Page:History of Journalism in the United States.djvu/149

Rh Sears on James Rivington's New York Gazetteer that he is unable to contain himself over the wi'ckedness, unjustness and villainy of the patriots.

Rivington was a favorite with the Loyalists. He had come to the colonies after a stormy career in London, where he had been a bookseller—fond of horse-racing and good living—with all the proclivities of a Royalist. His Gazetteer first appeared April 22, 1773, and was patronized by the royal supporters in all the principal towns. He boasted on one occasion that its circulation was 3,600—a circulation quite as large as that of any paper, not only in the colonies, but even in Great Britain.

Rivington's success, as well as his virulent pen, had made him a thorn in the side of the Whigs. His paper became known during the war as the "Lying Gazette," and even the royalists commented on his disregard for the truth. In fact he himself warned contributors to be more truthful.

So bitterly were the Whigs opposed to Rivington that members of the party passed resolutions March 1, 1775, recommending "to every person who takes his paper, to immediately drop the same." A similar resolution was passed in Freehold, New Jersey, on the sixth day of March. On the 8th a committee, consisting of Philip Livingston and John Jay, called on him to ascertain the authority for all his false statements; and on the 14th, at a meeting of the Freeholders of Ulster County, New York, a resolution was passed to have "no connection or intercourse with him." His case was examined by the Provincial Congress and referred by them to the Continental Congress, then in Philadelphia, to whoni he ad-