The Express.
London, England, 1849-08-08 00:00:00

TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE.

The agitation which terminated in the reduction of
the newspaper stamp duty was eommenced and con-
tinued fees considerable time by the unpaid exertions
of a number of artisans, and a very few from the
eager classes. Several of the artisans who exerted
themselves on the earlier occasion have th's year sato-
cia•ed themselves with others for the purpose of obtain-
iog the repeslof the remaining duty of one penny. Their
committee was formed on the 7.h of last March. The
veteran Francis Place has consented to act as their
treasury r, sad they have opened an office. Their
object is, by communicating with different parts of I
the country, to prepare the way for a movement in
favour of the total abolition of the taxes on knowled;e.
The tines on knowledge consist of :
The duty on &refits books, which, in the
year 1848, produced £ 7,647 13 7
The duty on paper 745 79.1 9 4
The duty on advertisements
The penny stamp on newspapers

£1,266,73316 6
From the:last item must be deducted the expense of trans-
mitting by post 66,000,000 newspapers, as well as the cost of
the manufacture of the stamps. Taking the net przaveds at
160,0001., the whole amount of the tams on knowledge is
1,116,7331. 164. 6d.
In addition to these burdens, the proprietor of a newspaper
is bound to give security to pay any damages that may be
awarded against him in case of libel—• &yam which seems
to infer that to publish a newspaper is of itself saddest:o of
an intention to break the law. . .

The following extract from an address, ieled by
the committee on the 20:h of June, will, we are sure,
be perused with interest:
The arguments used in favour of the neerspsper tax may
be reduced to three :
let. That it is muted for the sake of revenue.

2nd. That a cheep press mast be a licentious one.
3:d. That the peony stamp is merely a tax on London be
the purple of spreading kaowledge through the couny.
From a return made to the House of Commons, Mrtarch
23, 1849, on the motion of Mr. Brothcrton, we find that the
gross revenue derived from this source amounted, in the
year 1848, to 360,2731. 13.. 7d. Mr. Rowland Hill, is 1847,
before a select committee of the House of Lords, calculated
the number of newspapers sent prat-fr. e in one year at
68,000,000, and the expense of their transmission at 374,3761.
—bEiog a little more than five farthings for each Flier.
Of course a great part of this expense is incurred for the
sake of the letters; but when from the sum of
360,2731. 13s. 7d. we deduct the expense specially incurred
for the transmission of 68,000,000 newspapers, added to that
of the Stamp-081os, it will appear that the net amount can-
not be of gnat importance. If, indeed, the public were to
make a fall use of their postal privilege it teems probable
that the government would suffer a len, and that for the
sake of the revenue they might abolish the tax. It may, per-
haps, become necessary to concede that the transmission of
newspspen by peat should be made self-supporting, and that
a charge should be made varying according to weight. The
expense of sending large peeks% of newspapers by rail is
very different on different lines. They are thus sent to Liver-
pool at the rate of orie•third of a farthing each, a fact whieh
,eems to show that the chief postel expense is that f sorting
Ind distributing, and that, In the case of large towns, the
post-cffice is not the best medium for the transmission of
newspapers.
To the second objection—viz , " that a cheap press must be
o licentious 0116"—we reply that there is no evidence that
&sap literature is more licentious than dear literature. We
could easily point out penny pub.ications of the highest cha-
racter and dear ones of the lowest. But the plea is insincere.
No amount of licentiousness is interfered with by the govern-
ment, unless it be politic el. To publish obscene tales is a
safe occupation ; to publish a record of political events with
comments is illegal. The poor, who have nothing to do wi.h
the laws but to obey them, are not to be taught what the
laws are which they have to obey. Brtiety loudly. declares
that it cannot guarantee them a right to live by their labour ;
hut it refuses to allow them to obtain that krrwledge which,
in the complicated state of civilised society, can alone guide
• them to a life of successful independence. If, in their
ignorance and helplessness, they resist the law, a prism is
their doom ; and if any benevolent man devere his capital
hie intelligence, end his energies to their enlightenment, the
law awards him to the same late. . .

With regard to the third a, garment, we have no partiou'r
objection to taxing tondos in order to spread knowledge
through the country; but we object to any tax whieh acts as
a prohibition. We have already shown that the evil of this
taxation begins exactly where the tax ceases to be paid. If
newspapers must be transmitted through the post at a loos,
let that lom be made good out of the surplus revenue of the
Post-office, out of the co..eolidated fund, rut of corporation
dues or local taxes ; but do not prohibit newspapers to those
who cannot pay the tax, and call this spreading knowledge
tLrouah the country. Nor can we admit that the perm.s
who receive newspapers through the poet, and who gene-
rally belong to the comforable classes, stand so much i..
need of newspapers as thole who, unable to attend any but
elementary schools—too poor to purchase, and too busy to
read, many b mks—are entirely dependent for information
on the gleanings made for them by the daily or weekl I press.
We require the repeal of the stamp duty on newspapers,
let. Because as a differential duty in favour of the rich
against the poor, it is contrary to the principle of tree trade—
a principle admitted ,by nearly all reformers to be • soucd
one. _ _ _

2. Because, by railing the price of newspapers, it not oily
prevents the poor from expressing their °pinkies, but make
it impossible for men of intelligence to devote their capital
to the enlightenment of the working classes, who are thus
compelled to put up with a very inferior article, or to abstain
from newspapers altogether.
3. Because, by making large capital indispensable to the
metes of all newspapers, it limits their number so as to de-
prive them of wholesome (»nevi ion, and puts the public
at the mercy of a few individu ils, who are but too often in-
competent, mercenary, and unprincipled.
4. Because, by depriving the working classes of organs for
the expression of their opinions, it tend, to create in them a
feeling of hatred to those who, in addition to other advan.
taw, enjoy a m mopoly of teat freedom of utterance which
should he common to all.
6. Because the law, as it Mande, is not fully enforced, and
because its penalties are so severe that their enforcement
would cause general reprobation.
According to the Act of Parliament (6 & 7 Wen. IV , cap
76), any paper sold for less than Bulimic., or occupying less
t►a-t two large sheets, and published at inter vele,•hot case
ing twenty-six days, end containing any public news, inteili-
genee,or we:tureen ere,or any remarks 'hereon, is deemed a news-
paper. It is needies to say that the number of paperswi.icb
some render this head, and which are permitted by govern-
ment to exist without paying any tat except that on adver
fitments, is already considerable, and is on the
increase. That these papers, though not chit fly
devo•ed to news, .neverthelese, contain news and
ocespionol remarks on politics, must be attribut d to the fact
that there is a demand foe such matter, but the supply is
permitted only in so far as it is incomplete and inefficient.
Every proprietor of such a paper holds his property at the
pleasure of the minister, who has only to dec:are his paper a
newspaper in order to destroy it.
The 22nd clause of the same act 'saki s soy printer who
merely poetesses a single unstempei newspaper liable to
here all his presses wired and confiscated,
The 23rd clause empowers constable* to break open doors
fir the purpose of search ; the 18 h infi eta a penalty of 501.
on any one who distribires unetamped newspapers ; while
the 17th imposes a penalty of 201. on any one who possesses
a single Dopy of any au-h publication. Imprisonment is
awarded to those who fall in prompt payment of these
penalties.
Linder this law no eolli•ion with government has yet
taken place. The penalty is too sevi re, and too stringent
to be braved by any person who is not prepared for utter
ruin. But the law ie not kept strictly, nor is it possible
that it should he, unless the goven.reent were to
acquire the habits of surveillance exploded in continental
steel.
The tax on newerithen origine'ed with the oligarchy.
The middle classes are not respimeible fur it, bat they will
become so if they do not use their growing power to
remove it. In the movement now commenced by them,
but which has not yet assumed its final shape, the
working classes claim to take their pert, and to be
heard in defence of their rights and of their opinions.
If the middle cla•srs wish to improve the condition
of those less fortunate than themselves, they have now
a golden opportunity. The reduction of the duty (a mea-
sure of which they have reaped the chief benefit) was earned
almost entirely without their aseistance. Let them, in their
turn, carry that total repeal which will benefit all who have
an interest in the spread of Imoe ledge or the progress of
, truth. It is only by their assistance that this can be done in
that perfectly legal manner which is the peculiar character-
istic of the middle class reformers of Great Britain,
We believe that a free press would affird a quiet outlet to
feelings and opinions which it is alike unjust and unsafe to
repress, that it would enhance the peaceableness of any
future agitation, and render society secure by inspir:ng the
unhappy with hope and the indignant with patience. If we
turn to foreign countries we find this view confirmed. The
destruction of order has often been followed, but never
preceded, by the freedom of the press. It is only when the
cry of the oppressed is stifled, and the right of free utterance
denied, that the dumb speak in the roll- of musketry under
the protection of harriradea.
We call, therefore, on you, the reformers of the Gaited
Kingdom, while yet your movement is scarcely begun, to
clear the way for a free diseumioa of the people's rights and
' the people's grievances, by demanding the exemption of the
press from all taxation and its emancipation from all control
except that exercised by a court of law.

DEBTOR AND CREDITOR. —A respectable grocer,
living within one hundred miles of Pontypool, having heard
that one of his debtors had that morning started to Lir. r.
pool en route for America, immediately followed the party.
When be arrived in Liverpool he lost no time in calling on
an attorney, stating that the party owed him 161., and he
was determined to have him arrested. He was advised that ,1
he could do nothing unless the mats owed him 201. This
puzzled the grocer, who still vowed vengeance. A thought
came into his head, however, that if he could find the delis-1
quent he would ask him in a friendly way to take a glue of
ale, and offer to lend him 41., which would snake his debt
201. He had no sooner thought of the rues than acted upon
it. He soon found out his customer; the bait took ; he
handed him the 41., sad went forthwith to his attorney and
made affidavit of his debt, to whom he also paid 41. expenses
of the writ, tic. Unartunately, however. before the writ
mill be placed in the hands of the sheriff the debtor was on
board the vessel, and far enough out of reach of the luckless
creditor, who thus pail dearly for kis jaunt to Liverpool.—
Limpet &Godard.