The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1866-01-23
Che Murtolk gost.
TUESDAY, JANUARY %, 1855.
THE BOSTON co

On Saturday, January Is, the Bosto'
Courier, a journal established forty tw'
years ago, by Mr.. Joseph T. Bucking
ham, departed this life; and in its stead
we have The Daily Evening Commercial
The Courier was the second daily jour
nal established In Boston. In its early
days, 1t was distinguished for its bolt
and plain English, and some of the besI
writer's in New England contributed tt
its columns. Mr.. Buckingham was
assisted in the editorial management by
his sons Edwin, Edgar, and Joseph II
Buckingham. Among the most distin'
guished Of the writers who contributed
to the Courier prior to lS4s, were VIM
Sturgis, s. p. Holbrook, Charles
Sprague, the poet, Rev. Leonard With.
ington-who learned the trade of printer
in the offlce-Peter Farley Goodrich,
William Foster-whose signature was
"Franklin"-John Pickins. who could
write a column on a sheet of note paper,
Henry L~ee-whose writing was more
difficult to decipher than Mr.. Choate's-
Rev. N. l.. rockingham, John II.
| Warland, Charles Francis Adams, and
his father occasionally, Charles Sumner,
George s.. Hillard, Samuel Kettell,
William J. Smelling, Allen c. Spooner,
Mrs. l.. M. Child, James Russell Low
ell, (who first printed his "Bigelow Pa
pers" in the Courier. The Courier, at
the outset, was an independent paper (;
but 1t early ~espoused the "Home Indus
try'' cause of the Massachusetts, manu-
facturers, and naturally become a Wing
organ-though it never gave over to
party what was intended for mankind.
Mr.. buckingham made up his mind,
that the Wings must, in ls4s, nominate
Mr.. Webster for the Presidency but
the Philadelphia Convention nominal
ed Gen. Taylor. The Veteran was very
angry, adopted Mr.. Webster's Abing-
ton speeeh,--that sit was a nomination
not fit to be ~made"-and he refused to
support the hero of Buena Vista. The
: wings tried their best to bring the old
grammar king to terms;but it was of no
avail, and he retired sullenly to his tent,
selling out his interest to Mr.. Samuel Ket-
tell and Mr..Isaac w. Frye. Mr.. Frye had
been co-editor with Mr.. Buckingham
for many years. Mr.. r. B. Foster, the
old business partner, continued in the
firm. The Free Soil party now sprung
up, and the way of the political editor
was hard. Mr.. Kettell was not a politi-
clan. He was as ignorant of the tricks
of the partizans a. a child. While he
was the best informed man upon general
affairs, connected with the New Eng
land press, he knew nothing of the
schemes by which statesmen were made.
Nothing was so revolving to his ssnsi-
bilities as to write in favor of the politi-
cal advancement of men whom he knew
to be unworthy. The anti slavery party
were gaining strength year after year;
and the Courier, which, from first to
last, had never been well-managed in its
business department, wason the decline.
1t had stout friends, and many of them;
but a newspaper that don't pay as it goes
Is much like a steamboat out of commits
sion. There were times during the
management of Eben B. Foster &
Co., when, had a little additional
capital been at hand, the paper could
have been made good paying property.
But what with gun-making aud other
irons in the fire, it continued to sink.
Mr.. Kettell's defence of Mr.. Webster's
Seventh of March Speech 1850 anda
series of articles on Russian which
he defended that power against the
Turks, the English andthe French-gave
him great and deserved prominence; but
they put very little money in the purse
of the proprietors. The Courier was the
first journal in the country to espouse
the csluse of Russia; but the New York
Tribune soon followed on the same side.
Indeed the administration of President
Pierce was known to be Russian to.
ward the close of the Crimean contest
| MI. Kettell died in 1855, and the edito'
rial management of the paper devolved
| upon Mr.. Isaac w. Frye. He had assist
ance from various quarters, and Mr.. Ham
il:on Willis wrote for the paper. He had
a habit of attacking in other papers, the
arti cles which he wrote for the Courier
and in this way, he made Mr.. Foster
believe that his terrible diatribes against
the Free-Soilers (of which party he was
a member), were attracting attention
In January, 1857, a gun factory in Yer
mont failed. and SO did f. B. Foster
& Co. On the second of March (ls57)
the Courier pas,ed into the hands o
MI. John Clark, who had been in the
office some fifteen years, as printer ant
reporter. He organ lied a new FIRM
consisting of Messrs. George Lunt, Geo
s. Hillard, John F. Fellows, f. II
House, E. w. Foster and Thos. Gill;
under the style Of John Clark & Co. A
this time, the circulation of the dali,
paper did not exceed sixteen hundre,
copies. New types and new presse
were procured; indeed, the ofic
was treated to a new outfit all tn
way through. In two years, tn
circulation of the Daily Courier ha'
gone up to over four thousand copies
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