The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-26 00:00:00

LONDoN‘ MONDAY EVENING, MARCH 26, 1855,

SP3RIV OF TIE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

. COUNT NESSELRODE'S CIRCULAR.
( Front ate Tiin,eS of this da'y. )
The
.circular despatch of Count:Nesselrode to the di-
plomatic agents of Russia abroad is the most important
declaration
_we- have yet received of the views of the
Russian Cabinet with reference. to the negotiations at
Vienna, for it states the policy of the new reign in rela-
tion to the,present conjuncture of affairs. In addressing
his own subjects, the Emperor Alekauder had
thought fit to declare that he hoped to accomplish in
his own person the policy of Peter,, Catherine, Alexan-
der, and Nicholas ; in addressing- the -other Courts of
Europe the- Emperor speaks of nothing; beyond
the defence of the honour and integrity of Russia
and the accomplishment of the work ,of peace. He
renews his declarations of fidelity to the- obligations
of treaties, his desire Olive in good harinriny with all
the Powers, his allies and friends,, his respect for the in-
violability of other States, and his firm resolution to
maintain the rights and national honour of his own coun-
try. If this language be sincere,-we find no reason to
complain of it, fer it- is entirely at variance with the
policy purSued by the late Emperor in the'las-t two years
of his,reign. The war . in: which we are en ;ages! was
not begun in order to 'assail the rights or to conquer _the
territories of Russia. It, was undertaken solely to en-
Aree the obligations of public law, and to protect the
territories of another Power. It 'is thererole not to be
lost sight of that, when these obligations of public law
are plazeed,en a secure basis, and when the territories of
the Ottoman empire are secured from aggression, the
original and primary objects of the war are accomplished.
' This being the spirit which the Russian- Pleni-
potentiaries have been " inetructed to display at the
Conferences of Vienna, .we . are not surprised to
learn that these meetings --have thus fir proceetlel
smoothly and. successfully. A protocol containing
the arrangement proposed with reference to the
Danubian Principalities; which forms the first point in
the negotiation, has already beeu_. draWn up antOsigned,
-or at feat initialled. A second arrangement onthe free
navigation of the Danube has also been agreed to, and
may be considtred to be settled in conformity with the
views of Austria and the Western Powers. It is pro-
bable, therefore, that the discussions .which ern to take
piece in the ensuing week will bring the Pleaipetentiariee
to the third and fourth, points, on which the main diffi-
culty rests—namely, the diminution of the ,preponder-
ance of Russia in the Bleck Sea, together with the revi-
sion of the Convention of 1841, and the eetablishment
of the rights of the Christian subjects of the Porte on a
footing of freedom and equality. These are questions of
incalculably-greater difficulty than those which have al-
ready been disposed of, for they involve the existence of
the maritime power of Russia in the East end the-internal
condition of the Ottoman empire. The Russian Mini-'
.stars showed their tact and-judgment in passing lightly
over the first articles, when others of so much greater
consequence lay behind ; and nothing whatever can be
inferred from the progress hitherto made until the ques-
tions really in dispute are brought under the considera-
tion of the Congress.

Another motive may, however, be assiened for the
facility and promptitude with which the Russians have
yielded on the subject of the Principalities and the navi-
gation of the Danube. Those are the two points which
most reedy concern the interests of Austria., and, by
surrendering them, Russia no doubt hopes to lessen
the firmness with which Austria adheres to the collec-
tive determination of the Allied Powers. We cenriot
suppose, however, that the Cabinet of Vienna will be
the dupe of so palpable an artifice, which would lead
to an act of great injustice and had faith. It may be
true that these two points concern Austria more than
the Western Powers, because the Danube intersects her
terrtory, and the lower provinceesurreund the Austrian.
frontier. The abolition of the separate treaties placing
those provinces under a Russian protectorate and the
opening of the mouths of the river are an immense boon
to Austria. But how has she obtained it ? She has ob-
tained these advantages by the arms of the Western
Powers, and by her own resolution to support their po-
licy. These two points form a portion of a joint and
identical arrangement, of which one part may be more
acceptable to one State and another to another,
_but
which, in reality, owes its strength and its success to
their union. It would be wholly inconsistent with the
spirit of the Notes of the Bth of August and of the
Treaty of the 2d of December to separate the four pro-
positions, which form one indivisible whole ; and, in
exchange for the support they have given to the terms
mainly affecting Austria, France and England are en-
titled to expect from Austria the same support to all
the conditions-treinanded of Russia. The Austrian Mi-
nisters in the Conference have hitherto shown a firm
disposition to adhere to the cause of the Western Powers,
which is also that of peace. Austria knows that no
solid peace can be restored so long as Russia retains her
absolute preponderance over the Black Sea, and as long
a 3 the relations of the Christian populations of the East
to their Sovereign are unsettled ; and, although her
military honour is not engaged, like that of France and
England, in the attack on Sebastopol, the results of that
enterprise are not less important to the policy of Austria
than to that of the Western Powers.
We are not in tie condition at this moment to form
any definite or decided opinion ,on the momentous
question -which the Plenipotentiaries now as-
sembled at Vienna will be called upon within a few
days to consider and to solve, for the facts on which their
judgment must be formed are still very imperfectly
known, even to the members of the Conference, and we
cannot weigh without extreme hesitation and anxiety en
alternative of such fatal consequence to the public and
private interests of mankind. It would be culpable to
throw a'A ay an honest chance of peace upon any punc-
tilious or hasty motive; but'it would be not less culpable
to attempt to terminate these hostilities before the end
for which they were commenced is attained. We have
never shared, and we do not now share, the views put
forward by the more eater of our contemporaries, who.
seem to think the territorial dismemberment of the Rus-
sian empire a very simple undertaking. Before any such
territorial questions arise at all, they must be preceded
by actual conquest or occupation ; but, although we
have invaded the Crimea, the alied armies cannot be
said to hold any part of that peninsula beyond their own
entrenched camps ; and before we can reasonably call
on Russia to surrender a werst of her dominions we
must at least have male ourselves masters of it. • As
matters now stand, upon the simple ground of uti possi-
detis no territorial question can be said to exist, and it
forms no part of our alliances with France or Austria
to attempt to make any such acquisitions at the present
stage of this war. Indeed, If any conquests' had been
made, we should be embarrassed how to dispose of
them, and they certainly would not have fallen to this
country.
But, though the territorial objects which have some-
times been pointed out as the prizss for which we are
contending would not, in our opinion, • justify a
prolongation of hostilities if peace cell be obtained with-
out them, vet for this very reason we adhere the more
inflexibly to those results which concern our rights and
soiuerizehdonsoeubar.stoOptu)lr forces
, not
t have
so
much invadedfro nitheßniseiosia, a
necessity
tyitd of bede-
stroying that place, as from a conviction that the destruc-
tion of Sebastopol would most effectually conduce to the
future peace of the East. If the results of the last cam-
paign have fallen shirt of our just expectetions, the
greater is our motive to persevere, until we have restored
our military renown and our political influence to the
highest point at which they can be placed, for it is more
consistent with the true interests of this country to pro-
long the war at all hazards, and by far greater sacrifices
than we have yet male, than to submit to a peace pur-
chased by the smallest diminution of our national cha-
racter. The British empire, extending over millions of
human beings in every part of the globe, is supported
not so much by the actual force we maintain on any
given point, as by the knowledge and belief that the
resources and the will of the people of England are
equal to any emesgency. That is the principle for which
our forefathers struggled and died in perils and against,
difficulties immeasurably greater than any which are
now before us. That principle it devolves upon us to
defend. With it we are invincible—without it we should
be on the brink of disgrace and decay. We can take
shelter under no compromise with the enemy, and,
though we are ready to grant a peace on the terms al-
ready agreed to, perhaps the highest interests of the
nation will be more effectually promoted by the vigor-
ous prosecution of the war.

THE VIENNA CONGRESS.
(Prom, the Morning Post of this day.)
It is generally understood that the Congress of Vienna
is now approaching a most critical point of the negotia-
tions, and therefore of its existence.

We pointed-out some days ago that, in considering
the Four Points seriatim, the Congress might either
enter upon the conbideration, and complete the deter-
mination, of one point after another, or before entering
into details it might pass general resolutions in sue.
cession upon each point, leaving details fur future ela-
boration.

We believe that the latter of these courses has been
adopted. Indeed, had the Congress, fur instance, en-
tered fully on the first point, involving a revision of many
treaties, and the framing of a new
,Constitution for the
Danubian Principalities, a month or six weeks might
have been lost in the necessary labours and diseussiens,
and we should have presented the strange spectacle of
parties arranging details before being agreed upon gene-
ral principles.
We think we are not wrong in supposing the Congress
to have given a general assent to the propositions founded
upon tie first Two Points ; but here we must warn our
readers not to think that therefore these points are settled.
It is all very welt for the Plenipotentiaries to agree that
the Moldo-Wallachian provinces shall receive a new
protectorate -and a new constitution, and that the navi-
gation of the Danube shall be free and shall be overlooked
by authorities not exclusively Russian ; but when these
matters come to be carried out in detail, then it is that
difficulties will arise. In fact, on such points as these,
the difficulty lies almost solely in the detail. '
The Third Point'is different ; about it there is no de.
tail. It points to one great fact —the limitation of Rus-
sian preponderance in the Black Sea. To this end there
are but two means—ono, the establishment in the Mack
Sea of French and English fleet' and stations erplivalei t
to those of Rus6ia ; the otitcr, the reduction of toe
elan power, The fast of these weans is as impossible

as anything that
„is possible can be; and, though set
down as an alternative, .is really out of the question.
The second.is virtually the one means ; and, therefore,
the Congress having arrived at this vital point, the This-
sian-Plenipotentiaries will have to accept or refuse,that
which directly involves the humiliatio,i of Russia.

We 'are afraid • that nothing • has yet occurred
Which can give rise to- any hope that Russia will
subscribe to our terms. The late Emperor, cou'd he have
bent his will to the unpleasnt taSk, had at any rate the
power to Make peace. The present Emperor, on the
contrary, we fear, having the will, lacks the power.
Lord John Russell, it is most probable, will be able
to return to Englarid in some 10 days,. bringing, as the
Ronan Ambassador of old, peace or war in the folds
of his mantle. For now it is to be decided at Vienna
whether Russia shall be bound within her own terri-
tories, and effectual barriers opposed .ta..her aggresion
by land or sea ; or whether the, war is to proceed on a
larger or more terrible scale than ever.,-.-whether, in one
word, we are Row to secure a permanent peace, or whe-
ther it has yet to.be conquered.. • •

THE DISMANTLING OF SEB iSTOPOL.
(From the Daily News of this day.)

,It was whispered on. Friday—it was confidently as-
serted" on Saturday—that the Allies no longer intend to
insist upon the dismantling of Sebastopol.' It was said
that Au-trig refused to support such a demand on the
part of the Western powers ; that the English Ministers,
aftsr a brief demur, gave up the point; and that, la-tiy,
the Emperor of the French consented to-a complete eva-
cuation of the Crimea, Sebast Tel beicg left standing.
The rciklit-given -to these statements, by monetary po-
tentates, was vouched for by their Lrge operations in
the" French and English Funds. For our own part, we
confess that we cannot believe the report, with the words
used by the English Plenipotentiary at Vienna, when
he pointed to Sebastopol, last June. as a permanent me-
nace to Constantinople, fresh in 'OW memory, and with
the knowledge or'how mach the heart of. the French
Empeior is set upon the capture of that fortress, and
what a deep stake he has in the successful issue of the
attempt. Our faith in the weakness' and inconsequence
of statesmen is tolerably strong, but the call to believe
that the French and English Governments will leave
Sebastopol standing, lifter all that has' been said and
done, tries it rather too severely.. • .

Mr. Disraeli's e,pec:al ergan-in the press has put forth
a laboured piece of special pleading to prove that there
would he no danger in sparing Sehastopel. Sufficient
Iguarantees for the stability of the Ottoman Empire, the
free navigation of the Euxine, and the peace and inde-
pendence of Europe, may be had, according to the Dis-
raeli organ, without , the dismantling of Sebastopol.
"An armed port is in itself only defelisiVe." "Sebas-
topol is menacing only when it shelters a powerful fleet."
" Russia without a fleet in. thel Black
.Sea is as much
deprived of aggresive pewer as if Sebastopol did not
exist as an armed port." "Russia will limit her navy
in the Black Sea to a certain number of ships, and will
allow the construction of a fortress on the Asiatic shore
of the Black Sea to counterbalance the fortress of Se-
,
-bastopol." This is the sum and substance of what the
-Di-raelites have to say in support of the proposal to
leave Sebastopol intact in the hands of the Czar. It
deserves attention as an. indication of the terms upon
which a Derby-Disraeli Cabinet would be ready to
make peace with,Russia.
• For no other reason do these arguments deserve a
second thought. It is admitted that Sebastopol, with a
powerful- fleet sheltered in its recesses, would gravely
menace the free navigation of the Black Sea nod the se-
curity of Corntentinople. And how long can Europe be
certain that it will not shelter such a fleet whilst 'its
crags bristle with bastions and artillery ! " Russia will
limit her navy in the Black Sea." That is, Russia will
yield to the pressure of the moment, and promise to do
so; but she will immediately set to Work to build ships
in anticipation of the moment when any dissensions be-
tween the Western Powers may admit of her producing
them in the Euxine with better prospects of success.
At Nicolaieff—where the Russian men-of-war for the
Euxine are built—no consuls of foreign powers are al-
lowed to establish themselves. Its arsenals and dock-
yards are closed against the inspection of strangers. A
more numerous fleet than Russia has ever yet had in
the.Euxine may be prepared there, and not a whisper
of the matter be heard in Europe. From Nicolaieff to
the sea the river is tortuous in its course, and full of
shalloWs and sand-banks ; the ships of war, when built,
have to be floated down` by the aid of what are
called "camels." The i.e.'s.. es ske was
protected by forts and batteries. The new
onus would be inaccessible in its dockyards, even
though its existence were discovered ; and Sebastopol
—strengthened as it doubtless will be if lett in the
possession of Russia— would afford the ft et a secure
asylum as soon as an opportunity was obtained of get-
ting it safely into the waters of the Black Sea. Sebas-
topol is of no use to Russia except as a ground Of vant-
age wherei she may at any moment assail Con§tantino-
mpleen;t andciin
clings
etoo bi
tsst i
pn ao Lye
sws
ot with which
shows t
that
utshseiadne
sGi
gonvse r
on f-
Peter
u and, Catherine against Turkey are not yet
extraordinaryrelin-
rtelatestothe "set-off '' which
part of this pre-
cious
Russia is represented as willing to concede to the Allies.
aemn most
Russia "will, allow the construction of a fortress on the
oishs relin-
quished.
a;
gu Bmnet n the
Asiatic shore of the Black Sea to counterbalance the
fortress of Sebastopol." We have heard of this before,
and we believe that Russia would rejoice to see such a
fortress reared and garrisoned by the Western Powers
--because it would be the first decided step towards
the partition of Turkey. The trap is too obvious to de-
ceive any but a statesman of the Fakreddin school.
There can be no security for the free navigation of the
Black Sea, and the development of the commerce of the
surrounding regions, so long as Russia is left in posses-
sion of the Crimea. The position of the Muscovite Go-
vernment in Sebastopol is exactly analogous to that of
the Highland caterans of the first half of last century
among the natural festnesies around Loch Katrine.
Until practicable roads were carried through that re-
gion—after the rebellion of '45—the marauders who oc-
cupied these strongholds were a perpetual thorn in the
sides of the industrious lowlanders. They watched the
moment for a successful foray, and levied black-mail with
impunity, confident that even if a force greater than
they could resist were brought against them they could
fall back upon the inaccessible regions behind until the
storni blew over. In like manner, so long as Russia can
exclude foreigners from the Crimea and adjoining steppes,
she can intermit the levying of black mail in the Euxine,
and her forays in the lands of the Sultan when Europe
rises in arms to supprees them, and resume her spolia-
tions when peace is restored. The forts which crown the
crags and cover the windings and creeks of the harbour
of Sebastopol must be dismantled, and the Crimea ren-
dered accessible to the nations of Europe, or there will
be no lasting security for peaceable traders in the Black
Sea.

While such weighty reasons can be adduced for the
dismantling of Sebastopol, as a sine qux non of peace,
we cannot believe that it is in the contemplation of the
Western Powers to desist from insisting on that condi-
tion. The report that they are so disposed has possibly
had its origin in an imperfect account of an opinion, at-
tribured to the Emperor of the French, that Sebastopol
is t )o strong to be taken by assault ;_ and that its reduc-
tion must be accomplished, after the Russian armies
have been driven out of the Crimea, by the more tedious
process of a strict blockade.

THE NEWSPAPER DOCTORS.
(Front the Examiner.
Fortune still favours the Manchester assault upon the
Newspaper Stamp, from which Mr. Bright, its ablest
,
Theand sewmost
Chancellorpertinacious spokesman,heE x
Exchequer, indeed considers
expects "vast results."
such expectations to be quite erroneous, and "does nob
expect that a great number of new newspapers will be '
established &the stamp duty should be removed :" but
he nevertheless gives way to the opinion of Mr. Biight
and his friends, and consents to abolish what they de-
clare to be a tax upon knowledge.
This it is to be constituted, malgre lui,
Physician to
Newspapers. In obedience to a demand as prompt and
urgent as that which cauxel H. Sganarelle to consent to
the blistering of other men's backs that he might be
save] from the bruising of his own, Sir Cornewall Lewis
advances to Mr. Bright's rescue. Our Chancellor of the
Exchequer came into office, as we all know, fresh from
the Edinburgh .Reiiew, a journal which is suppeeed;
justly or unjustly, to possess still some influence, What
use bad he made of that influence, in regard to this
particular question ! Why, under his editorship, the
Edinburgh Review laughed at the whole thing. Yea, at
the fallacy involved in denouncing the newspaper stamp
as a tax on knowledge, Sir Cernewall Lewis'sßeview
went so far out of its usual way as even to make merry.
It called the cry for repeal .a Tadpole cry. The false
reasoning of the predominating party in the committee
of the house, and the onesidedness of the witnesses, were
by the same grave authority exposed ; and public opinion
wee directed strongly against interference with a system
which had every consideration of right and good policy
on its side. We are not recalling all this to charee the
Chancellor of the Exchqeuer with any grievous incon-
sistency. The simple fact is, that having no real in-
terest whatever in the subject, he has manifestly never
thought about it seriously. He is quite as satisfied,
therefore, to take his opinions in the first place from a
contributor to his Review,
as, in the next place, when
the matter presses in that direction, from Messrs. Bright
and Cobden.
It is remarkable, too, that this measure, which pro-
poses—at any rate—a most serious interference with a
large commercial interest, is taken up thus at sight not
by Sir Cornewall Lewis only. Mr. Gladstone also com-
plained the other night that his introduction of the bill
bad not been voluntary. He, too, was a medicin malgre
lui. " It was rather," he said upon this point of doe-
toriog the newspapers, " in deference to the 'strong and
unanimous opinion of the house that the Government
gave way, and not because they thought that the pro-
position was a wise and prudent one. But the strong
opinion of the house was one thing, and the strong
opinion of Mr. Bright another. The house had affirmed
only, in view of the confusion caused by prosecutions
arising from an imperfect legal definition of a newspaper,
that the existing law,
being ill defined and unequal in
operation. ealed for the early attention of Parliament.
• What alone the house was pledged to by its decimation,
, was to get rid of -the difficulties and coninsicn in certain

acts of Parliament, which, by their blundering, had on-
-settled some portions of the press. But this would not
satisfy Mr. Bright. His support was to be oUlined by no-
Cling short of tumbling over the whole existing system.
Newspaper proprietors were to be involved in all kinds
of confusion
,and difficulty, they were to have acts of
Parliament arranging- tie matter even more intricate
Wan those complained of, and nothing was to be done
that was not done in such a way as to reduce the effi-
ciency, if not the profits, of the leading established news_
pap -r4. This was the price of Mr. Bright's support
and it is to be "'aid accordingly. It meet surely be re_
gard,A us a public benefit, when it is thus at any cost to
be secured.

But, by way of re-assurance apiast being thus thing
as sops into the jaws of any Cerberos, any three gentle-
men of Maochest,r representing the people of England,
we are told that other advantages are in preparation for
us ; we are to be made sound and whole ; we are to be
saved from a great many matters of complaint. "I for
one," says Mr. Gladstone, "am determined to do all
in my_ power completely to set free the press." The
" burdens on the press" are to be removed by the
State doctors. The press all the while is in the posi_
tion of M. Pourcea'ognac, who stoutly declares to the
whole army of physicians that ho wants no physic.
" What cla you want of me ?" he asks—" To cure you,"
answer his kind friends ; " to cure you, according to the
order that Las been7given us."--" Cure me ! but, gentle-
I am not ailing."—" Bad sign," say his tormen-
tors, " when a patient ne sent pas son ;gal."—" I tell
you," cries the victim, " that I am in most excellent
condition."—" We know better than you what your
condition is," say th.se inexorable sons of Galen. "We
are physicians, w1:0 can see down to the bottom of your
constitution."

One is obliged to have recourse to the most extrama-
pot absurdities of Moliere fur a parallel to the pro-
posel interference with the constitution of the 'news-
paper pres's, Morally, Ale only "revolution" possible
,---71 f-we look at the -argument-of the revolutionists—is
the creation of a mass of indifferent literature at the
expense of that which is good ; the establishment of
petty local newspapers ; and an obstruction to the
working of the most essential clement in the useful-
ness of the exist ng system, a wide diffusion and free
interchange of opinion between town a town, pro-
vince and province. Commercially the only revolution
poFslb!e will be the mulcting in some sene of every
prosperous newspaper establishment, which now sup-
ports what with truth is called " law and order," for
the sal e •if justice—in order to beget a large mrin of
unprosperous establishments set on foot by the lowest
elms ofspeculator3, who will he willing to suppm t what
any Mini-ter for the time being may call " law and
order," f.r. the cake of hire. We may, or may not be-
hewn in the possibility of such a result following the pro-
posed changes, but if, as their warmest supp,rters say,
there are indeed to be " vast results," this will be their
character.

'1 he whole measure, in short, is full of irjustico and
confusion. The only decent thing to be said of it is that
there zre tot hom.l)te3 tot sententice as to the effect it will
have. Toe press, it is said, does riot know its own busi-
ness, a! ,d has unnecessary fears ; yet, an: _mg those
who affect to understand the management of its
business, there is not the least particle of agree-
ment. One promoter of the new act looks for a
revolution, and another for no consequence whatever,
from the measure which they equally support. None
of the doctors can foretel what result will be obtained
by the remedies they are going to administer. The pub-
lic is to be amused with a case of legislation in the dark,
of which it can only be affirmed that when we open our
eyes we shall see what we shall see. And all this for
nothing more imperative than the removal of a technical
difficulty which had annoyed the lawyers of the Crown.
Tile bear strikes to remove the fly, and the skull is broken
on which the fly had settled.

THE NEWSPAPER STAMP.
(Prom the Daily News of this day.)
One would suppose, from the language of our contem-
poraries of the London daily press, that a fierce perse-
cution was about to be directed against them. All,
without exception, Free Traders and Anti-Free Traders,
concur in opposing the Newspaper Stamp Bill ; and yet
if this bill becomes law, its immediate effect upon all
existing newspapers cannot be otherwise than highly
beneficial. Its secondary effect, by -
lication of -cheap news nee,
existence cornma into
s, is little to be dreaded.
--
however, their cheaper rivals have any
deteriorating influence en the commercial prospects of
existing newspapers, no free-trader has any right to ob-
ject to the bill on that ground. The principle upon
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer has acted in
framing the bill is precisely that which ought to he
adopted, viz. :—That news is not in itself a proper sub-
ject for taxation ; but that there is no reason for dis-
turbing the, present postal scale for the conveyance of
newspapers.. Stamping, therefore, is to be no longer
compulsory. Any one is to be at liberty to publish a
newspaper untaxed, unregistered, and altogether un-
fettered. If, however, the present postal facilities are
desired, they may be obtained on the same conditions as
at present, viz., registration, and the giving of securi-
ties, &c.—and to any extent demanded. In short, the
whole or part of any issue :may pass through the post on
the same terms as at present. Unstamped copies (by
sec. xi.) are to be charged letter rates of postage. This
charge, we think, must have been accidentally imposed,
and we hope the section will be amended. Unstamped
periodicals ought to pass at book•postage rates. The bill
proposes no other alterations in the law than the above.
Can the existing newspapers complain of the immediate
effect of these enactments ? In no wise. But they may
complain, and the Times does so, of omissions. That
journal says that whereas it has frequently to pay three-
halfpence per copy, it ought only to pay one penny, as
there should be no restriction on the size of a newspaper.
It complains that other newspapers being smaller go
through the post for one penny ; that, therefore, the law is
to remain unchanged in this respect simply for the purpose
of injuring the Times, and that the reason why the Times
is so chosen for extra taxation is because it administers
to the public good. " Why," says the big journal, "why,
in the name of justice, should we be visited with a
penalty for administering to the public good without in-
jury to any one, though at some cost to ourselves ?" Now
it strikes us that the reason why the Times ought to pay
more for being carried through the post is because it is
heavier and larger. As it is, the Post-office gains little
by newspapers ; and were its charges diminished, it
would positively lose. With much more justice might we
say, " Why should our little evenieg edition, the Ex-
press, pay as much for postage as the big papers ?" Tile
Times, out of pure benevolence, sometimes gives the
public eight additional pages. Unfortunately, in this
heavily-taxed country, the benevolent man who :pelvis
2001. in goods for the poor pays twice as much to the
Government as he who only gives away 100/.'s worth.
It is the penalty of greatness. Our contemporary must
pay it as such. By the bye, in the Times of Thursday
we find the following :—" What compels us to require
more than a certain number of inches ? The pressure of
intelligence and the number of our advertisements, the
former cause being the principal." On the a tine day
the Times consisted of 72 columns, of which 26 contained
news and comments on it, while 40 were made up of
advertisement=. Each of the other papers, the Daily
News among them, had 36 columns of news and com-
ments. The arguments of the Times are simply and
ludicrously absurd, and the tone of its articles on this
subject is childish. With regard to the 1001. which the
Times occasionally loses on its daily issue we would
remark that the proprietors are very foolish to incar
such a loss, unless they find that the loss of 1001. twice
a week may be regarded as an outlay by which they

insure a proportionate gain on each of the four othe-r
days. Professor Holloway says that he finds his
profits always increase in a greater proportion than
the sums he lays out in advertising. So much for
the immediate effect of the bill on the existing news-
papers.

As to its remote effect in calling into existence cheap
rivals ; to that, whether injurious or not, we will submit
we hope with a good grace. Profoundly convinced as
we are of the soundness of the free-trade doctrines, we
dare not, whatever course self-interest may suggest, op-
pose any measure which removes artificial causes of
monopoly. Superiority may and must cause monopoly ;
monopoly never creates superiority. In the cheap dif-
fusion of news and information the public are concerned

more than ourselves. They have decided that it will be
for their benefit ; we agree with them in this opinion.

, .
It is unfortunate that the chief organs through which
their wishes can become known are precisely those to
which this public benefit may be supposed to be injuri-
ous—viz., the existing newspapers. We hope, and we
think, that we should support, as we always have done,
the removal of the newspaper stamp, even if we felt that
it would work some injury to ourselves. But we do not
feel so. We have not space at present to give our rea-
sons ; but, as the Daily News ha's been a cheap daily
stamped London newspaper, and as it is but a young
and very successful paper established at considerable
cost, and as we have at present a cheap evening edition,
it is, perhaps, not going too far to say that cur infor-
mation must be considerable on this subject, and to claim
the merit of disinterestedness. Whatever experience any
stamped newspaper--cheap, dear, big, or little—has,
that also have we : whatever any stamped newspaper
will suffer from the passing of this bill into law, that
also shall we suffer. To establish a journal like the Lon-
don morning newspapers requires many things besides
capital sufficient fur the Stamp-office and securities
' for good conduct ; such papers must always be few.
Smaller, cheaper, or merely local papers can never be-
' come the rivals of our London contemporaries. Nor
can we see how the non-necessity of stamping such news-
papers as do not pass through the post, and the conse-
quent creation of cheap local newspapers, will lower, the
tone of the press generally. Such papers can only hope
to drive the London papers out of their locality by being
themselves as good as possille ; and the present illegal
unstainned press can only hope to prevent the establish•
went of new cheap papers by the same means.
Before concluding these remaiks, we must say one
word as to the only ground upon which the present bill
may with some apfarent justice, and on which it pro•
bably will, ho opposed. We refer to its fiscal bearings.
It is said that of the 400,0001. row arising from news-
paper sia,ftpß, only 150000/. will to~ rec'Aved, and that
the revenue, now so little able to boar any dituieution,
will suffer a loss of 250,0001, We believe this fear to be

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quite unfounded. It is highly Probable that at least
one-bah` of the copies of the present newspapers will con-
tinue to fit' stamped, and in the course of_ a year new
papers will go far to make up the deficiency io stamps
alone. But in addition to this, the receipts from the
paper duty will be so considerably increased that the
revenue arising from newspapers may be positively in-
creased. As to tco assertion that the promoters of an
unstamped press will attempt the repeal of the paper
duty, and thus cut off that means of keeping the revenue
up, we may defrer the consideration of that measure until
it is proposed.