Newspapers are now as common in all the British dominions abroad as in Eng land. In British India there are several newspapers published in the Bengal lan guage. The first New Zealand Colony, which sailed in Septtmlier, 1839, car ried out the materials for printing a newspaper, of which the first number was printed in England, and the second number in the colony. The same course had been previously adopted in settling the colony of South Australia.
Iu Germany newspapers originated in the ',Relations,' as they were termed, which sprung up at Augsburg and Vienna in 1524, at Ratisbon in 1528, at Dillingen in 1569, and at Niirnberg in 1571, and which appeared in the form of letters printed,.but without date, place, or number. The first German news paper in numbered sheets was printed in 1612. In 1845 the number of journals published in the States composing the German Confederation was 1836, of which 1017 were newspapers, and 819 scientific and literary. But many of these newspapers would not be called news papers in England : many of them con tain no political discussion of any kind. The number of journals in Prussia was 405 ; Bavaria, 96 ; Saxony, 94 ; Wiirtem berg, 48 ; Hanover, 24 ; German part of the Austrian States, 26. Newspapers are now common iu every European country, from Russia to Spain. The state of the press in some of these countries is noticed under the head PRESS, LIBERTY OF.
In the United States the increase of newspapers has been more rapid than in England. In the year 1704 the first Anglo-American newspaper, called the 'Boston News-Letter,' was published at Boston. In 1719 the first newspaper was published in Pennsylvania ; and in 1733 the first newspapers were published in New York and Rhode Island. Now there is hardly a petty town in any of the States without its newspaper, and in the large cities, such as New York, seve ral are published daily. In Pennsylvania and Maryland a considerable number of newspapers are printed in the German language, and distributed among the numerous German settlers in those states. In Louisiana some papers are printed both in French and English. The total number of newspapers in the States ex ceeds 1200.
The largest collection of newspapers in England is in the British Museum. This collection was commenced by a con siderable number being sent there, at the time when the Museum was established, with the library of Sir Hans Sloane. Another collection, of itself valued at 10001., was purchased in 1813 with the library of the late Dr. Charles Burney. At the end of two years from the time of publication, the commissioners of stamps now transfer to the British Museum, for public use, copies of all the stamped newspapers, both of town and country.
Before a person can commence the printing and publication of a newspaper he is required to execute the following instruments: 1. The Seditious Libel
Bond, or Recognizance ; 2. the Stamp office Declaration ; 3. the Advertisement Duty Bond.
The recognizance or bond is required by 60 Geo. III. c. 9, one of the objects of which was to make "regulations for restraining the abuses arising from the publication of blasphemous and seditious libels." This act was amended by 11 Geo. IV. c. 73, when the punishment of banishment for these libels was abolished, but the pecuniary penalties w Ire in creased. These acts enact that no per son shall, under a penalty of 201., print or publish for sale any newspaper until he shall have entered into a recognizance before a baron of the Exchequer, if such newspaper shall be published in London, Westminster, Edinburgh, or Dublin ; or if printed elsewhere, shall have executed in the presence of, and delivered to, some justice of the peace for the county, city, or place where such newspaper shall be printed, a bond to her Majesty, with two or three sufficient sureties, to the satisfaction of the said baron or justice of the peace, in the sum of 4001., if printed in London, or within twenty miles, and in 300/. if printed elsewhere, and the sureties .in a like sum on the whole. The conditions of the bond are, that the printer or pub lisher of the newspaper shall pay to her Majesty such fines and penalties as may be imposed upon conviction for printing any blasphemous or seditious libel; and also to pay to any plaintiff in any action for libel published in such newspaper all such damages and costs as may at any time be awarded. The penalties to be recovered in any one day are limited to 1001. The liabilities of printers and publishers to the law of libel have been modified by a recent act. [LIBEL.] The declaration required by 6 & 7 Wm. IV. c. 76, is a document which must be delivered to the office of Stamps and Taxes, or to authorized officers of this department. It sets forth in writing the correct title of the newspaper to which the same shall relate, and the true description of the house or building wherein such newspaper is intended to be printed, and also of the house or building where such newspaper is in tended to be published by or on behalf of the proprietor thereof, and setting forth the true name; addition, and place of abode of every person who is intended to be theprinter or to conductthe actual printing of such newspaper, and of every person who is intended to be the pub lisher thereof. if the number of pro prietors, exclusive of the printer and publisher, does not exceed two, their names and places of abode, &c. must be inserted in the declaration ; and if the number should exceed two, the names of those proprietors must be inserted whose shares are not less than the share of any other proprietor.