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 334: NEWSPAPERS tive-born part of the community bear a strong resemblance to those of Anglo-Saxon descent in the United States. Since the establishment of the colony in 1787-'8, the total number of convicts sent into it from Great Britain up to 1840, when the importation ceased, was 54,383. Many whose progenitors came to New South Wales as prisoners are intelligent and estima- ble members of the community. Some of the emancipists, and several of their descendants, are among the wealthiest people in the colony. The religious division of the inhabitants in 1871 was as follows: Church of England, 229,243; Presbyterians, 49,122 ; Wesleyans, 36,277 ; Congregationalists, 9,253; Roman Catholics, 147,627; Mohammedans and other Asiatic creeds, 7,455 ; the remainder belonged to vari- ous minor denominations. For information concerning the aborigines, the native animals, botany, geology, and history of New South Wales, see AUSTRALIA. See Lang's "New South Wales " (new ed., 2 vols., London, 1875). NEWSPAPERS, printed sheets published at stated intervals, chiefly devoted to intelligence on current events. Newspapers were preceded in antiquity by the Roman Acta Diurna, which were daily, official, written reports of public occurrences ; and in modern Europe by period- ical publications in manuscript. Of the origin of newspapers in England, Alexander Andrews says ("History of British Journalism," Lon- don, 1859) : "First we have the written news letter furnished to the wealthy aristocracy; then, as the craving for information spread, the ballad of news sung or recited; then the news pamphlet, more prosaically arranged ; then the periodical sheet of news; and lastly the newspaper." The first regular series of week- ly newspapers hitherto discovered was entitled "The Weekly Newes from Italy, Germanie, &c." (1622). The " English Mercurie of 1588," long regarded as the first printed English news- paper, was proved a forgery in 1839 and again in 1850 by Thomas Watts of the British mu- seum. Prominently connected with most of the early weekly sheets, which appeared under the name of " Weekly Newes," " Times Newes," "Newes," &c., was Nathaniel Butter, who is regarded as the father of the regular newspa- per press. The first attempt at parliamentary reporting was made in 1641 ; the first adver- tisement was inserted as early as 1648, and the first paper exclusively devoted to advertise- ments and shipping intelligence appeared in 1657. The news given in the papers treated chiefly of foreign affairs. Home politics were scarcely discussed till after the abolition of the star chamber in 1641. Various partisan sheets were published during the civil war, chiefly under the name of " Mercuries," and counting among their most eminent editors Needham, Birkenhead, Digby, and Heylin, the last re- garded as the ablest of them all. Many of the papers were notorious for their eccentricity and coarseness, and still more for their bitter- ness. After the restoration the censorship of the newspapers became more stringent. A semi-official organ, edited by Sir Roger L'Es- trange, who was the licenser of the press, and held for some time a kind of monopoly of jour- nalism, was supplanted in 1665 by the " Ox- ford Gazette," published during the temporary removal of the court to that city on the out- break of the plague. On the return of the royal family to the metropolis (1666) it ap- peared as the "London Gazette," and, as the official organ of the government, was placed under the control of the under-secretary of state. The press was for a long time subjected to many persecutions, and the licensing act was not abolished until after the accession of William and Mary. In the mean time the first commercial newspaper, the "City Mercury," was published in 1675 ; the first literary paper, the "Mercurius Librarius," in 1680; the first sporting paper, the "Jockey's Intelligencer," in 1683; and the first medical paper in 1686. From that year to 1692, 26 new journals sprang into existence, including the first bearing the title of a reform paper, the "Mercurius Re- formatus;" the first publication in the style of " Notes and Queries," the " Athenian Mer- cury;" the first ladies' paper, the "Ladies' Mercury;" the first agricultural and an increas- ing number of literary journals. Daily news- papers did not make their appearance until the 18th century. The first daily morning news- paper was the "Daily Courant" (1709), con- sisting of but one page of two columns, and containing five paragraphs translated from for- eign journals. The leading London weekly journals at that time were mostly sold for a penny ; Supplements with the latest news com- manded an extra price. Home affairs were then little discussed; foreign news supplied the staple of newspaper information, and cor- respondents were employed in the principal cities of Europe. In 1726 appeared the first number of the " Craftsman," which obtained for a time a circulation of nearly 12,000 copies. In 1730 200 half sheets a month were issued in London alone, besides daily and weekly jour- nals. The aggregate number of copies of news- papers sold in England in 1757 was about 7,000,000; in 1760, 9,000,000; and in 1767, upward of 10,000,000. The " North Briton," edited by Wilkes, who was so conspicuous in consolidating the liberty of the press, first ap- peared in 1762. The " Englishman," established in the same year, attracted attention in 1766 on account of several of Burke's contributions. The letters of Junius began to appear in 1767 in the "Public Advertiser," and contributed powerfully to raise the political importance of the daily press. The leading daily journals of London in the latter part of the 18th century were the "Morning Chronicle" (founded in 1769), the " Morning Post " (1772), the " Morn- ing Herald " (1781), the " Times " (1 785), and the " Morning Advertiser " (1794). The " Times," destined to eclipse all other English journals, originally appeared under the name of the