the attention of the Government of the day, and two years after the restoration of Charles II., namely in 1662, a Licensing Act was passed which for many years silenced the Press of England as effectually as the Russian Press, is silenced in the present day when it falls under the displeasure of the censorship. Not only was the Press ruthlessly crushed, but the Government and the censor between them took full advantage of their power to become practically the only newspaper proprietors in the kingdom. The censor was Sir Roger l'Estrange, who had been himself previously connected with the Press, and what could be more natural than that, having put down the newspapers, he should start, some two or three years after the Act was enforced, his own Public Intelligencer. But the censor met with competition from an unexpected quarter. In 1665 the Court was temporarily removed to Oxford on account of the Plague of London, and here the Government started its own gazette, which was afterwards reprinted in London. This newspaper has enjoyed an uninterrupted existence since the year named, as the London Gazette.[1] Macaulay, describing the Government organ, tells us that, "whatever was communicated to it was in the most meagre and formal style," but we may suppose that the high sanction of its contents gave it an importance to which even Sir Roger's publication, that
- ↑ The London Gazette is the most profitable of the newspapers owned by the nation, yielding at the present time a revenue of from £16,000 to £17,000 yearly. Its editorship at a salary of £800 was formerly given to some gentleman connected with the Press who had done important party service to the Government of the day. Mr Gladstone last exercised the patronage in 1869. Mr Thomas Walker, who had been editor of the Daily News for a long period, was then appointed, and continued to hold the position till the end of 1888, when he resigned, and the post was abolished under the Stationery Office re-organization scheme. During the railway mania, the London Gazette was published daily in the month of November, 1846. The largest number of the official organ ever published was on the 15th of the month named. It consisted of 583 pages and was printed on 145 sheets.
