Newspapers in Continental Countries

The Netherlands.

The Netherlands, with a population of over 7,000,00o, possess a healthy press, including journals which enjoy a high reputation for their literary merits and as organs of opinion. The chief among these are the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, De Telegraaf and the Algemeen Handelsblad, of Am sterdam. There are eight daily papers in Amsterdam, seven in The Hague and five in Rotterdam, and these circulate through out the country.

Spain and Portugal..

There is little progress to record in the Spanish press, and circulations are small. The illustrated A.B.C. is the most popular paper. The Heraldo and the Liberal are Madrid journals. El Sol was founded in 1917 by the Spanish Paper Trust. There are 20 daily papers in Madrid and 17 in Barcelona, and about 200 dailies of sorts in Spain. The principal Portuguese papers are the Diaris Noticia (founded 1820) and the Jornaldo Commercio, both published in Lisbon.

Switzerland.

Switzerland, owing perhaps to its small popu lation, has few papers known outside the country. In 1926 there were 38 daily newspapers published in German, 19 in French and two in Italian. The best known are the Journal de Geneve, read in France, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung and the Ziircher Post, which have a considerable circulation in Germany. (R. DON.) Among the professional writers of news-letters towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth and the beginning of that of James I., to whom reference has already been made in the discussion of the cradle days of English journalism the three most important were John Chamberlain, Thomas Locke and John Pory. The last of these three, when he was secretary of the Virginia Colony, sent news letters from "James Citty" as early as 1619 to his "good and gracious lord" in London for whom he had previously worked as a professional correspondent. The evolution of the newspaper in the United States, therefore, technically starts with John Pory. But he was not the only writer of news-letters. John Campbell, postmaster at Boston, wrote with some degree of regularity letters of news to the various colonial governors in New England. Later he printed his news-letters and thus estab lished, in April 1704, the first American newspaper—The Boston News-Letter. As in other countries there had been stray sheets of news printed at various times, so in this country. Mention may be made of The Present State of the New-English Affairs (1689) and Publick Occurrences (I69o). Both of these sheets were printed in Boston and the latter, brought out by Benjamin Harris, might technically be called a newspaper except for the fact that it had only one issue. Regularity in publication and continuity in the news are demanded by the term newspaper. Harris intended regularity of publication but because his sheet was thought to contain "reflections of a very high nature" it was suppressed by local authorities. Before the close of the century its publisher returned to England to become the publisher of The London Post.

Colonial Period.

Mortality of pioneer papers in the United States has been usually high. But The Boston News-Letter under various publishers survived until the declaration of independence by the 13 original Colonies. The honour of being the second newspaper is practically divided between The Boston Gazette (Dec. 1719), started by William Brooker when he succeeded Campbell as postmaster of Boston, and The American Weekly Mercury (Dec. 1719), brought out by Andrew Bradford, the local postmaster in Philadelphia. While technically there was a differ ence of one day, both papers are said to have been mailed to subscribers on the same day. The fourth paper, The New England

Courant, started in Boston by James Franklin in Aug. 1721, was a flaming organ of dissent carried on by a group of contributors called by the Rev. Increase Mather "the Hell-Fire club." So radical was it in expression of opinion that an order was issued that James Franklin no longer print the newspaper. The situation was met by having a younger brother, Benjamin, become the publisher in name if not in fact. After a quarrel between the two brothers, Benjamin went to Philadelphia where he later purchased (1729) an interest in The Pennsylvania Gazette, started by Samuel Keimer (Dec. 1728). Franklin made this paper one of the most influential of all those that appeared in the colonial period. New York did not have a paper until Nov. 1725, when William Bradford started The New York Gazette. As "Printer to the Crown," Bradford was unable to record opposition to gov ernment measures and in this way provided for the appearance in Nov. 1733 of The New York Weekly Journal. The latter paper, nominally published by John P. Zenger, was really edited by the leaders of the opposition. Freedom in expression of popu lar rights brought a famous libel suit against Zenger that did much to establish the freedom of the press in America. The jury, in freeing Zenger, decided that it had the sole right to judge both the law and the facts and reversed the old tradition, "The greater the truth the greater the libel." The first newspaper in the ten remaining Colonies of the orig inal 13 was a gazette with the name of the Colony before it, with the single exception of The Wilmington Chronicle (1762) in Delaware. These gazettes appeared as follows : Annapolis, Mary land (1727); Charleston, South Carolina (1732); Newport, Rhode Island (1732) ; Williamsburg, Virginia (1736) ; New Haven, Con necticut ; New Bern, North Carolina (1755) ; Portsmouth, New Hampshire (1756); Wilmington, Delaware (1762) ; Sa vannah, Georgia (1763) ; and Burlington, New Jersey (1777). These pioneer papers were important because in their plants were trained the printers who went forth to establish others, either in the 13 original Colonies or along the frontier farther west. Colonial printers, often forced to accept wheat, wood, butter, corn, etc., in payment for subscriptions, continually faced censors who, clothed by the law with authority, annoyed publishers bold enough to print the critical debate going on in the community. Setting aside a little corner for original poetry and opening their columns to letters from contributors who furnished essays, they provided a means of literary expression that contributed no small part to the founding of American letters. Of the papers of this period special mention should be made of The Boston Gazette (1755), the third paper of that name in Boston and distinguished from the other two as being the "pet of the patriots." Among those who contributed to its columns were such political leaders as Samuel Adams, Joseph Warren, Thomas Cushing, etc. The Massachusetts Spy (1770), published first at Boston and then at Worcester, Mass., was a dynamic force under the able editor ship of Isaiah Thomas, famous for his history of printing. Toward the close of the colonial period The Pennsylvania Journal (1742), under the editorship of William Bradford III., disputed supremacy in Philadelphia with Franklin's Gazette.