Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-04-19
The Newspaper Press.

Considerable speculation has been INDUCED in
with relation TO the origin of newspapers, now
exercising in all parts Of the civilized world so
mighty moral influence over the minds of
men. The general conclusion arrived at is, that
it may be traced to the time, some five or six
centuries before the Christian era, when the Ro-
man empire was in all its glory. 1t was then
the custom to send from Rome accounts of the
progress of the imperial arms to the generals
in command in all parts of the prov
inces. The information contained in these
journals, which were called the Actd
dturnd, was communicated by the generals to
the officers under their command. These latter
in turn, impaired to others the information so
received; and in this way the whole of the army
became acquainted with any brilliant victory
which had been achieved, or any other i'm
portant occurrence which had taken place. 1t
is right, however, to mention that these journals
or communications from Rome to the provinces
were not transmitted on specific days; they
were transmitted only when important events
took place, with which it was desirable that the
army should be made acquainted. These publ
cations we've licensed by the government, but
they ceased in the year Al before Christ
From before the Christian era till the time
when the Venetian republic was in its greatest
glory, we hear of no medium of intelligence at
all resembling our present newspapers existing
in any part of Europe until 1866, when publica-
lions somewhat resembling our earlier newspa-
pers made their appearance. The NOtizie
Scrite, published monthly in Venice, is said to
have been the first of the Italian newspapers,
and was published, not in print, but in manu-
script. Gazettes, or newspapers, soon after be-
came more common, and any person was at
liberty to read them who chose to pay small
coin, called a gazettd, for that permission.
Italy, therefore, and Venice the capital of Lom-
hardy in Italy, have the right to claim the honor
of having been the first TO introduce to the Euro
pean public the newspaper press, each journal
III, IInlT
The government, becoming afraid that if these
gazettaS were printed the copies might be multi
piled to an extent which would be incOnveni-
emf, prohibited the printing of them for many
years, and rendered it obligatory on the pub
fishers to issue their journals in manuscript.
Much curiosity has been felt to learn the date
of the first English newspaper, and the crcum-
stances under which it made its appearance.
This is natural, when we contemplate the
mighty-we had almost said omnipotent-mor-
raj influence which the journalism of the pres
ent day exercises on the minds of mankind
But the origin OF what may be called the En-
gliSh newspaper, as the phrase is understood, is
shrouded in mystery, which none of the many
efforts made with that view have yet been able
to explain. There can be no doubt that the first
printed intelligence of importance transmitted
by government to various parts of the country,
in a form somewhat resembling the newspapers
of half a century afterwards, was sent by Lord
beth, in the year 1888. The intelligence related
to the fact of the Spanish Armada having made
a descent on the English coast.IFT only copies
now known to exist of these journals, convey
ing intelligence from time to time without any
fixed days for publication, are to be found in
the collection of DR. Birch in the British mu.
scum.
We have been unable to fnd any trace of
what may be called regular newspaper prior
to 1622-the year in which the thirty years war
broke out. Prior to this time the newspapers
were published irregularly-some of them at in
tervals of several months. The name of the
earliest of the journals of that time was the
Certaine News of the Present Week, 1t was, as
we have said, the first weekly journal. The
proprietor was a well-known man in the news
paper world. Afterward, there came crowd of
journals, all of them of small dimensions, and
most OF them published weekly.
Various expedients were resorted to at this
period by the prOprietors of newspapers to
bring their journals into notice. Not the least
curious was that adopted by the proprietor of
the Flying Post. This gentleman announced:
"That if any gentleman has wish to oblige his
count of public affairs, he may have it for two.
pence, of j. Salisbury, at the Rising Sun in
Cornhill, on sheet Of fine paper, half of which
being blank, he may there write his own private
business, or the material news of the day"
But odd as this appears to us of the present
uul ilusl SSSh ludl lIlbf6 should
have been proprietors of newspapers, who, when.
ever there was dearth of Intelligence, trans
ferred one or more chapters of the Bible TO can
up" the vacant space, Only fancy the Times
giving from time to time one or more chapters
Of the Bible TO 'hll up" its columns CONSEQUENT
on the want of intelligence of INTEREST,"
For at least half a century after the establish.
ment of newspapers, none of them, so far as we
have been able to ascertain introduced adyer
tisements. The earliest instance in which gen.
eral advertisements were inserted, which we
have met with, was in the year 1858, under the
date of Nov. 25. The paper in which these adj.
decentralization in number-appeared, bore
the title of the Commonwealth Mercury. It
consisted of eight pages, and with the exception
of the space allotted to the advertisements was
exclusively devoted to an account of the prepar
atoms then making for the funeral of Oliver
Cromwell. 1t is worthy of observation, that
among the first Of the advertisements in the
newspapers of more than 200 years ago, we have
found one or two written in essentially the same
style, and possessing the same characteristics.
as the empirical advertisements of the present
day-TSnsleys Magazine,
A letter was received at the treasury DEPART
H. H..