Some Newspapers a Century Ago.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 870, 2 November 1888, Page 9

Some Newspapers a Century Ago.

A copy of the Massachusetts Centinel, issued July 30, 1788, takes the reader back a hundred years, lacking less than four months. There are still copies of papers published iu this country at an earlier date. But it gratifies a laudable curiosity to nota how things looked a hundred years ago. The Centinel was - issued as a semi-weekly to Boston. It was a four-page paper, the pages being about twelve by twenty inches. It was edited by Benjamin Russell. It is historical that to the influence of this paper is attributed the fact that MassachusettiTvoted for the adoption of the Federal Constitution by a small majority.: The latest news from New York which appears in the paper under examination was just six days old. The announcement is made that the New York Convention had not yet oome to a decision on the question of ratifying the Constitution, ‘ butfrom the best information we can obtain there will be a ratification—a recommendation of amendments —with a proviso, that if the amendments recommended are not inserted within four : years, that the State shall be allowed to seoede from the Government. This is covered* rejection, and will be considered as such by Congress.’ The news from Philadelphia is seven days old, and the principal item of interest is an account of the' celebration in that city on theKourth of July.' This is the principal paragraph . ’ft-v ; -- It is hereby recorded for the information of strangers and posterity,’ that 17,000 people assembled on this green on the-4th of July, 1788, to celebrate the establishment of the Constitution of the United States, and that they at aq early hour, without j'mtrixicatiop or & single quarrel—thgy drank'nothing but Beer and Cyder. Leajrb, reader, to prize those invaluable federal/ liquors, and to consider them as tbe oompanions of those virtues that can alone render our country free and respectable. Learn, likewise, to despise Spirituous Liquors as anti-federal,

The nows from London was, just two months old In three lines it is announced that 1 Lord Mansfield has resignod the office of Chief Justice of the Court of Kings Bench ; and Sir Lloyd Kenyon is appointed m his room.’ There is not a single item of local news except a communication addressed tq the editor calling attention to the foot that the Magistrates had neglected to pnnlstt par. bers and their patrons for the open violation of the Lord's day j and that Sabbath-break-ing had extended even to washing and swiminf horses in bay. \‘ If the Magistrates and our Civil Fathers do not very soon exert their authority to put a total stop to the profanation of the saared day, which God. pointed for His worship; they- must be an. swerable to Him for the sins which are the consequence of their neglect.’ As the Centinel watched for the public safety, it was expected that it would use all its influence to correct this evil. ' , , , . Bat another newspaper etui older is a copy of the New York Morning Post and Daily Advertiser, dated Match 19, 1788—almost a century and a month old. It is about the same size as the Continel. The price was • sixpence,’ or about S cents. One advertismeet is a curiosity. It is headed *As size of Broad,’and announces that the Common Council had established, December 5,1787, that • A loaf of inspected superfine wheat flour, to weigh, two pounds five ounces, for sixpence. A loaf of rye flour, to weigh one pound twelve ounces, for three pence. Another advertisment is the. announcement that a negro man who understands farming and a smart negro boy were for sale, lhe Legislature was in session at Poughkeepsie, and among the proceedings is a minute that the assembly had postponed until the next session, the petition of Jacob Sharpe and others for £2OO to be spent in repairinga road. It will be noted that. Jacob Sharpe just a hundred years ago, was then at the business of fixing the roads. The same paper publishes a communication 'from the head men of the * Oneida Nation of Indiana ’ complaining that they had not been fairly dealt with m certain land transactions. There is not a single item of local news in this sheet nor a line of foreign intelligence.. .. Another paper of some interest is not quite so old. It is dated January 21, 1793. The Mail, or Daily Advertiser, was published at Philadelphia by D. C. Clay.pool. Among the offioial announcements is , one that the « Southern mail will be closed on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 o’clock, and that it will arrive on the alternate days. The latest news frond London is four or live days less than two months old. Except a notice of the proceedings cf the American Philosophical Society held nearly a year before in Philadelphia, there is not a line of local news. The paper is well filled with advertisements and is’well printed. Here are three newspapers about a century old, published severally in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Whatever the newspaper is to-day in this country, it has become since that time. The evolution of a century has made the newspaper the history of the world for each day on which it is published. v. .