The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-12-04


I. Buckingham. vols. Boston: Rsdding & Co 1861.
2. Personal Memoirs AND REcoLL BOTTOMS o. Zorro
s.AL LuE ny Joseph T. Buckingham. 2vol. Boston:
8. PERSONAL ApvrNruREs OF Qua Ows ConsEsror-
DENT" &C. by Michael Burke Hoaan vol. New York:
Harper Brothers. 1854 Reprint.
hEMoIas TT CoaRrsporDArcE DE MALLEr Du Pan,
Recueis ct Mis- en- Ordre. Par A Ssyous. vols Paris:
TIE LIFE JOHN STERLING. By Thomas Carlyle.
] VOL Boston Phillips, Sampson & Co 1851. Reprint.
The earliest newspaper printed in England was
The English Mercswis, which was " imprinted by
Christopher Barker" in 1888. At that time tho
Spanish Armada was in the British Channel, and
tho terrified nation expected from day 10 day the
alarming news Of second Hastings Burleigh's
sagaoty soon devised the use to which AJing
sheets Of news" might be put; and, through the -
sistsnce of "Her Highness' printer aforesaid oon.
trived to keep public feeling up to the pitch which
the crisis required. He frightened or encouraged
the people, as indifference despair gained ground
The first newspaper in America was not published
till one hundred and sixteen years afterwards In
l704, one John Campbell, feeling assured that "Al
persons who loves public good, will one way or
other put to their helping hand to promote and sup
port public letter Of intelligence for both foreign
and domestic occurrences," found the courage to
publish little half sheet Of paper, twelve inches
by eight, which no styled The Boston Ne,os- Letter
1t contained extracts from the English papers,
and advertisements, and after fifteen years OK.
istence counted about three hundred subscribers II
any reliance can be placed on the doleful com
plants Of its proprietor, it cannot have proved
very profitable concern. 1t was, however, soon
followed by rival sheets-the Boston GasGte and
the Boston Co,vant. in the latter Of which the
of RAM rrip frat sck~ ~
to the public Between the date of tbs first ap
pearsnce Of these papers and the revolution sever
al other journals, the Naw England Weekly, the
Weekly kehsarsaa, tho Boston Eusm,mg Post, tho
Advertiser. the Salem Gazette, the Mdssachi.setts
Spy, &c, Sc, saw the light. The Spy was great
improvement on its predecessors. IL was whole
sheet Of royal, containing four pages of printed
matter, and was adorned with two cuts, which seem
adhered works OF high art in the middle of last CEN
fury. The proprietor and editor, Isaiah Thomas
gave cut, in his first issue, that the Spy would be
neutral but like most editors, he soon found it ad
anti govern party, then called wings. In point
of power Of language and bold nvective there were
articles in the Spy which would discredit lead
ing journal of the present day Most of them were
communications, signed with Latin pseudonyme
One Mucius scoevola, who did not sickle to assert
that the Lieutenant Governor, Mr.. Oliver, stood
recorded IS perjured traitor" was apparently
the most talented and popular. The government
MED the privilege of consulting the custom house
registers, abused by all sol dsant respectable peo
pie, and attacked in every manner that venal inge
nuity could devise The editor, Thomas, was painted
government officials and the higher classes Of Bos.
ton, q dangerous man, and q scoundrel, who had
escaped by accident only the penalty due to his
offences. The whole press united to crush him. But
Thomas knew the world. He iinched not hairs
BREADTH but continued to publish the fervd appeals
of Leonidas, Mucius Sc9vola, and other patriots
When the Revolution broke out, he was obliged to
fly with his press and type to Worcester where the
Spy re- appes red with the motto: Americans! Lib
erty or death join die 20 On the 2lst June, l776,
the Spy returned to Boston, and during the space Of
two years was conducted by Bigelow, Stearns and
HasWell In ITS, Thomas resumed the editorial
sceptre, and the Spy again attained the first rank
among newspapers. After the termination of the
war, it was improved and enlarged,
30 that each page contained Eve columns of mat
ter. The taxes imposed by the Legislature of Mas
sacbusetts on paper &c, endangered its existence
for while but the obnoxious impost was finally
repealed, and the Spy survives to this day.
1t would detain US too long to 90 through the
long list OF newspapers which Mr.. Buckingham's
"Reminiscences' have rescued from obscurity; and
We are the less tempted to ur dertake the task,
from the fact that the author has confined his
researches to the history Of the New England
papers. Cur New England co.emporaiies, in all
caldor be it said, have not awaited themselves
might be expected Old Isaiah Thomas was doubt
less splendid fellow, and should have liked to
have lived in the days when the Governor and the
down for several copies Of the Satanic press Of that
sge But, Ichabod! Ichabod their glory is de-
parted The press of America is now published at
Washington and New York. Our Boston friends are
highly moral people.-.highly. respectable people
voluntary on their part. Shall We venture to stamp
Mr. Buckingham as fair type of the class!
His Personal Memoirs " are rather tough read.
ing In truth, we doubt if the personal memoirs of
any editor, whose share in the political movements
of his country was necessarily small, whose sphere
OF influence was very limited, and whose talents did
not rise above Tespectability could, under any cir
cumstances, prove an interesting book "Whsn q
undertakes to write his own life" says shrewd
reviewer, he should be able to assign satsfac-
tory excuse for stopping the public the highway
and holding it by the button, while he delivers him
self Of full and particular account Of his private
affairs He should have something to tell, and Q
reason for telling it. someth Inususl there must
position, we take it, than which nothing was
ever truer, but one which honest Mr. Buck
be people who would like to know under
what star Mr.. Buckingham, then . nero
journe printer, but "aspiring to display" his
i" intellectual as well as his industrial and
mechanical Abilities" contIived to start Polyaw-
thus Magostme-in all probability, as like one of
our modern milk and watery Philadelphia month
lies, as the fashion of the day permitted-how it
lapguished, and, "languishing did live," as the
lawyers say--how it made way eventually for the
Neg England GALAXY and Masonic Magazine,
which Mr.. Buckingham founded without dol
lar" and while "a wife and six children, the
Oldest about eleven years old, had other resource
than" his " labor for their daily bread'--how Mr..
fought his battle Of life in his little sphere right
manfulIy, and forced the GALAXY into tolerable
circulation--how he wrote editorials, and poetry,
which, we fear, were not read very attentively at
the time, and have hardly meowed by age--how,
in 1924 the agitation for protective tariff created
On opening for o new daily, and Mr.. Buckingham
accordingly set the Boston Courier on foot--how
be wrote, and quarrelled, and sermonized, and was
bored and prosecuted, in the discharge Of the Gus
tomary functions Of editor finally, how, moved by
wish to "leave legacy to his children and
friends" he was induced to ''make selections
from" his town writings" and publish them in
the two volumes whose title ia affixed to this notice
There may be SEINE to whom thee matters would
prove interesting If so, we refer them to the pub
fishers For ourselves, we ready to pay tribute
to the kindly feelings which have dictated many
portions of the work, and to believe that the