The Canton mail. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 18??-1882, 1875-09-25
The Earliest Modern Newspapers.

1t seems that 10 Italy the world Is
indebted for the origin of the newspaper.
Centuries before the Christian era, or, to
give the precise date according to the
best authorities, 69l b. c., a daily jour
nal called the Acta Diurna was published
at Rome. 1t WAS not in the form of the
printed paper sheet that is nowadays
I left ut every intelligent mans door i'll
the early morning; nor was it issued i'll
copous editions and circulated among
the subscribers for stipulated consider
alton. The Acta Diurna was public
enterprise, supported by government,
and the few copies struck off in Latin
script upon white wooden tablets were
hung at conspicuous points in the streets
and the frcquented places of the city, and
gave to the curious pas>er-by the latest
intelligence of current events. With the
downfall of the western empire Journal
ism persisted, and for upward of a thou
sand dreary years was one of the lost and
forgotten arts.
BY Italian genius it was finally revived
again. and Venice WAS the scene of its
second birth There are now in the
Magliabechia library of Florence thirty
volumes of the oldest modern newspaper
of which we have any knowledge. 1t
was entitled Gazetta, as some say, from
the word Gdzzerd, signitying magpie or
chatterer, and, according to Others, from
the name of the small coin for which the
paper was sold. 1t was published at
Venice once a month by order of the
government, and continued to be written
in script, even after printing had been
invented. The last number is dated in
the sixteenth century. The earliest
French journal, the Gazette de France,
Il newspaper still in existence, we believe,
was edited by Renaudot, physician in
Paris. 1t appeared as a weekly, the in
itial number being issued in April, 1881.
1t was patronized by the king, Louis
MIL, and contained at least one article
penned by the royal hand. 1t also en-
joyed the support of Cardinal Richelieu.
The British museum preserves some
Mercurie, and protesting to have been
printed under the authority of Queen
Elizabeth in 1888. The title of enc of
the numbers reads thus: 1.-The English |
Mercurie, published by authorize, for
the prevention of false reports, imprinted /
by Christopher Barlur, her highness's |
printer, No. So In it is an account of /
the Spanish Armada, under the heading:
80 A Journal of what passed since the |
2lst of this month, between her maies- |
ties fleet and that of Spayne, transmit
ted by the Lord Highe Admiral to the
Lordes of Council But the papers |
were not published at the date and in
the circumstances pretended. They have
been proved to be clever forgcries execu-
ted about 1866. In 1922, during the |
reign of James l., a paper appeared I'M
der the title of the London Weekly Cour-
ami. In 1913, in the time of the civil |
war, a variety of publications claiming
unworthily the office and the name of |
newspaper were produced, but, in fact,
the first genuine news journal published
in England was established by Sir Roger
l. Estrangc, in 1868. 1t bore the name
of the Public Intelligencer, and survived
until the London Gazette was trans
fcrrcd from Oxford to London, in Feb
ruary, 1866.
The first regular newspaper produced
in the United States was the Boston
Newsletter, which appeared April "A,
1904. In September, 1898, an enter
prising printer in Boston had undertaken
to start Newspaper, but the first edition
was suppressed by the authorities, and
only one copy is now known to exist.