Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1861-06-28
NEWSPAPER PATRIARCHS.
BY E. A. CALKINs,
Late Of the Hudson Aagu8 and Democrat.

| have thought that the records of this
Association would be incomplete if they
did not contain sketch of the rise of
Newspaper Literature if somewhere in
the registered proceedings of this body
| there did not appear narrative of the
| origin OF our professions, and the early in
cursion Of newspapers into the business
and matters of daily life, and muster
roll at least, of the names that have made
the newspapers as much part of our
literature as its poetry, its history, or its
philosophy. To this end propose to trace
the early existence of the newspaper press,
to mark the germs of its greatness, to en-
balm few names that professional tradit-
iors has preserved but other fame has neg
| looted, and to show from what small be-
ginnings has arisen this monster of power
that in our day makes the opinion that
rules the world. My sketch will be a hasty
and incomplete one, but in the boders
where propose to tread, of this field of
inquiry, [ shall find strewn many interest
ing facts, and many objects deserving at
tention. | shall find the early history Of
newspapers to be part Of the most glori-
Gus literature in the world-a literature
( that counts among its " seemless treasur-
les y the poetry of Virgil, the eloquence
of Cicero, and the philosophy of Seneca.
| shall find the first newspaper coeval with
Rome's greatest freedom, shall Gnd that
with the freedom of the press the freedom
of the people has walked hand in hand
that each triumph Of the printing press
over the restraints of power, and over the
bigotry of prejudice has been a triumph Of
civilization over barbarism, a triumph
of the enlarged and liberated mind of man
over the shackels of intellectual darkness
and besotted oppression / shall fin the
modern history of the newspaper press,
commencing with those momentuous events
when the doctrines of Christ and the doc
trines of Mahommed met in the conflict of
armed men when between Islanism and
Christianity the result long hung in wait
ing and perilous doIbt, and Venice, child
and queen of the seas, led the hosts and
hopes of civilized man in the struggle for
final mastery. I shall find the newspaper
introduced into our own language to serve
the safety and very existence of the Eng
llsh nation, and at an age, a golden age,
when our literature shone in its eliminated
magnifcence, and when the great names
to which its glory is due were borne by
those who still walk the earth l shall
find the first English newspaper was print.
ed while Bacon was sounding the depths
of the richest and truest philosophy, while
Spencer was tuning for ages to come his
love-labol ed song, while Shakespeare was
pluming himself for his loftie:t flights
while rare Ben johnson was delightins
with his humor and poetry the wits Of
GlebeIn and the wits of the court. and ere
I Beaumont and Fletcher had sung thei,
woes so well. l shall find among the news
paper Patriarchs men of rare endowments
who had tempers equal to their great
calling, whose fame is marred, to be sure
by the vices of their times, by the pres
sure of their necessities, by the exigencie!
that disturbed their unthanked toll anC
the labor of whose hands has come through
nine generations of men to be the mos
powerful element In social and politica
life-the Archimidean lever that move.
the world.
During the days of the Roman Rcpubli,
it was the custom to issue daily sheets O
news, containing partial proceedings o
the Senate and an account of the NOR,
important events that had occure inand
around the city. They were called Actc
Diluna The Daily Doings, would be ;
, free translation of this not inappropriate
name for morning papar. Being issued
without press, type or paper, of cours,
large editions were impossible. A few
copies were prepared by scri6cs, and pc
rused by such as could obtain them Pc
tronius, lively and gossipping writer OIL
Roman life and manners, gives US speci
men of the style of news they contained
His quotations are as follows:
g On the Goth of July, 80 boys and Al
girls, were born at Trimalchi's estate a
Cuma' q At the same time a slave wa
put to death, for uttering disrespectfu
words against his lord . The same da,
fire broke out in Pompey's gardens