The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-30 00:00:00

THE TAX ON ADVERTISEMENTS.

The Association for Promoting the Repeal of the
Taxes on Knowledge have issued an address to the
advertisers of Great Britain, in which they say—
" We would point out to you the injurious effects of
the duty upon advertisements, in the hope that we
shall have the advantage of your subscription and in-
fluence to aid our association in bringing to a success-
ful termination our efforts to obtain the repeal of all
taxes on knowledge. They amounted, during the
year 1849, to—The excise on paper, 867,1'21/. 1 le.
; the duty of is. 6d. each on advertisements,
158,164/. 16s. ; the penny stamp on newspapers,
350,289/. 9s. 4d.—all three taxes directly tend to
swell the costs of advertising, not so much by the
amount of the duty, as by the impediment they offer
to circulation. An advertiser may be considered in
the light of a steward to the public, spending a large
sum, which is ultimately to be repaid in the price
of the article ; therefore any saving in the cost of
advertising is a general and public benefit, as
effecting a reduction in the cost of the article
itself. The inequality and partiality of the duty
consists in its being levied only on announcements
in periodicals (leaving untaxed posting bills, cir-
culars, placards in omnibuses, or rail carriages,
and all other announcements), and in the
charge being without discrimination, either of the
value of the thing advertised, the length (whether
one or 100 lines), or of the number of impressions
printed. The tables printed in the report of the Par-
liamentary Committee (which sat last session), show-
ing the number of newspaper stamps issued du ring
thirteen years to the various papers in Great Britain,
form a valuable guide as to how your money may be
Judiciously invested when circulation alone is con-
sidered. From them may be gathered; that of an
advertisement inserted in the seven best selling papers
350,000 impressions are circulated at a cost for duty (at
ls. 6d. each) of 10s. 6d. ; and that the duty for the same
number of impressions obtained from the average
selling papers of Great Britain (taken at 1,500 each)
would amount to 171. 10. i. This disproportion is
Increased by bad debts, and must remain as long as
the tax is levied in the present mode, and forms
a serious impediment to advertisers who would
avail themselves of the local and class papers,
Which papers are those deliberately read by
country gentlemen and men of leisure, and
those which penetrate to the family interior.
The aggregate of a six months' sale would,
of course, compensate for the smaller indi-
vidual editions, and this invaluable medium might be
secured by a standing advertisement were it not
that the duty is re-imposed at each change of date,
preventing such an arrangement for price as would
be equally advantageous to the advertiser, the news-
paper proprietor, and the public. To show this
disproportion more evidently, suppose an advertise-
ment in a paper circulating 36,000 shall cost 7s,
Which sum represents—share of paper, printing, coin-
position, ss. 6d., and duty once, ls. 6d., 7s. The same
put into a country newspaper circulating 1,500 would
require its insertion twenty-four times to get 36,000,
costing the newspaper proprietor as before for paper,
printing, and composition, ss. 6d., but he would have
to pay duty 365.-21. ls. 6d. The labours of our as-
sociation have been carried on hitherto, mainly by the
contributions, in time and money, of a few earnest
friends to education who desired to remove the evils
of the taxes on knowledge. The present time offers
every probability of effecting their final removal, if an
energetic protest be made to the Government:'

LORD CO WLE Y.
The appointment of Lord Cowley to succeed the
Marquis of Normanby in Paris is a choice that will
Five) we believe, very general satisfaction. The first
requisite for such a choice was that the object of it
bad taken be, part in those struggles of parties and
Preferenceof persons which have agitated Paris. It
Would have been unwise to name any diplomatist,
This
, as an Orleanist, or inclining to Bonapartism.
This atone would set aside a number of able men
from the post of English ambassador in Paris. The
Marquis of Clanricarde; was spoken of; but he is of
the known opiniun of Lord Palmerston. Lord
Clarendon was mentioned, but he who is said to have
refused the seals of the Foreign -office was not likely
to embark in such a troublous sea of diplomacy
at Paris. Lord Canning was thought of ; but his
Lordship has identified himself of late years with the
foreign politics of the Morning Chronicle, than
Which nothing could be more illiberal or reactionary.
Lord Cowley has been out of the turmoil of English
and French politics. Though come of a Tory stock,
he took a decidedly liberal view of German politics.
Those opinions were fearlessly professed, though not
carried out in any way that was intermeddling or
offensives. We are glad to see a politician so liberal,
at least so little bound by Tory or aristocratic tradition,
%Voluted to watch over British interests in a country
every way so anomalous and new as France has become
since the accession of Louis Napoleon to unlimited
Power. The Marquis of Normanby has shown himself
very susceptible of newspaper reports. We do not
Mean offence, nor fear denial, however, when we
State that Lord Normanby was, however innocently,
the cause of Lord Palmerston's resignation or dis-
missal. Lord Palmerston, it is well known, expressed
himself in London to Count Walewaki in terms which
did not harmonise with Lord Normanby's language
In Paris. The President of the French Republic
Mentioned, and showed proofs of this discrepancy to
Lord Normanby, who appealed to the Government at
home. These circumstances led to Lord Palmerston's
Withdrawal from Downing-street, an. d Lord Nor-
Manby's retirement from Paris. This mere outline
of facts will be useful for the appreciation and under-
standing of debates that must ensue, as well as for
affording a clear view of the relative position of the
two Governments.—. Daily News.

SOUTHSBA IMPROVEMENTS.—The Board of Ord
Lance have placed at the disposal of Lord Frederick Fitzcla-
rence (on the application of Major Harvey, A.D.C.) a mortar,
Which Lord Frederick intends to be placed on a handsome
stone pedestal with a suitable inscription, we believe in the
centre of the Governor's field, in commemmoration of the
-Noble Duke's landing here after the late war.—Portsmouth
Guardian.

CURIOUS DISCOVERY.—A few days ago, as some of
the workmen in the manufactory of Messrs. Banks, Son,
and Co., Gretna Pencil
log of cedar, the large saw cmweereinencgonagtaecdt inwipthlaeakihnagrda
foreign substance near the centreto
bof the timber, which, on
examination, was discovered one of the blades of a
pair of scissors about four inches *6
ex-
isted in the timber around it, thatsoirlength. No orifice
in the age of the
thrust into that position at an early
tszatural growth,
.it must have been
tree, which subsequently, in the courfieero7:l
the timber, from
growbivt of the
completely encompassed it. The derh
must have
so
the outer extremity of the scissor b ade to
tree, which must have been of subsequent
great as to demonstrate that about 70 years
elapsed since it w deposited there, most probably ;y
thrusting it into the tree. It was in perfect preservation,
and was remarkably well finished for the period indicated by,
the circumstance we have stated. The timber is believed to
have grown in the vicinity of New Orleans, and according to
thevabove calculation, the article was placed in the position
described during the height of the American War of Inde-
pendence.
THE LATE Mn. ROBERT BURNS.-It has been
generally stated by the press that this
young man, who was
recently murdered by the Bornean pirates, was a grand? on
of the Scottish bard. He is no relation whatever. The un-
fortunate Mr. Burns was a native of the north of Ireland,
and came to Glasgow a few years ago, as assistant to his
brother-in-law, a respectable draper on the south side of the
river. Being of an enterprising disposition, however, he
sailed from the Clyde for Singapore in the summer of 1.8,16;
and finally formed a connexion as a trader on the eastern
seas, in which vocation he was employed when murdered by
the pirates. He was about twenty-seven years of age.—
Glasgow Herald.

A. CONVICT PARDONED.—Mr. Thorncroft (the as-
sistant overseer) mentioned to the magistrates at the bench,
on Monday, that a person named John Bellamy, who was
sentenced last August, at the Central Criminal Court, to
seven years' transportation, for administering drugs to one
Louisa Meredith for a criminal purpose, had very recently
received a free pardon under the following circumstances :
Ile (Mr. Thorncroft) happened, a few weeks ago, to have
one of the jury, who found Bellamy guilty, staying at his
house. The subject of the trial came up, and the assistant
overseer felt satisfied in his own mind, from the character of
the woman, she having been twice committed from this
parish on charges for deserting her child, that Bellamy was
not guilty, and he consequently mentioned the circumstance
to Mr. Montagu Scott, who was then on the bench. Mr.
Scott requested the assistant overseer to draw up the parti-
culars, so far as he knew them, and he promised to commu-
nicate with the Secretary of State on the subject. The
'
worthy magistrate did so • an inquiry by Government was
instituted, and' the result was a
free pardon for Bellamy.—
Brighton Gazette.
FORCE
mammathih l
troenrovilleraeo
Of HABIT.—Air. Stumps, the celebrated
cricketer of of the Zingari Club, dining lately at a house where
obroughtrango down to cessert, was requested by
Mr. Stumps " delivered ~ •such address that
it bowled over the I
the orange with
down the table for Master Jackey.
port and sherry,aratjug
the
Instead of apologisin for flooded papa s legs 'with the wine.
at the end of the table, between
height of his cricketig
ng
his mishap, Mr. Stumps, in the
sang froid called out, '6 H enthusiasm, and with characteristic
"V 'a
that, umpire ?"-- The Noah*