The Press. — London, England, 1855-03-31 00:00:00

298 the same effect in Sardinia—an assertion which called up— Mr. DISRAELI, who vehemently asserted the right of members of the House of Commons to express their opinions, and again asserted that the Govern ment had been shamefully remiss in their manage ment of the militia, as well as in other matters ne cessary to the success of the great struggle in which we were engaged. To this Lord PALMERSTON replied by taunting Mr. Disraeli with the success of his efforts at marring the Foreign Enlistment Act, and urged that if as sistance like that afforded by Sardinia was required at any time it was at the outset of the contest, before the country had fairly put in order its own resources. He once more defended his conduct in respect of the militia. Mr. WALPOLE said that there were two points to be considered—one whether the course adopted was safe and judicious ; the other, whether circumstances justified its adoption. As to the last there could be no doubt. For the first., he was glad to hear assur ances so distinct that the sum to be advanced was a loan and not a subsidy. Adverting to previous trans actions, he argued that the Government had had sufficient warning to have been better prepared when the crisis actually came. They had, in fact, been so warned, in 1853, by Mr. Disraeli himself. He wished that in the conduct and object of the war a more clear and definite course should be adopted in future, and that Parliament might know more exactly what was intended. Mr. J. BALL, admitting the financial embarrass ments of Sardinia, said that her progress and ad vancement, and the development of her resources, of late years, justified the most favorable expec tations. _ _ . Mr. COBDEN could not see why Sardinia was ac tively engaged in the war before Austria. The latter power would gain relatively in force and influence while Sardinia was at war and she herself neutral. He thought that while negotiations were going on, apparently in earnest, the Government should look a little before it, and not vote a million of money when a few hours might bring them precise information of the state of affairs. It was not too late, for not a soldier had yet sailed from Piedmont to the Crimea. This vote might be quoted hereafter against the Ministers as an instance of their extravagance. Mr. M. Manes and Mr. Bowyer added a few words, and Lord Palmerston explained some of the techni calities of the transaction. The address was then agreed to. ODESS k. On Thursday Mr. Scorr, moving for copies of in structions relative to the attack on Odessa, argued that the occupation of that place last year would have prevented many of the calamities which oc curred to our armies. To support this argument he went minutely through the whole history of the war. It was only fair to Admiral Dundas that the orders under which he acted should be fully made known. Sir C. WOOD said that the production of instruc tions to our admirals would disclose to an enemy our own intentions. The disclosures of the newspapers were bad enough ; the present motion went infinitely further, and asked the Government itself to disclose its own secrets. After some further discussion, Mr. SCOTT withdrew his motion. Lord PALMERSTON thought it necessary to add that it was never intended to cast the slightest cen sure on Admiral Dundas, whose character stood as high as ever. ■ LORD LUCAN. Mr. H. BERKELEY, on Thursday, moNed an address to her Majesty, praying for a court-martial on Lord Lucan on account of the charge at Balaklava. He entered at, length into the case, and after a detail of the circumstances of the charge he blamed the Go vernment for appointing Lord Lucan to such a post over the heads of more distinguished men. Lord ELcno seconded the motion, which was due, he urged, not only to the gallant soldiers who had perished, but to Lord Lucan himself, who was a grossly wronged and injured man. The JUDGE ADVOCATE (Mr. C. Villiers) opposed the motion. It was, he said, an appeal to the house from a decision of the Crown acting according to its responsible advisers. He urged the legal objections upon which the refusal of the court-martial was grounded, and argued on the inconvenience of an inquiry which must take place at a distance of some thousand miles. After some conversation, in which all the speakers bore testimony to the gallant conduct of Lord Lucan, while admitting that a court-martial was inez• pedient, Mr. DISRAELI said that though he deeply sympa thised with Lord Lucan, he could not consent to in terfere with the prerogative of the Crown. He blamed the Ministry for their conduct in the matter. They had in their possession the papers which led to Lord Lucan's recal when they proposed a vote of thanks to him. They were at the time of his recal in distress and difficulty, and appear to have thought THE PRESS. that a victim was required to appease the public in dignation. In this way a meritorious and distin guished officer was subjected to a stain on his repu tation. Lord PALMERSTON briefly recapitulated the oft repeated reason which made the granting of a court martial impossible. As to the vote of thanks, the opinion of Lord Lucan's services and gallantry was as high as ever. lie was recalled solely from the differences between himself and the commander-in chief. After some observations in defence of Lord Raglan from Mr. G. Duncan, Sir H. Berkeley, appealed to by Lord Bleb°, withdrew his motion. NEWSPAPER STAMP DUTIES. The second reading of this bill was on Monday opposed by Mr. DEEDES, according to a notice he had given to move to postpone the motion till after the budget. He did this, he said, to give the Chan cellor of the Exchequer an opportunity of recon sidering the matter, and that he might not force the Government to resign by throwing out their mea sure—looking upon their resignation at the present juncture as a national calamity. In accordance with this view, his first observations were necessarily directed to the financial part of the question. He urged that the present was a most inopportune time for incurring the loss consequent on the adop tion of the measure, and contended that, circum stances having changed, the Government were not bound by the vote of last year. But, notwithstanding that his amendment was thus directed, his main ob jections to the bill, he admitted, were based on higher considerations than those of pounds, shillings, and pence. He looked with apprehension on a measure which would allow any person to excite the minds of those who, being ignorant and uneducated, were not able to distinguish between right and wrong. He bad lately met with writings which were of a class he would regret to see multiplied. He objected to the taxation of papers on account of the size of such papers, and because they, at great expense, supplied their readers with the largest possible amount of' in formation. He connected the question with that of education, said that there were already two education bills before the house—and a third was to be added— and he should like to have an opinion of a committee of education as to the probable working of this bill. Something, too, ought to be settled as to the question of copyrights. He quoted Mr. Gladstone's observa tions on newspaper copyright to prove that the bill ought not to pass without some protection to literary property. The state of the public press had greatly improved of late years. We were far from the times when the Attorney-General had every week a news paper prosecution on his hands; and he should be sorry to see that state of things revived. Reverting to the financial objections, and then recapitulating the others, the learned member concluded by saying that the measure had not been long enough before the house for its details to be generally under stood. _ _ Sir E. B. LirrTox supported a measure of which, to some extent, he claimed for himself the paternity. He had introduced the question when a very young man, and saw no reason now for altering his opinion. On the contrary, during the last twenty years there had been a great increase of intelligence among the people, and the danger to:be apprehended from cheap publications was considerably less now than it was at the commencement of that period. This was be cause within the last twenty years all kinds of cheap publications had abounded, and the public had had the wisdom to choose the best and to reject the worst. He recollected hearing it said that the mass of the common people if left to themselves would have re course only to licentious and immoral publications. The fact was, that in proportion as good books had been made cheap bad ones had retreated from circu lation. He fully admitted the justice of establishing a law of copyright in newspaper literature, and be lieved that in providing for the circulation of news- papers by post according to weight they should take for their standard that paper which had the largest circulation. It had been objected that we should reduce the English press to the level of the Ameri can press ; but there was scarcely a statesman or man of eminence in America who did not contribute to the newspapers ; and it had been said by a high authority there " that if our press is inferior to that of England, it must be the fault of the country, for we have all the talent of the country engaged upon it." The hon. member then argued that it would be well for the nation and for the Conservatives them selves if a smaller amount of capital were necessary to the production of newspapers. When he looked to the numbers and influence of Conservativism through the country, he could not think that it was represented in any due proportion by the press. Conservative gentlemen and scholars would come for ward and would publish some cheap journals, con veying opinions stamped by the authenticity of their avowed names. He believed that the principle of anonymous writing had been carried too far. The existing papers might object to the measure—what corporate body ever admired measures which ad- SATURDAY, mitted competition and interfered with monopoly? It was idle to contend that evil influences would be set to work through the agency of an unstaroped press. At all times it was through the aristocratic circles that an evil press first spread its corruptions. Highborn abbes had brought into fashion the revo. lutionary doctrines of Voltaire and Rousseau. He thought very lightly of the financial objections. What was 200,0001. when interests so vital were at stake. The economical reformers and her Majesty's Ministers, the persons most concerned, were in favour of the measure. Why sneer at a penny paper? The Spectator was published at a penny—a stamp was imposed—and that charming production was brought. to a premature end. He believed that the robust and healthy principles of Conservatism would have everything to gain by free discussion and the general diffusion of knowledge. The ATTORNEY- GENERAL argued the question upon legal grounds, upon existing anomalies, and the outcry which would be raised if the present law was strictly enforced. As for the loss to the revenue, two successive Chancellors of the Exchequer had told them that the revenue was able to bear it. Cheap publications would not interfere with those already established ; they would call into existence a new order of readers. On principles of abstract right, why should the rich man have the paper suited to his tastes, while the tastes of the poor were precluded from the gratification suited to them ? He, for one, did not believe that the people had any taste for immoral publications. He said that the law of copyright was already strong, and that any audacious attempt at piracy would be stifled at the outset by the indignation of the people. Sir F. T. BARING, unlike the preceding speakers, took up the financial question in fair earnest. Other members would have their small measures of reduction to propose. The paper tax had been re duced, so had the stamp duty ; the advertisement duty, too, had been abolished ; the consequence of all which was that we had the income tax. He quoted. some returns to show the great expense of the transmission of newspapers through the press. Mr. Mail., as one of the few members connected with the press, expressed his amazement that the proprietors of existing newspapers should have ven tured to find fault with the measure. What had. these gentlemen already said about corn monopo lies ? He entered into detailed statistics to show the small proportion of the population to whom news was made accessible in any shape. Mr. DRUMMOND said that a free press would have been an advantage in the days of the Tudors or the Stuarts ; but now, in its present state, it was one of the curses of the country. After this general censure, ha specified by name many of the iufluen— tial members of the press who, because they called themselves " we," were the most awful men alive. The press was open to bribery, was insolent and oppressive, and the hon. member, in illustration of his assertion, gave one or two anecdotes, amusing enough, but of which it was quite impossible to see what they had to do with the subject. After Mr. DUFFY had taken the trouble to deny all this, The CHANCELLOR of the ExcffEquEn said that resolution of last year was passed in the face of the war, and with the full knowledge of the financial difficulties attending it. That resolution should be interpreted according to the animus in which it was made. It had been proposed to get rid of the legal difficulty by more strictly defining the term news paper. He entered into some arguments to show that this was impossible. He ridiculed the fears of the established press that they would be ruined by penny newspapers. In the proposal which he would submit to the house after Easter regarding the• finances of the year, full provision was made for supplying the 200,0001. deficiency from other sources.. That loss had been estimated from Post-office data,. without any reference to the increase in the paper duty which might be expected from it. Mr. DISRAELI found great fault with the Govern ment for their mode of dealing with the resolution of last year. Such a resolution was not intended to be acted upon without reference to times and circum stances. The repeal of the taxes on knowledge and the advertisement duty was thus affirmed two years ago, yet the Government took no immediate steps — the repeal of the malt tax was affirmed, the Govern ment have declared their resolution to oppose all attempts to rescind it—the repeal of the attorneys' certificate duty was affirmed, and it was not repealed at that moment. If the House of Commons was to dictate the financial policy of the Government, where was the use of a Chancellor of the Exchequer? He should discuss the question on its merits at• another time; at present he felt bound to vote for its. postponement. Lord PALMERSTON said that there was an essential difference between a resolution carried with the con sent of the Government and one carried in spite of it. The resolution of last year was carried with the consent of the Government, and the Government was, therefore, bound to carry it out. He had confi- ~~