Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-22 00:00:00

OPPRESSIONS OF.THE PRESS

If it be a national blessing to have the people
intelligent and well-informed —and no one, at this
time of day, we think, will deny that it is----then

is the Press eminently entitled to be regarded as a
national benefactor. We say nothing of it now as
to its liberty—as that which constitutes what haS
been so 'truly described, as " the pallathum of all,
the civil, political, and religious rights of an
Englishman." We speak of it at present as the
great public instructor that it is, in a general and
comprehensive point of view. The civilised world
has grown old enough to know, that it is of pri-
mary importance to the best interests of society,
to promote a general diffusion of knowledge.
Public opinion, to be beneficial, must be enlightened ;
and it is by this means that it is to become' so.
Not that knowledge; more particularly popular
knowledge, is to be, understood as comprising all
that is contained in the large term of education,
which, to be real and effectual, must have regard
to the disciplining of the feelings, the restraining
of 'the passions, the inspiration of worthy motives,
and the inculcation of pure religion and morality.
But •knowledge is an essential element in the accom-
plishment of all this. And in every•part Of the

process, from the beginning to the end, the Press is

a powerful, an indispensable means of giving pra.e-

tical,effect to it

-Now if this be so —and that it is, can scarely be
questioned—it certainly can never be just or
reasonable, or otherwise, in fact, than most inju-

nions, to .oppress such an, instrumentality ; rather
must it be the part of true wisdom and benevo-
lence to.encourage and enforce it. Yet it used not
so to be considered. The policy of former times
was to hamper, and harass, and obstruct the Press,

in every conceivable way—more especially the
newspaper Press. There are statutes still in ex-
istence, if not in force, the object of which was
precisely of that kind. Whigs and Tories alike
.e afraid of the Press, just because they were
afraid of the truths it disclosed, and of the intelli-
gence .it diffused. Their deeds, if not positively
evil, were at least not really good, and therefore
they stood. in dread of the light which the Press
shed abroad. The Stamp-Office restrictions upon
it were, many of them, imposed as obstacles to the
free action .of so powerful, and, as such politicians
used secretly to think, so dangerous an engine.
And publishers had, as it were, to be •licensed ere
they dared to set to work to enlighten the public
with intelligence, or instruct it with knowledge.
But, as MILTON has observed, in his Essay on
Unlicensed ,Printing, " truth and understanding
are Rot stich.wares as to be monopolised and traded
in by tickets, .and statutes, and standards. We
must not, he _continues, " think to make a staple
commodity of the knowledge in the land, to
mark and license it -like our broad cloth and

our woc

but a

What is it," he asks
servitude like that imposed by the Philistines,
not to be allowed the sharpening of our
own axes ,and coulters, but we must repair 'from
licensing forges ?" A

all quarters to twenty
servitude, and a base and a baneful one, it .cer-
And one's wonder is, that our statute-
book should yet be encumbered and disgraced 'by
[enactments for still enforcing it ; although a Bill
has now at length been. brought in, in the House
of Commons, to -repeal -them.
Then there is the Paper Duty
oppression and obstruction it is to the Press, in its
work of conveying intelligeree, and furnishing
inKtruetion, to the masses of ;the people. It first
oppresses and obstructs the ;Paper-maker, who
may be ,considered as an integral portion of the
great instrumental agency of the Press, in its
comprehmsive character, and its ;practical influ-
ences. It is an impost which, by placing him
under the regulations of the Excise, subjects him
to severe hindrances and vexatious annoyances, in
the prosecution of his trade; and thereby, as well
as by the tax itself, has the effect of raising the
price of that indispensable commodity. The
printers of cheap publications—the proprietors
cheap newspapers, and other popular periodicals,
more especially—experience it as a clog upon all
their efforts to provide information and instruction
which shall be .accessible to the great
.body of the
people. Such information and instruction cannot
but be most conducive to the interests of the whole
It cannot but have a very powerful. i

tainly was.

community

See what at

effect in enlightening that public opinion which,
after all, is the great governing principle in our
political institutions now-a-days. It is therefore,
as a national influence, entitled to a nation's
regard. Everything should be done to improve,
and encourage, and promote the success of the
means of diffusing such an influence among all
classes of the people. But the Paper Duty, we
repeat, has a directly Contrary.- effect. It is felt,
and severely felt, as an Obstruction and an op-
pression.

The effort to repeal the statutes which would
subject the Press to the Stamp-office and other
oppressions, to which we have alluded, will no
doubt'be successful—if only because it is admitted
on all hands to be unwise to retain enactments,
which no law-officer of the Crown would dare to
put in force. But the Paper Dtity is an infinitely,

greater practical grievance than all those enact-
ments put together, even could they be enforbed
ever so readily. The Paper Duty is to the Press

a real and very grievous oppression, and especially
to that large and influential portion of the Press
which may, be said more particularly

designed for the people

to be

It is an oppression, a

most grievous oppression, to those who are making
often the most praisewOrthy exertions to circulate
important intelligence,

and the most

useful information generally, among those who,

but for a cheap Press, would be utterly deprived

of so great an advantage

and it is an oppression

to the people themselves, against whose interests,
as the principal supporters, after all, of the cheap

Press, it in many ways militates so injuriously

THE .LICENSED VICTUALLERS' ASSOCIATION. A
special meeting of the trustees and committee of the
Liverpool Licensed Victuallers' Association was held
yesterday, at which the following resolutions on dock
rating were unanimously adopted :—" 1. That property
of every, description should contribute a fair proportion
towards iocal taxation, and that the exemption from
rating hitherto enjoyed by the Liverpool dock estate,-is
partial and unjust. 2. That this committee, representing

a very numerous body of large ratepayers, use every means
in their power to forward the Local Bill now before Parlia-
ment, and request the co-operation of those members who
have rendered their valuable services in times past.

3. That the secretary be now instructed to communicate

with the different members of Parliament, with the least
possible delay, conveying a copy of the foregoing reso-

lutions

THE COURT

The Queen had a dinner party on Saturday evening at
Byckingham Palace. The company included the Princess
Alice and the Duke of Cambridge, the French Ambassa-
dor and the Duchess of Malakhoff, the Earl and Countess
of Hardwicke, the Earl and Countess of Derby, Lord and
Lady Cranworth, Lord Lyons, Colonel the Right Hon.
Cecil Foresler, and the Equerry in Waiting to the Duke
of Cambridge.

The Prince Consort presided on Saturday morning at
a meeting of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of
1851. His Royal Highness, attended by Captain the
Hon. D. de Ros, arrived at the Palace of Westminster at
eleven o'clock. The Commissioners present were—The
Marquis of Salisbury, Lord Overstone, Lord John
Manners, the Right Hon. Sir G. C. Lewis, Bart., the
Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., the Right Hon. J. W.
Henley, M.P., Sir Alexander Spearman, Bart., Sir
Charles Barry, Sir William Cubitt, Sir Charles.,Eastlake,
Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Roderick Murchison, Mr. Thomas
Baring, M.P., Mr. Bazley, M.P., Mr. Coulson, Q.C.,
Dilke, Mr.. Joseph Locke, M.P., Mr T. P. Gibson, and
Mr. Gott. Mr. Edgar Bowring, Secretary to the Royal
Commission, was in attendance. The meeting broke up
at half-past two o'clock.

Prince Leopold visited the Zoological Gardeni in the
Regent's Park.
On Sunday the Queen and Prince Consort, the Prin-
cesses Alice and Helena, the Ladies and Gentlemen of
the Court, and the Damestic Household, attended Divine
Service in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace.
The Bishop of London preached the sermon.

Despatches were sent from the :Colonial-office on
Saturday to the Governors of Ceylon, Hong-Kong, the
Mauritius, and Labuan.

His Excellency Lord Lyons will embark this week from
Liverpool for America,
.to succeed Lord Napier, as British
Minister at Washington.
TIIE WooLskex..—Should Lord Chelmsfoi:d retire from
the woolsack, to take his seat on the bench as Lord Chief
Justice of the Common Pleas, it is expected that Lord
Kingsdown will be his successor.

COAST GUARD APPOINTMENTS.—Lieutenant John G.
Boileau (18:51), who has served as chief officer at Fair-
light, Hastings, since February, 1858, has been removed
to. Greystanes, Delgany, County Wicklow ; Mr., John
Mullins to Crookhaven, instead of Ballycotton; and Mr.
John Town to Bonmahon, instead of-Ballygeary.
GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.—The annual meeting of the
Fellows of this society took place on Friday last, at their
apartmentslat Somerset House, for the election of.officers
and other business. The Wollaston Medal was awarded
to Mr. Darwin, and the proceeds given to Mr. Peach.
On the following day the Fellows and their friends, to
the number of 70, dined at the Freemasons' Tavern.

DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF SANDIVICH.—Lady S iud7
with died at an early hour- on Sunday
_morning, at the
family-residence in Curzon-street, May-fair. She died
after a :very short illness ; indeed, it.thay_be said of only
a few hours, for she was engaged to dine with the
Duchess of Cambridge on Saturday evening. The de-
ceased countess was the second daughter of the late
Field-Marshal the Marquis of Anglesey, by his second
marriage with Lady Charlotte Cadogan. Her ladyship
was born on the 16th of June; 1812, and married on the
6th of September, 1838, to the Earl of Sandwich, by whom
her-ladyship leaves a numerous family. '

MUNIFICENT DeNkrioN.—Miss Atherton, of liersall
Castle,,near Manchester (a descendant of the well-known
Dr, Byrom), has made a donation of £5,000 to the Man-
chester nagged and Industrial Schools, expressing a de-
sire that the money may be applied. more particularly
towards that branch of the institution which affects " the
education and moral training of vagrant, destitute, rand
disorderly children:" After ,paying off the debt, this
donatiOn will leave £3,000 for investment. A portion of
the building is to be named the Byrom Wing, in honour
of Miss Atherton's family. .

APPREHENSION OF A MILITARY OFFICER FOR STEAL-
ING A SOVERElGN.—Considerable excitement prevailed
on Saturday at the head-quarters of the Royal Engineer
establishment, Brompton Barracks, on account of Lieut.
A. F. Baillie, an officer of the Indian Engineers, being
placed under arrest, by command of Colonel Sandhani,
on the charge of stealing a sovereign belonging to Lieut.
T. C. Manderson also an officer of Indian Engineers.
The latter officer having at various times been robbed of
money by some person entering his quarters, he was
advised to, lay a trap .to catch the offender. He therefore
marked a sovereign, which very soon disappeared. The
police kept watch, and on Friday eveEing the prisoner
sent his servant out with five sovereigns to Mr. Burfield's, '
grocer, High-street, Brompton, for a £5 Bank of
England note for the gold. On examining the sovereigns,
the one marked by Lieutenant Manderson was found
among the givers five. The circumstance was immediately
brought under the notice of the commanding officer, and
Baillie was apprehended on the charge of robbery
Information of the prisoner's apprehension, has been sent
to the Horse Guards, to ascertain what his Royal High-
,ness the Duke of Cambridge will .do in the matter.