Though it came hither with our Congress, a newspaper had once before been set up here,—­either upon the expectation created by the laying of certain corner-stones, in 1792, that the Government would fix itself at this spot, or through an odd local faith in the dreams of some ancient visionary dwelling hard by, who had, many years before, foretold this as the destined site of a great imperial city, a second Rome, and so had bestowed upon Goose Creek the name of Tiber, long before this was Washington.  The founder of this Pre-Adamite journal was Mr. Benjamin Moore; its name, “The Washington Gazette”; its issue, semi-weekly; its annual price, four dollars; and the two leading principles which, in that day of the infancy of political “platforms,” his salutatory announced, were, first, “to obtain a living for himself,” and, secondly, “to amuse and inform his fellow-mortals.”  How long this day-star of our journalism shone, before night again swallowed up the premature dawn, cannot now be stated.  It must have been published at what was then expected to be our city, but is our penitentiary, Greenleaf’s Point.

To the “Intelligencer” young Mr. Gales brought such vigor, such talent, and such skill in every department, that within two years, in 1809, he was admitted by Mr. Smith into partnership; within less than a year from which date, that gentleman, grown weary of the laborious life of the press, was content to withdraw and leave him sole proprietor, editor, and reporter.  An enormous worker, however, it mattered little to him what tasks were to be assumed:  he could multiply himself among them, and suffice for all.

In thus assuming the undivided charge of the paper, the young editor thought it becoming to set forth one main principle, that has, beyond a question, been admirably the guide of his public life:  he said to his readers,—­“It is the dearest right, and ought to be cherished as the proudest prerogative of a freeman, to be guided by the unbiassed convictions of his own judgment.  This right it is my firm purpose to maintain, and to preserve inviolate the independence of the print now committed into my hands.”  Never was pledge more universally made or more rarely kept than this.

It was towards the close of Mr. Jefferson’s Presidency that Mr. Gales had entered the office of the “Intelligencer”; and it was during Mr. Madison’s first year that he became joint-editor of that paper.  Of these Administrations it had been the supporter,—­only following, in that regard, the transmitted politics of its original, the “Gazetteer,” derived from the elder Mr. Gales.  Bred in these, the son had learnt them of his sire, just as he had adopted his religion or his morals.  Sprung from one who had been persecuted in England as a Republican, it was natural that the son should love the faith for which an honored parent had suffered.