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

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Resolved, That it is the undoubted Right of this House to search the
Journals of the Council, as to their Proceedings upon any Bills or other
Matters, sent from this House to the Council.
Resolved, That the Council’s ordering their Clerk to refuse the Committee
appointed by this House to search their Journals, as to their Proceedings
upon the Bill, For Dividing the Counties of Orange and Goochland, is a
Violation of that Right, an high Infringement of the Privileges of this
House, and tends to interrupt that Union and Harmony which ought ever
to subsist between every Branch of the Legislature. 100
While they passed the bills in question, realigning the borders of the two counties,
the two houses continued the dispute.
The next move put printer Parks right in the middle of the power struggle.
Council decided to take the argument public via the newspapers, and delivered to
the printing office an order to publish their next response in the Virginia Gazette.
What Parks’ assistant had printed in his absence, but apparently had not yet
distributed, were these “heated resolves” against the burgesses. Parks saw this would
cause trouble with the burgesses, who voted his salary, so he went before the council
and explained he had been threatened with both arrest and a loss of his salary if he
complied with council’s orders. They refused to back off, and again ordered him to
publish. The next gazette came out without the resolves, and the council demanded
his appearance and asked why Parks had failed to comply. Governor Gooch had
commanded him to defer publication, but several months later Parks petitioned the
council with an apology, and forty copies of the resolves. These accused the
burgesses of acting contrary to “ancient, decent, and establish’d Methods,” forcing
the Councilors to the unusual method of airing their grievances in the newspaper:
“the Council find themselves under the unpleasing Necessity of publickly
vindicating the Legality of their Proceeding, which has been reflected upon with
such mistaken Heat, and unparrallel’d Severity.” At that, the House of Burgesses
brought Parks in custody before them, to answer “for printing and publishing in the
100 Ibid., 2:337.