Note 5 — INTRODUCTION.

Benjamin Edes, journalist, born in Charlestown, Mass., Oct. 14, 1732; died in Boston, December 11, 1803. In 1755, he began, with John Gill, the publication of the "Boston Gazette and Country Journal," a newspaper of deserved popularity, unsurpassed in its patriotic zeal for liberty,—the chosen mouth-piece of the Whigs. To its columns, Otis, the Adamses, Quincy and Warren, were constant contributors. Their printing-office, on the corner of Queen (now Court) Street and Dassett's Alley (now Franklin Avenue), was the place of meeting of a party of the "Mohawks," on the afternoon of December 16, 1773. During the siege of Boston, the "Gazette" was issued at Watertown. It was discontinued September 17, 1798. At the opening of the war, Mr. Edes possessed a handsome property, which was wholly lost by the depreciation of the currency. Edes was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1760, and a prominent "Son of Liberty."