The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-02 00:00:00

CONTRACTS FOR FRESH BEEF.

Department of the Comptroller for Victualling and Transport
Services, Somerset-place, 30th Nov., 1852.
'THE Commissioners for executing the Office of
Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, do Hereby Give Notice, that on THURSDAY, the 23d
December, next, at One o'clock, they will be ready to treat with
such persons as may be willing to Contract for supplying (under
separate Contracts) all such quantities of
N. • FRE All BEEF

as may
at the following places, from the
1853, both days included, viz. :
Chatham.
Douglas.
Jersey and Guernsey.
Kingstown and Dublin.
h.
Milford and Pembroke.
North Shields.
Plymouth.
None of the Contracts to be sublet, and the Contracts for Dept-
ford, Woolwich, Chatham, and Sheerness to be taken by persons re-
siding on the spot.
All parties about to Tender a-e particularly desired to read
attentively the Conditions of the Revised Contractsovhich may be,
seen either at this Office, or on application to the Superintendents
of the Victualling Establishments at Deptford, Portsmouth, and
Plymouth ; the Superintendents of her Majesty's Dockyards at
Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, and Pembroke; the Agent for the
Victualling at Raulbowline ; the Agent for Transports at Leith;
the Secretaryb to the Postmaster-General, Dublin • or to the Col-
lectors of her Majesty's Customs at each of the other places.
Every Tender must specify the price in words at length, and
ne tender will be received after One o'clock on the day of treaty,
and the party, or an agent for him duly authorised in writing,
must attend at this office on Friday, the 24th December next, at
One o'clock, to learn the result of his Tender.
Every tender must be delivered at the above Office, and be accommt
-
panied by a letter addressed to the Secretary of the Admiralty,
Somerset-place, and signed by two responsible persons, engaging to
become bound with the person tendering, in the sum of 1.5001. for
the due performance of each of the Contracts for Sheerness, Chatham,
Portsmouth, and Plymouth; and in the sum of 5001. for each of the
others.

)f her Igajesty:slhlps I
Ist Januaryto the'.3lst

7assels

Portsmouth.
Queenstown and Kinsale.
Sheernega.
Deptford to London-bridge inclu-

sive
Woolwich to Gravesend (both in-
clusive).

CONTRACTS FOR RAISINS, SUET, LEMON JUICE, AND
BISCUIT BASS.

Department of the Comptroller for Victualing and
Transport Services,
Somerset•place, 27th November, 18n.
TillE Commissioners for Executing the Office of
Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, do Hereby Give Notice, that on THURSDAY. the 23rd
December next. at One o'clock, they will be ready to treat with such
persons as may be willing to Contract for supplying and deliCering
into her Majesty's Victualling Stores at Deptford, the underaien-
tioned articles, viz.:—

RATSINS,—EIeme.
Valentia, Chesme,
or any other de-
scription.........

35 tons

SUET ......

140.0001bs

LEMON JUICE.....

8,000 gals.

BISCUIT BAGS large

INo. 50,000

Do. small .... .. ..

Time for Delivery. --
4,
1 Half in Two Montle, and !'' 1.1)
the remainder in Two ;.....E
Months afterwards. CI Ts
lln equal Weekly propor. a.-...;
Voris. between the date oft
..L, ...
contract and May 31,1853\
...`i
1 Half in Three Months, and
the remainder in Two c3l.
Months afterwards. I ;.f....
r One-fourth part every Two '-',,:t
(I t Months. "g
..I_s,
llalf in a Month, and the s..
remainder in a Month, .
afterwards. - 8

1,500

The Raisins to be exempted from the Custom flutles.
No Tender will he received for a less quantity of Raisins than
7 Tons—of Suet than 35,000 lbs.—of Lemon Juice than 'l,OOO Gallons
—of Biscuit Bags (large) than 10,000 number, and of Biscuit Bags
(small) than 500 number.
Samples of the Raisins (not less than 3 lbg.) must be produced by
the Parties Tendering, and Samples of the Bags may be seen at the
said Office.
The Samples produced by persons whose Tender are not accepted,
are requested to he taken away by them immediately after the Con-
tracts have been decided.
The conditions of the revised Contracts, to which particular atten-
tion is 'called, may be seen at the said Office, at the Mice of Com-
mander Bevis, at Liverpool, and of the Collector of Customs at
• Bristol.
No Tender win be received after One o'clock on the day of Treaty,
nor any noticed, unless the party attends, or an agent for him duly
authorized in writing.
Every Tender must be addressed to the Secretary of the Admi-
ralty, and bear in the left-hand corner the words, " Tender for
and must also be delivered at Somerset-place, and
must be accon,panted by a letter signed by Two responsible persons,
engaging to become bound with the person tendering in the cum of
201. per cent. on the value, for the due perormance of the Contract
for Suet, and by ono person for each of the other Contracts.

The annual general meeting of the Association for Pro-
moting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge, was held last
night in the large room, Exeter-hall. Amongst the gentlemen
on the platform, we observed Mr. Cobden, M.P., Mr. D.
Seymour, M.P., Mr. Charles Knight, Mr. Cruikshank, Mr.
Cassell, the Rev. Dr. Watts (of Manchester), &c. The
room was extremely well filled.
The chair was taken at seven o'clock by Mr. DOUGLAS
JERROLD, who opened the proceedings by observing that
the meeting was called for the pin-pose of petitioning the
House of Commons for the total repeal of the taxes on know-
ledge—those most odious laws, because they were hostile to
what is " wise, just, and beneficial" for the moral character
of the masses of the people. (Cheers.) Mr. Charles Knight,
phis "Progress of a,800k,” had shownhow it had to wrestle
with the Government, and that the best and noblest of
books might get tripped up by the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer ; and the Messrs. Chambers had proved that a
work popularly addressed to the people, which broke out
30,000 strong, was nevertheless not strong enough to
combat the taxes on paper. (Hear.) With respect to the
stamp on newspapers, the railroads had sufficiently shown
the injustice and absurdity of such a tax, and he would
recommend the substitution of a penny postage stamp.
(Hear.) The advertisement tax was a double tax—it was
a tax on industry and a tax on want. (Hear.) Why should
the widely-circulated advertising columns of a newspaper
be taxed when omnibuses were allowed to circulate the
same kind of intelligence duty free ? (Hear, hear.) Almost
everything was an advertisement. The tradesman's brass
doorplate was an advertisement; and it would be as just
for the Chancellor of the Exchequer—bending his mind to
the consideration of brass—(loud laughter and cheers)—to
tax the brass doorplate of a tradesman as the type of the
printer. (Cheers.) There would appear to be some justice
in such a kind of impost. For instance,. the quack, having
paid his eighteenpence duty for advertising his cosmetic,
would not feel aggrieved, because he would know that the
apothecary paid for his engraved plate and his night bell
eighteenpence each. (Laughter.) So long as paper was
the peculiar vehicle of conveying intelligence and informa-
tion to a people, so long would it be a reproach to the
State that burdened it with a feather's weight of taxation.
(Cheers.) He admitted that there was an inherent dispo-
sition in every Englisman to obey the laws ; but, neverthe-
less, one goosequill wisely and honestly exercised, would
achieve more power than slumbered in the staves of a
thousand policemen. (Cheers.) Paternoster-row and the
newspaper press were stronger than the Horse Guards and
Scotland-yard—(cheers)—and Lord Derby had been re-
cently surprised into a burst of admiration for that un-
bridled democracy which a few months ago it was his
Heaven-appointed mission to control and crush. (Cheers.)
It had recently been the fashion for certain members of the
aristocracy to preside in lecture rooms and at mechanics'
institutes ; and dukes and earls were very wise in this
their generation to do so. (Cheers.) Not many years ago
the people, as a people were called the " swinish multi-
tude ;" and to cast pearls before swine was an acknowledg-
ment of the proverb of the prodigality of folly. But now
there was no " swinish multitude," and schoolmasters in
coronets were now gracefully presenting their pearls to the
people. (Loud cheers.) The people had a right to demand
their advocacy at such meetings as the present, for as they
descanted on such occasions on the political and social bles-
sings of knowledge, they must, logically speaking, be op-
ponents of the taxes on knowledge. (Cheers.) He consi-
dered the Government that continued the taxes on know-
ledge to be an unjust government, a tyrannical government,
and most essentially a hypocritical government. (Cheers.)
The Chairman concluded by stating that a letter had been
received from Lord Godorich, apologising for his unavoid-

able absence.
A letter to the same effect from the Rev. T. Spencer was
read by the secretary.
Dr. WATTS moved the first resolution in a speech of con-
siderable length, in which he detailed with great minute-
ness the obstructions thrown in the way of the paper-maker
by the Government regulations, and the unnecessary ex-
penses thereby incurred in the manufacture of_that article.
The present duty, amounting to about 300 per cent., de-
served the name of a tax on knowledge. (Hear, hear.) It was
a protective duty to ignorance—a protective duty to trash—
(cheers)—and now that unrestricted competition was to be
the rule of our commercial policy, surely we ought no
longer to restrict knowledge or protect ignorance and trash.
(Cheers.) He concluded by moving—
" That the duties on paper and advertisements, and the
penny stamp on newspapers, tend to injure literature, to
obstruct education, and to hinder the progress of the
people in intelligence and morality."
Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT, who rose amidst loud cheers,
seconded the resolution, contending that the repeal of the
paper duties would tend to advance the interests of litera-
ture, education, and morality.
Mr. COBDEN (who was received with several rounds of
applause), in supporting the resolution, said that several
complaints had been made against the Government for
having imposed and maintained the taxes on knowledge, and
the Government had been censured for not having repealed
them. He was glad to find, from the crowded state of the
room, that there existed in the public mind a feeling kin- I
dredto what was passing in his own—namely, that it did not
become Englishmen to talk of the Government doing them
harm or good. They were their own Government, or at
least had the power of making themelves so ; and he was,
therefore, glad to judge, from the present demonstration,
that they were determined to take the matter into their own
hands, and then he would venture to say that the Govern-
ment would be found to be their obedient servants, as
it had been in other matters. (Cheers.) When lie found
himself engaged in a controversy of this kind, he always
turned his attention to that phase of it which presented
the greatest difficulty. In the present case there were three
propositions to consider, the paper duty, the advertisement
duty, and the stamp duty, all of which were most intole-
rable burdens on the diffusion of knowledge. Now, with
respect to the paper duty, which produced the largest
amount of revenue, and the advertisement duty, which did
not reach 200,0001. he did not anticipate so much resistance
to them as to the stamp duty. No party or political feel-
ing was enlisted in defence of the two first-mentioned
taxes, and it would not be surprising if the Chancellor of
the Exchequer should be found dealing .with them in the
course of the next forty-eight hours. (Hear, hear.) But
the stamp duty on newspapers was a totally different
thing. Its reduction would affect the revenue to the
amount of some 400,0001. ; but the resistance to the
repeal would not be in proportion to the amount of
but would rathar rest on the advantages
accruing to certain parties in another direction. (Cheers.)
That tax was never imposed for the sake of revenue,
and it was not now maintained for the revenue
which it yielded. It was originally imposed to prevent
the mass of the people from reading newspapers, and
he was so uncharitable as to maintain that it was re-
tained for the self-same purpose. (Cheers and laughter.)
He considered the newspaper reading of the age to be mo©
important to the mass of grown-up people than any other
kind of reading. He did not mean to say that it wtashamto:
desirable than any other reading, but he was surews
ap all
ors
present would confess that they read moretofwanse
thPe case
than of any other printed matter.
with respect to the middle classes, howhe gremat bulk of whose
it apply to the working classes,. If
that
more so must
t anti how iniquitous must
reading
consisted
of
newspapers d to be an obstacle tot he
be anyplaw which was cal
instruction of those who hadatttleieofltotnaemyoantntthoefirledisiurspoestaol
read, and the smallest amount of
other article a man could
to purchase newspapers.. In eaccording to his circumstances
suit himself by purchasiug
newspaper sd. was the stereo-
and tastes, but for al deacily
contended,
was a newspaper press
typed price. That,
fori the upper and middle classes,
exclusivel rated _
and until the removai of the stamp duty there never would
s cessible to the mass of the people.
be a newspaper
Npwresirork the artizan, the mechanic, the
(Cheers.)
(13nillwrighult, the joiner, the mason, received
eg arly at breakfast as a banker or
shipbuilder, the
their daily PaPer as r.
merchant did in the city of London. (Cheers.) With re-
gard to the population of the rural districts, he believed
they never would he reached by those works which were
so much admired and enjoyed by the people in towns—he
meant such works as those published by Messrs. Chambers.
(Hear, hear.) They must first of all stimulate the appe-
tite by giving the people cheap news ; and on this point he
was glad to have the opportunity of quoting the opinion
of Lord Brougham, who, after alluding to the paper duty,
and speaking in high terms of Mr. Knight, and his advo-
cacy of the removal of that duty, said :—" Now, the
stamp is by far the most hurtful of these bad taxes in one
essential particular. The instruction of the working
classes in the country districts, where it is most wanted,
has been almost, entirely prevented by it. When the
-Useful "Knowledge Society made for years, efforts of every
kind to diffuse sound information amongst the peasantry

- - ena,, so costly a
very cheap. lam now referring to what would be more
cheaply produced, and have a much more limited circula-
tion ; but it could only be done were there no stamp.
That makes it quito impossible, and all our plans so far
failed, that we could not diffuse the knowledge where it
was most wanted. Our books were read, and they
did great service, and still do, besides having brought
down the price of all books. But, like mechanics'
institutes, we !have not yet got low enough in society, and
stamp,thhaetwnweesoswdeicitnootthmeakothe becausewefcolunassdestthvainii.ste
c
most
ignorant
another stimulus was wanted—news. Of course my remarks
apply also to people in the towns ; but they haN-k, th more
helps, and from their social habits more exeltiostient than
the people in the country. The lowering of the stun • 1)314
ld., I really can hardly regard as a benefit st" •• t
was a sacrifice of revenue —for it only relieved tv,::e`-: Tlea -
who required no relief—it put considerable sum 3 into lie
pockets of newspaper proprietors, and it saved you and ins
a few pounds
,a year to whom this was of but little import-
ance. It did not enable us to help general education at all."
(Cheers.) Having had some experience of rural life he could
vouch for the extreme accuracy of the remarks of Lord
Brougheau. In agricultural districts, where there were few
facilities for reading at all, and where education Was much
more defective than in town, it would be quite useless to
put into the hands of the peasantry any treatises on science,
or extracts from history or travels, for they would not be
able to master the subject at all. (Hear, hear.) Follow them
from their harvests, and what did they talk about?—When
did Tom Giles kill his pig. (Loud laughter.) How many
quarters per acre has Farmer So-and-so been getting from
such and such a field of wheat ? And if they travelled
from their own village, it was only on the occasion of some
waggon ••being overturned, or some bridge being swept
away by a flood. Beyond that, the ideas and conceptions
of that class did not go. (Hear.) Now, if he wanted to
reach them he would encourage the growth of cheap local
newspapers—(cheers)—by means of which every market
town should have its own weekly paper, and in which
would be set forth every act of poaching, every burglary,
the proceedings at the petty sessions, the quarter sessions,
and in the county courts, and having stimulated their taste
in that manner, they would be in a condition to receive
something more enlarged, comprehensive, and useful.
Now the description of news to which he had referred was
precisely that with which the law interfered. Anything
ancient or speculative might be talked about; butthetopics
of to-day or yesterday were news, and that which was most
likely to be useful to a man was not allowed to be pub-
lished. The stamp duty was in fact a prohibitory tax on
modern history, imposed on the great mass of the rural
population of the country. (Loud cheers). And what
was the feat: entertainect freak-the abolition of the stamp
duty ?—that leading articles would be writtet oneetopies
not sound and safe. It was said that scurrilous articles
would appear, and the United States papers were pointed
at with the remark, " See how vulgar they are." He was
accustomed to see the manner in which these papers spoke
of public men, but he could point out in this country daily
fashionable newspapers which spoke in very vulgar terms
of vituperation of one politician at least, who should be
nameless. (Loud cheers and laughter.) He would venture
to say that during the last fortnight he could find in those
two aristocratic papers—papers that were the pinks of
flunkeydom—(loud laughter)—the Morning Herald and
the Standard—more personal abuse of one public man than
had appeared in any of the United States papers against a
public man within the same time. (Cheers.) But admit-
ting that leading articles did sometimes indulge in a little
raciness and vigour, it was a great mistake to suppose
that the stamp duty prevented the circulation of such ar-
ticles, for they could be published without any stamp,
whilst news could not be published without a stamp or the
risk of a penalty. (Hear, hear.) All he contended for was,
that news should be published without a stamp, for it was
facts alone which could enable a rational being to form an
opinion and arrive at a safe judgment on the topics of the
day. (Cheers.) What constituted the value of a newspa-
per ? Not its leading articles, although many of them
were transcendent in point of! style and intellect. The
great bulk of the readers were far more interested in the
news, which formed by far the largest portion of the con-
tents of a paper. (Cheers.) What reason was there for
not giving the public an interest in the periodical press
of this country ? What had recently happened in a neigh .
homing country ? With one stroke of the pen the free-
dom of the press had been abolished, without any re-
sistance. But if an attempt was made to abolish the
freedom of the press in the 'United states, would there be
no opposition ? It would be almost as easy to deprive
them of their daily bread as of their daily paper. And
why ? Because in America every man was the reader of a
daily paper. (Hear.) In France the taste and privilege
of newspaper reading was confined to a very small fraction
of the community. llear, hear.) Now, was this country
on so broad a basis in this respect? To a large majority of
the people of the United Kingdom the annihilation of the
newspaper press would scarcey be considered a calamity.
That being the case, he would say to the middle and the
upper classes, " If you had no other motive but your own
security, take that course which shall, as soon as possible,
enlist the great mass of the people on the side of the free-
dom of the press, by giving them an interest in its enjoy-
ment." (Loud cheers.) And who were the opponents of
the emancipation of the press ? Certain newspaper pro-
prietors, who had recently been meeting in secret conclave
on the subject. This was one of the effects of monopoly,
which had the most baneful effect, not only upon the
energies, but also upon the intelligence and the judgment
of men. (Hear, hear.) Within the last fortnight some
twenty-one provincial newspaper proprietors had assembled
in London to consider the taxes on knowledge, and they
resolved to petition for the removal of the tax on paper,'
and the removal of the advertisement duty, but they re-
solved, by a majority of sixteen to five, to memorialise the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to retain the stamp duty in
its present shape. (Hear, hear.) Of course the resolution
was moved by a Protectionist, and seconded by a Protec-
tionist, and the areumeut was the same as that used on
another great controversy. • It was said, "If you take - off
the stamp duty on newspapers the country will be inun-
dated with a great deal of low trash—that the present
newspapers cannot carry on their business and maintain
their staff of reporters and editors." That was the old
story over again. It was at one thus said, "If you repeal
the corn laws you will be inundated with foreign trash,
the home grower will never be able to carry on his busi-
ness, the labourer will be thrown out of employment, and
we shall be ruined and starved." (Laughter.) Now he
would say to the gentlemen of the newspaper press,
" You are the last persons to be consulted in the mat-
ter." (Hear, hear.) If these gentlemen knew what
was best for their own interest, they would be the
first to advocate the removal of this tax. (Cheers.)
Some of the leading Scotch papers advocated the present
duty, because it allowed the paper to pass through the
post several times without any extra charge. Now he
would make to these parties this proposition. Let all the
existing newspapers be allowed to retain the red blot upon
their sheets—upon all their impressions—and transmit
their paper in the same manner as at present ; but let other
papers be at liberty to print upon a sheet of paper without
the red stamp, and send the paper off with a postage stamp,
to be subjected to another postage stamp on retransmission.
(Cheers.) This, however, was not a matter for the con-
ductors of newspapers. It was a question affecting the
interests of the great mass of the people. He hoped it
would be taken up as a national question, and that this
meeting would be followed up by others, and that in the
course of a very short period the taxes on knowledge would
be finally abolished. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. ROGERS, who spoke at some length, moved an
addition to the resolution, to the effect that whilst
this meeting fully sympathises with the demand for
the repeal of the duties on paper and on advertise-
ments, and for the abolition of the newspt
hpe a e
infamous
it cannot forbear to demand the repeal ofto
law which requires the publishers of
newspapers_
üblish seditious
libels, libels, which is an effectual give security that they
thi eel's e smt aubslti sbl iemeehnot s
eonf
a, working-man's press, asll
ectual
thewbi not
se cur it
addrd
MT. CHARLES MURRAY,
from the rich or middle classes.who (Loud c
eshese ers
the meeting
.)
amidst frequent interruptions, seconded the proposition.
Mr. BRONTERRE O'BRIEN supported the addition, con-
tending that it was in perfect harmony with the original
proposition. Those who wished for the establishment of a
free press, must be desirous of removing that infamous
law from the statute book, for so long as it should exist,
it would be impossible for five-sixths of the population to
have a veritable free press. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. M. GIBSON, M.P., said the suggestion just made was
quite in accordance with the objects of the association as
originally established ; and he suggested, after the word
" newspapers," the insertion of the words " and the system
of demanding security from periodical publications," wh.c4
he thought would fully meet the views of Mr. Rn,g°,l;°"
(Cheers.) He would how take the opportunity of ealioinng
he
attention of the meeting to the position of the qurtl
t for pub-
Charles Dickens, who had been proceeded agsaita
but te Board
lishing a monthlyperiodical, on the ground that it contained
news, had obtained a favourable judgment ,
that they
of Inland. Revenue, not being satisfied, 11'404 vu er cleaveured
to
proceed by writ of error. It seemed, h
-ry declaration as to
Gaeral had given
nheadtieneowef taakhetnufterigmhte:keanad
rthitentAimittoernntir
Nov' ho (Mr. Gibson)
what is a newspaper. (113110 P." (loud cheers)—for,
newspaper
maxe sow,clin.l4, 0. good job
stamp, it was desir
"ti:ls'iwho had the manag
proposedii.Atinopvtolvunasteerohtois assistance—
be
to made to amentelmtehnet
onfewthsep
of it. The authorities
ignorant of the meaning of the word
tar to the Board of Inland Revenue,
* ined before t e committee, saidheconsideredthe
when Vram
wore,,newspr,,ofTohu
Spy h be news, but he did not think the Chancel-
Queen s-. e r's s eech wasnews. (La
tighter.) He said.
lor of the Excheque p
endSlYecre Secretary
it was not so much of a State affair as the Queen's Speech.
different opinion from the witness, for if there was
(Laughter.) Now, he (Mr. Gibson) should have entertained
in the world which never contained a
l .(IVt anythinghaeßoyal Speech. (Loud laughter and chneyersn.e)wsfiite
country was now about to receive a little news in the shape
of
gentleman nmoavne
would
include and
in
ne
his
pe d the
the
honourable
budget repeal ofthe
taxes on knowledge. (Loud cheers.) He entirely con-
curred with his honourable friend in thinking the stamp
duty of more importance than the other duties, and that a
greater resistance would be offered to its repeal than to
either the paper or advertisement
duty, for on the repeal
of the stamp duty depended the existence of cheap news-
papers. (Cheers.) He believed that those papers which
now enjoyed the public confidence would retain their hold
on the general community, and that the cheap papers
would be circulated in a field not yet explored by the exist-
ing newspapers, and therefore would not come into direct
competition with them. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. SAMUEL WILDERSPIN supported the resolution,
which, as amended according to the suggestion of Mr. . M
Gibson, was carried unanimously.
Mr. BICKNELL, of Stroud, and Mr,. OLIVER Of Lowes-
toft, moved the second resolution : tas the e
Tha
the 11
ws-
triflin. sum to revenue,
paper stamp produces only a
a sitive loss to the
and as the advertisement duty causes p?_
Exchequer, their retention can be attributed only to a
desire to restrain the liberty, of the press."
Mr. DIGBY
'MOUB moved the last resolution :
" That the Government having given notice to introduce
a bill for the amendment of the law relating to stamps on
newspapers, this meeting do appoint its chairman, together
with the president and committee of the association, and
the undernamed gentlemen, to form a deputation to wait
upon the Prime Minister, in order to bring under the no-
tice of the Government the pernicious effects of the news-
paper stamp, and press the repeal rather than the amend-
ment of. the Newspaper Stamp Act."
Mr. PHILLIPS seconded the resolution ; and after a vote
of thanks to the chairman, the proceedings terminated at
.a very late hour,