THE PRESS IN PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. By W. L. Cotton . The power of the press had scarcely be¬ gun to make itself felt in the world when the first newspaper was published in this Island. As early as the year 1787 James Robertson came to Charlottetown , set up a printing office, and began the publication of the " Royal American Gazette and Intelligencer of the Island of St. John." This primitive journal was as a light set up in a dark place. The Island was then for the most part a dense forest. There was not even a postoffice from which to distribute it or a regular mail carrier to take it to the few out-lying dis¬ tricts that were inhabited by white men. When General Fanning came, as lieuten¬ ant-governor, to the Island in the year 1786, he found the legislative and governmental records unprinted and in a state of confu¬ sion. So he induced Mr. Robertson to come over and help him bring order out of chaos. Mr. Robertson arrived in the summer of 1787 and at once began operations. Regard¬ ing" his identity, there is some doubt and difference of opinion. It is by some persons believed that he is the same James Robertson who came here towards the close of the eighteenth century and at the beginning of the nineteenth century was instrumental in bringing from Perthshire, in Scotland , where he was born, a number of immigrants tofNew Penh ;iik1 Kast Point , that he sub¬ sequently taught school in Charlottetown , where he instructed James Douglas Haszard , Edward and Charles Palmer, Peter, John and William McGowan and other notable men, and that finally he removed with his family to the state of York . By others it is believed that he came directly from Hal¬ ifax, a mere printer, and stayed only so long as he was required to print the public rec¬ ords. In either case, "The Royal Commer ¬ cial Gazette and Intelligencer," published fortnightly, was first issued by James Rob ¬ ertson on or about the 15th of October, 1787. It was a semi-official journal, quarto size, three columns per page, each column about ten inches long, and it contained the procla¬ mations of the lieutenant-governor, the offi¬ cial advertisements, a few local advertise¬ ments, a few paragraphs of local news and the British and foreign news, brought by the vessel last arrived, to the limit of the remain¬ ing space. The greatest public service rendered by it was the publication of the terms offered by Lieutenant Governor Patterson under which a number of United Empire loyalists were induced to come to the Island and the means it afforded for the agitation of their just claims to grants of land from the men who at that time held a proprietary right in the soil. As a result of the agitation, so maintained, many of the best families who came from New England stayed on the Island, helped to subdue the forest and to build up an or¬ dered government loyal to the British crown. How long the " Royal American Gazette and Intelligencer" continued to exist cannot be precisely stated. But we know that it was folllowed by "The Royal Gazettte and Mis¬ cellany of the Island of St. John," and we know, too, that this second newspaper was first published on or about the 15th of July, 1791. It was issued fortnightly, contained