Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/30

XXVI MEMOIR OF ISAIAH THOMAS. of New England. The Provincial Congress were now in ses- sion at Watertown, and it was proposed by them to remove this press to that place : but it was afterwards determined that it should remain in Worcester, and that the Spy should be transmitted by post-riders to Watertown and Cambridge. Un- til presses were established in those places, Mr. Thomas exe- cuted the printing for the Congress. The labors of Mr. Thomas were not confined to the Spy. He established the first newspaper in Newbury port, as early as 1773, which he soon after transferred to other hands. In 1774 he published in Boston, the " Royal American Magazine," a monthly perio- dical. Besides the usual variety of general literature, this work contains a faithful summary of the public transactions of Bos- ton during that eventful year, and great value is added to the work by the public documents preserved in its pages, and which are not elsewhere to be found. The small amount of property contained in the package sent across Charles River, upon his flight from Boston, was all that he rescued from five years of unremitted toil in the cause of freedom ; — the resi- due fell a prey to the soldiery, or was carried off with the plunder of the army. With unwearying fidelity to the cause of his country, he persevered in vindicating her rights to the end of her struggle for independence. In July, 1776, he participated in the first celebration of that great event, at Worcester. The charter of American liberty was first publicly promulgated by him, stand- ing upon the porch of the town-house. It was received with the united acclamations of a vast multitude of citizens, who, under the open canopy of heaven, superadded to that of the National Congress their solemn pledge to support it with for- tune, honor, and life. After the war, when the government began to assume a more permanent form, he extended his busi- ness, not only as a printer, but as a bookseller. The first paper-mill and book-bindery in this country were established by him. For several years, he employed seven printing-presses