The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-17 00:00:00

THE SEIZURE OF VESSELS IN THE
TB AMES.

The following correspondence has taken place
respecting the seizure of certain vessels ordered by
the Russian Government to be built by Mr. Pitcher,
of Northfleet, upon whose conduct in the affair
severe remarks were made by s•me of our contem-
poraries. It will be seen from the correspondence
that Mr. Pitcher was entirely blameless :
Northfleet Dockyard, April 8.
Sir,—Accusations having been brought against me in the
columns of the Daily News and other papers, charging me
with treasonable conduct in building two ships of war fer
the Russian navy (the contract for which was entered into
by me with the Russian authorities at the close of the year
1852), and also accusing me of connivance with the Russian
Government, of attempting concealment and withholding
information from the Government as to the ships building
by me at Northfleet, I have to request the hon. Board of
Admiralty will be kind enough to express their sentiments
whether I have at any time refused information and aid to
the Admiralty Board or the Surveyor of the Navy, in order
to hinder or prevent the seizure of the said ships by the
Government, or directly or indirectly refused compliance
with any request made by the Government, or withheld or
refused any information required of me with reference to
the ships in question.
I have the honour to be, sir, your obedient humble
servant, WILLIAM PITCHER.
B. Osborne, Esq., Admiralty.

Admiralty, April 12.14
Sir,—With reference to your letter of the Bth inst.,
wherein you state that you have been accused of attempt-
ing concealment and withholding information from her
Majesty's Government as to the ships building by you for
the Russian Government, I am commanded by my Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty to acquaint you, that on
inquiry being made by officers from the department of the
Surveyor of the Navy as to the circumstances under which
the two vessels in question were being built by you, you
behaved in the most candid manner, and afforded every
information, stating that they were being constructed for
the Russian Government, and that in subsequent commu-
nications with you on the subject of the transfer of these
vessels, and their equipment for the purpose of being fitted
and adapted for her Majesty's service, you have afforded
every information and facility.
Their Lordships command me to add, that so far from
having reason to complain, they are of opinion that
throughout this transaction you have behaved with perfect
candour and honour.

I am, sir, your most obedient humble servant.,
B. OSBORNE.
IV. Pitcher, Esq., Northfleet Dockyard.

IRONMASTERS QUARTERLY MEETING.

DUDLEY, Saturday Evening.—The final meeting of
the ironmasters of this district for the current quarter
has been held here this afternoon ; there was not so large
an attendance of the trade as usual, but it was said that
fully an average amount of business was transacted—
more indeed than was anticipated, in the present posi-
tion of affairs when the ironmasters are indisposed to
enter into new engagements. The same feeling prevailed
which existed at Birmingham, namely, that bars ought
to be advanced ten shillings at least, but the quarter-day
closed without the declaration of any advance whatever;
in fact, it is tolerably certain that if any further rise
was attempted at the present time, a derangement in the
labour market would be the result ; whereas, under the
present order of things, the men are all working content-
edly with existing prices ; but the difficulty of procur-
ing a sufficient supply of labour increases daily, and at
many of the works in this part of the district especially
operations are very materially circumscribed by reason
of the impossibility of procuring a sufficient number of
workpeople. It is a pleasant thing to contemplate cer-
tainly that in such a large manufacturing district,
teeming with population, that there should be full work
and to spare for everybody, and that the position of
labour should be one of complete independence; still that
same prosperity has in its train embarrassments tending
to cripple industrial operations even at this moment, and
these bid fair to increase and to present a subject for
very serious consideration on no very distant day. It was
announced in the course of this afternoon that there are
some large orders in for rails for the North of Europe, and
that the very last American steamers have brought in a
further supply of orders large as were those to hand pre-
viously. Here, the Northamptonshire ironstone is finding
more favour. An ironmaster of great mechanical skill and
scientific knowledge is himself usingit. Some persons think
that it will ultimately come into favour, and Welsh makers
are already, it is said, using it in large quantities; but the
weight of opinion and practical experience at present
seems to resolve itself into this--that to bring the new
ore into operation will be a work of time, and that it
will require judicious selection ; at the same time it is
very confidently predicted, that it will never acquire
such a reputation as Staffordshire pigs have attained.
Again, we have to report that this the last of the series
of meetings passed off as satisfactorily as could be
wished ; accounts were again most punctually paid,
and manufacturers, looking grave at the high price of
the raw material, confess that they have as many orders
as they know what to do with, and that these have in
no degree abated by the advanced prices. We are glad
to be able to add, that throughout the district there is
the best feeling existing between the employers and the
, employed.

[PRICE SD.

THE .NEWSPAPER STAMP RETURNS.;

( From the Empire. )
For the gratification of public curiosity, the
guidance of advertisers, the glorification of large
Journals, and the further humiliation of small ones,
the Newspaper Stamp Returns have again been
published. by the authority of Parliament. They
comprise a period of three years, and show the
number of stamps issued to each newspaper or
stamped periodical in the United Kingdom in the
years 1851, 1852, and 1853 respectively. In an-
other part of our impression we give that portion
of the returns which relates to the Metropolitan
papers—no less than 125 in number, with circula-
tions varying from the 14 millions per annum of
the Times to the 6. 02 copies of the Lambeth Gazette,and the 280 copies of the Jewish _Herald. The
mere list of the titles alone is curious, beginning
with Allen's Indian Mail, ending with the Wes-
leyan, Times, and exhibiting in its course a varied
and imposing specimen of new. spapar nomenclature
only to be surpassed by the titular fancies and pre-
tensions of the Yankee press, over which no stamp
office dares to take cognisance. In the personal
and professional category we have Builders, Critics,
English Churchmen, Economists, Examiners,
Friends, Inquirers, Leaders, Merchants, Noncon-
formists, Observers, Patriots, Reporters, Spectators
and Watchmen, mixed up among Globes, Stand_
ards, Posts, Records, Chronicles, and Dispatches.
The purely symbolical titles are not numerous,
nor yet are the classical—Atlas and D enes being
the only representatives of antiquity. in the list.
The (Times appears to be a favourite title,
.for,
besides the leviathan, we have the Christian Times
(by way of distinction, we presume, from the great
heathen of Printing-house-square), the Gas and
Water Times, the Railway Times, the Law Times,
the Wesleyan Times, the Sunday Times, the
Weekly Times, &c. Then there are wonderfully
large families of Journals, Chronicles, and Ga-
zettes, with Public Ledgers, Circulars, and we
know not what besides.

Of the accuracy of these returns there can be no
question ; but in some instances a little accompany-
ing explanation to the figures would have been
serviceable to the public, and only fair towards
the proprietors of certain papers. Thus, in our
own case, the number of stamps issued to the
Empire in the year 1853 is given as 48,700, but
it does not appear on the face of the return that
the Empire was only established in November,
1853, and that therefore the 48,700 stamps were
in reality for eight weeks, and not, as the reader
would otherwise suppose for the entire year. Then,
again, there are a number of periodicals, not
strictly newspapers, which require stamps for a
portion only of their impression. Among these we
may name the Atheneum, the Critic, the Builder,
Punch, Diogenes, Household Words, &c., to the ag-
gregate circulation of none of which do the stamp re-
turns form any clue whatever. Thu s our very popular
friend Diogenes has credit for 14,500 stamps during
1853, which would give an average of 278 only per
week. This, however, merely represents the num-
ber of copies sent through the post and requiring a
stamp for that purpose • so that the lantern-bear-
ing philosopher has an absolute injustice and injury
done him in the eyes of the uninitiated by these
returns. The same remark will apply to a number
of other periodicals which are permitted to circu-
late everywhere but through the post without a
stamp—a privilege which, by the way, is marked
by great and indefensible partiality. Why, for
instance, should the Atherueum, the Builder,
the Critic, or the Racing Telegraph be permitted
an unstamped general sale, while the Leader, the
Examiner and the Empire are taxed a penny on
every sheet they sell, whether it passes through the
post or not ? The answer is, that the former are
not newspapers in a Somerset-house point of view,
while the latter are. This of itself will be news to
many people, but so it is. A man may cram a
paper like the Builder or the Racing Times with
news of one kind, or he may get up a literary inno-
cent of a paper like the Athenceum, the Critic, or
the Notes and Queries, all replete with information,
without fearing the exactions of the Stamp-office,
except upon such copies as have to pass through the
post ; but the moment he enters the arena of the
world and collates the general news of the day, his
every sheet must bear a tax of 100 per cent upon the
cost of the material. This is the freedom of press in
England, as arbitrarily adjudged by our Stamp-
office authorities. The literary recluse may have
his paper laden with interesting treasure, untaxed
—the man of the turf may learn the latest state of
the odds and be kept an courant with the myste-
rious movements of the sporting world, without
any special contribution to the revenue—but the
people may not learn what is going on around them
to influence their political destinies, they may not
be apprised of the proceedings of parliaments, the
movements of armies, the fate of empires, and all
that our legislators tell us it is their interest and
their duty ''to know, without the interposition of
the tax-collector. The newspaper stamp, then, is
a tax upon the people, an obstruction to popular
intelligence, a lowering of the foot-lights on the
great stage of the world. It is not, as has been
pleaded, a mere charge made to reimburse Govern-
ment for the expense of transmitting newspapers
through the post, for a great portion of newspapers
don't pass through the post at all. If Government
would be content to make the newspaper tax con-
tingent solely upon the privilege of postal trans-
mission, the public would be satisfied, and amongst
newspaper proprietors no one would more heartily
acquiesce in the arrangement than ourselves. But,
as the saying is, " between you and me and the
post," our legislators have a deeper object than the
indemnification of the post-office in retaining this
tax upon newspapers.
A few words more upon the present Stamp Re-
turns. Like their predecessors they show that
throughout the country the Liberal are the popular
and most successful papers ; but like their prede-
cessors they also show that, whether Liberal or
Conservative, the press of England has a most de-
pressinc, incubus to bear in the newspaper stamp
duty. The number of papers in the metropolitan
list is 125, but the greatest proportion of these are
either literary periodicals, or class publications of
limited circulation. Take away the mining and
railway journals, trade circulars, the ecclesiastical
and sectarian organs, &c., and the number of papers
of general information is really miserable, and still
more miserable is the sale which they have in the
midst of a population of some millions. Of the
eleven daily papers, exclusive of the Times, the
average circulation each is only about 2,600 ; and
in eight cases out of eleven the returns for 1853
show a decrease of circulation upon the returns of
1852. As regards the weekly papers, where there
is one which shows an increase there are at least
two which show a decrease of sale ; and when the
present enormous price of our excise-taxed paper
is taken into account, it is not too much to say
that the inajority aro now carried on with
little or no profit to the proprietors. This
cannot be a healthy or satisfactory state of
things in a country of professedly pre-e=
nent civilisation, and in an age when
diffusion of intelligence is constantly apostroihised
as the highest mission of statesmanship and
thropy. If any fact can be deduced froin the m-
turns before us it is, that the British press, to be
equal to its calling and deserts, must be untaxed—
that the badge of oppression implied by the new
removed—: k d.
knowledge, must that the duty
on stamp must be rem
on paper, the common vehicle of
be abolished.

ALARMING EXPLOSION OF WAR-ROCKETS AT
THE ROYAL ARSENAL, WOOLWICH.

The above casualty, which at this moment is so calcu-
lated to excite apprehension in the public mind, took
place at the Royal Arsenal on Good Friday, between
ten and eleven o'clock.
It appeared from information collected from authentic
sources, that two unfinished 241 b. rockets had exploded.
The accident first occurred in a compartment worked by
a man named Parrot, and spread itself into the adjoining
one, where a dockyard man named Newstead was at
work. The men employed in the rocket-house rushed
out in a state of terror, and Mr. Pickering, the master
congreve-rocket maker, arrived and found a portion of
the building in flames. Considerable apprehension
existed that the large barrows of rockets, arranged by
the men when finished, would ignite, and gangs were
immediately set to work to remove them. The engines
of the Arsenal were speedily and most efficiently worked
by the military and men, aided by Mr. Inspector Grave-
stock and the dockyard police. A company of Sappers
and Miners, under the direction of Colonel Walpole,
also did good service. Colonel Wilson and the foremen
of the dock men were present, encouraging and stimu-
lating the men in their duty, and in the space of 15
minutes the devastating element was conquered.
Considerable fears were at first entertained for the
men, numbering about 50, who were at work in the
rocket-house, but after the tumult had subsided it was
happily found that neither life nor limb had been sacri-
ficed. The cause of the accident is conjectured to be
the overloading of a Parrott's case ; and the force of the
explosion may be imagined when it is stated that the
west side of the house was completely blown down.
Several windows in the neighbourhood were also demo-
lished, and the report could be heard for miles distant.
A similar accident, it is stated, occurred about two
years since.