Years' War and the countries involved became familiar in Eng land, and incidentally they perhaps led to the first regular English newspaper.' The functions of the early war correspondents were not indeed the same as those of the war correspondent of a later day , yet
the steps in the evolution of the one from the other are clearly
seen and to his long career may perhaps be in part ascribed the continued activity of the war correspondent in the field of jour nalism . His speedy disappearance has often been predicted and ? J. B . Williams, History of English Journalism to the Foundation of “ The Gazette ," pp . 12 - 13
The titles of the corantos in the Burney collection , from May to November 1622, indicate the receipt of news from Italy , Germany , Hungary, Austria ,
Bohemia , the Palatinate, France, the Low Countries, and “ most parts of Christendom .” - Ibid ., Appendix C , pp. 215 -217.
See also , J. B . Williams, “ The Beginnings of English Journalism ," Cambridge History of English Literature, VII, 389-415. These “ relations sent to England had been preceded on the Continent by the Mercurius Gallo - belgicus. The first volume was published in 1594
and it contained a summary of important events from 1588 as they had occurred in France , Belgium , Spain , Italy, England , Germany, Poland
and neighboring places . The volumes were issued until 1635 and they resemble more an annual register than a daily or weekly periodical. ? Henry Crabb Robinson writes in his Diary, Reminiscences and Cor respondence, I, chap. XI, that in January, 1807 he received a proposal
from Mr. Walter that he should go to Altona and become The Times cor respondent. He " was to receive from the editor of the Hamburger Corres pondenten all the public documents at his disposal, and was to have the bene fit also of a mass of information of which the restraints of the German press
did not permit him to avail himself." The offer was accepted and his letters from Altona ran from March to August, 1807, and were followed by three from Sweden . On his return to London he served some months as foreign
editor of The Times, and in July , 1808 , went to Spain where for nearly six months he again served as war correspondent for The Times. This seems to have been the beginning of definite war correspondence,
although S . T . Sheppard finds precedent for it in the Swedish Intelligencer
which contained , he says, an entertaining correspondence about the army of Gustavus Adolphus. See his interesting article, “ In Memoriam : William
Howard Russell. The Genesis of a Profession," United Service Magazine, March , 1907, 155 : 569–575. “ The real beginning of newspaper correspondence was the arrival of 'Billy' Russell with the English army in the Crimea ," says E . L . Godkin . “ He was a welcome guest at every mess - table , from the moment of his arrival in the camp. In his hands correspondence from the field really became a power before which generals began to quail.” He considers that themost important result of the Crimean war was the creation and develop
ment of the “ special correspondents ” of newspapers. - R . Ogden , Life and Letters of E . L . Godkin , I , 100 , 101 - 102.
This is the view generally accepted and a memorial to Sir William
Howard Russell in the crypt of St. Paul's, London , bears the in
