University of Virginia Library

WORCESTER.

The printer of the Massachusetts Spy, or Boston Journal,
was obliged to leave Boston, as has been mentioned, on
account of the commencement of hostilities between the
colonies and the parent country. He settled in this place,
and on the 3d of May, 1775, recommenced the publication
of that paper, which he continued until the British troops
evacuated Boston, when he leased it for one year to William
Stearns and Daniel Bigelow. They adopted another
motto: "Undaunted by Tyrants, we will die, or be free."
After the first lease expired, the paper was leased for
another year to Anthony Haswell, printed. Owing to
unskillful workmen, bad ink, wretched paper, and worn
down types, the Spy appeared in a miserable dèshabillè
during the two years for which it had been leased, and for
two years after. At the end of that term, the proprietor
returned to Worcester, and resumed its publication, with
a new motto: "Unanimity at Home, and Bravery and
Perseverance in the Field, will secure the Independence
of America."

Good materials of the kinds just mentioned could not
be immediately procured, and the Spy from necessity was
continued under numerous disadvantages until 1781, when
it was printed from a good type, on better paper, with new
devices and an engraved title. The device on the left was
a figure representing America, an Indian holding the cap
of Liberty on a staff with the left hand, and in the right a
spear, aimed at the British lion, which appeared in the act
of attacking her from an opposite shore. Round the device
was "LIBERTY DEFENDED FROM TYRANNY." That on the

right was a chain of thirteen links, with a star in each link,
representing the union of the thirteen states. This chain
was placed in a circular form, leaving an opening for the
arms of France, to which the ends of the chain were attached,
and which perfected the circle. Above the arms
were two hands clasped, and directly over them a sword,
with its hilt resting on the clasped hands; the motto,
"UNION." The title was thus new modelled, Thomas's Masschusetts
Spy; or the Worcester Gazette. Motto: "The noble
Efforts of a Virtuous, Free and United People, shall extirpate
Tyranny, and establish Liberty and Peace."

At the conclusion of the war the Spy was enlarged, and
each page contained five columns. It was printed from
new types; and the motto was changed to "Noscere res humanas
est Hominis. Knowledge of the word is necessary
for every man."

About that time, its editor began to publish, in the
paper, as room would permit, Robertson's History of America,
and completed the whole in about one year.[45] This
was followed by a history of the revolutionary war. Besides
these, the Spy contained valuable, useful, and entertaining
extracts, on various subjects, from European and
American publications, as well as original essays.[46]

This paper was printed with continued improvements
until March, 1786, when the publication was, on the following
account, suspended. The legislature of Massachusetts
had in March, 1785, passed an "act, imposing duties
on licensed vellum, parchment and paper." This act laid

a duty of two-thirds of a penny on newspapers, and a penny
on almanacs, which were to be stamped. The British
stamp act of 1765, violently opposed in the colonies, rendered
this act so unpopular from its very name, that the
legislature was induced to repeal it before it went into
operation. But, in the July following, another act was
passed, which imposed a duty on all advertisements inserted
in the newspapers printed in this commonwealth. This
act was thought by the publisher of the Spy, and by many
others, to lay an improper restraint on the press. He
therefore discontinued the Spy during the period that this
act was in force, which was two years. But he published
as a substitute a periodical work, entitled The Worcester
Weekly Magazine, in octavo.

The restoration of the Spy took place in April, 1788,
and a motto was at that time introduced from the constitution
of Massachusetts, viz.: "The Liberty of the Press is
essential to the security of freedom."

In 1801, Thomas resigned the printing and publishing
of the Spy to his son Isaiah Thomas, Jr. The Spy is the
oldest newspaper in Massachusetts.[47]

In 1785, a neat, small paper, was published semi-weekly
in Charlestown, Massachusetts, entitled The American Recorder
and Charlestown Advertiser. It was printed about three
years by Allen & Cushing, and then discontinued. I mention
this, because it was the only newspaper issued from
a press in the county of Middlesex.