NEWSPAPERS, HISTORY OF. 227 



which had given it birth, and after its collapse the 

 Inquirer held the field alone until 1840. 



For a time Mr. Jenks moved from the island, and 

 the paper was conducted by Charles Bunker; but 

 about 1834 he returned to his old love, and entered 

 upon his editorial labors with renewed vigor. 



Nantucket was strongly Whig in its politics, and with 

 Mr. Jenks at the head of the only local newspaper, 

 that party had everything very much their own way. 

 But during the exciting Presidential campaign of 

 1840, the Democrats, making a great effort, succeeded 

 not only in fitting up an opposition reading-room with 

 files of their favorite partisan journals, but in bringing 

 a new local weekly into life to do battle with the vet- 

 eran Inquirer. The new paper took the name of the 

 Islander, and the young editor was Charles C. Haze- 

 well, since well known by his work on the Boston 

 Traveller, and his magazine articles, chiefly on histori- 

 cal subjects. 



A spicy flavor was given to our local journalism 

 while Jenks and Hazewell maintained their keen 

 encounters of wit during the campaign which resulted 

 in the election of " Tippecanoe and , Tyler too." 

 The old favorite organ of the Whigs could no longer 

 walk over the course without a competitor, though 

 it affected to despise the new paper, and usually re- 

 ferred to it in a contemptuous way as " I slander." 



The Democratic paper, not meeting with much sup- 

 port after the campaign work was done, expired in 

 1842. But it should be remembered that Nantucket 

 was then a large and wealthy town, with a population 

 of nearly ten thousand souls, and also that newspaper 



