Newspapers

JAMES DAVIS AND THE BEGINNING OF THE NEWSPAPER IN NORTH CAROLINA

BY ROBERT N. ELLIOTT, JR.^*

[Vol. 42 (1965), 1-20]

On September 25, 1690, Benjamin Harris, a former London bookseller and publisher who had come to Boston four years before, issued Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestic. This was the first newspaper to be published in that part of America which became the United States. Publick Occurrences was a small paper, measuring but six by nine and a half inches, with only three of its four pages printed; the fourth was left blank for Bostonians to add their own news when they sent their copies to distant friends.

Harris, dependent largely on visitors to his coffee shop in Boston for news, issued a newsier paper than did many of his successors in the next century. The first issue contained news about Indians and Indian warfare in New England, a suicide in a nearby town, a fire in Boston, and the amorous affairs of the royal family in France. It was probably this last story, along with another hinting at corruption involving a government expedition against the Indians, that caused the Massachusetts authorities to suppress further publication of Publick Occurrences. Samuel Sewall wrote in his diary that the paper gave “distaste because it wasn’t licensed and for certain passages referring to the Mohawks and the French King.” At any rate this first colonial newspaper ended after publication of but one number.¹

It was altogether fitting that Boston should become the cradle of the newspaper in English Colonial America. It was the largest town in the colonies, the center of foreign and intercolonial commerce; and the presence there of a literate population containing many lawyers and ministers with facile pens placed it foremost as the cultural and literary leader of the colonies. Here, also, printing had been first established in 1638 when Harvard College, then but two years old, had begun production by its printers of sermons, almanacs, catechisms, law books, psalters, and broadsides. Thus 14 years after the demise of Publick Occurrences another venture in newspaper publishing was attempted in Boston.

John Campbell, Boston’s postmaster since 1700, began to send out handwritten newsletters to merchants and various governors along the Atlantic seaboard almost from the day he took office.² These contained mostly items about shipping and government affairs. The demand for these letters soon taxed the postmaster’s hand, so he turned to a local printer, Bartholomew Green, to print his letter weekly. In this manner, the Boston News-Letter, the first continuous American newspaper, was issued on April 24, 1704. Campbell’s News-Letter carried the line “Published By Authority,” thereby indicating that the authorities had licensed its publication. This meant also that Campbell’s news policy would harmonize with the party in control.³

The News-Letter was slightly larger than Publick Occurrences, eight by twelve and three quarter inches, printed on both sides of a single sheet. It cost subscribers 2d. a copy or 12s. a year. The contents consisted primarily of summaries of news from London papers with a few items about local affairs—arrivals of ships, political appointments, court actions, and the like. At the bottom of the last column were a few advertisements. By modern standards it was not a very lively newspaper. It persisted, however, and under other publishers and, with the addition of Massachusetts Gazette to its title, lasted until March, 1776; in its last years, edited by Margaret Draper, it supported the loyalist cause.⁴

Within the lifetime of the Boston News-Letter, newspapers were introduced into each of the 13 colonies. Most of these papers were printed on four pages, each averaging about ten by fifteen inches in size. Publication was weekly; though if an important news event broke between publication dates an extra or “supplement” was issued. The average subscription rate was 10s. or 12s. a year. News primarily of the mother country was taken from the London papers. Local news was limited to certain outstanding events—the death of an important personage, activities of the government, or a major catastrophe. After all, towns in Colonial America were small and local happenings generally known. The people were interested mainly in the affairs of England. They were, generally speaking, English frontiersmen connected, if not by family ties, certainly by commercial and political interests, with England.

Editorials as such were missing from the colonial newspaper, but at the same time objective news reporting characteristic of the modern newspaper was not a style used by the colonial publisher. His story written in the form of an essay was often, if the occasion warranted it, interspersed with editorial comment. Then, too, discussion of public affairs was carried on through contributed letters, sometimes written by the publisher himself, and all bearing pen names.

Copy of all sorts—news of other colonies, of England and the continent, features such as sermons, poems, essays, and letters—was obtained from the newspapers exchanged by the colonial printers and from newspapers brought in by ship captains from overseas. This source was supplemented with letters received by local citizens and reports relayed by travelers. In no sense did a colonial publisher, even in larger towns, have access to a formal news gathering agency.

“Gazette” was the most popular title for the colonial newspaper. This stemmed from the prestige enjoyed by The London Gazette, the official newspaper of the British government. Hence if a publisher wished to imply or convey a semiofficial status for his paper he titled it “Gazette.”⁵

This custom was especially popular in the southern colonies. William Parks, official printer to Lord Baltimore’s province in Maryland, began this trend when, in 1727, he began the Maryland Gazette. It was continued in South Carolina by Thomas Whitmarsh who, in 1732, started the South Carolina Gazette at Charleston. Four years later, in 1736, William Parks, who had become official printer to Virginia, established at Williamsburg the first Virginia Gazette.⁶ Thus North Carolinians, whose commercial and cultural ties were with Williamsburg or Charleston, had access to a local newspaper well before the press was established in that colony.⁷ And in the Virginia Gazette of Parks they had one of the most handsome newspapers published in the colonies; a journal especially distinguished for its literary quality. Parks had operated presses and published newspapers in England before coming to the colonies.⁸ Like Benjamin Harris of Publick Occurrences, Parks brought to colonial journalism the more advanced newspaper heritage of England.

William Parks provided North Carolina with more than just a good newspaper. From his shop in Williamsburg this colony acquired its first printer, James Davis. After some years of indecision, North Carolina’s Assembly agreed to authorize a revision of its laws and then, in 1749, decided to establish a public printing office to print this revision. James Davis was named to that office at a salary of £160 proclamation money. He arrived in New Bern and set up his press June 24, 1749.⁹

Not much is known about the early life of James Davis. He was born in Virginia, October 21, 1721; where is not known. But in 1745 he was living in Williamsburg.¹⁰ Whether he received training in his art from William Parks is also not clear. Davis, however, was a skilled printer. The only printer in either Virginia or Maryland after 1725 was William Parks. Parks left Maryland to locate in Williamsburg in 1734; he had been operating a branch shop there since 1730. His successor in Annapolis was Jonas Green, who did not come to Annapolis until 1738. At that time Davis was seventeen years old, a little old to begin an apprenticeship. To go to Charleston or Philadelphia, the nearest printing offices, or elsewhere in the colonies, was an expensive undertaking at that time. It seems logical, then, to assume that Davis learned his trade under Parks. This certainly would be no discredit to James Davis, for William Parks was as skilled as any printer in the colonies.

The record is equally uncertain about the source of Davis’ printing equipment. Colonial printers used a wooden printing press, much like those used by Gutenberg and the pioneers of printing in the late fifteenth century. With such a press a good, stout pressman could turn out about 200 impressions an hour. Occasionally some versatile printer like Christopher Sower in Pennsylvania built a press for his own use, but until after 1769, when press building became common in Philadelphia and Boston, presses were imported from England. The same was true for type; not until after the Revolution was the American printer freed from English type founders, though in 1769 Abel Buell in Connecticut began to experiment in the manufacture of type from blank punch to finished letter. Furthermore, type was expensive; so most colonial printers began work with the used type of a London printer.

Paper and ink were another story. William Rittenhouse opened a paper mill near Germantown, Pennsylvania, the same year, 1690, that Publick Occurrences was issued in Boston. In 1743 William Parks, backed by Benjamin Franklin, began a mill near Williamsburg. Before 1765 there were nine mills operating in the colonies. But it is doubtful that they provided sufficient paper to supply the printing trade, especially for finer printing. In all probability, Davis, along with other printers, was dependent on England for much of his paper. Ink, however, was available in the colonies.¹¹

A typical print shop in the American colonies contained two presses, type, and the necessary forms, rules, and other appurtenances in sufficient quantity to enable the printer to produce books, a weekly newspaper, and the daily job work that came to his shop. Books, such as the Journals and the revisal of the laws produced by James Davis, used up a great quantity of type. Often the forms were left standing—that is, they were not broken up and the type redistributed until the job was completed. To provide enough type for this kind of work and still have enough available for other productions such as a newspaper, required quite an outlay of capital. For example, the shop of Jonas Green in Annapolis contained over 2,000 pounds of type of varied sorts. The value of the type greatly exceeded the total value of all the rest of his equipment. The total appraisal of such a shop amounted to nearly £100 sterling.¹² When James Davis’ shop was destroyed by a hurricane in 1769 he doubtless sustained a great loss, for not only was his “house a mere wreck,” but also his printing office was “broke to pieces, his papers destroyed and types buried in the sand.” The £3 he received from the Assembly for his loss of money was small recompense indeed.¹³

It is doubtful, of course, that when Davis came to New Bern he had as complete a shop as that of Jonas Green. To print the proclamation money,¹⁴ his first work, and the Journal of the House of Burgesses issued late in 1749, he needed only a small font of type and a press. About this time, however, he began work on the revision of the laws, for which he had been hired. Governor Gabriel Johnston wrote December 21, 1749, that the revisal is “now in the press.”¹⁵ Though Governor Johnston expected this to be completed by the middle of the next summer, it was advertised in The NOth Carolina Gazette of November 15, 1751, as “just publish’d.” This may have been, however, a second edition, which included the laws passed at the September 26-October 12, 1751, session of the Assembly. An earlier edition, bearing the same imprint date, 1751, ended with the laws of 1750. Meanwhile, Davis had printed the Journal for the Assembly session of 1750, was at work on the one just over, presumably had done job work, and in August, 1751, had begun The NOth Carolina Gazette. Whether he printed “the Speeches and Addresses at the Opening of each Session,” as required by the act establishing his office,¹⁶ is not known. In any case, to have produced the work he is known to have done required a well equipped shop.

Where Davis acquired his type and equipment must be conjectured; available records give no hint. One such attempt was made by William S. Powell,¹⁷ a competent student of early North Carolina history. He compared certain printed works of Davis with those of William Parks and noted a striking similarity in the type used by the two men. Then he compared the work of William Hunter, who succeeded Parks in the operation of the Williamsburg press when the latter died in 1750, and found no such similarity. Mr. Powell suggested that “perhaps Parks purchased a new supply of type and sold all or part of his old fonts to Davis.” This quite possibly was the case, for otherwise Davis would have had to buy type from England or from another colonial printer. Had he done so the similarities observed by Mr. Powell would not have been apparent. As to the source of Davis’ press or presses, even conjecture is of no help. Nevertheless, James Davis began printing in North Carolina with a well equipped shop capable, under the direction of a skillful printer, of executing good work. His early productions indicated that.

James Davis was twenty-eight when he came to New Bern in 1749. Settled, apparently possessing some money, and with a five-year contract as official printer to the colony, he established himself in the town. One of his first acts was to acquire property. When the Governor and Council met in April, 1749, and again that fall, Davis was among those applying for land. He was granted 200 acres in Johnston County and the same amount in Craven County.¹⁸ Then he obtained several lots in New Bern itself; one on the southwest corner of Broad and East Front Streets where after March, 1752, he moved his printing office from its first location on Pollock Street.¹⁹ While thus providing for his economic future, Davis at the same time assured himself a domestic future; he married a local widow, Prudence Hobbs, the daughter of William Carruthers of Beaufort County.²⁰

So prepared, James Davis could link his fortunes to the future of New Bern. In 1750 this future looked good. New Bern, founded in 1710 by Baron Von Graffenried for persecuted Palatines and Swiss, had survived the horrors and destruction of the Tuscarora War. It was no longer at the edge of the colony. To the north, the Albemarle region had long been settled, and south of the town, the Cape Fear region was increasing in population. New Bern was thus a centrally located town convenient to the more settled portions of the colony. Moreover, Governor Johnston had made an effort in 1746—unsuccessful, however—to make New Bern the official capital of North Carolina. As a result, several government offices, including that of the printer, were fixed there.²¹ This prominence, plus good connections with the back country and a fair port on the Neuse River, attracted merchants. By the time James Davis arrived and became established, New Bern had, perhaps, more mercantile firms than any town in the colony.²²

These circumstances no doubt prompted Davis to begin a newspaper. In August, 1751, from the “Printing-Office, near the Church,” The NOth Carolina Gazette was issued. The first number of this paper has not survived;²³ in fact, only six issues are available today. But from these one can see what North Carolina’s first newspaper was like. It was the standard folio of colonial journalism; four pages each measuring eight and a half by twelve and a half inches—what printers call a crown sheet—and issued weekly. The earliest number extant, that of November 15, 1751, was printed two columns to the page, as was the last number surviving, that of October 18, 1759. The issue of April 15, 1757, was numbered 133, indicating that Davis either suspended the Gazette for awhile or that he adopted a new numbering system. In either case, between the number issued November 15, 1751, and that of October 18, 1759, there was little change in format. In the earlier number there was no period after “NOth” and the imprint was run under the title on page one. But the issue of April 15, 1757, had a period after “NOth.” and the imprint appeared at the bottom of the back page. The same was true also of the last extant number, October 18, 1759. The Gazette was available “at Four Shillings, Proclamation Money, per Quarter”; and “Advertisements of a moderate Length, are inserted for Three Shillings the first Week, and Two Shillings for every Week after.”

It is not likely that the contents would appeal to a newspaper subscriber today, despite Davis’ slogan which appeared just under the title: “With the Freshest Advices, Foreign and Domestic.” Page one was usually reserved for an essay, such as “The Temple of Hymen. A Vision,” in the number for November 15, 1751; or “Reflections on Unhappy Marriages,” the feature for March 6, 1752. This fare was varied, however, for on page one of April 15, 1757, was a letter taken from the Bristol-Journal, an English paper. It was signed “Five Millions” and addressed “To the Right Honourable W. P., Esq.” Doubtless this was William Pitt, just called to lead England in her struggle against the French. The writer advised him to avoid the pitfalls of public office—bribery, ease, and title.

News, of course, was not overlooked. It was, however, primarily foreign and run under simple headings, such as “London, July 5,” “Genoa, Sept. 15,” or “From The Westminster Journal of July 25.” This was hardly “fresh” by modern standards, but certainly current enough to colonial readers, though three months or more old. Domestic news was usually run on pages three or four. In the Gazette for March 6, 1732, for example, there were stories from Philadelphia, December 31; Boston, October 21; and New York, December 16. This did not always mean that the news included concerned only events in the cities named. Under the New York date line just mentioned was a story about an epidemic in Honduras which had resulted in the death of many, especially women. Affixed to this story in brackets was this comment: “A fine Time now, for our Ladies of Pleasure to make their Fortunes.” Not an editorial, but a shrewd observation by Editor Davis. Then under the head “Williamsburg, September 20,” in the number for October 18, 1759, was a letter from New York, dated September 4, 1759, describing the military campaign in the Niagara region. This was followed by the headline, “Newbern October 18,” and this item:

On Friday last, an Express arrived here from Charles Town [Charleston, S.C.] on his way to Virginia, with Dispatches from Governor Littleton to the Governor of Virginia; the Occasion of which is said to be, the Cherokees taking up Arms in Favour of the French; and that they are assembling in Bodies to make Depredations on our Frontiers.

Local news was given its due when the occasion warranted. One regrets that more issues of The NOth. Carolina Gazette are not available for the period of the French and Indian War.

Advertising in these few issues of The NOth. Carolina Gazette was nearly always found on the back page, printed without display or illustration; much like the classified columns of a modern newspaper. Besides official notices, such as Acting-Governor Matthew Rowan’s Proclamation announcing surveys being made by a South Carolina commission in Anson County, or the Craven County sheriff’s announcement of a jail break in New Bern,²⁴ the advertisements were for merchandise, land or runaway slaves. The arrival of a trading ship was also the occasion for advertising. One ship, docked at Beaufort, had on board dry goods, hardware, china, medicines, paint, and other goods to be sold or exchanged for deerskins, tar, or fur.²⁵ Too, James Davis used the columns of his paper to offer for sale The Laws of North Carolina, lampblack, printed forms, and other such wares. Advertising was a major source of revenue for the colonial publisher, as indeed it is for today’s publisher. But of greater significance, advertising enables one to gain an insight into the social and economic life of a community such as New Bern. This more than makes up for the sparseness of local news.²⁶

James Davis apparently stopped publication of The NOth. Carolina Gazette sometime after October 18, 1759. Isaiah Thomas, an early historian of colonial newspapers and himself an active printer at the time, says the Gazette was discontinued around 1761.²⁷ At any rate, Davis began a new paper in June, 1764.

Meanwhile, during the years when he published The NOth. Carolina Gazette, James Davis was active on other fronts. In 1753 he published the Reverend Clement Hall’s A Collection of Many Christian Experiences, the first nonlegal book by a citizen of North Carolina to be published in the colony. Hall was rector of St. Paul’s Church in Edenton.²⁸ But publication was incidental to Davis’ other activity that year; he became involved in politics. In 1753 he was made a member of the Craven County Court, an office he held for twenty-five years. One of his first duties was the supervision, with another member, of the construction of a new courthouse in New Bern.²⁹ The next year he was elected sheriff of Craven County, and while holding this office was chosen by the electorate of New Bern to represent them in the Assembly. This, however, was highly irregular; the House refused to seat him, deciding that he was “not Qualifyed to serve as a Member for the Town of New Bern he having been Sheriff of Craven County at the time of his Election.” Davis apparently preferred a career in the Assembly to that of sheriff, for he resigned the latter office and in 1755 was again elected to the Assembly.³⁰

In 1756 Davis was returned to the Assembly by the people of New Bern. Among several bills that he introduced during this session, was one that provided for an improvement in the local government of New Bern. It passed to become the first municipal election and tax law for New Bern.³¹ Up to this time every able-bodied resident in New Bern was expected to work on the streets. Under Davis’ bill, citizens were permitted to tax themselves to pay for this work. Also town commissioners, who before had been appointed by the Assembly, could now be elected by the citizens.

Davis went back to the Assembly in 1757; and this time he turned his attention to commerce. In the spring session he introduced a bill to improve navigation at Port Bath. That fall he presented a memorial from various merchants for improving the inspection law on certain commodities exported from the colonies, and he was appointed to the committee to draft such a bill.³²

For two additional years Davis represented New Bern in the Assembly, bringing in bills for the improvement of public ferries and the completion of the courthouse begun under his supervision several years before.³³ Then in 1760 he was chosen to represent Craven County. At this session, however, he was not as active as he had been previously; in fact, he was fined for nonattendance.³⁴

After this James Davis halted his legislative career for awhile. In the meantime, in 1755, he had become New Bern’s postmaster. This job was compatible with his work as a newspaper publisher. Then in October of that year when North Carolina’s Assembly established its first postal service, Davis was awarded the contract. By this act, Davis obliged himself, for the sum of £100 10s. 8d., “to send all pub-lick letters, Expresses and Dispatches relating to this Province to any Part thereof for the service of the same and once every Fifteen Days send to Suffolk in Virginia and Wilmington on Cape Fear River for the publick a proper messenger to receive Letters and Dispatches at these places; to be conveyed where directed for the full Term of one year.”³⁵ This contract was renewed the next year; but in 1757 Governor Arthur Dobbs complained of Davis’ negligence. The Assembly then divided the contract among three applicants. Davis obtained the route from New Bern to Wilmington for which he was paid £40. The next year, however, he received the entire contract again.³⁶

No doubt the establishment of a public postal route relieved Davis of one problem. In 1752 he was censured by the Assembly for not delivering to the members the printed laws and journals to which they were entitled. In his defense, Davis claimed that he had sent them, in some instances several times over. But he had not done so by a special messenger. To have employed such, he said, would have meant “a Considerable Reduction in his Salary, so much that it will scarce be worth his while to keep a Press, especially as his whole Salary is not much above half what every other Public Printer in America has.”³⁷ Nevertheless, the censure stood. Nor were matters helped any in 1754 when his printing contract was renewed for three years at the same old salary of £160. The next year, however, the Assembly relented and voted Davis an extra allowance of £20 “for his extraordinary Service in his Office this Session inclusive.”³⁸

When, in 1757, this contract expired, the Assembly having “found by experience that a Printing Office is of great utility to this Province and very much tending to the Promotion of useful Knowledge among the people,” Davis was reappointed for another three-year term. But in 1760 it was renewed for a one year term only, though his salary was raised to £200.³⁹ But in 1762, Henry Eustace McCulloch, a member of the Council from Wilmington, tried to get the job for Alexander Purdie, later to achieve distinction as copublisher with John Dixon of William Parks’ old Virginia Gazette at Williamsburg. The House, however, refused to concur and Davis was again named public printer.⁴⁰

It is not clear whether or not McCulloch’s attempt to replace Davis as public printer was inspired by Governor Dobbs’ dissatisfaction with Davis. But there was no doubt about the Governor’s attitude when the question of Davis’ appointment came up in 1764. After the Council, acting as Upper House, had killed the House resolution naming Davis public printer, Dobbs sent a letter to the Speaker saying he could “never approve of the late Printer appointed by the Assembly upon account of his negligence....” The House accepted this and appointed a committee to find a new printer. For one reason or another they were not at once successful, but Governor Dobbs was. He found Andrew Steuart in Philadelphia and informed the House that he had appointed him “His Majesty’s Printer.” Upon hearing this the members adopted and sent a stinging resolution to the Council; the House declared: “We know no such Office as his Majesty’s Printer of this Province and of no Duties Fees or Emoluments annexed or incident to such Office and that the said appointment is of a new and unusual nature unknown to our Laws, and is a violent stretch of power.” The Governor and Council, of course, retorted that it was the King’s “undoubted prerogative to nominate and appoint a Printer to publish his proclamations and orders of government, and to publish his laws”; the only right the House had was “to appoint a Printer to publish their votes and resolutions during their sessions.” Whereupon the House resolved that James Davis “be appointed to Print the Laws & Journals of this Session of Assembly”; that Andrew Steuart be paid £100 for his expense and trouble in coming to North Carolina; and that the treasurers not pay out any money “without the Concurrence or direction of this House.”⁴¹ In short, if the Governor wanted his own printer he could also provide his salary. Thus did James Davis secure reappointment in 1764 and North Carolina get another printer.

During the hassle over his appointment as public printer, Davis began in New Bern a second newspaper. This was The North-Carolina Magazine; or Universal Intelligencer. The earliest issue located is that of July 6, 1764, Vol. 1, No. 5. Counting back, Davis must have started this paper June 8, 1764. Despite the title, The Magazine was a newspaper,⁴² containing the current news, advertisements, and other items common to colonial newspapers. In size, however, and the method of numbering the pages consecutively throughout a volume, it did resemble a magazine. For the first year—until the issue for December 28, 1764—The North-Carolina Magazine consisted of eight pages, each six and three quarters by nine and a half inches, known to printers as a quarto. With the issue for December 28, The Magazine was reduced to four pages; no issues beyond January 18, 1765, are known. The North-Carolina Gazette of February 26, 1766, however, which Andrew Steuart began in Wilmington in September, 1764, quotes “a New Bern” paper of January 14, 1766. And François X. Martin, who published a newspaper in New Bern after the Revolution, using Davis’ press and equipment, mentions in his history of North Carolina that Davis published The Magazine until about 1768.⁴³ In any event, Davis returned to his old title and format May 27, 1768, when he began The North-Carolina Gazette.

Subscribers paid 4d. a number for The North-Carolina Magazine which Davis published each Friday. Apparently he expected his readers to save their copies and have them bound—preferably at his shop no doubt, for he also did bookbinding. In his imprint he announced that “Any single Number may be had to complete Setts, at 4d.” Davis charged the same advertising rate as when he published The NOth. Carolina Gazette; that is, “Three Shillings the first Week, and Two Shillings for every Continuance.”

In retrospect, 1764 was a good year to have begun a newspaper in Colonial America. England had just won the long war with France and had emerged from the conflict with a large colonial empire and a huge debt. In an effort to cope with both these problems, English ministries began in 1763 a policy that resulted, some twelve years later, in a final rupture between England and her American colonies. Among the first measures adopted was the American Revenue Act, introduced in Parliament in March, 1764, by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Grenville. Two provisions of this act, one levying duties on foreign sugar and certain commodities imported into the colony and the other tightening up the customs service, had just gone into effect when Davis began The North-Carolina Magazine. A third provision, that of prohibiting the issuance of legal tender currency in the colonies, became effective that fall.

Quite naturally, then, these measures and their reception in Colonial America, occupied a prominent place in Davis’ newspaper. For example, in the number for August 3, 1764, Davis began a reprint of the Sugar Act which ran through the next issue, taking up so much space he was prevented from running much else, “which,” he hoped, “our readers will excuse.” Then in the following number, that of August 17, he ran the text of the Currency Act, and, in this same number, began publishing a petition, which had been sent George III, protesting England’s failure to exact an indemnity from France. This was concluded in the issue of August 24. It was signed “The People of Great Britain,” to which Davis added, “To these the Printer here presumes to add, And the Good People of America: who will say Amen.” For his paper of November 9 Davis chose a letter which had appeared in Boston Gazette and Country Journal of September 24 denouncing the Sugar Act, and the address adopted by New York’s Assembly opposing the entire Revenue Act. Then on November 16 he ran a letter from The New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth), also in opposition to the Revenue Act, and reported that the people of Boston had agreed to cease all pomp and display at funerals in protest of the act. But the climax of his handling of the Revenue Act was the publication of James Otis’ “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved,” which Davis titled “Of the Political and Civil Rights of the British Colonies.” This ran through five numbers of The Magazine, beginning in that of November 23, 1764. In this same number he reprinted the address of the House to Governor Dobbs at the opening of the Assembly meeting in Wilmington a few weeks before. In this the members thanked the Governor for his efforts to improve trade and commerce in the colony; but, they reminded him, “your Excellency will permit us to observe the Dilemma we are in at this Conjuncture: We once esteemed it our inherent Right, as British Subjects, that no Tax could be imposed upon us, but where we were legally represented; depending on the fundamental Principles of the British Constitution; but, unhappy for us and every Colony in America, we now too fatally experience the Contrary: In this depressed Condition, every Attempt towards improvements appears useless.” Whatever the lack of editorials in colonial journalism, an editor could succeed in conveying his opinion of a particular issue.

And Davis did this well in still another issue on a matter of local interest. The question of whether North Carolina’s capital was to be Wilmington or New Bern assumed special concern when it became known that Governor Dobbs was returning to England for a leave. His place was to be taken by a lieutenant-governor as yet not known. On August 10, 1764, Davis reported that a story from Wilmington announced that “one Col. Tryon, an Officer in the Guards” had been “appointed at Home” Lieutenant-Governor of North Carolina, and that Governor Dobbs expected to leave for England the next March. To this story Davis added the following:

The good people of Wilmington, ever intent on the Good of the Province, and always foremost in every Scheme for its Welfare and internal Quietude, immediately upon this News, engaged a large House in Wilmington for the Reception and Accommodation of the Governor on his Arrival in the Province, upon a Certainty that he will settle among them there. But the People of Newbern, having, for their Disobedience, drank largely of the Cup of Affliction, and entirely depending on the Goodness of their Cause, have engaged a large genteel House in Newbern, for the Governor’s Residence; upon a Supposition he will settle rather in the Centre of the Province, than at Cape-Fear, a Place within Fifty Miles of the South Boundary of a Province almost 300 Miles wide, and the Passage to it gloomy and dismal, through hot parching Sands, enliven’d now and then with a few Wire-Grass Ridges, and Ponds of stagnant Water; ... But as the Passage, so the Entrance, dismal;—a Turkey 15s. a Fowl 2s. 8d. a Goose 10s. Butter 2s. 8d. and so pro Rata for every Thing else.—Terrible Horribility.⁴⁴

The attack on Wilmington and its hopes was followed by a full account of the whole controversy over the location of the capital, balanced in favor of New Bern’s claim, of course, and titled “New-Bern’s Remembrancer: or, An Essay on the Seat of Government—about as ambitious a headline as he ever attempted. Concluding was this appeal:

Countrymen, as the Assembly stands prorogued to some time in October next, and will then probably meet at Wilmington, your Constituents, your Country, expect that you will, to a Man, give your Attendance; or perhaps while we are pleasing ourselves with these Golden Scenes, the Great Fiat may be passed, and the Door shut against you; the Seat of Government may be Settled at Wilmington, and then, too late, we may behold the wretched State of the Province. They have already got the Press there and intend to Give Law to us all; and if you neglect your Duty This Time, imagine what will be done. Can you Contentedly, see the Province in this Discontented State! Can you see the Public Records Carted from Place to Place, and your Properties and Estates trusted to the Mercy of a Shower of Rain, and at the Discretion of a Cart-Driver! Forbid it Heaven! O Tempora!⁴⁵

Then, on September 28 Davis, apparently having it on good authority that Tryon favored New Bern as the location of the capital, wrote in his paper:

Mourn, Mourn, ye Wilmingtonians, and put on Sack cloth and Ashes, for the Measure of thy Good Things is full, and the evil-Day is coming upon thee! Mr. Tryan [sic], if we have any Skill in Augury, is coming to live in Peace among us, and deliver us from unleavened Bread; which nothing but his Residence on the Grassy Plains can restore and accomplish.⁴⁶

On November 2, 1764, under a Wilmington date line of October 17, Davis reported that Tryon with his family had arrived and been duly welcomed in Wilmington. The next week, November 9, he had news of another distinguished visitor, this time to New Bern. This was the famous evangelist George Whitefield who had passed through on his way to Georgia. “At the Request of the Gentlemen” of New Bern, Davis wrote, the Rev. Whitefield stayed over through Sunday “and preached a most excellent Sermon in our Church” to a large and crowded audience. After reference to the expected adjournment of the Assembly “now sitting at Wilmington,” Davis reported that Lieutenant-Governor Tryon intended making a tour through North Carolina and was shortly expected in New Bern. But before he arrived “a Quaker Preacher, and his Wife” paid New Bern a visit and preached “to a Numerous Audience.” The doctrines “which they chiefly handled,” Davis observed, “Were Original Sin, and the Necessity of Regeneration; Moral Reflections on the luxuries, Pomp and Vanities of the World and a particular Caution to the young Ladies against Dress.” Davis noticed “that the Caution and Advice to the Ladies, was delivered by the Preacher’s Wife, who seem’d to have a more than common Influence of the Holy Spirit; as her Doctrine was delivered with great emphatic Energy and Elocution.”⁴⁷

Finally the day of Tryon’s visit arrived, and from Davis’ description of the reception New Bern gave the Governor, it easily matched the energy and elocution attributed to the Quaker preacher’s wife. A “great number of Gentlemen” met Colonel Tryon eight miles from town and escorted him into New Bern where he received the salute of “19 guns from the Artillery.” That night “the Town was handsomely illuminated, Bonfires were lighted, and plenty of Liquor given to the Populace.” The next evening a “very elegant Ball” was held in the “Great Ball-Room in the Court House,” in honor of the Governor, at which “were present His Honour the Governor, and his Lady, the Mayor, Mr. Recorder, and near 100 Gentlemen and Ladies.” About ten they had supper, and then all returned to the ball room “and concluded the Evening with all imaginable Agreeableness and Satisfaction.” The next day the Masons honored the Governor with “an elegant Dinner” where “the usual and proper healths were drank.” After a week in New Bern, Tryon left for Edenton, no doubt impressed with New Bern’s hospitality, if not the town itself.⁴⁸

No issues of The North-Carolina Magazine survive beyond that of January 18, 1765, so Davis’ response to the decision to make New Bern the capital is not known. This action was taken by the Assembly in November, 1766.⁴⁹ One can assume that he used all the journalistic devices at his command to applaud the Assembly’s decision.

Neither do the issues exist that reported the death of Governor Dobbs who, on the eve of his return home, died at Brunswick, near Wilmington, March 28, 1765. Davis had little reason to be fond of the Governor, but this is hardly cause to expect that he published anything derogatory. Faced with the death of the Royal Governor, Davis doubtless rose to the occasion with appropriate language and the customary style of turned rules wreathing the story in black borders.

In all probability there was some substance in Governor Dobbs’ charge in 1764 that Davis had been negligent in performing his duties. Not only had he been involved in getting The North-Carolina Magazine underway, but also in that same year, entirely on his own, he published a new revisal of the laws, the second since that officially published in 1751. And he began taking subscriptions for another work, The Office and Authority of a Justice of Peace.⁵⁰

In the sixteen years since Davis had come to North Carolina, the printing press and newspaper had become important institutions in the life of New Bern and the colony. As printer, publisher, and citizen James Davis was established. One historian of Colonial America has said, “the role of printer in colonial life ... offered a man of ability and ambition a greater chance to exercise influence over public policy than even the ministry.”⁵¹ To what extent this was true of James Davis it is difficult to say. But there is no question that he used his position and his talents to their fullest extent. From his printing office flowed the necessary journals and laws, well executed and free from error, vital to effective government. In his service in New Bern’s government, and as legislator, he acted in the best tradition of the colonial printer. His NOth. Carolina Gazette and Magazine satisfied the cultural, political, and commercial needs of his readers in a way that no other printed matter did. News hunger is basic to human nature, and in a democratic society, even one as primitive as that existing in Colonial America, the need for serious news—the necessity to know what others are doing and thinkin—is essential to reaching responsible decisions. As William Hunter’s Virginia Gazette, in Williamsburg, described it, the newspaper provides the people with “security against Errors,... no false doctrine in Religion, Policy or Physic, can be broached, and remain long undetected.... It is their great Preservation against political Empericism.”⁵² The two papers published by Davis, though not as distinguished perhaps as those in Williamsburg, or in Boston or Philadelphia, did their part.

How many readers Davis had is not known; certainly it was not many, for the number of people in North Carolina who could afford, or even read a newspaper, was small. The record is silent on circulation figures; one estimate is 100-150.⁵³ But one thing is certain; with little competition for reading time, Davis’ newspapers, as well as those in Colonial America generally, were read more thoroughly and lovingly than is the case with newspapers today. Also, with the scarcity of news media, each copy probably passed through many hands. What became America’s standard reading matter, the newspaper, got off to a good start in North Carolina with James Davis and his two ventures into newspaper publishing.

Footnotes