Great Britain. Parliament; Great Britain. Parliament -- History; Representative government and representation
In the reign of Charles II. such men as Shaftesbury, Halifax, Hampden,
and Hyde were not reported, though the first would occasionally issue
his speeches in pamphlet form. Towards the middle of the seventeenth
century, however, the House ordered utterances of exceptional
importance to be printed. During the Long Parliament licensed reports
appeared under the title of "Diurnal Occurrences of Parliament," and
later on a meagre outline of the daily proceedings of Parliament began
to be published. But when Locke, in 1675, printed a report of a House
of Lords' debate, calling it "A letter from a Person of Quality to His
Friend," it was ordered by the Privy Council to be burnt.
The Licensing Act of 1662 confined printing to London, York, Oxford,
and Cambridge, and did not permit the number of master printers to
exceed twenty. The Commons' refusal in 1695 to renew the censorship
marks the commencement of the emancipation of the Press.
A system of newsletters had been started with the Restoration, whereby
the outside world could learn something of the doings of Parliament.
This no doubt whetted the public appetite, and increased the popular
interest in political affairs. In 1694, however, it was resolved in
Parliament that "no newsletter writers do in their letters or other
papers that they disperse presume to intermeddle with the debates or
any other proceedings of the House."
Newsletters were rapidly followed by regular newspapers, which
supplied their readers with somewhat imaginative accounts of the
debates. The periodicals of William III.'s day sometimes reported the
speeches of particular speakers, who contributed their manuscripts to
the papers. During the factious years that followed, the debates were
officially distributed in monthly parts, but at the beginning of the
eighteenth century the publication of newspaper reports was again
declared a breach of parliamentary privilege, and a stamp duty was
imposed with a view to arresting the circulation of the Opposition
Press.
A regular party organ first appeared in Queen Anne's reign. This was
"The Examiner," subsidised by Harley's Ministry, and conducted by
Swift. It was answered by "The Whig Examiner," edited by Addison,
which was followed by "Manwaring's Medley," a paper which soon became
the recognised journal of the Opposition.[442] Towards the close of
Anne's reign Boyer began to publish "The Political State of Great
Britain" in which he included accounts of all the important
parliamentary debates.[443] This was succeeded in 1716 by "The
Historical Register," which purported to describe the proceedings in
both Houses. In the reports of the Commons' debates the names of the
speakers were published without concealment, but the Lords were
treated more cautiously. Thus, in an account of the Septennial Bill,
we find such sentences as, "a noble Duke stood up and said," or "this
was answered by a northern peer," no further clue being given as to
the identity of the several speakers.[444]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account