724
HISTORir OF PRINTING.
though it appeared, by the return of the writ, tbatoe was not in execution at the suit of the crown, but in custody to answer intenogatories, the court was of opinion they were not anthotized to change the place of his confinement, and he was therefore remanded back. In August that year, he published a new edition of the forty-six numbers of the North Briton, with explanatoir notes; and "an Appendix, containing a full and distinct account of the peisecutions carried on against John Wilkes, esq. With a faithful collection of that gentleman s tracts, from 1762 to 1769. In 1769 he was one of the editors of L'Abbe ¥611/8 Hutory of France, of which only one volume was published. In June, 1770, being "suddenly and unexpectedly released from two years' confinement," he commenced the Weekly Journal. Mr. Bingley also continued the North Briton till No. 218, May 11, 1771 ; after which day he incorporated those Essays, for a few weeks longer, in his Journal ; till at length, after having been long flattered, by the party which had made him their tool, with the vain hope of a giatuitv of £600, his credit in trade became exhausted, and he suffered for his credulity, by an enrolment in the list of bankrupts.
1771. The printing of the Debatet of Parlia- maU is a circumstance that deserves to be par- ticularly noticed. We have already given the mode which Cave adopted in the GentUman't Magazine, (see page 656, ante) and which was partially carried on until this time, which at hest was very imperfect, and oftentimes very in. accurate. But we are now arrived at the period which deserves to be distinguished, for breaking down the barrier of exclusion to public inform- ation. It has already been mentioned at page 713, atUe, the injunction of the house of lords against Mr. Meres, printer of the London Even- ing Pott, for having printed a silly paragraph in his paper about lord Hertford and his chaplain Trail, and that Mears the printer was fined £100 besides fees, for this trifling offence. This little circumstance gave birth to the great one, of legulary printing the whole proceedings of both houses olparliament. Resentment was the first motive. Afterwards the printers were influenced by the hopes of advantage; but in truth, it is not any, for the expense is more than the gain ; and if parliament had taken no notice of this hydra, it would have killed itself.
" When the spirit of the nation was raised high by the massacre in St. George's fields,* the
- Mr. Wilkes havinp been committed hj the court at
king'a bench, aa the olBcen were conveTinghlm to priaon, he was reacaed by the mob. After they had diaperaed, he went privately to priaon, where he waa under conflnement till the meetiiig of the new parliament. A tomoltnoaa mob then aaaembled, with an Intention of conveying him In triomph to the parliament honae, and on their diaap- pointment became ao riotooa that an order waa given to the military to lire on them. The death of one peraon, who waa aingled out and pursued by the sol'dlera, waa brought in by the coroner'a Jury, wilful murder, and the magutrate who gave the order to Are waa tried for the Clime, but acquitted. The conduct of the aoldiera, on the oeeaalon,receivedpabUcthanka from the hlgheatauthority i whilat the title of the masaaore of St. Ocorge'a-fielda vaa given to the actloo.
unjust deciaon upon the Middlesex dectioB, &c. Mr. Almon resolved to make the natkm acquainted with the proceedings of parlianwot: for this purpose, he einployed himself sedulotoly, in obtaining from different gentlemen, by con- veraation at his own house, and sometimes at their houses, sufficient information to write a sketch of every day's debate, on the most impw- tant and interesting questions, which he printed three times a-week regularly, in the London Evening Pott. At this time the late piintCT, Meres, was dead, and the paper was printed ij John Miller. During two sessions, this practice of printing sketches of the debates continued, without any notice being taken ; and Mr. Al- mon furnished them constantly, from the best information he could obtain. Though they were short, they were in general pretty accnrate; and their accuracy was perhaps the cause of the
5rinter's security. The proprietors of the St amet't Chronicle, another newspaper, published three times a-week, observing the impunity widi which these accounts oi the proceedings of par- liament were printed, and perhaps being a little jealous of the success of their rival, resolved upon deviating into the same track. And ibi this purpose, uey employed one Wall, who vott down to the house of commons every eveniof , to pick up what he could in the lobbv, in t£e conee-houses, &c. It was impossible he should be accurate ; however by perseverance and habit, and sometimes by getting admission into the gallery, he improved and judging, in a liule time, that he could snpply two newspaper as well as one, he amplified his accounts for the Gazetteer, after having published the heads is the St. Jamet't Chronicle. This encouraged the printers of other papers to follow the example; and Miller resolving not to be behind-hand widi his competitors, not only employed persons to go to Westminster to collect the debates for hin, but he printed the votes also."
Complaints being made, on the 8th of Febra- ary, to the house of commons, of the newspapoi entitled, the Gazetteer, and the Middlesex Jour- nal, the former printed for R. Thompson, and the latter for J. Wheble, as misrepresenting the speeches and reflecting on certain membos td the house of commons, contemning both its orders and its privileges, and the printers refus- ing to attend at the bar of the house, pursuant to order, a royal proclamation was consequently issued, dated the 8th of March, authorizing and commanding theforcible apprehension of Thomp- son and Wheble, for the purposes of legal amena- bility ; a reward of fifty pounds, on the secarii^ of each was at the same time offered.* Wheble and Thompson were, shortly after, apprehended; but on being brought before the sitting alder- men respectively, Wilkes and Oliver, were at once discharged, and even bound over to prose-
- On the I3th of March, the printer* of the ftdlowlDg
morning and evening papera were ordered to attend tf the bara<thehonae of commons, viz. ■.—itormimg Ckramdt, SI. Jamefi Ckrontele, Lonitm, WhitdkmU, and ~ Sttniiig Pottt, and the Umion Packet.
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