Next following in the list, come the sturdy Defoe, who wrote so fully and so well; the bitter and witty Swift; the ambitious and sceptical Bolingbroke; the graceful and correct Addison; and the versatile Steele, and the rest, who gave a polish and a perfection to writings on current topics for public prints which they had before needed, and the fruits of which we trace in our modern leading articles. Wilkes and Churchill, with all their vices, present themselves for a share of our esteem; and, in a catalogue of Newspaper worthies, who could omit Sam Johnson, with his reports from the lobby; and Chatterton, with his contributions that failed to keep him in bread. A Lord Mayor beckons us from the Tower, to remind us that his incarceration gained one step in advance, whilst the eloquent Erskine pleads in Westminster Hall; and the humbler hero, William Hone, calmly but manfully beards an intolerant judge at the Old Bailey. And so we come from name to name-human stepping stones, as it were, through two centuries-here to our own time. As we approach the present day, the number of the labourers in the field of the press becomes greater and greater, and our gratitude has to be spread over a wider space. The germs of liberty, planted under the shadow of the press in the earlier days of its existence, have scattered the elements of their multiplication on all sides, and these newer vitalities have been true to the ancient stock. Within the present century, whenever a great truth has demanded to be known, there has been found a man ready to put it into words, and a printer bold enough to put it into type. Whenever these truths have been found distasteful or dangerous there has been no lack of lawyers to prosecute, and (sometimes) of juries to convict; as witness the number of victims offered up at the shrine of intolerance by George the Third, Castlereagh, and Eldon. Gaols have from time to time been filled, but still the ball rolls on, and liberty is the winner in the end. The moral of the history of the press seems to be, that when any large proportion of a people have been taught to read, and when upon this possession of the tools of knowledge, there has grown up a habit of perusing public prints, the state is virtually powerless if it attempts to check the press. James the Second in old times, and Charles the Tenth, and Louis Philippe, more recently tried to trample down the Newspapers, and everybody knows how the attempt resulted. The prevalence or scarcity of Newspapers in a country affords a sort of index to its social state. Where Journals are numerous, the people have power, intelligence, and wealth; where Journals are few, the many are in reality mere slaves. In the United States every village has its Newspaper, and every city a dozen of these organs of popular sentiment. In England we know how numerous and how influential for good the Papers are; whilst in France they have perhaps still greater power. Turn to Russia where Newspapers are comparatively unknown, and we see the people sold with the earth they are compelled to till. Austria, Italy, Spain, occupy positions between the extremes-the rule holding good in all, that in proportion to the freedom of the press is the freedom and prosperity of the people. INDEX ACTA Diurna, i. 35, 289 Advertisements, ii. 118 Bulwer and the Newspaper stamp, Advertiser, Expenses of the Public, Burdett, Sir F., ii. 63 ii. 191 Almon, i. 227; his reports, ii. 266 BACON, Lord, anecdote of, i. 116 Bate, Rev. H., ii. 114, 145 Blount's publication, i. 163 Blanchard, Laman, ii. 231 Bogle v. Lawson, ii. 183 Bolingbroke, i. 181 Burke, i. 225; and Crabbe, i. 271 Burns the poet and the editor, ii. 115 Burton and the Star Chamber, i. Bute, Lord, and the North Briton, i. Butter, Nathaniel, i. 10, 33, 48, 49, CAMPBELL, Lord, ii. 105, 109 Cave's reports, ii. 261 Censorship in England, i. 39, 136 Chalmers, i. 20, 31, 33 Charles the First, i. 86 Charles the Second and the press, i. 134 Chatterton, i. 212 Civil war and the press, i. 45 Bonaparte demands the English Clement, Mr., proprietor of The press to be silenced, ii. 1 Bridge Street Gang, ii. 69 Morning Chronicle, ii. 112 Clergymen pilloried and flogged, i. 159 Cobbett, W., ii. 44, 53 Coleridge, ii. 108, 117, 127, 129, Constitutional, The, ii. 188 Contest in the Commons, i. 231 Country Newspapers, i. 178. Courier, late editions, ii. 227 Cowper's Newspaper sketch, i. 249 Crabbe's Poem, "The Newspaper," DAILY Advertiser, ii. 91 Daily Papers, London, ii. 91, 93, 95, Daily Universal Register, ii. 153 Dandy of Fifty, ii, 41 Dawks the News-writer, i. 166 Debate, stormy, i. 233 Delinquencies, Lord Melville's, ii. 19 Diurnal occurrences, i. 90 Drake, i. 135 Dudley, Bate, ii. 149, 151 Dyer, the News-writer, i. 164 EASTHOPE, Sir John, ii. 112 Early struggles of the press, i. 37 English Mercurie, i. 33, 292 Evening Mail, ii. 240 Examiner, i. 182; ii. 288; of 1710, i. 183 Exclusion bill and the press, i. 154 Expenses of a Newspaper, ii. 193, 196 FAIRFAX, Sir Thomas, i. 130 Finch Lord, anecdote of, i. 195 First Newspapers in England, i. 49 i. 19 Flying Post, i. 165 Foote, i. 213 Forbidden books imported, i. 71 292 Fourth Estate-What is it? i. 1 Fox, ii. 25 Fraud, great continental, ii. 181 Free press, argument for a, i. 4 GARRICK, ii. 97 Guardian, i. 176 Gazette de France, i. 30 George the First and the press, i. 204 261 Gifford, i. 19 Giles, i. 134 Globe, ii. 233 Gordon's reports, ii. 265 Gray, proprietor of the Morning Gray, Hon. A., i. 150 HARVEY, D. W., and True Sun, ii. 239 Heraclitus Ridens, i. 152 Herald, Morning, prospectus of, ii. Hetherington, Henry, ii. 71 Holland, pamphlets issued from, i. Hunt, Leigh, ii. 32, 35, 39, 43 IDLER, the, on Newspapers, i. 208 Index of forbidden books, i. 38 Intelligencer, The, i. 138, i. 144 JAMES the Second and the News- Jefferies, victims of, i. 151, 158 Johnson, Rev. S., trial of, i. 158 21 Jones, Stephen, ii. 240 KEACH, trial of, i. 143 Knightley, Sir R., trial of, i. 41, 42 LOGOGRAPHIC printing, ii. 153, 155, Lamb, Charles, ii. 131, 135, 137 Laws affecting books, i. 73; and the press, i. 135, 136 Law of libel, i. 257, 259 Leighton, punishment of, i. 57 Libel, actions for, i. 253 Liberty of the press destroyed by li- Licensing act expired, i. 162 Lord Mayor committed to the Tower, Lyndhurst, Lord, i. 5 |