Whitehall, Angus 17. The following Addrefs from the Commons of Ireland has been Tranfmitted by his Excellency, the Earl of Wharton, Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom, & prefented by Mr. Secretary Boyle to lick Majefty, who received it very graciously. To the QUEEN' m Excellent Majefty. The humble Addrefs of the Knight, Citizens and Burgefies in Parliament Afembled. May it pleafe your Majefty, Y Our Misefty's legal & feitiful Comment, with great Delight & Satisfaction, return their unfeigned Bands 18 your Majesty for your melt pracions Antwer 19 (kvir bumble Aldrefinch they breech me jetty, that the Curtenties of Perlons guidere de Rebelters in One thousand fix hundred forty one, and One thafand fix kan dred tighty eight, which are of Erie, may fe remain. They no longer apprehend that any Sellicitations can be Success at to chrain the Beterial of fork Ouidarits, when shey confider the Precrfiton hey have kushere to criored under your Mietety's meft aufpistons Government, and have your Royal Promote that your Majcky will axeys have a 87 Regard to the Titler and interefts of your Precefant jetis, and particularly to fuch as depend upon the Forfelines and Outlanvita of Persons publy of the Rebellions in One showfand fix hundred joriy one, and One thousand fix bundred ripling eigh appear a very harmless, innocent People, induftri ous willing to labour, and very ingenious. At most all forts of Trades are carrying on in thir Camp, which draws daily an incredible Concorre of People from all Parts, out of Curiofity to fee this new Palatinate. Where-ever they fettle, they w encrease and multiply, for their women aro vay fruitful, and feldom fail of two at a Birth Perple Contribute very liberally for their Mains tanance and Settlement to the General Collection for them by Publick Authority, which will as ment to a confiderable Sum. We have advice the Fortifications of Fort St. Jobs, burnt fome o from Newfoundland, that the French had blown up the Honies, and fuffer'd the Inhabitants to rando a the ref, together with their Ephing Trades Fajinant to be made in Offer heit, and fo wire gor for fear of the British Flect expected from England. Ships now Loading for Bolton. Date Caft. Ebenezar Dennis. Nightingale Capt. Wilham Weber. New-York Merchant Capt. Toomas Jef fers for New-York Olend, Aug. 17. A. S. Letters from Hanover of the 6th Infant advife, that his Electoral Highnels began his foeney towards the Imperial Ars my on the Upper Rhine the Day before. They write from Strasbourg, that it is expected the French Army will repafs the Rhine as foon as the firpes And are happy in this Oppermaity of faring your Marialets move out of their prefent Camp. They Tha why true fom the bortaing & this Plan liament, affed with the deer Senfee Day and Gras sude towards the Beft of Queens, they will by their (wure Behaviour, endeavour to deferve the Cominuance of Your Majesty's Favour and good Opinion of your Majesty's most duritul Subjecit, London, August 16. We have at prefent little bufines tirring at home, the chief Affair in hand is how to provide for the poor Proteftant Palatines: A great many of the Unmarried Men have been new Cloath'd, and put on Board Her Maje fries Ships of War, to be trained up in Navigation. The Commillioners are fending 500 Families to Ireland to be fettled there, which may prove a very proper Method in a fhort time to Outvote the Roman Catholiks, who are but too too nume rous in that Kingdom. It is faid another part of them will be fettled along the Coafts of Neth Briaain. The Lords Proprietors of Carolina have invited them upon very advantageous Terms to fetde there, but as it would certainly be more benefi cial to this Nation, and Correfpondeat with the Late Naturalization Act, upon which foundation they came over, to fettle here: It is under Confideration how to difpofe of them fo as that with cut being any burthen to the English, they may be put into a Capacity of maintaining themselves, and Encreafing the Wealth and Trade of thefe Kingdoms. In the mean time they dwell with their Families in Tepts on Black-heath and adjacent Parts. Her Majefty allows then upwards of an hundred and fixty Pounds per day, which with private Charity fubfifts them pretty well. They Roc, that ure Forces of the Empire are much für perior in number to those of France, which makes the Marihal & Haremet very apprehenfive that fome great Attempt will be made in face upon the arrival of the Elector of Hover to the Ar my. The French keep great Numbers at work on their Lines behind the Laster to prevent the Ir raptions of the Enemy, and preferve the Cora of the adjacent Country for their own ufe. When thefe Advices were dispatched, the Marinal d'Hare ert was just arrived at Strasbourg, and had given the necellary Orders of his Infantry to be Trans ported to the Lines of Lauterberg. It is reports ed from the Frontiers, that in the Action near Com fans tite Enemy lot twelve hundred Men, after which the Confederate Forces marched on towards Chamberry, which Place not being in a condition for a Defence, the Garifon retired and marched to the Camp near Barreaux. The Inhabitants of the Country are in a general Conternation & fir in Crouds to Grenoble. All Perfons of diftin ion in those Parts are fo much alarmed at the approach of the Imperial Forces, that they remove their Effects beyond the Khone. Tournay August 17. N. S. On Tuesday, a Ge neral review is to be inade of our Army, and no doubt, if the War continues, we shall endea vour to penetra into France. General Schulem berg reeks to be Mafter of the Counterfcarp in 4 Days, by ilea, A. His Excellency the Earl of Galloway doen dangeronfly ill of the Gout, but is now decorate, be Project of that Gene BOSTON NEWS-LETTER. The first periodical in America that enjoyed a long life. (New York Public Library.) D into the world, and printing has divulged them, and libels against the best government. God keep us from both." In the middle colonies New Jersey was the first (1693) to provide public schools. New York and Pennsylvania had only private schools until after the Revolution. In 1636 Massachusetts provided for the establishment at Newtown (Cambridge) of a college, which was later called Harvard, in grateful remembrance of the liberality of a preacher, John Harvard. The other colleges established before 1758 were: William and Mary, in 1693; Yale, in 1700; Princeton, in 1746; the University of Pennsylvania, in 1749; Columbia, in 1754. Many of the colonists, especially those in the South, sent their sons to England to be educated. It is said that at a time before 1700 one person out of every two hundred in New England was a graduate of the English Cambridge, and that there were many Oxford men besides. OLD SOUTH CHURCH, BOSTON. Besides serving for many years as a meeting-house, Old South was the scene of many momentous town meetings in the years just preceding the Revolution. Periodical Literature. - Periodical literature in America began with Publick Occurrences, one issue of which appeared in Boston in 1690. It was announced to be published monthly "or oftener"; but the contents of the first number displeased the authorities, and it was suppressed within twenty-four hours. The Boston News-Letter, begun in 1704, held the field alone for fifteen years, after which rivals sprang up rapidly. The most important of these early journals were the Boston Gazette, and the American Weekly Mercury of Philadelphia (both 1719); the New England Courant (by James Franklin, brother of Benjamin, 1721); the New York Gazette (1725); the Boston Evening Post (1735); and a second Boston Gazette (1755). John Adams was a contributor to the last named, and it became a strong "voice of the people" against England. After this date other papers followed rapidly, and for a long time contented themselves with simply publishing news items and advertisements, abstaining carefully from anything that resembled an editorial opinion. Most of them were weeklies, and were very diminutive sheets. Monthly journals, with distinctly literary pretensions, began with Franklin's The General Magazine (Philadelphia, 1741). Of its many followers during the next twenty years the most noteworthy were The American Magazine (Boston, 1743), The Independent Reflector (New York, 1752), and a second American Magazine (Philadelphia, 1757). 1 The earlier Gazette had been absorbed by the News-Letter, the proBritish organ in New England. CHAPTER II FROM FRANKLIN TO IRVING, 1758-1809 Introduction. In the year 1758 Jonathan Edwards, the last of the great colonial theologians, died. As we noted in writing of Mather, the ascendency of the clergy was already on the wane; and Edwards was the last of that calling who strove to maintain the dictatorship it had possessed. An event of far more importance to letters than the death of Edwards was the appearance in the same year of "the most famous piece of literature the colonies produced." This was Franklin's The Way to Wealth, or, Pref ace to Poor Richard Improved, better known. perhaps as "Father Abraham's Speech." Its particular significance in the chronology of our literature lies in the fact that it is the first notable piece of writing of the first American to obtain recognition abroad. Rise of Political Literature. Although The Way to Wealth is not quite typical of the literary productions of this period, the author is typical of the writers in that most of his life and writing were devoted to the gaining of independence and the establishment of the Republic. The literature of the preceding period was chiefly either leisurely records of current events (in the South), or vigorous religious discussions (in New England). The former dealt with existing conditions only, and was satisfied with them. The latter represented an aspiration for improvement, but only in the direction of a future life. On the other hand, the men we are now to study became convinced that the government under which they lived was unjust; and they devoted the best energies of their pens and voices toward breaking away from this government, and creating a new one and a new society on altogether new principles. Their concern was to better their circumstances in this earthly life. The new style of writing was the natural expression of a feeling of nationality which had previously been lacking. Henry's "I am not a Virginian, but an American," found an echo in thousands of hearts in every colony. Thomas Paine speaks of the wrongs under which, not Pennsylvania, but "this continent," labors. Hamilton vindicates the title to freedom, not of New Yorkers, but of " Americans." Otis pleads for redress, not for Massachusetts alone, but for "all his Majesty's most loyal and affectionate British-American subjects." Different as were the motives and aims of the settlers in the various colonies, they had now come to realize that their common interests were far greater than any interest binding a single colony to the mother country. By far the greatest part of this period's literary expression took the simple and popular forms of oratory, political pamphlets and essays, and patriotic poems. Before the end of the century, however, we find our first dramatist |