perour of America. His Majesty assured him, that He was pleased with what was done for Him, and for themselves in the Revolution, and that their Priviledges and Religion should be secured unto them.
The Present State of the New-English Affairs was published "to prevent false reports." Other news-handbills must have circulated rather extensively about this time, for, toward the close of 1689, the Massachusetts authorities passed a resolution that "whereas many papers have been lately printed and dispersed, tending to the disturbance of the peace," any person guilty of printing or even concealing "such like papers" should be "accounted enemies" of the Government and "be proceeded against as such with the uttermost severity." Nothing did more to hinder the development of American journalism than the requirement, "Published by Authority." Freedom of the press came only after a hard-fought struggle.
A NEAR-NEWSPAPER
An attempt, however, was made, in 1690 to establish what would have been a newspaper had there been more than one issue. On September 25 of that year, Benjamin Harris brought out, in Boston, Publick Occurrences. It was to have been published once a month or oftener "if any glut of occurrences happen." As it was not published by authority, the Governor and Council promptly found that the pamphlet, as it was called, contained "reflections of a very high nature" and ordered its suppression. They also, in the same resolution, forbade "any person or persons for the future to set forth anything in print without license first obtained from those that are, or shall be appointed by the Government to grant the same." Because of this drastic action, it was almost fifteen years before another attempt was made to give Boston a newspaper.
Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick, was a small, four-page sheet, 7½ × 11½ inches, and had two columns to the page, except on the fourth, which was free from any printing. The only known copy of this sheet is preserved in the London Public Record Office, where it was found in 1845 by the Reverend Joseph B. Felt, of Salem. Frederic Hudson, in his "Journalism in the United States," published an expurgated copy of
