Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-05-03
THE GOVERNMENT PRESS.

4 The newspaper heretofore published in this city,
originally by +. p BLAIR, and more recently by
BLAIR a. RTEs, made its appearance on Thursday
night under the title of The Daily Union, with the
names of Thomas Richie as Editor, and RrTcHIE
AND HESS as Proprietors and Publishers.
! This change of ownership and of title has been
the subject of so much public speculation, and SO
much notoriety has been given to the circumstances
which have attended it, that, now the arrangement
| is completed and we have Government Press
established in all the forms, it becomes in some
readers. We subjon accordingly such parts of the
publications which have been made as may serve
to place the public in possession of all that con-
Germs them in relation to the subject.
To enable the younger part of our readers to
understand the matter more thoroughly, is proper
to go back beyond the date Of the existence of the
Globe" in order to trace its origin the idea of
government press, or government paper
Previous to the advent of General JACKSON TO the
Presidency there was no such thing as govern
ment press, in the in which that phrase is now
understood.
Whilst Philadelphia continued to be the seat of
government there being several respectable papers
published in that city, and the Government in its
infancy requiring but few official publications to be
made, it was not of necessity that there should be
any paper selected as the organ of its communca-
ton with the Public. The different papers in the
city of Philadelphia took different sides in the div-
sions upon public questions but we are not aware
that the administration Of WASHINGTON or the elder
ADAMS undertook, by means Of its patronage, to
establish any new paper, or to endow any one
| already in existence.
When, in the year 1899, under the operation Of
the act of Congress establishing permanent seat
Of government the Government was transferred to
WASHINGTON, where no newspaper was printed,
whichwas in fact then comparatively wilderness
fancied city, as Moore described it, Of
/ ssSquares in morasses, obelisks in trees"-
SAMUEL HARRISON SMITH our honored predecessor,
then publisher Of weekly paper in Philadelphia
by the title of the Universal Gazette transferred
that paper to this city, and here continued its week
ly publication and at the same time established the
National hateHgencer, to be issued three times a
week. That paper, on the incoming Of Mr.. JET
PERSON, became, of necessity, the organ of commu-
nication between the Executive and the People, and
Justly enjoyed the whole confidence of that distn-
guished Republican, from the beginning to the end
Of his Administration. The publisher of it did not,
however, become the exclusive printer, either for
the Executive for Congress, the printing for both
being distributed between him and others.
i In October, lsO7--more than year before the
close Of Mr.. JEFFERsoNs admnistration-one of
the present publishers of the National Inelligencer
came into the employ of its then proprietor, and
on the lst of September, 1910, in consequence of
j Mr.. SMITHS retirement TO private life, became the
proprietor of it by purchase from that gentleman,
the other member of the firm connecting himself
| with it shortly afterwards; soon after which con-
nexion it became daily paper.
| During the whole Of the administration of Mr..
MADISON, this paper was the medium of communi-
cation between the Executive and the country, the
Proprietors receiving from that ilustrious man I'M
4 varyingly such evidences of kindness and friend
| ship as they must ever acknowledge with most
grateful remembrance. But during the whole Of
this term of time, though the paper was necessarily
the receptacle of public advertisements, it had neither
monopoly nor fair share of the Executive printing,
Il
many things, moreover, which have in later days
been paid for as public advertisements being then
published gratuitously. Much less did the Execu-
tive ever undertake to interfere with the manage
ment or to control the conduct of the paper.
On the accession of Mr.. MONROE to the Presi-
dency, in 1917, the National Intelgencer continued
to be the medium of publication of the laws and
public notifications but no more than during the
preceding Administrations, had it any share worth
speaking Of in the printing for the Executive Offices,
nor did it derive any emolument from what has
since been considered as government patronage of
the press So far from being controlled by the
Executive or influenced in its course by consider
atoms of what advantage it might derive from Ex-
ecutive patronage, it SO happened that serious diff
ference arose between the Executive and the con-
ductors of this paper, year or two before the ex
piraton of Mr. MoNRoE's term OF service which
was only reconciled after that distinguished and
!, cellent patriot became private gentleman
j When Mr.. ADAMS became President Of the Uni
ted States in 1895 he caused the laws and the gov
eminent advertisements to be published in the Ma
4 fional Journal and the National lnellgencer du-
ring his administration. Not satisfied with the late
course of the National Intellgencer, Che having been
Secretary Of State under Mr. MoNRoE,) he yet did
not feel disposed or authorized to deprive the Public
of the knowledge Of public affairs to which they
were accustomed and entitled by combining the dis
semnation Of official intelligence TO single Jour-