The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-04-22
One Hundred Years Ago.

Last Thursday was tho hundredth ami
versary OF the announcement by WASHING
TON to the Continental army that the war be-
tween Great Britain and her rovoltcd col
onics was over, and that the independence OF
tho United States had OF last been acknowl-
edged by the mother country. With what
ever Joy and hope the message OF peace was
greeted, not one OF those who heard 1t could
discern In tho resources Of tho enfranchised
but thinly peopled and impoverished land
any promise OF the fruitage which single
century has sufflced to ripen. Nor Ia
1t easy for ourselves, familiar as We
are with such obvious signs Of prog
ress as the expansion OF territory and
population and the manifold advantages do
rived from steam and electricity, to appre-
ciate tho advance In all the avenues and
phases OF social melioratlon that has been
accomplished in an interval which might
conccivably be spanned by one mans life.
Tho present we know, but wo are very i'm
perfectly conversant with the other term OF
the comparison, and we may therefore ac-
count 1t happy coincidence that the recent
publication OF Mr.. MCMAsTER's history has
aided us to form n just and vivid concep-
ton OF what the country was when 1t emerged
from an exhausting struggle just hundred
years ago; what American civilization really
embraced and signifcd In 1888.
Let us look, first, at the appliances by which
information and ideas were communicated
in the year which witnessed the close OF the
Revolutionary contest. At present we get
our facts and our ideas from newspapers,
from books from the stage and the lecture
room, and from private letters. Then men
relied almost exclusively for intellectual
stimulus upon the pulpit, and for news on the
infrequent traveller from distant settlements
or foreign parts. In 1888 our ancestors were
shut out from the only native authors whose
writings are by this generation thought
worthy to be read. Men had ceased to care
for TRUMBULL's "McFingal," which had
been extremely popular during the
first years of the war. and had forgotten the
gratitude due to PAINE for his patriotic
pamphlet, Common Sense" HAMILTON
and MADISON had not begun to publish in
the Federdlist their political essays; IRVING
was not year old; COOPER PRESCOTT HAL
LEcK, and BRYANT were not yet born.
Scarcely any native American knew any
thing Of German, Italian, or Spanish, and
only few possessed q smattering of French.
Consequently the great majority OF readers
were compelled to peruse English authors,
or read nothing; and those who could afford
to pay for imported books filled their
shelves with the writings Of DRYDEN,
CONaREvE, POPE, SWIFT, BoLINaDRoKE, or
such ornaments OF contemporary Eng
Iish literature as tho compositions OF
BURKE, JOHNSON. and GOLDSMITH, and the
letters Of JUNIUs. Young women formed
their epistolary style on the diction OF the
nd for ho
adventures Of "Peregrine Pickle" and tom
Jones" as arc their great-granddaughter
with tho novels OF GEORGE ELIOT. But
most OF tho seekers after knowledge were
compelled to borrow books from more fortli-
nate ncighbors. for there was not single
public library within the United States in
tho year when the treaty with Great Britain
was made.
Exorbitant as was the price Of books I'M
ported from England in 1888. 1t was still. as
Mr. MCMAsTER shows us, considerably be-
low what they could have been published for
at home. Paper was scarce and very dear
fact which partially explains the insigniil-
cant proportions then attained by the Amer
lean newspaper press. In ITS there had
been IN the entire country only thirty-seven
newspapers, and there werc but forty three
to publish the tidings OF peace. Few came
out Oftcner than thrice week or numbered
more than four diminutivc pages, and the
amount OF reading matter which the whole
forty-three journals printed in q week
would scarcely fill twelve issues OF the
Sunday Sun. Nothing in the nature OF an
editorial page existed and the place OF
the leading article was filled by plaintive ap-
peals from tho editor to delinquent SUBJ
scribers, begging them to pay their bills In
pounds OF cheese or sides Of bacon. When
there was scarcity OF intelligence, no
packets having arrived from Europe, no
ships having come In from the whale fish
cries, and tho mails having been kept back
by tho rains, an editor Of enterprise and
spirit would fill up his columns by publish
ing installments OF wel-known historical
works Mr.. McMAsTER tells us that Rob-
ERTsoNs History Of America" was thus
reprinted in the Weekly Advertiser of
Boston, and that Cooks Voyages" came
out in the Pennsylvania Packet. But
nearly everything which now gives q
daily newspaper Its value was wanting,
and tho student OF history scans in vain the
journals OF 1888 for minute and trust worthy
accounts OF contemporary events. To keep
his readers informed touching what was
going on In other parts Of their own country
was an impractcablo task for the New York
editor OF century ago For oil news other
than local he was indebted to private letters
whose recipients evinccd sufficient public
spirit to supply the printer with such ex-
tracts as would be likely to prove OF general
interest. Scarcely week went by In which
the New York Packet did not contain some
scraps of intelligence under such headings as
"A Letter from Gentleman resident " In
Virginia" or 1t may be "at the Falls of the
Ohio" to his Friend In this City"
1t might DO supposed that In the dearth Of
books and newspapers mon would devote
much more time to letter writing than they
do now. Such in one part OF his history Mr.
MCMAsTER says was tho case but the facts
relating to the mail service, which no subsc.
quently Cites hardly bear out his assertion