The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-27 00:00:00

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1012014 PUtdieations as this elate. These was once a class of
newspapers which was accustomed to profane the Sunday
.by hebdomadal ribaldry and slander. Who supported those
papers? He feared it was the clubs and drawing-rooms—
not the working classes. Those publications eventually
perished, because they could get no support from the gene-
ral body of the people, and because the public would yield
no sympathy to those against whom actions for slander or
libel were brought. He would respectfully beg to makeono
observation to the hon. gentleman, that it was a remark-
able fact, and one which showed how little danger was to
be apprehended from cheap publications, that all the revo-
lutionary, profligate, and licentious literature invariably
corrupted the higher class before it reached the lower. He
knew of no exception, ancient or modern to that rule. He
was persuaded if the works of Rosseau or Voltaire were
circulated through the metropolis freely, or in our large
towns, they would not have six months popularity after
the repeal of the stamp duty, for the moral corruption and
infidelity inculcated in those works would be thoroughly
exposed by sound and good writing. It appeared from the
committee of 1851. that after the reduction which took
place in 1830 two journals were established in the metro-
polis ' • and that though they were not first rate, they extin-
guished a swarm of licentious publications. Let the house
do as country gentlemen did with their fields. If they
wanted the corn to grow, let them cut down the hedge
rows, and let in the air and light. The Chancellor of' the
Exchequer had already told theni without exaggeration
that the stump duty had broken down in all directions.
There were fur 100 publications stamped, 250 unstamped,
eight only partly stamped, and all these were liable to
prosecution. (Hear, bear.) It was impossible to do
justice on one portion without prosecuting al,. Very
well ; the Chancellor of the Exchequer told the House
of Commons if they did not pass this bill they must
arm the executive with new powers to prosecute
these offenders. Ho said the House of Commons would do
no such thing. (Hear.) It was impossible for Govern-
ment to ask for new powers in 1855 to arrest the march of
information—if Government were rash enough to do this,
it would do more to expedite the march of democracy than
the incomplete Reform Bill of the noble lord the member
for the City of Londen—and the proposal would also have
the cold shadow of aristocracy in opposition to it (we un-
derstood). If it was foolish to pass such a law ; he should
be glad to see how the Attorney-General would act if he
had new powers. He should like to see Government at-
tempt to prosecute under such a law. He would tell Go-
vernment that the law was virtually dead ; they might
retain the sword in their nerveless hand, but he would
defy them to animate its muscles to strike the blow.
(Hear, hear.) He would now come to his hon. friend's
amendment, which his hen, friend had based on the ground
of revenue. The right hon. gentleman the Chancellor of
the Exchequer told the house that if the duty was abo-
lished it might be necessary to call for additional taxes in
order to prosecute the war. But what was it we were
waging war against ? Not against Russia, as she was our
natural ally; but against barbarism and usurpation. But
if we were willing to incur a large expenditure for that
purpose, would it not be better to incur the small expen-
diture of 250,000/. in the promotion of civilisation and
freedom? He would ask honourable gentlemen who re-
fused to concur in Russian usurpation, whether they
would consent to that usurpation which deprived our
fellow-subjects of the liberty of publishing their opinions
on the affairs of the day ? Could there be a more hate-
ful thing than for an Attorney-General to say to a
young journalist, " Your publication contains informa-
tion of value, but as you are not rich enough to pay for
publishing your opinions, the law must be called in to
ruin you ?" (Hear.) He denied that the Chancellor of
the Exchequer would lose a single farthing by the mea-
sure if it were carried, or if he adopted the principle of the
former bill, to admit all printed publications at a propor-
tional charge. Twenty years ago that was a portion of his
scheme ; for he then convinced himself that printed matter
of any kind, whether commercial, scientific, or religious,
hould have the same liberty of publication. And would
hat right hon. gentleman restrain the diffusion and pub-
-11 cation of such works merely for the sake of saving
50,0001. a year ? Re considered that the objects aimed
t were beyond all price. (Hear.) He should not have
h ad the pain to differ from his hon. friend's if some into-
• ted party had not sought to alarm them by acts and as-
• tiens so extravagant, and so opposed to the sense of all
acquainted with the practical condition of our literature,
at he was sure that those who made the assertions would,
hemselves be the first to laugh at them. The hon. baro-
net had referred to a circular which had been sent abroad
gal net the Stamp Bill. This bugbear, as it was termed
y the hon. baronet, stated that the most active agents for
tanning the remission of the stamp duty were persons
whose ebject was the diffusion of principles adverse to re-
f on and the rights of property. Now, he did not know
who was alluded to—who were the chief supporters of the
epeal. The hon. member for the West Riling held ex-
reme opinions, but he manfully avowed them, and it had
never been imputed to him that he held opinions adverse
to religion. Then there was Lord Brougham, Lord Camp-
bell, and Lord Lyndhurst—three judges of the land ; and
hen there was that natural foe to the rights of property,
he heir of the house of Derby. (Laughter.) Next, there
ware those notorious enemies to religion, the two represen-
tatives:of the University of Oxford. And amongst the most
active agents for the change were her Majesty's Ministers,
who latterly, at least, appeate d 1 to be well satisfied
with what he would call the established order of things.
(Laughter.) He found that all the charges against the
supporters of the repeal of the duty were comprised in two
lines of the circular. One was a libel against the character
' of those who wished to make newspapers cheap, and the
other a libel on those who would read them. Horace
Walpole once said of a lady that she had as fine a set of
tooth as a lady could have who bad only two, and both of
them black. (Laughter.) He hoped his hon. friends
around him would not be induced to oppose a measure
that would tend to diffuse Conservative opinions among
the working classes. That appeared to be the only chance
of getting Conservative opinions fairly before the working
people—fairly before those tens of thousands of voters
among whom it was the duty of Conservative members to
appeal for their seats in Parliament. He had yet to learn
that there was a single Conservative journal that had pene-
trated to the working classes. The right hoe. gentleman
the member for Droitwitch, in his luminous speech rela-
tive to the education of the people, referred to the letters
from private soldiers in the Cri:nea which had excited so
much admiration. How were the, minds of those soldiers
trained 2—was it not in a great measure by cheap publica-
tions which they read when children? This simnel how
little fear need be entertained at the diffusion of cheap
knowledge. Do not let the house suppose that a penny
tax was a slight imposition. Once there existed a daily
paper called the ,Veetator—Addison and Steele were the
contributors • that penny paper did more to reform the
manners of the people than half the books that were written.
Suddenly a penny Mx was laid on the paper, and so ono
morning that pleasing instructor which brought philoso-
phy to our firesides vanished from our homes ; the penny
tax extinguished it, and that alliance which genius esta-
blished between mirth and wisdom was rudely repealed.
He was convinced—and he said it from .his heart—if a
Conservative journal was established, embracing moderate
opinions, and edited by some man who knew the tastes
and feelings of the working classes (there were many
squires and clergymen who did), and being thoroughly in
earnest, it would do more to popularise Conservative opi-
nions than half the speeches that where made in that house.
What was Conservatism ? It was not that which three-
fourths of the Conservative journals represented. It was
not a system of restraint or terror ; it was a warm, gene-
rous love of law and the glorious constitution of the land
we live in. And what was the constitution ? It was not
a fragile form that shrank from every breath of air, or that
could not stand the rode shock of the tempest. No, it was
of robust organisation, of sound principles, which received
life and soul, not more from the wisdom of statesmen than
from the courage of patriots. And if it was such, ware
they not bound, as true Conservatives, to show that they
adhered to the constitution ; that it needed no additional
reform bill; that it wanted only change in order to give
the people now avenues to knowledge and to make them
wise and better. Ho believed it was their duty as true
Conservatives to show that they did not fear the common
sense of the country—that they did not fear any class in
the country in fair discussion, because they wereconvinced
that in proportion as they widened the field of intelligence
and literature by raising up new and cheap publications
which a worthless law forbade them, they should be doing
their cause and their country a service. He should give
his cordial support to the principle of the measure.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL rose to explain the present
state of the law, as it had been already several times alluded
to. For many years past a certain class of journals devoted
to one single object, such as the Athenceum, the Lite-
rary Gazette, the Builder, the Musical Times, the Jurist,
and certain other papers devoted to purely legal sub-
jects, had enjoyed an immunity, by the indulgence of those
who administered the revenue, from the tax on newspapers
—a tax which was originally imposed, not on fiscal, but on
political considerations. The thread thus given to the
papers of the class described called into existence, is the
course of time, another class of papers, not devoted to the
higher and more intellectual subjects, but which the In-
land Revenue tolerated, inasmuch as they did not convey
all that was usually expected in a newspaper, and did not
interfere with politics. Such were the Racing limes and
the Police Gazette. But then, after a while, some of those
papers began to publish what was really news, and it be-
came a question whether one paragraph of this nature
made the paper liable in penalties, or if half a column was
necessary to bring it into the category of newspapers pro-
perly so called. If, on the one hand, the officers of inland
revenue did not interfere with those publications to compel
them to be stamped, there was an outcry raised by the
stamped papers ; and if they did interfere with any one
paper, it immediately raised an outcry against the injustice
of singling it out for persecution. Then, as if all this was
not_e perplexing and tiresome enough, the House of Com-
n-e, at _ the instance of the right hon. member for Man-
cheater, deliberately and formally came to the resolution
that the law ought to be altered, and that the principle of
making
ona
tineenction between one paper and another *tight
not to
that the law, a; _ The hon. baronet was wrong in stating
the law, if
enforced
tdat present stood, was a dead letter, for
Powerful enough ; hat would
be the amount of Si wseebeasnereeilteral outcry, ifthew law officer
of the Crown should
ens enforce the law im-
partially against all the publiuZ
stleCesdseiaveeriGotoivemernwmbenilstowldinevhestadeabpeietnal in-
journals
duced by
of a
exempt from duty ? far the ho were allowed to be
n, baronet was cor-
rect, and in one sense their
law yeas a dead letter, for if
institute those. prosecutions he
sas those to
necessary, therefore,
he were toshould have
to appeal to juries, and vainly, in
which he had referred. It became
for the house to decide speedily and. at enc. upon
whole question. No person could admire more than he did
the tone and temper with which the hon. member for gent
had brought forward his proposition, bttt ho hadnotheard
a single argument made use of iu the course
the course which
course of his speeeh
which appeared to him sufficient to justify
fora moment
he proposed to the house to take. Assuming
that the alteration of the law would involve a ceertte7
amount of loss to the revenue, still they knew the
of that loss, and if the house were not prepared tol
to sll x
thebin
it
t
to that sacrifice they ought at (nice to put an en
measure, and not to postpone decisi,,ir upon it fur any!
ddinite period. Two Cilancellors of the Exchequer Irani
e /we forward, and bad stated that they (cnsidered the
finances of the country, notwithetatelieg the heavy de-
mands of the war, to tie in a, conditions to bear the loss.
Why, therefore, postpone tire c.insidenation and decision
of the question ? There were bOlllO persons who objected to
time principle of the measure because they considered that
time retention of the tax was requisite in order to keep up
the character arid position of the press. Its that opinion
he did nut concur, but, en the contrary, lie believed they
would do a great service to the press by getting rid of the
tax, and it certainly behoved those who wore in favour of
the continuance of the stamp to show that its repeal would
Le injurious, and no argument which he had yet heard had
succeeded in convincing him that such would be the effect.
If he believed the effect of the proposed alteration would
bo to lower the character of the public press, he should
start at once from such a proposition. He did not believe
that, with the continuance of the facilities of the Post-