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Some notion of the ideas that prevailed concerning the mission of a weekly newspaper, and the sphere it ought to fill, may be gained from the following quaint announcement, taken from the Richmond Recorder, or, Lady's and Gentleman's Miscellany, of November 28, 1801:
It is not intended to take an active part with any Political set of Men; but, with regularity and candour, the Recorder will give the news of the day. Cabals of contentious Party will be resigned to other channels; and few advertisements will be admitted. This method will leave room for more rational and useful information.
The difficulty of access to Literary Information, in these United States, must have been feelingly lamented by all who are desirous of mental improvement. To obviate, in some measure, this inconveniency, the subscriber intends to comprise, in the present publication, Natural History; Moral, Political, Theological, and Philosophical Essays; Biographical Accounts of Eminent Men; interesting Extracts from Modern Publications; Epitomes of Voyages; Abstracts of Voluminous Works; useful Hints for the Improvement of the Arts; Ecclesiastical, Medical, Agricultural, and Legal communications; Original Matter, Anecdotes, and Poetry.
Moral and Philosophical knowledge is the intellectual food most salutary to man; it teaches him the principle and nature of his true interests; it forms the mind and enlarges the understanding. If mankind would attend more to these principles; if they would divest themselves of prejudices, political parties would he disappointed in their endeavors to deceive the world; men would be sensible of the nature and necessity of simple government; and they would see the inutility of confiding in violent party men, who seldom have anything in view but their own interest.
Through the medium of the Press mankind are to receive instruction; its use, therefore, ought not to be misapplied, by inflaming their minds with party disputes and licentious wrangles; by feeding their prejudices, and preventing the infusion of knowledge. It is by amusing the people with the most fatal deceptions and attachments, that those species of instruction, which could be of essential use to nations, are too frequently kept in the hack scene.
In soliciting the patronage of the Public, it will be expected upon no other principle than the intrinsic merit of the work. Communications will be thankfully received; and Correspondents will end this paper to be an impartial repository of useful information, and a sacred asylum for the efforts of genius.
Truly, the programme was an extended one for a paper of four small pages, printed with large type. But the editor appreciated the difficulties of his task, as is evinced by an article on the editorial profession, which appeared in the same paper—of January 6, 1802. After alluding to the fact that every man thinks himself competent to "run a newspaper," the article proceeds as follows:
But in this, as in most other professions, he who understands it the best, is always the most sensible of his defects, the least vain of his talents, and the least assured of his success.
Indeed, notwithstanding the promptitude with which it is usual to enter on this branch of compilation, we have no scruple to affirm, that it is one of those where imperfection is most frequent, and where excellence is not only most uncommon but one of the most difficult to attain. Many reasons combine to produce these consequences. We shall venture to enumerate some of them. For instance, an editor is often compelled to write upon a subject in the twentieth part of the time in which an ordinary man would be capable to think of it. Under such circumstances, he must have a mind previously stored with ideas and images. They must be ready at the first summons of a comprehensive memory. They must be arranged by an acute understanding; and they must be recommended by at least a moderate acquaintance with the energies and resources of language. An editor who expects to rise above the rank and file of his brethren, should likewise have a tincture of literary knowledge in general, of ancient and modern history, and especially of that of his own country, and of those with which it is most intimately connected. He should he above sinking into the mere agent of a party. He should not be prepared to defend everything that is done upon the one side, or to condemn everything that is done upon the other. He should feel himself superior to the character of a servile panegyrist, let the general merits of his hero be as great as they can be. He should be ready to combat vice, or folly, wherever he finds it necessary to meet them. He should address himself in the same manly tone which Cromwell addressed to his dragoons. "If I meet the King in battle," said Oliver, "I shall fire my pistol in his face, as soon as any other man's." . . .
Among other improvements which it is designed to adopt in this newspaper, one is, to shorten the present suffocating length to which the account of the proceedings in Congress is often extended. In a newspaper, that is printed six times a week, the unfortunate compilers are sometimes happy to introduce all sorts of materials, for the sake of covering the expanse of their pages. . . . The consequence of such prolixity is, that when a newspaper which appears only twice a week attempts to follow them, a great part of the proceedings must be suppressed. The lesser cannot comprehend the greater. The Gudgeon cannot swallow the Shark.
Copies of the Hudson Gazette, published during 1801 and 1802, are noticeable for a department of miscellany, occupying the entire fourth page, and headed, "The Bouquet," in letters nearly as large as the main title of the paper. A column of poetry was headed, "De-