Mr. Bennett's Announcement of His Marriage
To the Readers of Herald—Declaration of Love—Caught at Last—Going to Be Married—New Movement in Civilization
A reprint of the eccentric, self-mocking marriage announcement that James Gordon Bennett, founder of the New York Herald, published in his own paper in 1840—an early and strange piece of newspaper self-promotion.
NewsPipe summary
The Morning Star And Catholic Messenger · June 16, 1872 · Page 1
James Gordon Bennett2 min readNEW YORK, June 1st, 1840
I am going to be married in a few days. The weather is so beautiful, times are so good, the prospect of political and moral reform is so encouraging, that I cannot resist the divine instinct of honest nature any longer. So I am going to be married to one of the most [...] beautiful, [...] my heart [...] the world [...] the pattern of a varied life, with all the sanctities that belong to nuptial love.
[...] But property in the world's goods was never my object. Fame, public good, usefulness in my day and generation, the religious associations of female excellence, the example of true industry—these have been my delight by night and my desire by day. In the new and holy condition into which I am about to enter with the same reverence I would approach heaven itself, I anticipate a great change in my feelings, in my heart, in my purposes, in my pursuits. I know not what changes; time alone can develop them.
My ardent desire through life has been to reach the highest order of excellence by the shortest and most reasonable methods, and this new condition of my existence, pursued night and day, in sickness and in health, in war and in peace, with the same devotion to the highest order of excellence, must produce some curious results, both to my heart and feelings, and to the public. Those results will develop in due time in the columns of the Herald. Meanwhile, I return my heartfelt thanks for the enthusiastic patronage of the public, both of Europe and America. The holy estate of wedlock will only increase my desire to be still more useful. God Almighty bless you all.
In the postscript to this announcement, Mr. Bennett gives notice that he shall have no time to waste upon editors who attacked him "until after marriage and the honeymoon."
On the 8th of June, 1840, the marriage was announced at the head of the editorial columns of the Herald, as follows: "MARRIED.—On Saturday afternoon, the 6th inst., by the Rev. Dr. Powers, at St. Peter's Catholic Church, in Barclay Street, James Gordon Bennett, proprietor and editor of the New York Herald, to Henrietta Agnes Crean."
What may be the effect of this event on the great newspaper contest now raging in New York, time alone can show.
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