserved a severe sen tence," and sentenced him to remain in prison for seven years ; and further ordered, that once every year he should be whipped through all the market towns of Dorsetshire; that he should pay a fine of 100 marks to the King, and find security for his good behaviour during life.
"It was observable," continues the historian of the trial, "when this sentence was passed upon Tutchin, that the ladies in the court, of whom there were a great many,all burst out a-crying, but Jeffreys turn ing towards them, said, 'Ladies, if you did but know what a villain this is, as well as I do, you would say this sentence is not half bad enough for him. ' "
Upon passing the sentence, the Clerk of the Ar raigns stood up and said, " My Lord, there are a great
Jeffreys was marked by a string of gibbets, and the victims were counted by hundreds, we find notice of
gaoler
170 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
many market towns in this county ; the sentence reaches to a whipping about once a fortnight, and he is a very
young man. " " "Aye," replied Jeffreys,
he isayoungman. buthe is an old rogue, and all the interest in England shall not
reverse the sentence I have passed upon him. "
" Certainly," says the reporter of this specimen of
judicial conduct during the well-named bloody assize, " no devil incarnate could rage, no Billingsgate woman could scold worse than this judge did at this young gentleman whilst he was at the bar. He called him a thousand rogues and villains, told him he was a rebel from Adam, that never any of his family had the least loyalty ; and, continued he, 'I understand you are a wit and a poet ; pray, sir, let you and I cap verses. " Tut- chin smiled, and replied, he knew on what ground and when he was over-matched. " Lying under the barbarous sentence, his friends advised Tutchin to
sue for a pardon, but he refused to do so, and with his own hand drew up a petition to the King, who was then at Winchester. It was duly presented, and the Court and the King, it was said, esteemed it a barbarous sentence, but all the answer that could be got was from Lord Sunderland, that Mr Tutchin must wait with patience. The next paragraphs of the nar rative of this interesting case throw a curious light
upon the customs and morality of times when this News-writer lived :—
Mr. Tutchin hereupon endeavoured to get a pardon from the people who had grants of lives, many of them 500, some 1000, more or less, according as they had interest in the King ; but Jeffreys would not so much as hear his name mentioned, and
the sentence was ordered to be executed.
TUTCHIN IN GAOL. 171
Four or five days before the execution of the sentence, a brother-in-law of Mr. Tutchin, a physician, persuaded him to take a dose of physic to make himself sick, by which means the execution might be put off, and perhaps in that time some means might be found for his enlargement : He took the dose, and in three or four days the small-pox came out very thick upon him, no man ever had them to a higher degree ; and in that condition he lay by himself in prison, nobody to look after him but his fellow-prisoners, for there being a pestilential dis temper in the prison, of which some scores died every week, the magistrates of the town would not suffer any communication with the prisoners.
Mr. Tutchin lying in this miserable condition, and his life being despaired of, his friends worked the easier with Jeffreys to get the sentence reversed, which some people would have believed a sign of repentance in Jeffreys, had he not taken the money himself. After Mrs. Tutchin had done this last kind office for her son, she sickened of the small pox and died, his brother and two sisters fell sick of the same distemper ; so that when Mr. Tutchin had friends allowed to come to him, like Job's com forters, they brought him the tidings that his mother was dead, and all the relations he had in the world were a-dying, and that they had contracted for a pardon for more money than he was worth, for a life which he never valued. So he was popt into a pardon amongst others ; for it was usual at that time for one courtier to get a pardon of the King for half a score, and then, by the assistance of Jeffreys, to augment the sum to four score or an hundred, and so this unfortunate gentleman fortu nately got out of his broil.
But we must not leave Mr. Tutchin here, though what after wards we shall say of him, does not relate to what was trans acted in the west, yet it may not be amiss to show how the providence of God does often change the face of things, and alter the circumstances and conditions of men, so that those who boast of their power, and exercise their authority with the greatest severity, many times become the scorn and contempt of those they have triumphed over. Who could have thought, when Jeffreys past that sentence on Mr. Tutchin in the west,
172 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
that ever Mr. Tutchin should see that wicked judge a prisoner, apprehended by the injured people, and committed by a tool of his own party ? Yet it so happened.
For Jeffreys, endeavouring to make his escape beyond sea in a sailor's habit, was discovered by one to whom he had done some acts of injustice, and was taken in Anchor-and-Hope Alley, in Wapping, and by the mob carried before the instrument of Popery, Sir J C , then Lord Mayor of the city of London, and by him committed to the Tower.
Mr. Tutchin, hearing of this, went to give his Lordship a visit : who did not know Mr. Tutchin at first, he being much altered with the small pox ; but Jeffreys, understanding who he was, told him he was glad to see him ; Mr. Tutchin answered he was glad to see him in that place. Jeffreys returned, that time and place happened to all men, and that when a man was born, he knew not what death he should die, nor what his cir cumstances should be in this life, and abundance of such cant ; but added, that he had served his master very faithfully, according to his conscience. Mr. Tutchin asked him, where his conscience was when he passed that sentence on him in the west ? Jeffreys said, you were a young man, and an enemy to the Government, and might live to do abundance of mischief; and it was part of my instructions to spare no man of courage, parts, or estate; but withal added, that his instructions were much more severe than the execution of them, and that at his return he was snubbed at Court for being too merciful. So, after he had treated Mr. Tutchin with a glass of wine, Mr. Tutchin went away.
Soon after this, Jeffreys had a barrel of oysters sent him to the Tower, which he caused to be opened, saying, he thanked God he had some friends left. But when the oysters were tumbled out on the table, a halter came out with them, which made him change his countenance, and so palled his stomach, that he could eat none of them. This was confidently reported to be done by Mr. Tutchin : but I having heard him protest that he was not in the least concerned therein, we must believe it to be done by another hand.
tcjtchin's
At the end of the year 1704, Tutchin was tried at the Guildhall, London, for a libel contained in his Paper, the Observator, when the Attorney General, Sir E. Northey, in his address for the prosecution, said the Crown laid the information against Mr. Tutchin " for a few of his observations of the many he hath writ. It is a great while that he has done it," urged this legal functionary, " and it has been the great in dulgence of the Government that he has not been prosecuted before. He has been taken notice of by the House of Commons, and been before the Secretary
of State, where he has been admonished to take care of what he should write ; but he would not take warn
The trial proceeded, the printer of the Paper, John How, giving evidence against Tutchin.
This witness said that the Observator was usually published weekly, but sometimes oftener, the first number being issued in April, 1702; that about 266 numbers had been published ; and that Tutchin was the writer of
them all. The counsel for the accused took some legal objections to the case for the prosecution, and though
the jury found a partial verdict against him, the News- writer escaped from the clutches of the law in this instance, and continued to labour as a journalist. Tutchin was abused by Swift as the writer of the Ob servator — a sufficient proof that the Paper did good service to the party it supported ; but finding that his efforts could not be stayed by written arguments, his enemies availed themselves of brute force. One night the unfortunate News-writer was waylaid in the night,
and beaten so cruelly that he died of the wounds thus inflicted.
observator. 173
ing. "
17 1 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
One of the libels (and they all now seem very harm less) charged against Tutchin, referred to the case of
thought —
The author of Robinson Crusoe was a distinguished member of the corps of early political writers of this
another sufferer for freedom of printed Daniel Defoe.
period.
In 1700 he published his satire The True-
Born Englishman, and two years afterwards paid the
penalty of open-speaking, by being sentenced to the
pillory for publishing a pamphlet entitled A Short
Way with the Dissenters. Fines and imprisonment
could not, however, destroy his energies. In Newgate
he matured his plans for further literary labours ; he
made the pillory the subject of an ode; and, whilst
yet in gaol, started his Review, which he kept up for
nine years.
The House of Commons from time to time con tinued to use its power against any person who printed anything regarded as injurious to its dignity. In 1700 the Sergeant-at-Arms apprehended David Edwards, who had printed The Memorial of the Church of England which the Queen had complained of, but the House was unable to discover the writer of the offen sive publication. In the following year the House expelled Mr. Asgill, one of their own members, because
he had written a treatise some passages of which they
regarded as highly profane, and reflecting on the Chris tian religion. This work they ordered to be burnt by the hangman. In 1709 Dr. Sacheveral's publica tions were condemned by Parliament, and ordered to be burnt.
The many circumstances, however, which had sti-
THE FIRST DAILY PAPER.
175
mulated the production of Journals had not, up to this period, induced the appearance of a daily Paper. That was a step in advance reserved for the reign when the victories of Marlborough and Rooke, the
political contests of Godolphin and Bolingbroke, and the writ
ings of Addison, Pope, Prior, Congreve, Steele, and Swift created a mental activity in the nation which could not wait from week to week for its News. Hence the appearance of a morning Paper in 1709, under the title of the Daily Courant. When this was offered to the English people there were eighteen other Papers published in London, and among their titles we find a British Apollo, a Postman, an Evening Post, a General Postcript, and a City Intelligencer. The editor of the Evening Post of September 6, 1709, reminds the public that " there must be three or four pounds a-year paid for written News," &c. —that is to say, for the News-letters which thus seem to have been still competing with public prints—whilst the Evening Post might be had for a much more moderate sum.
Not only in frequency of appearance did the Newspapers of Queen Anne's day surpass their prede cessors : they began to assume a loftier political position, and to take on a better outward shape— though still poor enough in this respect. The very earliest Newspapers only communicated intelligence without giving comment ; subsequently we find Papers giving political discussions without News. In the publications subsequent to 1700 we find these two elements of a journal more frequently united. Mr. Hallam is inclined to regard this as the period when what he terms " regular Newspapers" began to obtain
176 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
political importance in our constitutional system. He says, " The publication of regular Newspapers partly designed for the communication of intelligence, partly for the discussion of political topics, may be referred upon the whole to the reign of Anne, when they ob tained great circulation, and became the accredited organs of different factions. "*
The year that produced the first daily Newspaper in England, gave birth also to the first of a group of publications which had many of the characteristic features of Journals, and were at the time regarded as such, though they cannot now be called Newspapers. They appeared at stated intervals, occasionally gave intelligence of passing events, and comments on pass ing events, contained advertisements, and, when the stamp was imposed on Newspapers, suffered the in fliction of that impost equally with their more political
rivals. They were — The Tatler, started in 1709 ; the Spectator, in 1711; the Guardian, and the Englishman, in 1713 ; and the Freeholder, in 1715. These, though now seen in compact volumes, were originally issued in separate sheets, as their numbering indicates ; and they contained, in addition to the elegantly-written papers now preserved, various items of News and advertisements, as the originals in the British Museum
Library bear witness. A list of noble names is sug gested by the mention of these works. Addison and Steele, Swift and Bolingbroke, come at once into the arena, as mental combatants in the written political strife of the period. Swift, when he took side with the Tories, used his power of language and ready pen
* Hallam's Constitutional History.
addison's quidnunc. 177
in the paper started by that party under the title of the Examiner ;* Bolingbroke wrote in the same jour nal; whilst the more elegant and familiar Addison, and the ready and versatile Steele, devoted their efforts to the service of the Tatler, the Spectator, and the Guardian. The Freeholder, which had an almost exclusively political object, was the sole production of Addison, who sought by its influence to aid the Govern ment, and to neutralize some of the injury inflicted on his party by the Examiner of his political antagonists.
Some pleasant Newspaper sketches are to be found scattered through the pages of these publications.
The Spectator)- gives us a portrait of the quidnunc of that day, drawn by himself: —
I wonder that, in the present situation of affairs, you can take pleasure in writing anything but News ; for, in a word, who minds anything else ? the pleasure of increasing in knowledge, and learning something new every hour of life, is the noblest entertainment of a rational creature. I have a very good ear for a secret, and am naturally of a communicative temper ; by which means I am capable of doing you great services in this
way. In order to make myself useful, I am early in the anti- chamber, where I thrust my head into the thick of the press, and catch the News at the opening of the door, while it is warm. Sometimes I stand by the beef-eaters, and take the buzz as it passes by me. At other times I lay my ear close to the wall, and suck in many a valuable whisper, as it runs in a straight line from corner to corner. When I am weary with
* Hallam says, " Bolingbroke' s letter to the Examiner, in 1710, excited so much attention, that it was answered by Lord Cowper, then Chancellor, in a letter to the Tatler. "— Somer's Tracts, Vol. XIII. ,
p. 75. Where Sir Walter Scott justly observes, that the fact of two such statesmen becoming the correspondents of periodical publications shows the influence they must have acquired over the public mind.
t No. 625, for Friday, Nov. 26, 1714.
VOL. I. M
178 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
standing, I repair to one of the neighbouring coffee-houses, where I sit sometimes for a whole day, and have the News as as it comes from Court fresh and fresh. In short, Sir, I spare no pains to know how the the world goes. A piece of News loses its flavour when it hath been an hour in the air. I love, if 1 may so speak, to have it fresh from the tree ; and to convey it to my friends before it is faded. Accordingly my expenses in coach-hire make no small article : which you may believe, when I assure you, that I post away from coffee-house to coffee house, and forestall the Evening Post by two hours. There is a certain gentleman, who hath given me the slip twice or thrice, and hath been beforehand with me at Child's. But I have
played him a trick. I have purchased a pair of the best coach- horses I could buy for money, and now let him outstrip me if he can. Once more, Mr. Spectator, let me advise you to deal in News. You may depend upon my assistance. But I must break off abruptly, for I have twenty letters to write.
Addison dilates upon the strong appetite of his cotemporaries, in 1 7 1 2, for Newspapers. " There is no humour in my countrymen," he says, " which I am more inclined to wonder at than their general thirst after News. There are about half-a-dozen ingenious men,
who live very plentifully upon this curiosity of their fellow-subjects. They all of them receive the same ad vices from abroad, and very often in the same words ; but their way of cooking it is so very different, that there is no citizen, who has an eye to the public good, that can leave the coffee-house with peace of mind be
fore he has given every one of them a reading. These several dishes of News are so very agreeable to the palate of my countrymen, that they are not only pleased with them when they are served up hot, but when they are again set cold before them, by those penetrating politicians, who oblige the public with their reflections
THE SPECTATOR'S COMIC NEWSPAPER. 179
and observations upon every piece of intelligence that is sent us from abroad. The text is given us by one set of writers, and the comment by another. But not withstanding, we have the same tale told us in so many different Papers, and, if occasion requires, in so many articles of the same Paper ; notwithstanding, in a scar city of foreign posts, we hear the same story repeated by different advices from Paris, Brussels, the Hague,
and from every great town in Europe ; notwithstand ing the multitude of annotations, explanations, reflec tions, and various readings which it passes through, our time lies heavy on our hands till the arrival of the fresh mail : we long to receive further particulars, to hear what will be the next step, or what will be the
consequences of that which we have already taken. A westerly wind keeps the whole town in suspense, and puts a stop to conversation. The general curiosity has been raised and inflamed by our late wars, and, if rightly directed, might be of good use to a person who
has such a thirst awakened in him. "
This appetite for novelty, if it cannot be satisfied
by the perusal of books, Addison proposes to satisfy by the preparation of a Newspaper containing home in telligence in lieu of the foreign News, which had be come scarce since the conclusion of the war. In the humour of the following proposition,* we see the ori ginal of many jokes on the same subject which have been more recently published :—
Mr. Spectator. —You must have observed that men who frequent coffee-houses, and delight in News, are pleased with everything that is matter of fact, so it be what they have not
* Spectator, No. 452, for Friday, August 8th, 1712. M
ISO THE FOURTH ESTATE.
heard before. A victory, or a defeat, are equally agreeable to them. The shutting of a cardinal's mouth pleases them one post, and the opening of it another. They are glad to hear the French Court is removed to Marli, and are afterwards as much delighted with its return to Versailles. They read the adver tisements with the same curiosity as the articles of public News; and are as pleased to hear of a piebald horse that is strayed out of a field near Islington, as of a whole troop that have been engaged in any foreign adventure. In short, they have a relish for everything that is News, let the matter of it be what it will; or, to speak more properly, they are men of a voracious appetite, but no taste. Now, Sir, since the great fountain of News, I mean the war, is very near being dried up ; and since these gentlemen have contracted such an inextinguishable thirst after it ;
I have taken their case and
own into consideration, and have thought of a project which may turn to the advantage of us both. I have thoughts of publishing a daily Paper which shall comprehend in it all the most remarkable occurrences in
every little town, village, and hamlet that lie within ten miles of London, or in other words, within the verge of the penny- post. I have pitched upon this scene of intelligence for two reasons ; first, because the carriage of letters will be very cheap ; and secondly, because I may receive them every day. By this means my readers will have their News fresh and fresh, and many worthy citizens who cannot sleep with any satisfaction at pre sent, for want of being informed how the world goes, may go to bed contentedly, it being my design to put out my Paper every night at nine o'clock precisely. I have already established correspondences in these several places, and received very good intelligence.
By my last advices from Knightsbridge I hear, that a horse was clapped into the pound on the third instant, and that he was not released when the letters came away.
We are informed from Pankridge,* that a dozen weddings were lately celebrated in the mother church of that place, but are referred to their next letters for the names of the parties con cerned.
* Pancras, then famous for weddings.
my
SWIFT AND BOLINGBROKE. 1S1
Letters from Brumpton advise, that the widow Blight had received several visits from John Milldew, which affords great matter of speculation in those parts.
By a fisherman who lately touched at Hammersmith, there is advice from Putney, that a certain person, well known in that place, is like to lose his election for church- warden ; but this being boat news, we cannot give entire credit to it.
Letters from Paddington bring little more, than that Wil
liam Squeak, the sow-gelder, passed through that place the fifth instant.
They advise from Fulham, that things remained there in the same state they were. They had intelligence, just as the letters came away, of a tub of excellent ale just set abroach at Parsons Green ; but this wanted confirmation.
I have here, Sir, given you a specimen of the News with which I intend to entertain the town, and which, when drawn up regularly in the form of a Newspaper, will, I doubt not, be very acceptable to many of those public-spirited readers who take more delight in acquainting themselves with other people's business than their own. I hope a Paper of this kind, which lets us know what is done near home, may be more useful to us than those which are filled with advices from Zug and Bender, and make some amends for that dearth of intelligence, which me may justly apprehend from times of peace.
" Another correspondent suggests to Mr. Spectator, that a News-letter of whispers, written every post,
and sent about the kingdom after the same manner as that of Mr. Dyer,* Mr. Dawkes, or other epistolary historians, might be highly gratifying to the public, as well as beneficial to the author. " Addison describes, in his Paper for Dec. 3, 1712, a visit to the Motteux, the translator of Don Quixote, and editor of a journal, who at that time had a warehouse for the sale of tea and Indian wares in the city.
Swift and Bolingbroke did not fail to rouse the ire * See Tatler with notes, No. 18, note on Dyer's Letters, &c.
182 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of their opponents by the violence of their attacks. Swift had already written in the Tatler,* when, at the
of Harley, he undertook (May 10, 1710) to conduct the High Tory Examiner, which had then appeared every week for some three months; its object being the defence of the ministry. He wrote in that
request
Paper from the 13th to the 46th number. This last was written partly by Swift, and partly by Mrs. Manley. In the journal to Stella, he speaks of some subsequent
as having been written by an " understrap" and corrected by himself, but he had the credit of the the papers a long time after his connexion with it had ceased, and Oldisworth, in exonerating him two years later, expressed the satisfaction he himself felt that his writings should be taken for those of so great a man.
papers
The Guardiant complains of the Examiner having distorted one of his papers about ants into a political satire; and, shortly afterwards, proposes to show that panegyric is not the forte of the writer in the Tory Paper. In another number it is declared that the Examiner calumniates as freely as he commends, and that the invectives of that journal are as groundless as its pane
The Freeholder follows on the same side. In it the Paper which had become identified with the name of Swift, was described! as sacrificing the honour
* Tatler, June 18, 1709.
t No. 150, Sept. 14. A passage in this same number indicates the
gyrics.
sum usually paid for reading the Newspapers in the coffee-houses of the period. The Guardian describes a choleric old gentleman hnding fault with what he had been reading — " He lost his voice a second time, in the extremity of his rage ; and the whole company, who were all of them Tories, bursting out into a sudden laugh, he threw down his
penny in great wrath, and retired with a most formidable frown. " % G-uarclian, Nos. 41, 53, &c.
THE EXAMINER OF 1710. 183
and reputation of those who opposed its political prin ciples. Steele signs his name to one letter,* in which he objects to the modes of attack adopted by his assail ants. " When a satirist," he says, " feigns a name, it must be the guilt of the person attacked, or his being notoriously understood guilty before the satire was written, that can make him liable to come under the fictitious appellation. But, when the license of printing the letters of people's real names is used, things may be affixed to men's characters, which are in the utmost degree remote from them. " Addison t also speaks very plainly his opinion of the Tory Journal. " The Examiner was a Paper, which was the favourite work of the party. It was ushered into the world by a letter from a Secretary of State, setting forth the great genius of the author, the usefulness of his design, and the mighty consequences that were to be ex pected from it. It is said to have been written by those among them whom they looked upon as their most celebrated wits and politicians, and was dispersed into all quarters of the nation with great industry and expense. Who would not have expected that at least the rules of decency and candour would be observed
in such a performance ? But, instead of this, you saw all the great men who had done eminent services to their country but a few years before, draughted out one by one, and baited in their turns. No sanctity of character, or privilege of sex, exempted persons from this barbarous usage. Several of our prelates were the standing marks of public raillery, and many ladies of the first quality branded by name, for matters * Guardian, No. 53. t Freeholder, No. 19.
184 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
of fact which, as they were false, were not heeded, and if they had been true were innocent. The dead themselves were not spared. "
The influence of this continued war of words upon the people is described in a subsequent number of the Freeholder. The whole nation had become politicians. " There is scarce any man in England, of what denomi nation soever, that is not a free-thinker in politics, and hath not some particular notions of his own, by which he distinguishes himself from the rest of the commu
Our island, which was formerly called a nation of saints, may now be called a nation of statesmen. Almost every age, profession, and sex among us, has its favourite set of ministers, and scheme of govern ment. Our children are initiated into factions before they know their right hand from their left. They no sooner begin to speak, but Whig and Tory are the first words they learn. They are taught in their infancy to hate one half of the nation ; and contract all the virulence and passion of a party, before they come to the use of their reason. " Nor are the causes of all this left unnoticed. " Of all the ways and means by which this political humour hath been propagated among the people of Great Britain, I cannot single out any so prevalent and universal as the late constant application of the press to the publishing of state matters. We hear of several that are newly erected in the country, and set apart for this particular use. For, it seems, the people of Exeter, Salisbury, and other large towns, are resolved to be as great politicians as the inhabitants of London and Westminster; and deal out such News of their
nity.
THE NEWS-WRITERS OF 1712. 185
own printing, as is best suited to the genius of the market people, and the taste of the country. " Here is a notice of the rise of country Newspapers ; and, directly after, we find a reference to the journalists of that day : — " As our News-writers record many facts, which, to use their own phrase, ' afford great matter of speculation,' their readers speculate accordingly, and by their variety of conjectures, in a few years become consummate statesmen; besides, as their Papers are filled with a different party-spirit, they naturally divide the people into different sentiments, who generally consider rather the principles, than the truth of the News-writer. This humour prevails to such a degree, that there are several well-meaning per sons in the nation, who have been so misled by their favourite authors of this kind, that, in the present contention between the Turk and the Emperor, they are gone over insensibly from the interests of Chris tianity, and become well-wishers to the Mahometan cause. In a word, almost every News-writer has his sect, which (considering the natural genius of our countrymen, to mix, vary, or refine in notions of state) furnishes every man, by degrees, with a particular sys tem of policy. For, however any one may concur in the general scheme of his party, it is still with certain reserves and deviations, and with a salvo to his own private judgment. Among this innumerable herd of politicians, I cannot but take notice of one set, who do not seem to play fair with the rest of the fraternity, and make a very considerable class of men. These are such as we may call the after-wise, who, when any project fails, or hath not had its desired effect, foresaw
186 THE FOURTH ESTATE.
all the inconveniences that would arise from
they kept their thoughts to themselves until they dis covered the issue. Nay, there nothing more usual than for some of these wise men, who applauded public measures before they were put into execution, to con demn them upon their proving unsuccessful. The dictators in coffee-houses are generally of this rank, who often gave shrewd intimations that things would have taken another turn, had they been members of the cabinet. "
The writers of the Tory Papers treated their Whig opponents with mingled torrent of wit, learning, and abuse and, for long time, this contest of words was continued with unabated spirit, but the balance of popularity turning somewhat in favour of the Whig party, the ministers used their power in Parliament to bring about change in the law. The first pro position was either to renew the licensing act, or to compel authors to drop the anonymous mask and sign their names to their writings. Both these proposals fell to the ground. Swift, who wrote anonymously, opposed the threatened changes in the statute book, and not without reason, for his pen had already brought others into difficulties which he would not willingly have braved in his own person. An instance of this had occurred in 1711, when the Earl of Nottingham complained in the House of Lords of "a speech printed and published contrary to standing order of the House. " This speech was written by Swift, and the unfortunate printer who put into type was taken prisoner, and kept in custody for some time. In his journal to Stella the affair thus mentioned by the
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THE FIRST TAXES ON NEWSPAPERS. 187
Dean: — "Dec. 18, 1711. There was printed a Grub Street speech of Lord Nottingham, and he was such an owl to complain of it in the House of Lords, who have taken up the printer for it. I heard at Court that Walpole, a great Whig member, said that I and
our whimsical club writ it at one of our meetings, and that I should pay for it,"
When Anne had been ten years on the throne she sent a message to the Parliament, which, amongst other things, stated that great license was taken " in publishing false and scandalous libels, such as are a reproach to any Government;" and recommending the Parliament " to find a remedy equal to the mis chief. " In their reply, the Commons promised to do their utmost to cure the " abuse of the liberty of the
press;" and accordingly, on the 12th of Feb. , 1712, they unanimously resolved that they would on that day se'nnight, in a committee of the whole House, consider the difficult question. This promised con sideration, nevertheless, was afterwards put off from time to time. * In the month of April, however, the question came again before the House in a more serious shape. The editor of the Daily Courant (April 7, 1712,) had ventured to print the Memorial of the States-General, and this being brought under the notice of Parliament, the publication was declared to be a scandalous reflection upon the resolutions of the House ; and " Mr. Hungerford having reported that Samuel Buckley, the writer and printer of the Daily Courant, had owned the having translated and printed the said Memorial," the Serge ant- at -Arms was directed
* Pari. Hist. , Vol. VI. , p.