1711,The Journal to Stella,Jonathan Swift, ch. 2: Letter 16:
I'll tell you one greatState secret: the Queen, sensible how much she was governed by the late Ministry, runs a little into t'other extreme, and is jealous in that point.
[T]here are another set of rascals prowling about the docks, chiefly at dusk, who make strange motions to you, and beckon you to one side, as if they had somestate secret to disclose, intimately connected with the weal of the commonwealth.
Sometimes usedsarcastically in negative constructions, such asnot a state secret, to indicate that the described information is not at all secret, but is, to the contrary, widely known among the general public. For example:
