FRENCH ISLANDS.

PORT AU PRINCE.

In

A commercial Gazette was published here by permission, before the revolution in France. or that on the island. 1790, the paper was published by Bourdon, Printer to the King."

NOTE. In 1804, the prefect of Guadaloupe forbade all American captain under the penalty of $200, to introduce into that colony, any newspapers, gazettes, or proclamations, from any part of the world whatsoever.— M.

CAPE FRANÇOIS.

A public paper, containing marine intelligence, the orders of government, etc., was published at the royal press at the Cape. When its publication commenced I cannot say, but it was continued in 1790, by permission of the municipality.

MARTINICO.

"Gazette de la Martinique," commenced its publication in December, 1784. It was printed at St. Pierre, by Pierre Richard, by the permission of government.

At the commencement of the revolution in France, presses under no control were set up, not only in the mother country, but in her colonies, from which were issued public journals of various kinds. The following appeared at Martinico, viz:

The Friend of Liberty and the Enemy of Licentiousness, published by Thounens & Vauchet in 1791.

Gazette National and Political, from the press of J. B. Thounens, in Saint Pierre, Printer to the People. In 1793, Thounens called himself Printer to the Committee of Safety, and to the Patriotic Society.

Literary and Political Advertiser of Martinique, printed in Port Royal by P. Richard & La Cadie. These printers then published the Gazette de Martinique in Saint Pierre.

In Trinity, on this island, in 1792, appeared a public journal from the press of X. Y. Z.1

'Part of the above is extracted from the minutes of the Rev. Mr. Bentley.

SPANISH AMERICA.

The number of gazettes printed in the Spanish provinces cannot be ascertained. It has been mentioned that a gazette was printed at Mexico early in the eighteenth century;' another was established at Lima, at an early period; and, it has likewise been remarked that a press was long since set up in the Spanish part of Saint Domingo,' &c.

In May 1807, a printing house was opened with much ceremony at Montevideo, on the river La Plata, in South America, when it was in the possession of the British fleet and army. The first printing performed at the press in that place was the prospectus of a gazette. The commander in chief, the admiral, and other principal officers of the province were present. The first sheet from the press was presented to the governor, the second to the admiral, and so on according to their rank. William Scollay, a young gentleman from Boston, educated at the university of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was appointed conductor of the press and the editor of the gazette, for which he received a very liberal salary.3

A few years later, presses were established, and gazettes published under the control of government, in most of the principal cities of Spain, in America, both on the continent and on the islands. A number of presses, issuing public journals, were also introduced by the revolutionists in

1 Vol. 1, page 6.

■ Vol. 1, page 8.

' Printing was introduced into Rio Janeiro, the capital of Brazil, in 1813.--M.

the interior of the extensive territories of Spain on this continent.

CUBA.

Three public papers are now (1810) published at Havana, on this island, weekly, under the titles following:

El Aviso de la Habana, Papel Periodico, Literario-Economico. Aurora, Correo Politico-Economico de la Habana. Mensagero, Politico Economico-Literario de la Habana.

These, like the Spanish and Portuguese gazettes of Europe, are in small quarto, and commonly on half a sheet of pot or crown paper. See Appendix N.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

From the foregoing statement it appears that, from the time when the first public journal was published in the country, viz. in April, 1704, to April 1775, comprising a period of seventy-one years, seventy-eight different newspapers were printed in the British American continental colonies; that during this period, thirty-nine, exactly onehalf of that number, had been, occasionally, discontinued; and that thirty-nine continued to be issued from the several establishments at the commencement of the revolution. The papers published in the West Indies are not included in this computation.

In the course of thirty-five years, newspaper establishments were, as previously remarked, multiplied in a surprising degree; insomuch, that the number of those printed in the United States in June, 1810, amounted to upwards of three hundred and sixty, as will appear by a list of them in the appendix.

A large proportion of the public papers at that date were established, and supported, by the two great contending political parties, into which the people of these states are usually divided; and whose numbers produce nearly an equipollence; consequently, a great augmentation of vehicles for carrying on the political warfare have been found necessary.

I cannot conclude what I have written on the subject of public journals, better than by extracting the following