The want which every man feels of another’s help is the original cause of coalition and society; and the institutions of society are less imperfect, in proportion as all wants are more easily supplied; and they are supplied more easily, as the general stock of the community is better known, and each man is more extensively informed of the occasions, abilities and possessions of the rest.

The speedy circulation of intelligence, and the mutual communication of proposals and designs, of desires to purchase, and of willingness to sell, is one of the great arts by which commerce is actuated and maintained. By this necessity of publication the news-papers are filled with advertisements, and the walls, in places of concourse, covered with proposals: bills of direction are given at every shop, and notices of sales and auctions scattered before houses or forced into the hands of passengers.

All these practices are convenient and beneficial; yet all these have proved insufficient, and many persons are daily at a loss to find out what they want.2 A general search, however advantageous, must be attended with such difficulty, and so much time and expence, as would render it almost impossible for any one to accomplish; unless the great variety of business, wants, schemes, proposals, orders, meetings, transactions, invitations, and amusements, continually set forth in the public papers and bills, are daily brought into one collected point of view.

Attempts have been made for this purpose, or perhaps rather meant by our Public Register Offices;3 but upon so confined a plan, however good the design, that the Enquirers could, at best, only learn a few registred particulars, merely relative to the narrow compass of the bills of mortality,4 and scarcely one in five hundred ever got the information he required. Nor could it be otherwise; for as all intelligence at these offices depended on their customers, and was registered at their expence, the design naturally became abortive for want of support from the proprietors, who, being able to give but little information of their own, could afford little aid to those who stood in need of their assistance.

From this universal emulation of forcing advertisements into notice through different papers, and by various other methods, it must necessarily follow, that intelligence, however copious, is confused; that as the number of particulars is greater, that which is sought will be less easily found. No single hand receives all bills; no single eye, peruses all news papers. Not only patience is wearied, but time is lost, and opportunity slips away. The advertisement of to-day is forgotten to-morrow, and fear of the expence will not allow it to be often repeated. The offices may be searched for more permanent registers; but they have failed so often that they are now less frequently visited.

Experience, therefore, has long shewn, that there is yet wanting a paper, which may serve as an index to all other papers and publications, and which will supply the deficiencies of each from all the rest, yet not render any of them useless; as, instead of giving the full account required, it will only show the paper or place in which the advertisement or public notice may be found. Of this index the next page exhibits a specimen, and a single specimen will demonstrate its utility.

By this Index, to our wants and desires, will be raised such a fund of intelligence and useful knowledge, relating to the trade, commerce, proposals, schemes and connexions of mankind, as may not improperly be called the bank of enquiry, which bringing all parties together, as it were in a center, will readily help them to whatever they require, and every man to see at one view as he sits at home in his chair, the various sollicitudes of the rest, and know where to avail himself of the wants of others, or to supply those of his own.

To leave nothing unattempted which may promote our scheme of general information, an office is erected in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, next door to the great toy-shop, in which is reposited the Public Ledger, where all papers of intelligence, published within the kingdom, with minutes of all advertisements, bills, proposals, schemes, designs, projects and notices, will be registered, in alphabetical order according to their subjects, and their dates, in such a manner that every enquirer, on paying three-pence for searching the office, may find whatever he can require; or be convinced that he requires what is no where to be found. And to render the purpose of advertising more complete and effectual than it has hitherto been, it is proposed that every advertisement inserted in the Public Ledger shall be also registered in the office with as many or as few particulars as the advertiser shall think proper; and that the expence of the whole for every advertisement of a moderate length, shall not exceed three shillings. So that by advertising in this paper, he that desires to conceal any part of his proposal from the public eye, may insert a short hint in the paper, and register a longer and more explicit account in the office and express his thoughts obscurely to those whom he does not wish to understand them, and more clearly and at large to others whose curiosity, or interest shall lead them to inspect the Public Register; the easy access to which, being so much more agreeable to the enquirer than a private application, will be another advantage in advertising peculiar to this paper.

But as registering alone has been found very ineffectual, it is proposed that nothing shall be registered in the books of the office, till it has been first advertised in the ledger. By the former of which it will be kept on record (unless desired to be withdrawn) and by the latter made known to the public as often as is necessary. And for the convenience of those who may want to consult the office from distant places, a sufficient number of clerks will give attendance from eight o’clock in the morning till six in the evening; who besides admitting every person to consult the Register at three-pence, as above-mentioned, will answer all letters with the utmost punctuality, on the receipt of one shilling for each; so that those who live in the most distant parts of the kingdom, may have access to the register, almost as easily as those who reside in London.

Thus much, however extensive, is only one part of our plan; yet the grand one, it must be confessed, and calculated for the real use of, perhaps, nine parts in ten of the nation; for the busy, and active, the curious, and circumspect, will all in their turn find some useful hint or reference to assist their various occasions. But that the man of leisure and retirement, who reads for pleasure and amusement, may also find his account in inspecting the Public Ledger, one part of it will be set aside for public occurrences, both foreign and domestic, in which, if we do not excel all other daily papers, we shall take care not to fall short of any.

We are unwilling to raise expectations which we may, perhaps, find ourselves unable to satisfy; and, therefore, have made no mention of criticism or literature, which yet we do not professedly exclude, nor shall we reject any political essays, that are apparently calculated for the public good. In a nation like ours, equally studious of knowledge, and of gain, he that neglects the sciences will be despised, even by many of those whom he may assist in commerce; and he that appears indifferent about national concerns will never have a clear title to the favour and esteem of the public, which is what we are most sollicitous to deserve.