Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-09-10
THE NEWSPAPER.

The newspaper is about three hundred
wears old, the first Of which we have any
record having been printed at Anvers, in
Flanders, in 1850, by Abram Vanhooven ;
but for nearly century after. that, news
papers were ,''few and far between" II
was not until the year 1920 that the News
paper appeared in Venice, when twas call
ed Una Gazetta, because the price of read
ing it was little coin by that name. It
therefore a mistake to date the Newspaper
from Venice for more than thirty years
prior to its appearance there, the English
Mercury was published under the authority
Of Queen Elizabeth. This was at the peri
cd of the Spanish Armada. 1t was irreg-
ular and of brief duration. The First French
Newspaper was published in the year 1881.
The first regular English newspaper ap-
peared in 1863. 1t was called the Public
Intelligencer, and continued three years,
when it was merged, in 1866 into the Lon.
don Gazette, Court Journal printed the
previous year at Oxford, whittier the Court
had retired on account of the plague. In
1870, King Charles prohibited the print
ing of Newspapers and Pamphlets. The
first daily paper after the Revolution in 16-
So, was the Orange Intelligencer, and in the
year 1874, there were three dailies in Lon
don, besides various weeklies and tri-week-
lies. The oldest English Provincial paper
still in existence is the Nottingham Journal,
commenced in TIA, and, is, therefore at
this time, one hundred and thirty eight years
old. The oldest London Journal still in ex-
istence is the Morning Herald,in its eighty
sixth year. The Times, the most powerful
Newspaper in the world, was established in
1857, and first printed by steam in lS14.-
Just one hundred and one years before this
last date the stamp tax on Newspapers was
instituted. The origin Of this stamp tax
may not generally be known. The News
paper and cheap pamphlets were the vehic-
les of most of the attacks upon the Ministry,
and to suppress, or limit their circulation,
Lord Bollingbroke and Oxford laid tax of
a half penny upon every issue. 1t does not
appear that the plan was efectual. The
stamp tax is still in existence in England,
and in the year 1910 there were nearly
eighty millions of stamps issued. The idea
entertained by some people that this stamp,
is ga tax on knowledge" is scarcely just,
inasmuch as it entities the Newspaper or
sheet bearing it to free TRANSMISSION in the
British mails, thereby greatly facilitating
such transmission. AS it is paid by the pub
Usher, it of course embraces the price of the
paper. Much speculation has been indulg-
ed in touching the origin of the word News
paper. The most plausible suggestion which
we have seen is that which derives it from
the conjunction of the four letters indicat-
ing the cardinal points of the compass to
wit: N E w and clearly suggesting the
bringing together Of all parts of the world.
The Newspaper had it is true, very
humble beginning but truly has it been
said
"Great ends from small beginnings rise,"
and now the Newspaper is the most poten-
tial instrument of human progress. Even
in monarchcial countries it has been term
ed the 'fourth estate" in the realm, while
in this Republican land it is the first and
greatest power. In no other country is it
half so extensively difused. Here every
man has his Newspaper-and happy is he
who has not more than he can read.
1.-The folio of four pages happy work,
Which not e'en critics criticise"-
as Cowper so amiably described 1t, is the
chief source of information to more than
half the civilized population of the globe
Who, then, shall measure its influence ?
Southern Stahdard.