"Numb. 1. PUBLICK
OCCURRENCES,
_Both Foreign and Domestic_.
BOSTON, _Thursday, Sept. 25, 1690_."
It was "printed by R. Pierce, for Benjamin Harris, at the London Coffee
House, 1690." And it would seem that most of the copies were destroyed,
though probably not many were printed, as only one copy has ever been
found, and that by some unknown chance got into the colonial state-paper
office, in London. It is a small sheet of paper doubled, printed on three
pages, two columns to each; and some years ago, after a good deal of
trouble to find the copy in the London office, the contents of the whole
sheet were copied by Dr. Samuel A. Green, of Boston, and have since been
once or twice reprinted.
It is said that it was stopped by the "legislative authorities," who
described it as a "pamphlet," and as containing "reflections of a very
high nature;" and the order of the Court, passed in 1662 forbade "any
thing in print without license first obtained from those appointed by the
government to grant the same:" so that it would seem that there was a law
against printing any thing without a license, and that this sheet, called
a pamphlet, came within its provisions. "In 1644, It is ordered that the
Printers shall have leave to print the Election Sermon with Mr. Mather's
consent, and the Artillery's with Mr. Norton's consent." This, of course,
meant without their undergoing any inspection.
With respect to the contents of this first newspaper, the introductory
paragraph is as follows:--
"_It is designed that the countrey shall be furnished once a month_
(_or if any Glut of_ Occurrences _happen oftener_,) _with an Account
of such considerable things as have arrived unto our Notice._"
The editor, it is said, will take pains to get a faithful relation of
things, and hopes observers will communicate of such matters as fall under
their notice; and then states what is proposed in an editorial way: first,
that memorable occurrences may not be neglected or forgotten: second, that
people may better understand public affairs; and third, "_that something
may be done towards the_ Curing, _or at least the_ Charming _of that_
Spirit of Lying, which prevails among us," &c. This, probably, is one of
the passages referred to by the authorities as "reflections of a very high
nature." And, in addition to what has been said, "the Publisher of these
Occurrences" proposes to correct false reports, and expose the "First
Raiser" of them, and thinks "_none will dislike this Proposal, but such as
intend to be guilty of so villainous a Crime_."
Then follows the news, or "Occurrences." Mention is made of a
thanksgiving appointed by the Christian Indians of Plymouth; the
husbandmen find no want of hands, "which is looked upon as a merciful
Providence," being a favorable season; the Indians have stolen two
children, aged nine and eleven years, from Chelmsford; an old man of
Watertown hung himself in his cow-house, having lately lost his wife, and
thereupon "the devil took advantage of the melancholy which he thereupon
fell into." Epidemical fevers and agues and small-pox are next spoken of:
of small-pox, three hundred and twenty had died in Boston, and "children
were born full of the distemper." A large fire is spoken of near the Mill
Creek,--twenty houses burned; and on the 16th and 17th of this instant
(September, 1690), a fire broke out near the South Meeting-house, which
consumed five or six houses; a young man perished in the flames, and one
of the best printing-presses was lost. Report of a vessel bound to
Virginia, put into Penobscot, where the Indians and French butchered the
master and most of the crew.
The next is a longer article in relation to the expedition to Canada under
Gen. Winthrop, its failure, and a variety of Indian complications. The
editor says, "'Tis possible we have not so exactly related the
Circumstances of this business, but the Account is as near exactness as
any that could be had, in the midst of many various reports about it."
Then follows an account of the massacre of a body of French Indians in the
"East Country." Two English captives escaped at Passamaquoddy, and got
into Portsmouth. There was terrible butchery among the French, Indians,
and English at this time. Following this is some news from Portsmouth by
an arrival from Barbadoes; a report that the city of Cork had proclaimed
King William, and turned their French landlords out of doors, &c.; more
Indian troubles at Plymouth, Saco, &c., &c. Then follows the imprint at
the end, as already quoted.
Such was the nature, character, and contents of the first paper ever
published in America; and we doubt if the first paper printed in England,
more than a hundred years before, exceeded this in manner and matter. The
judgment of the present day would be that it was a very good paper for the
time, both in its news and editorial matter, and we fail to see any ground
of offence either against law or religion. Many of the early papers
published in this country, after the failure of this attempt, are not half
as good as this first copy of "Publick Occurrences." It is creditable to
Benjamin Harris, and its discontinuance not so creditable to the
"legislative authorities," who either made or perverted a law for its
suppression. But the idea of establishing a newspaper "that something may
be done towards the Curing, or at least the Charming of that Spirit of
Lying, which prevails among us," is very peculiar.
In all newspaper nomenclature it is hardly possible to find a more
appropriate name than that selected for this first newspaper of America.
We now have Heralds, Couriers, and Messengers; Records, Chronicles, and
Registers; then all sorts of party names; Banner, and Standard; Crayon,
Scalpel, and Broadaxe; Age, Epoch, Era, Crisis, Times; and finally Sun,
Star, Comet, Planet, Aurora, Galaxy, &c., but among these and thousands of
other names, not one more truthful and expressive than that of "Publick
Occurrences."