The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1873-04-17

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the news-pamphlet, the periodical, and lastly
that the English Mercurie, of 1888, was the
first printed English newspaper, but this has
been definitely pronounced as fraudulent, and
it is now accepted that the "Weekly News from
Italy, Germanie, &c.," published in 1922, was
the first regularly printed series of newspapers
in England. This English Mercurie was al
legged to have been printed under Elizabeth, in
the epoch of the Spanish Armada, and several
copies, said to have been printed when the
Spanish feet was in the English Channel, were
carefully preserved in the British Musum.
But the forgery was exposed in 1889, and again
in 1850, by Mr. Thomas Watts, one of the Ii
brarians of the British Museum.
During the civil war, numbers of newspapers
were published, mostly called "Mercuries," but
home politics were not discussed in them until
after the abolition of the Star Chamber in
1641. These papers were bitter, eccentric, and
| frequently coarse, and hence were made the
objects of censorship after the Restoration.
The license laws, however, were not abolished
until after the accession of William and Mary.
The first commercial paper was the City Mer-
| curry, published in 1875; the first literary pa
per, the Mercurius Librarius, in 1880; the first
sporting paper, the Jockeys Intelligencer, in
1888; and the first medical paper, in 1886.
From that time to 1892, twenty-six new jour
nails came into existence, some of which were
exclusively literary.
The first daily morning newspaper was the
Daily Courant, published in 1902, and contain
ed but one page, of two columns. The weekly
journals we're better supplied, and contained
but little home news, maintaining correspon-
dents in foreign countries, which was the staple
then demanded in the way of newspaper infor.
| TAo 70 ahnp Of n
newspapers sold in England during the year
1857 was about 1000, 900, and in 1867 upward
of 100000. The famous letters of "Junius"
began to appear in 1767, in the Public Adver-
tiser, and accomplished no little toward the
importance and power of the daily press of
that era.
The circulation of the London Times at the
beginning of this century was only ,000 copies
day, while other newspapers reached the
number of 1000. The Morning Chronicle and
Morning Post at that time enjoyed high lite
rary regulations, Coleridge,. Southey, Lamb,
Wordsworth and Macintosh contributing to
the latter, while Fox and Sheridan aided in the
| brilliant career of the former.
The Times, however, after severe struggle,
obtained precedence, and in 1914, on the morn
ing of November 20, after successfully apply
ing steam-power to its printing-press, claimed
to have presented to the public '.the practical
result of the greatest improvement connected
with printing since the discovery of the art
itself" The editors had but little conception
of what the future had in store. In 1915 there
were 254 newspapers published in the United
Kingdom, of which 55 were in London, Us
dailies,) l24 in other parts of England and
Wales, Is in Scotland, and 49 in Ireland. In
1929 this number had increased to 325, and as
the government maintained the stamp duties
upoa newspapers and advertisements, reve-
nue. was derived for that year of E438, ,667 from
English newspapers alone, and tl36,O52 from
advertisements; from Scotch newspapers. f42,-
30l; on advertisements, Ell ,592; from Irish
newspapers, &2S,576; on advertisements, 9l4,-
9s5; being total of 967S, ,17S revenue obtain
ed for the year 1929 from taxes on newspapers
and newspaper sources These imposts were
burdensome, and had the effect, very necessa-
rily, of repressing education by keeping the
newspapers beyond the reach of the poorer
classes, who could notafford the luxury of their
purchase. The subscription to the morning
papers was then f2 6s per quarter, or about
$45 per annum in gold, which, it will be OBJ
served, operated absolutely as prohibition to
the masses. Indeed, it might be proper to
urge that, were such subscription prices de-
| manded to-day, it would prove almost the
death.blow to popular intelligence and educa-
| ton. In 1886 the stamp duty was reduced
| from I'D. to a penny, and such was the power
of the press, that in 1856 the stamp tax was
totally abolished, which necessarily caused
reduction in the price of all the newspapers.
| From this era dates the true success of the
British press, but the stamp duty would never
have been removed but for the example of the
American press and its cheap publication.
In 1888 the number of journals published in
N.ook p-;to;,, ohnut Am CIRCULATING annu-
ally through the post-ofice nearly 100000
copies. After the reduction of the stamp duty
to one penny the number increased to 45S
within one year, IA being established in Lon
don alone. Among the distinguished hterati
employed on these papers were Leigh Hunt,
Charles Dickens, Douglas Jerrold, Lamar
Blanchard and Thackeray. Robert Owen pub.
| lished a socialist journal called the New Moral
World, and Feargus O'Connor the famous
chartist organ, the Northern Star. The Illus
trated London News was founded in 1842 by
Mr. Herbert Ingram, who, it will be remem-
bered, perisbed in steamboat accident on Lake
Michigan in 1860, while travelling in the Uni
ted States on tour of observation and pleas
ure The railway mania in England, in l845,
caused the publication OF about 80 railway
journals, but these papers expired mainly with
the explosion of the railway bubbles. There
are printed in London over 140 weekly papers,
including Punch, the Atheneum, Saturday
Review, Spectator and Press, besides many
journals devoted to special branches of science,
art and religion. Their joint circulation is
estimated at over 1000 weekly.
In 1860 the total number of newspapers,
daily and weekly, published in the United
Kingdom was 800, of which, in round num-
bers. 600 were issued in England, 100 in Ire
land, and 100 in Scotland. In 1882 there was
published ore newspaper to 10000 of the
population; in 1921 one eto to every Seooo and
test information now attainable, there were
published in the United Kingdom 1927 jour
mails and periodicals, which, in round numbers,
makes about one to every $4,000 of the popu-
lation. In animadverting upon the reporters
and employees Of the London newspapers, Dr.