The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-18 00:00:00

UNSTAMPED PUBLICATIONS.

I Yesterday at the Bow-street Police-court Mr. Edward
Truelove, of 240, Strand, appeared before Mr. Henry,
upon, on information, laid at the instance of the Commis-
sioners of Inland Revenue, under the 6th and 7th of
William IV. chap. 76, charging him with having know-
ingly and .wilfully sold a certain newspaper, printed on
paper not duly stamped according to law, and ealled
The Potteries Free Press, and Weekly Narrative of Cur-
rent Events.
From the copies of the periodical exhibited in court, it
appeared that four numbers had been published, at ld.
each. They were printed at Stoke-upon-Trent, " for
the proprietor, Collet Dobson Collet," the 'Secretary of
the Society for the Abolition of Taxes on Knowledge,
and avowedly (as inserted at the head of the paper) " in
conformity with the practice of the Stamp-office, which
permits records of current events, and comments thereon,
to be published, without a stamp, in the Athenciuni,
Builder, Punch, Racing Times, &c." The defendant is
one of the London agents for the sale of the paper, the
leading articles of which invite a Government prosecu-
tion of the journal, "in order that a jury of Englishmen
might determine what description of news is to be en-
titled to exemption from the penny stamp."
Mr. Phinn, M.P., the Standing -Counsel for the In-
land Revenue, appeared in sUpport of the information ;
and Mr. Humphries Parry represented the defendant.
Mr. Wood, Chairman of the Inland Revenue, Mr.
Scholefield, M.P., and Mr. Ricardo, M.P., were present
during the investigation.
Mr. Phinn, in opening the case, drew attention to the
17th section of the act, which enacted that any person
who shall "sell, utter, or expose for sale " an unstamped
newspaper, shall forfeit a sum of 201. The object of the
act was to amend the laws relating to. the -duties on
newspapers, and in schedule A definitions were given of
the kind of papers liable to the stamp. The first, clause
of the schedule defined it to be " any paper containing
public news, intelligence, or occurrences printed in any
part of the United Kingdom, to be dispersed and made
public." The third clause of the'schedule added, "and
also any paper containing any public news, intelligence,
or occurrences, or any remarks or observations thereon,
printed in any part of the United Kingdom for sale, and
published periodically, or in parts or numbers, at inter-
vals not exceeding 26 days between the publication. of
any two such parts or numbers." Now he r. Phinn)
presumed that no person who looked at 'fie paper in
question could have any doubt that ,it came within the
class here described, for it contained all the information
of an ordinary newspaper. It was true that a recent •
decision in the Court of Exchequer, limited the definition
of a newspaper to certain conditions relative to size, in-
terval, and price.
Mr. Henry—Do you think the decision went so far as
that I

Mr. Phim—That was the construction which had
been put upon it, and he was willing to give it ittocitlest
interpretation for his present purpose, although he
Might state that the Government and the Stamp-office
had always contested that decision, and that application
of it ; and that Baron Parke dissented from the judg-
ment of the other judges. He did not consider, how-
ever, that the question could arise hi the .present in-
stance, from the obvious difference in the character of
the two papers.
James Maddett, a messenger attached to the Inland
Revenue, proved the purchase of a copy of the Pateries
Free Press, of the 23d of February, at the shop of the
defendant. He obtained it from a woman in the clop,
but on previous occasions he had purchased numbers of
Mr. Truelove himself.
Mr. Parry—On what number of the paper is this pro-
ceeding founded ?

•
11.r.-Phinn—The one published Feb. 23.
Witness cross-examined—I do not know anything of -a
paper called the Atltenceum. I never saw it, or beard of
it. (A laugh.) I know nothing of the Builder either.
Mr. Parry—Nor any other newspaper, I suppose ?
•
Witness--I don't know.
The copies produced having been handed up to his
worship,, Mr. Phinn stated that this was the case for the
Crown.

. ,
Mr. Parry took a preliminary objection to the suru-
mons, on the ground that the act required proof of the
actual and manual sale of the publication, whereas it had
been shown that the purchase was made of a woman in
the shop.
Mr. Henry did not allow the objection, as it was
proved that other numbers of the same work had been
obtained from the defendant.
Mr. Parry wished it to be understood that he had
taken this objection upon his own responsibility. His
client had no desire to get rid of the case by a quibble,
but he (Mr. Parry) had suggested the point, because it
would certainly be raised hereafter, as the question would
not be finally disposed of here. ' The learned counsel
then addressed the courtat great length in condemnation
of the conduct of the Inland Revenue in selecting a
penny paper of the description produced for prosecution,
while suffering such periodicals as the Athenteum, the
Builder, and Racing Times to escape their notice. The
real difficulty of his client had been to ascertain what
constituted a newspaper ; and, in order to try the ques-
tion, he had taken upon himself the responsibility of the
present publication. When he spoke of his client,
he wished it to be understood that the pro-
prietor of the paper (Mr. Collet) was the real defendant
in this matter, and that he had published this paper
on his own account, and not in connection with the
society with which he was associated. When he re-
solved upon its publication, he made the officers of the
revenue fully acquainted with his intention, and duly
transmitted copies of the paper for their inspection, and
the assessment,of the advertisements. Then, why was
he not at once informed that his paper would be pro-
hibited ? No proceedings were taken, and several num-
hers were permitted to be issued. By the 24th section
discussionof the. ques-
of the act, all persons having printing presses were coni-
haensde
itcownadsitinoioits
uhnadtilbronw ctohniatplpierdo:teitdliinb.gys
pelled to give returns of the purposes to which they were
against him
the; b u a
nt thea
l
pur-
suedapplied.
iiwrre
Collet,taken
would 'r
notaga they had
tion before a jury. He had never been app •
illegality of his paper, although it was duly-rised " the
and meanwhile other journals unquestio registered ;
information of occurrences, were proc (Una' Y
bl containing
The learned counsel then read severalee ng unmolested.
Athenteum and Builder, which extracts from the
formation relative to the
he
contained weekly in-
veries, &c.—information he arts, scientific disco-
deference to the Legislature would say, with great
.public importance than th ,of far more interest and
Athenceunt also contained e debates in Parliament. The
particulars of news, such as the
oppression exercised towards the English reporters for
the press on the
of a
man
in
__ Continent, and the recent apprehension
_aria for laughing at an ly portrait of
Louis Napoleon
windws of Paris.
These papers in one of the shop
the
consideration had constantl
ybeen brought under
consideration of the Inland Revenue, but they had de-
clined, from fear or otherwise to take notice'of them,
and had capriciously selected the defendant's paper. •
At the close of his address Mr. Parry called
Mr. Joseph Timm, solicitor to the Inlandßevenuei
to prove that intimation had been duly givenr tos them of
the intention to publish the Potterieso Free Press, ; es.that
' and copies
of which 'were duly transmittedthe o
no prosecutions had ever been t
instituted against the
such papers. Mr.
bers's Journal, or
Athenceum, awn
Collett had written to request
Timm stated that Mr.
ht be directed against himself,
but that he had decline
that the prosecution might
adopting
this
course,
consider-
ing that the evidence against him would be insufficient.
ByThrule of the Inland Revenue has
Mr. Phi"—
been to allow papers
which
relate to a special or class
subject to be exempt
from the tax, although a paragraph
of information might be occasionally inserted.
Mr. Collett was ca • lied to prove that he bad published
the paper avowedly to test the question, and that he was
prepared to discontinue it if a jury should decide against
him.

After a words in reply lt)y Mr. Phinn, who relied upon
the internal evidence presented by the paper itseli, as
to its true character, differing widely front the other
journals cited,
Mr. Henry announced his intention to reserve his de-
cision upon.the case, with a view of taking tune to look
through the papers produced.
The summons was then adjourned until his worship
sits again.

THE LATE DUEL AT CHERTSZT.—Yesterday afternoon
the four Frenchmen, Barrinet, Allain, Bartlemy, and
Momet were removed from liorsemonger-lane to King.
ston, previous to taking their trial at the assizes. Th 9
trial is expected to take place on Saturday.