1800.) 
Befides Stockholm, moft of the larger 
cities: have indeed their Tidningar, or 
weekly ‘advertifers: but advertifements, 
and the like intelligence relative to the 
common affairs of civil life, leave little 
room for politics, and frequently exclude 
them altogether. The Nezufpaper of and 
jor Upfal, approaches neareft to thofe of 
Stockholm. In Sudermania, Nykoping, 
the town where the Swedifh language 1s 
fpoken in the greateft purity, as likewife 
Orebro and Falun, have good provincial 
papers. In Eaft Gothland, fimilar papers 
are publifhed at Norrkdping, Linkoping, 
Calmar, Jonkoping, and Wifby; in Welt 
Gothland, at Gothenburg ; in Schonen, at 
Malmoe, Lund and Carlicrona; in Nord- 
land, at Gefle ;. and in Finnland, at Abo; 
all thefe are filled with politico-mixed 
materials: and are likewife fubjeé& to the 
board of licencers, who rigoroufly execute 
with refpeét to them too the reltrictive re- 
gulations newly enacted by royal authority, 
In foreign countries, the Swedifly newf- 
papers are-read only in St. Peterfburg ; 
and inthat city the price for one year is, 
from 25 to go rubles. 
As to the Swedifh part of Pomerania, 
we find at Stralfund, Greifswalde, and on 
the ifland.of Rugen, only weekly intelli- 
gencers, containing advertifements and 
intelligence relative to the common affairs 
of civil life. Of the five chief requilites 
of a good political journal, novelty, au- 
thenticity, copioufnefs, impartiality, and 
the art of properly arranging the matd- 
rials, the two firft are, on this coaft of the 
Baltic but too frequently wanting. 
EE 
ACCOUNT of the POLITICAL JOURNALS, 
&c.. im RUSSIA. ! 
HIS coloffal empire, which in extent 
exceeds the refit of Europe, pro- 
duces not fo many newfpapers as are pub- 
lithed in Germany, within the compais of 
half a {quare mile, viz. at Hamburg and 
Altona. For 25 millions of Ruffians, 
only 500 copies of newfpapers are printed ; 
while,-even in Hungary, there are 600 for 
a population of 7 millions, according to 
the calculation of Mart. Schwartner. 
What acontraft with England and France, 
where every individual might pick out 
from among the millions of newfpapers a 
feparate copy for himfelf!~ One might 
therefore almof fuppofe, that the Rufhan 
language had no particular word to de- 
ficnate this branch of literature: the word 
Wademofit, however, exactly anfwers te 
MontTuty Mac. No. 59. 
Account of the Pohtical Journals, Sc. in Ruffia. 
433 
our new/paper or gazette. But fo little 
do even the officers of the army care about 
newfpapers, that the word Wademoflz is 
not to befound in the {maller dictionaries, 
which weré in Germany compiled for the 
ufe of the Ruffian troops marching againft 
france: nor is the reading of newfpapers 
more common among the civil claffles of 
fociety of the fame rank; among the 
burghers and peafants it is totally un- 
knowns ‘There are whole governments, 
whither the poft-office of Peterfburg has 
only a few copies of the Wademofiz to 
tranfmit: and to the Afiatic part of the 
empire fcarcely any are fent. 
From Fobx Gh. Georgi’s defcription of 
Peterfburg we learn, what after the above 
introduétion might appear hardly credible, 
that the firft Ruffian new{paper commenced 
fo early as 1708, under the reign of Peter 
the Great, and bore the fimple title of 
Peterfourg fria Wedemoffi. ‘Twenty years 
after its eftablifhment, the Imperial Aca- 
demy of Sciences itfelf deigned to take it 
under its protection, and accompanied it 
with illuftrations, This circumftance ex- 
plains the anecdote related by a late bio- 
grapher*, that the princefs Da/chkof, 
who, it is well known, prefided over that 
fociety, herfelf wrote the Wedemofiiz. O€ 
fuch a fuperintendance, fo uncommon in 
more cultivated ftates, the happieft effects 
manifefted themfelves in the contents; as 
we are affured by thofe well acquainted 
with the Ruffian language. The Wede- 
mofii is publifhed every Tuefday and Fri- 
day, in two fheets quarto, one of which is 
filled with advertifements and the like 
articles cf intelligence ; for which, how- 
ever, a feparate paper has been eftablifhed 
fince the year 1728. ‘This latter paper, 
too, is under the infpection of the Senate. 
The divifion allotted for foreign news in 
the Wedemoffi is not {fo extenfive as that 
for domeftic occurrences ; indeed, the long 
and minute defcriptions of the court-f{o- 
lemnities and the lift of promotions often 
difpiace the former altogether. 
A newfpaper in the German language 
was, at a later period, eftablifhed for the 
ule of the numerous German fettlers. in 
the capital and-other parts of the empire. 
This paper, entitled Die St. Peterfburg- 
ifche Zeitung, and decorated with the im- 
perial eagle, appears in.4to. twice a-weelc 
at St. Peterfburg, and is a very ufeful 
contribution towards a ftatiftic knowledge 



* Abbé Caftera, in: Vie de Catherine II. & 
Paris 1797, Svo. t. 1. p. 29s 
aK 7 of 











