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

Government, between Englishmen and Frenchmen, between Law
and Despotism, Freedom and Vassalage, Tyranny and Justice. 26
171
After passage of the Stamp Act, the Maryland newspaper published a remarkably
disparaging comment on the reigning monarch, King George III: “This Paper has
never had Occasion to appear in Deep Mourning, since the Death of our late
good King until Now.” 27 This criticism, disguised as a compliment to the King’s
late father, appeared along with other notices by the printer and has no dateline or
source listed, so the printer himself was the likely author. This is anti-royalist
sentiment (dissent bereft of deference) the likes of which had certainly not been
seen in any Virginia Gazette. The few extant issues of the Williamsburg
newspaper from before 1766 displayed a remarkably conservative and apologetic
framing, defensive of Parliament’s position. In general, the Maryland Gazettes of
this period had much greater emphasis on opposition to the Stamp Act and earlier
governmental actions, while Royle’s Virginia Gazette focused more on the
governmental viewpoint. This is not to insinuate that dissent never made it into
the Virginia press, but Royle appeared to make editorial choices that would not
anger the governor. The newspaper published by Green (or earlier Green and
Rind) in Annapolis showed much less evidence of royal influence than did Royle’s
newspaper. The Maryland printer took risks that the one Virginia printer did not,
perhaps because Maryland was a proprietary colony rather than a royal colony and
political pressure from London was less direct. While Virginia’s governor
complained about “the lawless and riotous State of this Colony,” and prorogued
the assembly in Williamsburg so they could not elect representatives to the Stamp
Act Congress, Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe instead inquired of his
26 “The Sentinel no. III,” reprinted from the New-York Gazette, Maryland Gazette (Green &
Rind, May 23, 1765), 1.
27 Maryland Gazette (Green, Oct. 31, 1765), special supplement, 1.