SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
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look back with pride to the period when the freedom of the press was first established, and each subject began to feel an indiridual political existence.
Mr. George Chalmers, in his hife of Ruddi- man, discovers, in England, the first newspaper. It maj gratify national pride, says he, to be told that mankind are indebted to the wisdom of Elizabeth and the prudence of Burleigh, for the first newspaper. It was a wise policy to prevent, during a moment of general anxiety, the danger of fake reports, by publishing real information ; and the queen therefore resolved to inform her people of the extent of the danger impending over them. She began to publish, at irregular intervals, a sheet bearing the following title :
%fit €n^\\ii 0ltxtuxit,
Published by AUTHORITIE,
POR THB PBinNTlON Or PAL8B BBP0BT4. — NO. SO.
WMtduUI, Julf tad, 1688.
There are four of these papers preserved in the British Museum among Sloane's manuscripts 4106; three are numbered 50, 51, and 54, and are printed in Roman characters; the first is dated from Whitehall, July 23, 1588. The first article, contains advices from sir Francis Walsingham, that the Armada* was seen in the chops of the channel, making for the entrance with a favourable f[^e. An account is then given of her majesty's fleet, which consisted of eighty sail divided into four squadrons, com- manded by the lord high admiral,! in the Ark- Royal, sir Francis Drake,^ ^^^ admirals Haw- kins and Frobisher. By the best computation, it is added, the enemy could not have numbered less than 150; but as soon as they were seen from the top masts of the English fleet, instead
- Philip II. of Spain, husband of Mary, qtmn of Eni;-
Ijud, had spent five yean in preparing: for tfaia expedition. Ue condoded that, as Elixabeth was the chief bol vark of tlM Protestants, could he bat sobdue this princess, he abonld acquire rhe immortal fame of re UDiting the whole Christian world In the Catliolic communion ; he, therefore, niaed the Spanish armament, known by the name of the XvriMciBLX Armada, which he placed under the com. mand of the marquess of Santa Cruz; but the anxiety of that nobleman caused liis death, and the duke of Medina was appointed to the command. On the igth of May, 1588, the Spanish fleet sailed from the Ta^us; and the English fleet left Plymouth harbour about the same time, under the command of Cliarles Howard, earl of Effing- ham. During this critical juncture, queen Elizabeth showed herself to be possessed of great courage. She anticipated certain success, and even spoke in positive terms of her Intention to accompany her troops to battle. She appeared at TUbury, mounted on a white pal^, and rode along the ranks, while the soldiers filled the air with shoots of triumph, liie once formidable Armada was then boffetting the adverse winds on its return to Spain ; and the duke of Medina, when he reached the port of St. Andero, on the 1st September, had to lament the loss of thirty ships and ten thousand men. The kin;;, his master, received the Intelligence with fortitude and moderation, Baying, " I sent my fleet to combat the English, not the dements.** And he thanked God that the whole had not been destroyed. A particular account of the disastrous &te of this vast armament will be found by the reader in liagai's HittoTf of Bnglmd, volviii. p.33l,8To. edition.
t Charles Howard of Effingham, earl of Nottingham, was lord Ugh admiral, and commander of the fleet which defeated the Spanish Armada. He died Dec. H, 1624.
t For an account of sir Francis Drake, see Im, pott.
of exciting any fear of the result, they were hailed by the sailors with acclamations of joy. Under the head London, the following account of an interview which the mayor, aldermen, and common council, had had the day before with her majesty, for the purpose of assuring her of their resolution to stand by her with their lives and fortunes to the last.
"London, July the 23d. " The lord mayor, aldermen, common council, and lieutenancy, of this great citie, waited upon her majestie at Westminster, this afternoon, with assurances of their hearty and unanimous reso- lutions to stand by and support her majestie at the critical juncture with their lives and for- tunes, when her invaluable life, the true Protes- tant religion, and all the privileges of free-bom Englishmen, are threatened by an open attack from our bigotted and blood-thirsty aidversaries, the Spaniards. The queen received them very graciously, and assurea them she did not doubt their zealous endeavours to serve theyr conntrie on the present very important occasion; that for f her part she relied upon God's providence, and the goodnesse of her cause, and was resolved to run all risques with her faitlifnll subjects. — Im- printed at London, by Christ. Barker, her high- ness' printer." • '
Under the date of July 26, there b the fol- lowing notice :
" Yesterday the Scots ambassador, being intro- duced to sir Francis Walsingham, had a private audience of her majesty, to whom he delivered a letter from the king his master; containing the most cordial assurances of his resolution to adhere to her majesty's interests, and to those of the protestant religion. And it may not here be improper to take notice of a wise and spiritual saying or this young prince (he was twenW-two) to the queen's minister at his court, viz. That all the favour he did expect from the Spaniards was the courtesy of Polypheme to Ulysses, to be the Itui devoured."
Mr. Chalmers defies the gazetteer of the present day to give a more decorous account uf the introduction of a foreign minister.
These were, however, out extraordinary gazettes, not regularly published. In this ob- scure origin, they were skilfully directed by the policy of that great statesman Burleigh, who to inflame the national feeling, gives an extract of a letter from Madrid, which speaks of putting the queeu to death, and the instruments of tor- ture on board the Spanish fleet.
In these Mercuries some advertisements of books run like those of the present times, and exhibit a picture of the literature of those days. All these publications were imprinted and told by the queen's printers. Field and Barker. It is probable that after the defeat of the Armada, no later number was published than 54. But the appetite for news thus created, never subsided in this country, and within a few years the metropo- lis had no lack of Mereurios, Oomnlot, Gazettet, and Diumals. And we soon find packets of
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