The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-21 00:00:00

Mr. Cobden and the Newspaper Frees.

The following correspondence appears in the
Scotsman :
" Midhurst, Oct. 15, 1864.

" Sir,—A friend has forwarded me from Scotland a copy
of your journal of the 14th, and called my attention to a
leading article in which, speaking of the agitation for the
repeal of the taxes on knowledge, there is the following
passage:—
" 'But what were the ' anticipations' of the chief agitators
for the change ? Mr Cobden stated over and over again in
public speeches that his object or hope was to see a news-
paper press which would abstain from discussion, and con-
fine itself to reporting events, especially platform speeches
and police trials ; and he explained before a Parliamentary
Committee that, in his opinion, the model for the British
press was 'the press of Spain.' These, we submit, were the
'anticipations' that best deserved to be called ' sinister,' and
certainly these are the anticipations that have been most
signally disappointed.'
"I am not in the habit of challenging the criticisms of
public journalists. The more freely the acts and utterances
of public men are discussed the better. But here are a
couple of groundless statements, involving charges, to use
the most appropriate words, of supreme silliness of =duet
on my part—and as they have been brought under my eye,
I suppose lam bound, as mere matters of fact, to notice
them. I will deal with them separately. In the first place,
you allege that I stated over and over again in public
speeches that my object or hope was to see a newspaper
press which would abstain from discussion, and confine it-
self to reporting events, especially platform speeches and
police trials.'
"There is hardly any passage of my public life that I look
back upon with greater satisfaction than the part I took in
the struggle for unfettering the newspaper press. My exer-
tions in that great cause, though secondary in value to those
of Mr Milner Gibson, Mr Bright, or Mr Collet, extended
over several years, during which I addressed many public
audiences, especially at the anniversaries and other meet,
ings of our associated body in the metropolis. I call on you
to produce from any of my speeches a single passage which
can be quoted in jus'ifintion of the above statement; and
by way of affording a benevolent stimulus to yourself and
your readers, I offer a donation of £2O to any hospital you
may name on the production of the passage in question.
" When proof of the truth of the first charge has been
produced I shall be ready to apply a similar test to the se-
cond allegation—namely, that I ' explained before a Par-
liamentary committee that in my opinion the model for the
British press was the press of Spain.' I will only here re-
mark that I never appeared ' before' any Parliamentary
committee to give evidence on this subject, though I did
serve as a member of the select committee, of which Mr.
Gibson was chairman, to inquire into the taxes on know-
ledge ; and I remember that it was my unpleasant duty,after
endeavouring. in a friendly spirit to dissuade him from ap-
pearing as a witness, to cross-examine the editor of the
Scotsman, whose evidence, which is fully recorded in the
blue-book, excited the astonishment of every free trader in
the committee room. It is not, however, to enter the field of
controversy, but solely to give you the opportunity of sub-
stantiating or retracting a specific accusation that 1 have
penned this communication.—l am, &c.,
"RICHARD COBDEN."

Before answering Mr Cobden's questions—which we hope
to do to the general satisfaction, if not to his—we have to
ask why ho never put them before ? The statements he only
now challenges have been made over and over again, cer-
tainly in Mr Cobden's knowledge, and at times when the
public memory and interest as to the facts were fresh. For
instance, besides having been the subject of numerous allu-
sions in numerous quarters for a dozen years past, they