Poultney—In November, 1822, Sanford Smith and John R. Shute began the publication of the Poultney Gazette. This journal was continued under that name until January, 1825, when it was changed to The Northern Spectator, and published by "Dr. David Dewey and Amos Bliss, as agents for the proprietors," who continued to publish it several months, when it passed into the possession of E. G. Stone. It afterwards had other managers, among whom was Hon. Harvey D. Smith, afterwards of New York. Its publication was continued until June, 1830. The Spectator was a leading and influential paper. The character of its selections was of a somewhat higher tone than was the case of other papers of that period. Its leading editorials and communications were written by Hon. Rollin C. Mallary, Rev. Ethan Smith, Harvey D. Smith, and toward its close by Horace Greeley, then a young man, and contributions from Jared Sparks, afterwards the distinguished historian, also then a young man tarrying with an uncle in that vicinity. The first contributions ever made by Horace Greeley or Jared Sparks to the public press appeared in the columns of the Spectator. The Spectator was a four page sheet, fifteen inches by twenty-one inches in size, and larger than the Rutland Herald at that time. The main character of the paper was religious and literary, rather than political, though when party spirit ran high it took a hand in by the way of contributions from the leaders of both parties. In the Poultney Gazette was a page devoted to missions and entitled the Missionary Herald, edited by Rev. Ethan Smith, and he was said to have afterward been one of the founders of the magazine published at the present time as the organ of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, called the Missionary Herald. The experience of the publishers was similar to that of many of the present day, as will be seen by the following extract from their valedictory, published December 28, 1825:

"It is now something more than three years since we first introduced ourselves to the public as the editor and publishers of a weekly journal. We commenced with high hopes of success; with prospects bright and flattering. These hopes have been partially realized; they would have been fully realized had our subscribers, generally, been as willing to reward us for our toil, as we were anxious to render ourselves worthy of such reward."

Sanford Smith was a son of Rev. Ethan Smith. He first learned the printer's art; he afterward studied theology, and entered the ministry, and was for many years a successful pastor in Massachusetts. John R. Shute went to Boston, Mass., and died in that city. The Gazette was mainly under the editorial control of Ethan Smith, at that time pastor of the Congregational Church, and a theological writer of some eminence, who ardently entered into the religious discussions of that period. He was born at Belchertown, Mass., December 19, 1762; died August 10, 1849. He graduated at Dartmouth College in 1790. He was a soldier at West Point at the time of Arnold's treason; in his later years he was city missionary of Boston. He was the author of the celebrated work entitled View of the Hebrews, or the Tribes of Israel in America, published in 1825.