The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-05 00:00:00

sun.
VA) t

LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 5, 1855.

This evening the Newspaper Postage and
Stamp Duties Bill stands on the orders for a
second reading. A full explanation will
be given as to its details. We may, of course,
hope to leant the reasons for some provisions
which appear difficult to understand, and which have
achieved the unhappy distinction of displeasing all
parties. The Leviathan indignantly rejects all
the sops flung out for its acceptance, and roars
majestically in its cage because the measure is
not framed solely to meet its requirements, and
because the existence of any other journal is
for a moment recognised. It is not con-
tented with a more than lion's share of the
advantages, and a ten years exemption from the
disadvantages. No ; it will have all or nothing ;
and woe betide those who venture to cross its
path while its wrath is so fearfully excited. On
the ether hand, other jouinals, 'of all varieties
and shades of political opinion, naturally
feel indignant that their just demands are
disregarded, solely because they may chance
to be displeasing to their big brother—
vto, if it possesses a giant's strength, is disposed
to render every particle thereof available, and to
make the most despotic use of its power and in-
ilnenco. As we have already stated, the ques-
tion affecting as it does the future welfare and
prosperity of that which has not inappropriately
been termed,the " Fourth Estate"—should not
be lightly or flippantly disposetl'of, but should
receive the mature and attentive consideration
which the importance of the subject so impera-
tively demands.

The measure now before the House pur-
ports to be a concession alike to Jour-
nalism and to public opinion. We fear, how-
ever, that its practical effect will be very
different from that which it is alleged will follow,
and that after a brief experience it will prove any-
thing but a valuable boon either to the press or
to the community. We have always found that
the juggling and shuffling of. Financial Ministers
Were anything but auspicious. Their pretended
gifts were as formidable as those of the ancient

Greeks, and should be as strictly scrutinised
before acceptance. If a tat is to be levied it sig-
nifies little by what title or under what pretext
Ais imposed. If " the rose by any other name
vial smell as sweet," the charge will, under any
4ellitination, prove as onerous and oppressive. If
the ataxap on publication is to be avoided, another
and heavier burden. should not be substituted in
its place.

The great mistake intoalrwhielt the late Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer
trayed
was
occasioned,
byr Ihimself to be be-
betw:n desire to sweep
away the distinctions
other printed matter. Public •.wspapers and
Journals mole
especially those printed at short 'intervals' had a
right to expect some facilities not afforded; to the
community at large. As we already pointed
out,
it is a matter of immense importance to the 9,0 in.:
munity at large to be enabled to receive the latest
intelligence, and therefore recognised journals
should be received without additional charge up
to the latest hour. They might easily be received

until seven o'clock without the demand of an extra
halfpenny, a matter which presses very heavily on
those disposed to give the fullest information to
their subscribers.

There is, however, to be no concession in point
of time, and that relating to weight proceeds on
a wrong principle. If it be right that four ounces
of any description of printed matter should be
transmitted by pest for one penny, it surely could
Mot be objected to if a duly registered publication
of two ounces were sent for one halfpenny, with

uimilai charge for every fractional part of that
weight. That would be but a trifling concession
and the fact of registration, and the various points`•
incidental thereto, would be an ample equivalent
for the boon, for that which indeed would be
something for which we might be thankful.
In another part of our impression will be found
the resolutions adopted at a recent meeting of
newspaper proprietors. It will be seen that the
feeling was strongly opposed to the change, and
many cogent reasons were adduced in favour of
the propositions then adopted. We confess that
we cannot quite agree in all that has been put
forward. For instance, in stating that " the bill
proposes to remove all the securities against libel
or offences against public order and morality," they
go too far, and weaken the effect of a very strong
argument. The libel laws would still remain in
operation, reckless and unscrupulous publications
could still be repressed, although great difficulty
would be experienced and much litigation oc-
casioned. . . .

Let us meet the question fairly. We shrink
not from any just competition. It would be for
the public benefit that the best article should be
obtained at the cheapest rate. But it is not, there-
fore, indispensable that. everything should be so
regulated as to suit a single journal—..nor, so as to
make local publications essential. Weight should
be fairly paid for. If there were no limitation
the post would shortly break down—the additional
labour could not be executed without an enor-
mous increase of expenditure ; but some privileges,
such as those above alluded to, might reasonably
be conferred, so as to hold out inducements for
enterprise and capital. The extra weight de-
manded by the Times is not for the general, but
for its own exclusive benefit. At least eight
out of the sixteen pages of which it so
loudly boasts, are composed, not of news in
which the public have any interest, but of adver-
tisements, largely paid for, and which would fully
repay a special postage stamp, and which possess
no claim superior to any other description of
printed matter. Its appeal, then, in that respect
is just as preposterous as its fallacious assertions
some years since as to the small amount of
profit on each copy, when it debited itself with
the paper on which the advertisements appeared,
but abstaine .1 from crediting the price paid for
their insertion.

All we now ask in reference to the present bill
is that the matter should receive the attention it
deserves, and not be recklessly slurred. over, in the
erroneous supposition that it will be regarded as
a boon either by journalists or the community at
large.

It was impossible at first, and is almost impos-
sible yet, to realise the fact that our great antagonist
is dead. He has so long been closely present to
our most frequent and soul-stirring thoughts that
it resembles losing some one with whom we have
been in constant association. It will long seem
as if we must meet him where he has been wont
to appear. It Ut NICHOLAS has passes from us
for ever. We shall need no more to take account
of his personal qualities in our political calcula-
' tions. His imperious and stubborn will, his in-
satiable ambition, his personal courage, his
fanaticism (due chiefly, perhaps, to his success
in arousing it in his subjects)—these exist
no more; they may and probably will, be wanting
in his announced successor. Till Friday evening
we all felt that, politically speaking, a mighty and
unbending Satanic spirit ruled from St. Peters-
burg to Sebastopol, from Warsaw to the wall of
China ; that it could make its will and its infu-
riate energy felt in the armies of the Baltic, of
Poland, of tho Danube, of the Crimea, and of
Asia. The Czar NICHOLAS was the omnipresent
dread of every Russian general and every private
soldier, while his approval and rewards were
their ever-animating hope. But " the god of
the Russians " was a mortal god. While
lie lived the symbols of his presence and
his commands were an ark in their camp ; they
have left a coffin in their place. The awful void
can hardly be filled up. It is rarely indeed that
an ALEXANDER the GREAT succeeds a PHILIP, or
that a GUSTAVUS AnoLnirs leaves generals like
those whom he had trained. Time alone can re-
veal the future ; but certain it is that the intense
concentration of all the bad Muscovite and Tartar
qualities which made NICHOLAS in his sixth do-
code the demon of Europe can hardly exist in
another CZAR. No, it is gone, gone for ever,
and by degrees we shall realise fully the magni-
tude of the fact.

We must, however, frankly confess our fears.
Russia appears now to be wholly wanting in great
miuds—alas, we are equally deficient ! NESSEL-
RODE is still left to outwit, if that were necessary,
our leading statesmen, and in diplomacy, all
secret as it is, we are no match for even ordinary
Russians. But the truth is, we hare so men
worthy of the crisis. Suppose ALEXANDER in con-
formity with his presumed character inclines
strongly to peace, we have now at Vienna a states-
man who, as an aristocrat, and as a Whig esp -
cially, is a mere hand-to-mouth politician.
Perhaps he dares not leave Sebastopol as it
is, but to quitting the Crimea and anything else
we fear. he would easily consent. All the stolen
territories of course he would leave to a peace-
making young CZAR. Circassia ho would consign
to its ruthless enemies ; Persia would remain
bereft of provinces which form part of the Russian
high road to India ; Ismail and Bessarabia must
be left to obstruct the mouths of the Danube ;
Poland, of course, would continue under barbarian
rule, as a military road against Europe for the
next mad CZAR ; and Finland must still render
Sweden subservient to Russia. luderenity to
Turkey, France, and England, for the cost
of the War, would bo out of the question.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL is fond of denouncing
the narrow-minded policy of the " Man-
chester School." We fear his own is quite
as narrow. The key to Manchester policy
is cotton and trade. The key to Lord
JOHN'S, aristocracy and hereditary despotism.
The former is at least a policy for the many, the
latter a policy for the privileged or the tyrant few.
One aims to fill the purses of the community—
the other to glut unrighteous dynastic ambition.
We think Lord JOHN is certainly now, if over, too
small for his place.
Never probably will an opportunity occur
again like the present for undoing the misdeeds
of the Holy Alliance, and recasting on na-
tional principles the wickedly spoiled map of
Europe. We are now at war ; we have
the means of compulsion on a vast scale.
Prussia with her Rhenish provinces, Austria with
her Louabardy and
Hungary, dare not oppose the
'
will of the Western Powers -
and Rua da, is de-
prived of the man whose indomitable energy made
something out of her common_piace
goierals. She
will now be comparatively paralysed. Wu do not
believe her Muscovites could be induced to fight
for Poland as they did for Moscow. With the aid
of the Allies it would be easy to wrest Poland for
over from its oppressors, and to circumscribe
Muscovite barbarism within its natural limits.
But no ; we have as our Plenipotentiary now One
of the Ministers who married our Sovereign to a
petty German Prince, and one who has Ger-

manised ever since in all his foreign policy ;
who would not even protest against the
political murder of the noble Hungarians,
who afforded no aid to Sicily, or to Lom-
bardy, and who sneers at Poland, because
he stood silent by and saw her absorbed
twenty years ago. Such is our representative at
Vienna. He is, too, just the man our aristocracy
want there. They have brought their order into
a dreadful plight by the War. With some noble
exceptions, their sympathies are not with sup-
pressed nationalities, but with the tyrants ; he
can vamp them up a peace which will serve their
j domestic purpose, and gratify their interest in
foreign despots also. Well, we expect the issue
will be a paltry peace, at the very moment when
we might push a successful and holy war ; and
the down-trodden nations must yet bide their
time till the hand which has just smitten
their most savage oppressor shall bid them arise,
and shall raise up noble-minded and real States-
men to fulfil its behests !

Mr. P. A. TAYLOR expressed, we are confident,
the sense of the nation in the motion which the
illheriff declined to put at the close of the election
on Saturday. The nation does expect in any
peace which may be concluded adequate "material
guarantees" from Russia. It will hold Ministers
responsible for not using their present
military advantage. The soul of the War is gone.
The Young CZAR, and the Russian generals can
never make head against the Allies, even if the
former desires it. We have armies to contend
with who have lost their general, and to whom
he was an object of worship ; the worship both of
fear and hope. Now is the time to secure our-
selves against Russia, both in India and Europe.
We hope the hint will not be lost on Lord .41112• T
Russnr.L.

A nother "material guarantee," and a most im-
portant one, is the Indemnity. Turkey, France,
and England ought to be indemnified in
full. Nothing less should be listened to.
Let Bassist bear a heavier national debt
for her antitaational wars—let her finances be
crippled, and not rise. It would be infamous if
we made a weak Power like China pay us for the
war against her, and lot off an aggressor ten thou-
sand times more guilty. Mr. CORNEWALL LEWIS
must include the Russian indemnity in his future
calculations, and Lord PALMERSSON must gua-
rantee it to him, or it will be an everlasting dis-
grace both to the country.and to them.