The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-13 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 13, 1855.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer proposes to
take the second reading of the Newspaper Stamp
Bill on Monday next. We trust that the Right
Hon. Gentleman may arrive at a sounder conclu-
sion during the intermediate period, and that on
the appointed day it may only be brought forward
in order to be postponed until Rext session, if it
be not permanently withdrawn. Should it, how-
ever, prove otherwise—should the new Financial
Minister still persist, despite the cogent reasons
and unanswerable arguments put forward by jour-
nalists of all classes and varieties of political
opinion, we must trust to the independent repre
sentatives of independent constituencies to give
the ill-advised measure the coup de grace, so that
it may not again be brought forward as a Govern
ment measure, or under the auspices of the Finan-
cial Minister.

Of all the so-called taxes on knowledge, the
Newspaper Stamp was that against which least
could be objected. The advertisement duty and
paper duty were mere burdens, without any com
pensation whatsoever. They were matters, too,
affecting the community far more than newspaper
proprietors. It was the tradesman who desired
to call public attention to the matters in which
he dealt, the person seeking employment, and
others of a similar character, that chiefly benefited
by the abolition of that most inequitable and im-
politic impost. They were thereby enabled to
make their wants known at a comparatively trifling
cost ; for R e may add that an overwhelm-
ing majority of the well-established journals
reduced their prices by even more than the
amount that had been relinquished by the Stamp-
office. The alteration was therefore a pure and
unmitigated benefit to the community, and wr
believe that it has been no loss to the Exchequer,
but that the direct loss has been abundantly indi-
rectly compensated from divers sources.

It was, however, very different with respect to
the stamp. That, as we have repeatedly stated,
and as unanimously affirmed at the great meeting
of Proprietors was " fully compensated by the un-
limited trans/mission of newspapers through the
post t" for although " the post is not used for all
newspapers, the
service rendered is in the aggre-
gate a fair equivalent for the stamp, and tends to
equalise the diffusion of information through the
,whole community!" 'Under the
existing system
newspaper was not limited to one transmission
through the post. It may be sent
nian
and it is notorious that many peronay
ti
in the
country combine to take a respectable journal, in
consequence of the facilities afforded of
trans_
witting it from hand to hand free of ex_
pease. It is true that this may still be done,
bat only for a limited time, and by stamped
papers. Those that retain the stamp will
therefore receive no benefit, while every tempta-
tion would be afforded to the production of jour-
nals of a very inferior description, striving to
attain a spurious popularity by pandering to the
worst passions of the ignorant and prejudiced por-
tion of the community. Every village would
have its privileged spy, substituting local gossip
and personality of the most unjustifiable and
vexatious character for the accurate information
and rational comments now offered respecting
passing events. Would this he considered as an
improvement by the community? We believe

not. The measure has been unhesitatingly
repudiated by • established journals with
singular unanimity. They reject the pre-
tended boon, and show that, to use the
words of its author, the late Chancellor of the
Exchequer, on another subject they regard it
as " a blow darkly aimed by an official hand !"
We can easily conceive that the " fatal gist"
might be intended only as the precursor of string-
ent measures for restricting and fettering the
freedom of the Press. The Fourth Estate has
achieved great power. While carefully avoiding
the abuses that prevail in other lands,
it has obtained extraordinary influence.
Its liberty has never degenerated into li-
centiousness. While ready to expose any
grievance, and to insist on justice to the many,
it has carefully avoided detraction and calumny.
Of course there must be exceptions to every
general rule, but if we consider the vast power of
the Fourth Estate, we can only express our
astonishment that the limits of legitimate discus-
sion have been so seldom transgressed.
We may safely assert that, under the existing
regulations, " the Press of this country has
attained a state of unequalled efficiency and
general freedom from excesses against the laws
and decencies of society." Is this state of affairs
to be lightly hazarded 7
We think not, and we believe the public will
agree in the opinion. Under these circumstances,
we ask, in common with our brethren, that the
measure which may hazard such a state of affairs
should not be lightly or recklessly carried, but
that it should, in the first instance, receive the
due consideration which its importance so impe-
ratively demands.

What is the meaning of the word Nationa.
We don't ask the question in reference to habits,
feelings, literature, arms, flags, musical airs, or
the drama ; nor yet in relation to a certain im-
mense debt, exceeding eight hundred millions in
amount, for who is ignorant of the meaning of the
word national under such circumstances ? Who
but knows that the National Debt is the debt of
every body in Great Britain and Ireland that can
pay, or is doomed hereafter to pay, taxes. No ;
our inquiry relates simply to public schools and
universities, recognised as national institutions,
especially when there is anything to be received
from the public purse.
And really the question seems a very necessary
one, for a proper interpretation of the word by no
means obtains currency in certain quarters. In-
stead of Oxford, Cambridge, &c., being regarded
as institutions open for the benefit of members
of all classes in the state they are evidently
looked upon as the inheritance of a few,
as Church of England schools, in fact, for certain
classes of the Church of England. Now, we take
it, this is a great mistake. A vast proportion of
the endowments of these places of learning was
taken from the Roman Catholic Church and con-
fided to the Establishment, as the national Church,
for the national benefit. The endowments were
put in trust for the nation ; and to accord the
benefits of the institutions they support to none
but members of the Church of England is an in-
justice which cannot much longer be tolerated.
Little harm might have been done by such exclu-
-1 sion when nine-tenths of the nation had no ob-
jection to the Established Church ; but now that
Nonconformity and Dissent, according to the late
census, have almost as many followers, the case is
widely different, and calls for the active inter-
ference of Parliament.

Entertaining these views, we have read the dc•
bate on Mr. HEY WOOD'S motion for "a select

committee to inquire into the best means
of affording to the nation a full and equal parti-
cipation in all the advantages which are not of an
ecclesiastical or spiritual nature in the public
schools and universities of England and Ireland,
and of improving the educational system in these
great seats of learning, with a view to enlarge
their course of instruction, in conformity with the
requirements of the public service," with consider-
able interest, and, though the result was not so fa-
vourable as could be wished, with some satisfaction.
Mr. HEYWOOD'S case was to this effect. Recent
legislation had opened the University of Oxford
to Dissenters, but in such a manner that it could
not be expected they should avail themselves of
the opportunity. Instead of being admitted, as
they ought to be, into the College, they were only
permitted to establish halls for themselves, in
which they would have no advantage of the na-
tional endowments. A great deal, doubtless, had
been achieved by thus opening the outer gates of
the University of Oxford, but as matters now
stood, if a young man went into College he
must go to chapel, and by the Act of Uniformity
the whole service of the Church must be performed
in all Colleges, in the Universities, and in the
schools of Eton, Westminster, and Winchester.
To this point he wished to direct attention.
The report of the Royal Commissioners for
Oxford and Cambridge stated that it was
desirable that the service in the chapels
should be shorter. In his opinion there
could not be a better form of prayer than that
used in that House, and he thought students at
the Universities should have a form something
like it. But this would involve an alteration
in the Act of Uniformity. Again, when a person
in the University obtained a fellowship he was
obliged to sign a test designed to keep the Puri-
' tans out of the fellowships. This ought to be
abolished, as also certain oaths taken by members
of colleges which were net strictly true—such as
that taken by every fellow of Trinity College,
Cambridge, to the effect that he will
make theology the end of all his studies,
and at the end of seven years either go into the
ChUrch or quit the college, which oath had noto-
riously been broken in many instances. The state
of Trinity College, Dublin, too, was unsatisfactory.
When a man obtained a scholarship in that univer-
sity he was obliged to take the sacrament, so that
though a Roman Catholic might enter and obtain
an education there, he could not obtain a scholar.
ship. Not only, however, were these institutions
behind the spirit of the age in being exclusive ;
they were behind-hand in practical utility. Many
men spent their whole time in acquiring the ability
to write Greek and make Latin verses, instead of
obtaining as education adapted to the require-
ments of the present day, and the result was most
injurious to the public service.
The above, of course, is but a bare outline of
the case presented by the honourable gentleman
which certainly seemed to call for the appoint-
ment
of a committee. This was refused ; but
not without
some specific encouragement being
held out by the Premier, who advised Mr. HET-
WOOD to bring in a
bill to effect the improve-
ments he deems desirable. This, however, was
not the only encouragement to be derived from
LardALMERSTON
the debate. The speech of Lard
a speech "in aid," and will have a marked
was
effect. No one, he said, could over-state the
value of the extension of education, or the expe-
diency and justice of abolishing all distinctions
and differences of religious principle in the promo-
tion of that object; and, while judiciously dis-
criminating between an exclusively classical edu-