Ml 



NEWSPAPERS. 



NEWSPAPERS. 



several satirical articles in it by Burk*. The ' Time* ' was established 

 Jam MTV 1. 1788. 



Th following account of the origin of the newspaper stamp U given 

 by Cooke. in hi* Life of Bolingbroke : ' " Queen Anne, in one of her 

 messages to parliament, deoUred that, by seditious papers and factious 

 rumoun, designing men had been able to sink credit, and that the 

 innocent had suffered ; and she recommended the House to find a 

 remedy equal to the mischief. In obedience to the queen's desire, anil 

 at the instance of her secretary, the parliament passed a bill, in 171-'. 

 imposing a stamp-duty upon pamphlets and publications. At it.- 

 origin the amount of this stamp was a halfpenny ; and it is curious to 

 observe what an effect this trifling impost had upon the circulation of 

 the most favourite papers. Many were entirely discontinued, and 

 several of those which survived were generally united into one publi- 

 cation.'' The Act which imposed this duty is 10 Anne, c. xix. It is 

 to this Act that Swift allude* in his Journal to Stella, under August 7, 

 -' Do you know that all Qnib Street U dead and gone last 

 week?" 



By the Oth and 7th \Vni. IV. c. 76, the stamp-duty on newspapers, 

 which had been gradually raised to fourpence (with a discount of 20 

 per cent), was reduced to one penny (without any discount), a discount 

 of .."> |H-r cent being allowed for Ireland. The quantity of letter-press 

 on a sheet of paper bearing a stamp of one penny was limited to 1530 

 square inches on one Hide. Above 1630 square inches, the stamp was 

 three-halfpence ; above 2395 inches it was two-pence. 



In 1S86, when the stamp-duty was fourpence, the total number of 

 stamps issued for the I'n.te-l Kingdom was 36,676,000. 



In 1651 the total number of penny stamps issued was follows : 



At 1,1. At Jd. 



England and Wales . . .05,741,271 11,084,428 



Scotland 7,648,045 241,264 



Ireland 0,802,728 48,858 



Total . . . 79,687,044 11,969/45 



The penny stamp shows the number of newspapers, OB the halfpenny 

 wa< additional on supplements. 



From the .1th July, 133, the duty on advertisements was reduced 

 from 3*. ?>:l. to It. 6,1. in Great Britain, and to la. in Ireland. The 

 following statement of the total number of advertisements, and total 

 amount received therefrom, will show the results of this reduction : 



In Scotland the newspaper-press was first introduced during the civil 

 wars in the 17th century. When a party of Cromwell's troops arrived 

 at I.citli in 1 ''"-, f< >r the purpose of garrisoning the citadel, they brought 

 a printer, named Christopher Higgins, to reprint a London < 

 called ' Hercurius Politicus,' for their amusement and information. 

 The first number was issued on the 26th October, 1653; and in 

 November the following year, the establishment was transferred to 

 Edinburgh, where this reprinting system was continued till the llth 

 April 1660. On the 81st December, 1660, appeared at Edinburgh the 

 ' Mcrcurius Caledonius,' purporting to comprise " the affairs in agitation 

 in Scotland, with a survey of foreign intelligence." It was a small 

 quarto of eight pages. The last number was* dated March -- to 

 March 28, 161. It was mice, . ,1-1 liy The Kingdom's Intelligencer.' 

 In liifiltan ' Edinburgh (ia/rttu' w;i pulih-lied i.y authority, followed 

 in 1705 by the ' Edinburgh Cournnt.' ' The Caledonian M 

 which xtill i-xisU, was fiit published ..n April -JS, 17-0. After Edin- 

 burgh, tlu> next place at which the pi 



attempted in Scotland WM Glasgow, wbero the first numls-i- of the 

 'Otasgow Courant' appeared November 11, 1715. 'The Glasgow 



>!,' begun in 172H, still exisU. An ' Aberdeen Journal, 01 

 British Magazine.' began in 1 746 : the first number gave an account of 

 the battle of Cull.-lcn; thin paper still continue*. Tin- ' Dumfries 

 Journal' was commenced in 1750; and other* quickly t 

 Scotland has several other country newspapers, the ' I r.' the 



'HuiBahire Journal,' the ' Paialey Advertiser,' I .-wnhire 



Independent,' ftc. There are now twenty newspapers pulilish.il in 

 Edinburgh, of which four are issued daily ; and twenty-two in 

 Glasgow, of which four are daily papers. 



In Ireland, as in England and Scotland, newspaper intelligence origi- 

 nated during civil commotion. As far back as 1841, at the breaking 

 out of the ItfU-llion of that year, there wa printed a news sheet called 

 Warranted Tiding* from Ireland ; ' but from that time to the begin- 

 ning of the 18th century, we have no notice of any other print of the 

 kind, although it is not improbable that there may have been some. 

 Alxiut the year 1700, a newspaper called ' Puo's Occurrences,' named 

 alter the proprietor, was established in Dublin, and maintained iUelf 

 for more than half a century. Thin wa the first uewspa|>cr published 

 in the Irish capital. The next Dublin print was ' Falkener's Journal,' 



established in 1 728 : both were daily papers. Waterford appears to 

 1 linl.lin in put. -. by the establishment of a 



|>aper in 17-'U. entitled ' The Waterford Flying Post.' In November, 

 1766, the ' Waterford Journal' came out; and 'Ramsay's Wn; 

 Chronicle ' about the same time. The present ' Waterford Min. 

 started in 1801. The oldest existing iiewapap- r in Ireland 

 'Belfast News Letter,' started in 1737. Among the other existing 

 1 htblin papers may be mentioned the 'Evening I'.-t.' which luui now 



iity years. 



The abolition of the advertisement duty in 1653 (16 & K 

 cap. 68); the total removal of the stamp duty in t, least 



rendering it optional for the purpose of paying the penny postage, 

 which gives the prh Mig by post for (18 & 



iiul the introduction of machinery, by which from 

 III.IMIII to 15,000 copies can be produced perfect in an hour: 

 united in giving a marked impetus to the extension of uewsjiapers in 

 the United Kingdom. In London there ore now (Aug. 1- " pul>- 

 lUhed 14 morning papers instead of 6. The 'Times,' which usually 

 consists of 16 pages, or two sheets, each containing a printed maas of 

 upwards of 194 square feet, price 4<l. ; the ' Morning Advertiser.' the 



Morning Chronicle,' the ' Morning Herald,' the ' Morning POM 



the ' Public Ledger,' each of 8 pages, and price 4<l. ; the ' I > lily News,, 

 price 3rf. , the ' Standard ' and ' Daily Telegraph,' and the ' M 

 each of 8 pages, published at !</. each. The ot 

 the'Commei ml the Shipping Advertiser,' (, 



affairs, and ' L' Entr'act ,' a penny paper devoted to theatricals. A 

 is now no record of the numbers printed, it is impossible to give 

 than approximations ; but it is known that the ' Times ' publishes 

 daily from 60,000 to 60,000 copies; and the ' Standard ' has asserted 

 that on one occasion it printed 1 00,000, the general sale nearly approach- 

 ing that number. It is clear, indeed, that only a very large sa!. 

 numerous advertisements, for which the wide circulation i- 

 them a good medium, can enable these low-priced newspapers to 

 maintain the.nim-lvos, particularly as some of them, the 'Standard' 

 for example, do not rely on the higher priced morning pap- 

 the more expensive articles of intelligence, such as the 

 telegraphic communications, reports in parliament, to. Of > 

 papers there are now eight, the 'Globe,' the ' l-'.v. ' !.' and 



;n,' price id., the 'Express,' and the 'Evening Journal.' are 

 branches of the ' Daily New*' ami ' Morning Herald,' price 'Jr/. ; the, 

 ' Kvcning Star,' and the Kvcnin.; Standard, 1 arc in part second c<i 

 of the morning p.-ipersof the same names, and like them price 1,1. The 



Shipping and Mercantile Gazette,' is a commerci:, 



The ' London Gazette' is published twice a week. Tli . Mail,' 



the ' St. James's Chronicle,' and the ' Record.' are published three 

 times a week. Of weekly London papers there are altogether 139, 

 but this includes literary papers, such as the ' Atlun.> um,' the 



ry Gazette,' ' Punch,' ' Notes and Queries,' and many class 

 publications, such as the 'Solicitor's Journal,' the 'Builder,' and 

 the ' Pawnbroker' ' but they are all essentially 



papers, though not all political. One remarkable feature 



ice of a considerable number of local papers in London, the 

 'City Press,' the 'Clerkeuwell News,' the l.-liiu 

 'Islington Times,' the ' Holborn Journal,' the 'St. 1'ancras and 

 1 1,. ii mm Times,' the 'Marylebone Mercury,' and several 

 These are chiefly papers devoted to local affairs and ad'. 

 menta, none of them exceeding a penny in price, and some 

 published at a halfpenny. Some of the other weekly papers are con- 

 ducted with a large amount of literary and political talent, and are 

 of a higher price, such as the ' Examiner,' the ' Special- r. 1 



.' the ' Press,' the ' Leader,' &c. Others appeal t 

 and a variety of intelligence, and some of . a circulation .-t' 



of nearly 200,000. Among those which reach a high muni 

 some of tin- illustrated papers, such as the ' Illustrate 

 the ' Illustrated Times,' Ac. There are many oth. r 

 tions, such as ' Household Words.' ' Chamberas Journal,' ic.. which, ox 

 not containing titin, ore not included amon: i local 



newspapers published in England there arc 669, and in W.a. 

 Many of these are , is, which are mostly published in the 



in Scotland, 



and the from a penny, of \vl... 



some of tin-in daily, to livcpencc ; four of them arc monthh 

 ami two are daily issues of Edinlmrgh ncw.-pap. i 

 published ill a separate scries twice a w. ek. In Ireland there I 

 pulili-hed, but only Belfast, Cork, ami Dublin have any so low in price 

 as a penny ; and they are the only towns with a daily paper. In the, 

 Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, there arc published 1 5 news- 

 papers, at prices varying from a penny t.. threepence. In all the pre- 

 ceding statement* we have named the price independent <: 

 which in all coses is ch.v >ra if a stamped paper is re 



As we have already mentioned, it is perfectly impossible even to guess 

 at the total number printed, but in 1!>5U there were 

 passed through the post-office, of which about three-fourths 1 

 newspaper stamp, and the other fourth an affixed postage stamp. This 

 number is less than in the two preceding years, no doubt from the 

 of sending newspapers by railway parcels instead of 



the l>ogt. 



