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NEWSPAPERS 335 "Daily Universal Register." It was printed and published by John Walter of Printing House square, who, in the impression of Jan. 1, 1788, added to the original n-ame of his jour- nal that of the "Times." Its circulation at the beginning of this century was only 1,000 copies a day, while that of several others was about 4,000. The "Morning Chronicle" and " Morning Post " were at this time the most im- portant of the London journals, and both pos- sessed great literary merit as well as political influence ; Coleridge, Southey, Lamb, Words- worth, and several of their friends writing for the "Post," while Fox and Sheridan were among the "Chronicle's" contributors. In 1813 there were 56 journals in London, of which 8 were published every morning, 7 every even- ing (the first evening paper having been estab- lished as early as 1778), 7 every other evening, 16 every Sunday (the first Sunday paper had appeared in 1788), and 18 weekly on other days. The "Courier" was then considered the best informed daily journal. The remark- able success of the " Times " was ascribed to a firm attitude toward the government and a freedom from party ties ; to an efficient system in securing the earliest transmission of news ; to a constant care in improving the mechanical resources of the paper, and in securing the best available talent; and above all to the applica- tion of steam power to its printing press in 1814, the number for Nov. 29 in that year being printed on one of Konig's newly invented ma- chines. In 1815 the number of newspapers in the United Kingdom amounted to 252, viz. : 55 in London (15 daily), 122 in other parts of England and Wales, 26 in Scotland, and 49 in Ireland ; and Cobbett's weekly " Political Re- gister," established at the beginning of the cen- tury, was sold in 1817 to the extent of 50,000 copies a week. After the close of the Na- poleonic wars the growth of English journal- ism was exceedingly rapid, and in the course of a decade the increase both in the number and circulation of newspapers was very great. On Jan. 29, 1829, the " Times " came out on a double sheet, composed of 8 pages of 48 columns. The reform excitement greatly in- creased the sale of that and of other journals, and nearly 13,000,000 copies of newspapers passed through the post office in 1830. In 1832 there was one newspaper to every 55,000 of the population, against one to 90,000 in 1821, and one to 110,000 in 1782. The free expression of political opinion through the press was rather increased than checked by the fact that the editors of various unstamped newspapers, among them the violent "Poor Man's Guardian," were prosecuted during the - discussion on the reform bill. In 1833 the number of journals published in the United Kingdom was about 400, and of copies passing through the post offices of Great Britain and Ireland nearly 42,000,000. A new stimulus was given to newspaper enterprise in 1836 by the reduction of the stamp duty from four 599 VOL. xii. 22 pence to a penny, causing in the first year of the full operation of the new act an increase of 8,000,000 in the stamps issued, and of 61 in the number of newspapers, which a year before the reduction was 397, and a year after- ward 458. Fourteen of the new journals were established in London alone, including a short- lived ultra-liberal morning newspaper called "The Constitutional" (in place of the old " Public Ledger "), of which Laman Blanchard was the editor, Thornton Hunt the sub-editor, Douglas Jerrold the dramatic critic, and Thack- eray the Paris correspondent. A socialist or- gan was published by Robert Owen, the " New Moral World," and a Chartist organ by Fear- gus O'Connor, the "Northern Star." The "Economist," celebrated for its collections of financial and commercial statistics and disqui- sitions, was established in 1834 by James Wil- son (died in 1860), whose ability, first mani- fested in the conduct of this journal, raised him to the secretaryship of the treasury. The "Illustrated London News," the first of the great illustrated newspapers, was founded in 1842 by Herbert Ingram. The stamps on news- papers in the United Kingdom increased from 65,000,000 in 1843 to 71,000,000 in 1844. The railway mania produced in London many news- papers devoted to railway matters, their num- ber amounting to about 30 in 1845, but only three of them survived the crisis of 1846. The "Daily News" was established in 1846, under the editorship of Charles Dickens ; he was soon succeeded by Charles Wentworth Dilke, who established in connection with it the " Express " evening journal. The "Daily News" at one time enjoyed a circulation second only to that of the "Times." The ordinary daily circula- tion of the latter rose from 23,000 in 1846 to 29,000 in 1848, and to 36,000 in 1852. In 1854, during the Crimean war, its average daily circulation was 51,648, about double the ag- gregate of all the other daily morning jour- nals, which was only 26,268. The number of newspaper stamps issued in 1854 in the United Kingdom was about 120,000,000. In 1855 the stamp duty was totally abolished as a tax, making it optional with the publishers to use the stamp as a means of paying postage on such copies of their impressions as were to be sent through the mails. The five-penny papers, except the "Times," which followed their ex- ample later, immediately reduced their price to 4d., the six-penny weekly papers to 5<?., and the three-penny papers (which were established on the abolition of the four-penny tax in 1836) to 2d. ; while a great number of penny week- ly and daily papers sprang up. The prices of the leading metropolitan dailies have since been still further reduced, as will be seen by consulting the list given below ; but of the many new daily papers established since 1855, only the "Daily Telegraph," the "Standard," and the " Pall Mall Gazette " have taken a per- manent place among the leading London jour- nals. The following is a list of the principal