New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-05-12
MORNING, MAY l2, 1866.
e6atts and cGtttions.

listOrF OF the press abOunds with instances of the
> shamdul manner in which it has been treated by
desptic power; but it is curious to observe that
1t has always been done under pretext of contribu
b ting o the general good. The I" Index Expurga
e torfs includes only books which the Holy See
r prohibits as opposed to religion and good morals
q Lous Napoleon warns and suppresses papers only
whm he conceives their sentiments or reports cal
Quilted to disturb the public mind or injure the
common veal. So in all cases. OF course the
prtext is nearly always a subterfuge, though
uhappily not always. Were not occasion
, gEen sometimes for the exercise of ire
slonsible oppression of it, this could hardly have
been carried to the lengths it has. Yet there is,
perhaps, no government in the world in which the
PRESS has not been subjected either to censorship
r risks of the greatest severity merely to force
Is abstaining from the policy being pursued, no
matter how corrupt, how unjust, how oppressive
this might be. In England, the boasted home of
freedom of the press, for which John Milton SO
boldly and eloquently pleaded, as rigid severity
and as gross cruelty has been execised against it,
as perhaps anywhere in the world. Here is a
proclamation, issued on this date-May f2-l7SO,
g for suppressing the printing and publishing un.
| licensed News-books and Pamphlets of News"
Whereas it is of great importance to the state |
as well concerning foreign as domestic affairs |
should be agreeable to truth or at least warranted
by good intelligence, that the minds of his maies-
| tvs subjects may not be disturbed or amused by
lies or vain reports, which are many times raised |
on purpose to sCandalize the government, or for
other indirect ends; and whereas, of late, many
eyll-disposed persons have made it common
| practice to print and publish pamphlets of news
| without license or authority, and therein have
vended to His Majesty's people all She idle and
malicious reports that they could collect invent
mt IN
in short time endanger the peace of the kingdom
the same manifestly tending thereto, as has been
declared by all his maiesty's judges unanimously
his majesty, therefore, considering the great mis-
chief that may ensue upon such centious and ille-
| gal practices, if not timely prevented, hath
thought by this his royal proclamation with the
advice Of his privy council) strictly to prohibit
and forbid all persons whatsoever to print or pub
lish any newsbooks or pamphlets of news, not
licensed by his majesty's authority
This however, was issued by Charles H., of
whom Rochester wrote on his bedroom door,
Here lies eur sovereign lord tbeking,
He MnSss aeTsr SSys sSys a? S5ob @fg Fses tbar on
Nor ever does wise onef
The same ECharles, whose Parliament, against his
wish, in l779, passed the famous habeas corpus
act; who accepted gifts and a pension from the
French government; who sold Duukirk and Mar
dyke to it; who for money joined in war against
the United Provinces, and then made an ignnomi-
entered the Thames who unjustly executed Lord
, Stafford and host of others; who deprived the
. city of London of its privileges for electing a
sheriff disagreeabe to him; whose dissoute adul-
ferrous, pro1igate court has no parallel in British
z history and such a proclamation from him, or
+ from those like him, need not be wondered at.
a On the 18th Of May, III, Christopher Smart,
j translator of Horace, died. He was born at Ship
r bourne, April II, 1922, was an accomplished and
agreeable poet and miscellaneous writer, and was
a literally patronzed by Mr.. John Newbery, the
b eminent bookseller in st. Pauis churehyard. Yet
It he died insolyent, {" in the rules of the Kings
bench"
Temperley in the article in which the foregoing
notice is given, refers to some of the prominent
!, instances in which the finest productions of
authors have either been refused acceptance for
publication, or bought at such mserably low
/ sums, and to have been so neglected, as to " ex-
cite our special wonder" Paradise Lost was
with difficulty sold for $25. The Optics of Sir
7 Isaac Newton had no character in England till
/ noticed in France. Shuckford's Historical Con
nexion of the Old and New Testament was seldom
inquired after for a twelvemonth after its publica-
ton. PrdeauXs ConneXion was offered among
: the booksellers in vain for two years, Robinson
Crusoe ran through the whole trade without find
ing purchaser and was first published in the
: London Post or Heathcote's Integencer, in
i one hundred and sixty-four numbers, the
last of which appeared October Z, l7l9. Taylor,
n the bookseller who purchased it, cleared $4,000 by
it, and booksellers still daily profit by it. Sterne
was at first refused $3.50 for his Tristram Shandy
t Churchill's Rosciad was unnoticed till Garriek
finding himself praised in it, patronized it, after
o which it proved very profitable. Burns Justice
+ was sold for trife, and now affords an annual in
come Collins burned his Odes before the door Of
/. his publisher and died insane. At least one of the
If most eminent publishers of the day, Mr.. Strahan
refused to undertake the publication of Blair's
il Sermons. Beattie's Essay on Truth was refused
n till two of the authors friends undertook to pub
lish it at their own expense. The Polyeucte o.
6 Cornelle, now accounted his masterpiece, was
9 condemned by the literary assembly to whom sub
Il mttedit and he suffered all the horrors of poverty
n Samuel Boyce, author of the Deity, poem, was
employed by Mr.. Oge to translate some of Chau
y GERS tales into modem English, which he did with
great spirit at the rate of six cents a line. H,
g. wore a blanket because he destitute O.
breeches and was at last found famished to deatl
W with pen in his hand. Buchan's Domestic Medi
y cine, which has yielded immense sums, was solt
Il for $25 Miss Burney obtained only $25 for hel
EYellna. savage sou us NauueEGF lOT S0u, 1nOm
a sons Winter was sold for quite small sum. Poo
Chatterton's story is well known, Butler, the au
/ thor of Hudibras, left to starve, and died in
d garrett, and Otway died of want in obscure pub
e lie house. As a charity, on the recommendation
e of DR.. johnson, Newbery gave Goldsmith $500 sfo
t, the Vicar of Wakefield; but the bookseller had
little confidence till the publication of the TraYele
y had established the fame of the author Tannahil
committed suicide because the Edinburgh book.
e seller, Archibald Constable refused to publish hi
d works, though offered for a very small sum
Campbell's poem, the Pleasures of Hope, was re
fused by every bookseller IN Edinburgh and Glas
ID cow, until Messrs. Mundel & Son, printers to tn
university of Glasgow, with reluctance undertook
its publication with the uery liberal condition tha
e the author should be allowed to purchase ift
Of copies at the trade price, and in the event Of III
" reaching a second edition, should be given gra
- tnity of $50.
ie On the 18th of May, 1871, the eminent antiquar
y Francis Crosse died. The number of engravings il
,e one of his works alone, the Antiquities Of England
is and Wales, was $780, besides forty plans the head
- pieces and many other illustrative plates. H
was the author of several other works. compris
ing many hundred more engravings. AS he ha
le called these "Views and Prospects, and died jus
Al