As Licenser of The Press
As licenser, Mabbot had the power to withhold a license to publish from those newsbooks which displeased him; however, he was progressively less successful. His name frequently appears on newsbooks of the period but was often used without his permission. He used his power to attempt to suppress the Moderate Intelligencer of John Dillingham in June 1648 after Dillingham inserted a brief sentence of French in the issue of May 11, 1648: "Dieu nous donne les Parlements briefe, Rois de vie longue." Mabbot in addition made arrangements with the printers who had handled the Moderate Intelligencer to print in its stead a newsbook more in tune with Army policy. This he called The Moderate and numbered as if a continuation of the Moderate Intelligencer, even declaring "I have laid down my former title of 'Moderate Intelligencer' and do go by another, viz. 'The Moderate'". However, he was thwarted by Dillingham finding an alternative printer and successfully appealing to the House of Lords to stop Mabbot confusing his readers. Publication of The Moderate was moved to a different day of the week. It eagerly supported the abolition of the monarchy and welcomed the beheading of King Charles I; its account of the King's funeral is the most complete.
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