The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-13 00:00:00

HISTORY OF NEWSPAPERS.

At a late meeting of the Statistical Society the follow-
ing paper was read by Mr. P. L. Simmonds :
In 1636 there were but 9 newspapers published in London,
all of them at weekly intervals. In 1709 the number had
increased to 18, of whicn 1 was published daily. In 1724
there were 3 daily, 6 weekly, 7 three times a week, i
halfpenny posts, and the London Gazette twice a week.
In 1792, 13 daily, and 20 semi-weekly and weekly
papers. In 1836, when the stamp duty was 4d., the
total number of stamps issued for the -United Kingdom
was 35,576,056. In 1839, 58,516,862. The consump-
tion of stamps has therefore increased 64 per cent.
since the reduction of the duty. The oldest existing
London papers are, the English Chronicle, or • White-
hall Evening Post, which was started in 1747 ; the
St. James's Chronicle, 1761 ; and the Morning Chro-
nicle, 1769. The oldest existing Provincial papers
are, the Lincoln Mercury, published at Stamford,
1695 ; the Ipswich Journal, 1737 ; Bath Journal,
1742 ; Birmingham Gazette, 1741 ; Chester Courant,
1733 ; Derby Mercury, 1742. The oldest paper in Ire-
land is the Belfast News Letter, which was commenced
in 1737. In Scotland, the Edinburgh Evening Courant
is the oldest paper, having been first published in 1705.
Newspapers are printed in every county in England,
with one exception—Rutland. In Wales, there are six
counties in which papers are not published, viz., An-
glesea, Cardigan, Denbigh, Montgomery, Pembroke,
and Radnor. In Scotland, there are 16 out of the 32
counties ; and in Ireland, only seven out of the 33
counties. In England there are no daily papers published
out of London. There are four papers published in
Guersey, 4 in Jersey, and 5 in the Isle of Man— all un-
stamped.
So far back as 1605, under Henry IV., a Journal,
called the Mercure de France appeared regularly in
Paris, and was published by Richen, Brothers, book-
sellers, till 1635, when Dr. Renaudot took it up,
and carried it on till 1644. It -was continued
by Messrs. Freselier and La Rriere till 1672,
when it was called the Mercure Galant, which
name it retained until 1710, when it assumed the name
of the Garde Meuble Parnesse. In 1714 it resumed its
old name of Mercure de France ; and in 1716 took that of
Nouveau Mercure ; but in 1721 resumed once more its
original appellation, and retained it till the Revolution.
It forms a collection of nearly 1,000 volumes. The total
number of journals and periodicals in Paris in 1779 was
35. The number published immediately before the Re-
volution was 169, of which 17 were political, and 252 of
a literary, scientific, or religious character. The number
of provincial journals at that date was between 70 and
80. Paris has now upwards Of 27 daily papers, the
average sale of which exceeds 90,000 copies per diem,
while London has only 9 daily payers, with a sale of
about 45,000 per diem. The total number of periodical
journals published in France in 1837, was 776, of which
326 • bel.mged to Paris.
The first journal published in the United States was
the Boston News Letter, which appeared in 1704. No
sufficient data exist for computing, with any degree of
accuracy, the number of copies of newspapers at present
annually circtilated in the United States ; but it pro-
bably does not fall far short of 100,000,000. The weekly
issues of the British press of Lower Canada, are 29,000 ;
those of the French press, 8,000. In Upper Canada there
are 28 newspapers published weekly ; in Newfoundland,
9, Bermuda, 2, and the same number in the Bahamas.
Printing was introduced into Nova Scotia twenty-four
years before it was commenced in Canada : the first
paper was printed in 1751, on half a sheet of foolscap
paper, under the title of the Halifax Gazette. The num-
ber now issued at Halifax is 12, and there are 3 in the
country parts of the province. There are 4 newspapers
published in British Guiana; 2 in French Guiana; 1 or
2 at Bahia ; 8 at Rio Janeiro ; 8 at Buenos Ayres, one
of which, a weekly paper, is in English. There are 9in
Jamaica. At Barbadoes, 4 semi-weekly, 1 tri-weekly,
and 1 weekly newspaper. Two of these have been esta-
blished by the coloured population as their special organs,
and are supported and conducted entirely by this class.
In Germany, newspapers originated in the "Rela-
tions," as they were termed, which sprung up at Augsburg
and Vienna in 1524, and which appeared in the form of
printed letters, but without date, place, or number.
The first German newspaper in numbered sheets, was
printed in 1612. The journals published in Austria. in
1838, literary and political, amounted to 76, of which
22 appeared at Vienna, 25 at Milan, 10 in Lombardy,
7 at Venice, 5 at Verona, and 7 in Gallicia and Hun-
gary. In the kingdom of Hanover there were, in 1840,
only 4 political journals. In the Netherlands, in 1826,
there were in the Dutch language 80 daily and weekly
papers, and several in French. In Belgium, in 1840, 75
journals were pnblished ; of these 55 were in French,
and 18 in Flemish. In Prussia, 168 were published in
1834. In Switzerland, 24 weekly in 1825 ; of which 9
were conducted by Catholic editors, and 15 by Protes-
tants. In 1817, there were in all Switzerland no more
than 54 printing-offices, and 16 periodical journals ; and
in 1834 there were 93 of the former, and 54 of the latter.
The total number of journals published in Russia, in
1839, was 154. The Gazette of St. Petersburgh circu-
lates 6,000 daily. The first journal printed in Denmark
was in. 1644. At present there are about 54 daily and
weekly publications, more than half of which are pub-
lished in Copenhagen, and there are about 30 monthly
and other periodical
.works, the greater part of which
are published in the capital. The supply of newspapers
in Norway is abundant, as the press in that country is
perfectly free, and no tax of any kind is levied on it.
Christiana alone has 8 journals. In 1832 there were
about 50 newspapers published in the whole of Sweden,
1 literary journal, and several magazines. In Sweden
the press is under a very strict censorship. In 1839
there were 13 publications in Finland ; 9 in Swedish,
and
.4 in the Finnish language.

The earliest Spanish newspaper was published about
the commencement of the 18th century, In 1800 only 2
political newspapers were published; and but a few years
ago, only 12 newspapers for a population of 12,000,000.
There are about 20 newspapers and daily journals in Por!
tugal, and 1 at the Azores.—The whole number of jour-
nals in Italy exceeds 200. Few of the existing papers
date back farther than the commencement of the present
century. The Greeks publish 9: 4at Athens, lat Na-
poli, 2 at Hydra, and 2 at Missolonghi. The government
Gazette of Corfu is the only journal published in the
lonian Islands. There are about a dozen periodicals at
Malta, most of them weekly. At Gibraltar, a govern-
ment paper, of a very diminutive size, is published daily.
—The journals published at Constantinople, in January,
1841, were the l'agrim Vahui, a government paper, and
the Djeredei Havadis, in vulgar Turkish, containing ge-
neral information.—ln the whole extent of Africa there
are 14 journals. One has appeared at Algiers regularly
since its possession by the French in 1830: 2 are
published on the western coast, at the American
colony of Liberia. There are 11 political news-
papers at the Cape of Good Hope, half of which are
printed in English, and half in Dutch. An official Ga-
zette was established in Persia in 1838. It is litho-
graphed. In Calcutta there are 6 English daily papers,
3 tri-weekly, 8 weekly, and 9 Hindustanee weekly. At
Bombay there are 10 English periodicals issued semi-
weekly, and 4 Hindustanee publications. Two weekly
English papers were published at Canton, but are now
removed to Macao. At Sydney there are 3 newspapers.
At Melbourne, 3 papers published twice a week, and 1
weekly at Geelong ; in South Australia 4 ; 1 semi-
weekly at Adelaide, and the others weekly. Swan River
has 2 weekly. Van Diemen's Land, 13 weekly papers.
Materials for printing a newspaper were sent out to New
Zealand with the first settlers; the first number of the
New Zealand Gazette having been printed in London
before their departure. The second number appeared at
Port Nicholson in 1840 ; and a rival; paper was forth-
with established under the title of the New Zealand Ad-
vertiser at Kororakilla, Bay of Islands. The Sandwich
Islands, have now their regular newspaper, the Polyne-
sian, formerly called the Sandwich Island Gazette,
having been published at Honolulu for upwards of three
years.