The Origins of a Free Press in Prerevolutionary ... - Web Publishing

92
criticism of the British government, “From private letters, by the packet, we learn
the national discontent seemed rather to increase than abate, and it was thought the
ministry would soon be changed.” 94 One writer imagined a “Dialogue between a
Master and his Dog,” named Othello, and the dog’s claim that “my species suffers
from the injustice of mankind.” This implied serious questions about the institution
of slavery. 95 Discourse reflecting Anglo-American political radicalism found its way
into print. On the other hand, one letter regarding freethinkers was very negative
about such liberal attitudes, and as the watershed political dispute over the Stamp
Act hit Royle’s pages in 1765, several commentators suggested that the governor
controlled Royle’s newspaper. 96
By the mid-1760s, the Maryland Gazette was less expensive than was its
Virginia counterpart, and it was more radical with more content on opposition
politics. 97 Jonas Green and his partner William Rind published the newspaper from
Annapolis. It kept close track of the libertarian Wilkes, publishing a glowingly
complimentary report on his defense in his 1763 trial, “A more glorious Contest
has not been known for many Ages,” and even published the manifesto of Corsican
revolutionary Pasquale Paoli. 98 More disagreement with the British ministry was
printed in this newspaper than in Williamsburg. The British government was able
94 Ibid., (Feb. 12, 1762), 3, Ibid., (Nov. 4, 1763), 2.
95 Ibid., (July 6, 1764), 1.
96 Ibid., (Feb. 12, 1762), 1. Governor Francis Fauquier noted, “the press was then thought to
be too complaisant to me,” letter to the Board of Trade, Williamsburg, April 7, 1766.
(Handwritten transcription in Manuscript Reading Room, Library of Congress, Great Britain
PRO CO 5, Container v. 1331 [Public Record Office] 189-190), 2. An anonymous letter in A
Supplement to the Maryland Gazette, of last week. (Annapolis: Jonas Green, Oct. 17, 1765), 1,
accused Royle of deceiving his readers and acceding to the governor’s pressure.
97 Maryland Gazette (Green, Oct. 24, 1754), 3, indicates the price had been 14 shillings, but
was lowered two years before 12 s. 6 d. per year, compared to 15 s. for the Virginia Gazette.
98 Maryland Gazette (Jonas Green and William Rind, Sept. 29, 1763), 1. Ibid., (Feb. 28,
1765), 1.