The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-27 00:00:00

DEATH OF VICE-ADMIRAL PAR KI 0.8.

We stated yesterday that Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker,
C.D., was so ill that he was not expected to recover,
and we now regret to announce his decease, which took
place at Ham yesterday morning.
Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker was the son of the cele-
brated Sir Hyde Parker, and grandson of Vice-Admiral
Sir Hyde Parker, Bart. The late descendant of those
illustrious flag-officers entered the navy in 1699, and in
early life saw much active war service, but started in
the navy as he was, his promotion was rapid, and in
later life he had the good fortune to be almost continu-
ously employed. He commanded the Rodney, 92, as
the finest two-decker in the navy. He served as com-
mander in chief of an experimental fleet, and for many
years as superintendent of Portsmouth Dockyard. He
was selected as senior naval lord of the Admiralty under
the Duke of Northumberland, and when the coalition
ministry succeeded Vice-Admiral Hyde Parker remained
as its senior professional member.

He married the daughter of the late Sir F. M. Eden,
Dart., sister of Captain Charles Eden, of the LondOn, 90,
in the Black Sea, and his son, Captain Hyde Parker, com-
mands the Firebrand, 6, steam-trigate, in the Black Sea.
By the death of Vice Admiral Parker, Captain Michael
Seymour (1826), now serving as captain of the fleet, be-
comes rear admiral of the blue, placing a good-service
pension at the bestowal of the First Lord of the Ad-
miralty.
The following account ot the brilliant services of the
deceased Admiral is given in V' Byrne's Naval Bio-
g raphy :-
" This officer entered the Royal Naval Academy Feb. 5,
1795, and embarked in September, 1799, as a volunteer on
board the Cambrian, 40, Captains the Hon. Arthur Kaye
Legge and George Henry Towry, employed at first in the
Channel and then in cruising among the Western
Islands. In November, 1801, he removed as midshipman
to the Narcissus, 32, Captain Ross Donelly ; and while in
that frigate, of which he was created an acting and a con-
firmed lieutenant October 6, 1603, and September, 24,
1801, he saw much active service. On July 11, in the latter
year, in particular, he assisted with the boats of hie own
ship and of the Maidstone and Seahorse, 10 in number,
under the orders of Lieutenant John Thomson, and was
highly spoken of for his conduct at the capture and destruc-
tion of 12 settees, lying at La Vandour, in the Bay of
Hyere, after a conflict, in which the British, encountered
by a tremendous fire of grapeshot and musketry, as well
from the vessels themselves as from a battery and the houses
of the town, sustained a loss of four men killed and 23
wounded. In the following year Mr. Parker, who, in
July, 1803, had contributed to the capture of L'Alcyon,
of 16 guns and 96 men, accompanied the expedition to the
Cape of Good Hope ; on her passage whether the Narcis•
leandelos
on 70n,
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privateer,oeunn,trine togofo23k22tghgtmeanEsana, gn
andldi 5215
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sus, besides making prize of Le President privateer, of 12
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.
to the reduction of the Cape, Mr. Parker on the surrender
there of the 46-gun frigate Volontaire, was placed on board
that ship, under the orders of the Captain the Hon. Joce-
line Percy. In June, 1806, having been advanced to the
rank of commander on the 22d of the preceding January,
he went on half-pay. His next appointment was in March,
18077, to the Promotheus sloop ; from which vessel, for his
services during the expedition to Copenhagen, he was
I promoted, October 13 following, to Post-rank. He after.
wards obtained command, March 11, 1811, of the Mon.
mouth, 64, bearing the flagin the Downs of Rear-Admiral
Thomas Foley; April 15, 1812, of the Tenedos, 38, attached
to the force on the coast of North America, whence he re-
turned in August, 1815 ; March 15, 1818, of the Iphi.
genia, 46, which ship was paid off Jnne 12, 1821 ; May 1,
1830, of the St. Vincent, 120, bearing the flag of Sir Thos.
Foley, at Portsmouth ; February 16, 1831, of the Asia,
84, on the Lisbon station ; December 19 following, again
of the Victory, employed as before, at Portsmouth, where
he remained until February, 1833 ; and August 29, 1835,
for upwards of four years and a half, of the Rodney, 92,
on the Mediterranean station. While in the Tenedos
Captain Parker was engaged, in company with the Shau-
-1 non, 38, Captain Philip Bowes Vere Broke, in blockading,
during the month of April 1813, the port of Boston, in
which lay the American frigates President and Congress ;
he afterwards, in April, 1814, united with the Junon, 38,
Capt. Clotworthy Upton, in chasing the Constitution frigate
into Marblehead Harbour, whither he was prevented from
following her by a signal of recall from the Junon ; and on
January 15, 1815, he ' witnessed the surrender of the above-
named President to the British frigate Endymion, Captain
Henry Hope. In the Iphigenia, atter having conveyed the
Duke of Richmond to Quebec, he proceeded to the West
Indies, where the fever in a few weeks carried off 84 of his
officers and men. On September 5, 1831, Capt. Parker
was nominated an Extra Naval Aide-de-Camp to King
William IV. He attained flag-rank November 23, 1841;
and from August 4, 1842, until the close of 1847, he held,
the appointment of Admiral-Superintendent at Ports-
mouth. In 1845 he commanded an experimental squadron.
He was nominated a C.B. April 18, 1839."

LORD STANLEY AND THE NEWSPAPER
STAMP.

The following letter from Lord Stanley has been pub-
lished by the Association for the Repeal of the Taxez on
Knowledge :

Albany, May 24.
Sir,—No division having been taken on Mr. Milner
Gibson's motion, and the motion itself not going the
length of a repeal of the stamp duty, I wish to give in
my adhesion to the movement which you are promoting,
so far as the abolition of that duty is concerned. The
paper duty, as a financial measure, stands on a
different footing. But the stamp duty is professedly
imposed as a postal charge only, and not for purposes
of revenue. It may, therefore, be dealt with quite apart
from any considerations arising out of the war.
I only know three reasons which really influence men's
minds against its removal. Some persons fear the
politi-
cal or social results of a large increase of cheap period-
icals. This objection is removed by the existence, un-
controlled by law, of a cheap unstamped press, dealing
with every subject except the news of the day, and even
dealing with that in the way of comment. The danger
which they fear already exists : the proposed change of
law will diminish instead of aggravating it, by giving to
the cheap press a character of greater respectability.

Other; conceive that what -is demanded amounts to
this, that newspapers should be posted gratuitously. It
would be well to have this delusion thoroughly removed.
Newspapers cannot claim gratuitous transmission any
more than letters ; all that you ask.is, that only those
which require postal accommodation shall pay for it,
and that the small provincial journals, which does
not use the post-office, being distributed entirely
by hand, shall not be taxed 50 or 100 per cent. upon
its value, in order that a copy of the Times may pass
four or five times through the post at the cost of
a single transmission. You cannot put it forward
too clearly, that it is not the removal of the postal
charge, but its equalisation, that you desire. The pre-
sent law is as though a penny stamp were put on every
sheet of paper, so that a note sent by hand, on a written
memorandum kept for private use, should pay postage
as well as a letter transmitted in the usual manner. Its
anomaly and injustice could net have been tolerated 'until
now, were it not that proprietors and editors of estab-
lished journals circulating largely, have, or conceive
themselves to have a 'direct interest in maintaining a
system which checks competition, and favours large
capitalists.
I believe the fallacy here mentioned, " that what re.
formers ask is a gratuitous transmission of newspapers
by post," has done more mischief than, from its ab-
surdity, would be supposed.
The third objection taken---3 fear lest the Post-office
revenues should fail off—seems wholly groundless. Any
one who looks at the returns of that department will see
an enormous increase of late years in the amount of work
which it has to do, and consequently also in its receipts.
I believe that a diminution in the number of newspapers
conveyed by post would more than compensate, in con-
venience, for the pecuniary loss which it might cause.
But it must also be remembered that a large increase in
the number of newspapers would render the paper duty
(while that tax lasts) more remunerative ; and, as was
urged in the debate, that it many inure newspapers are
published than at present, it is probable that at least an
equal number will still pass through the post.
Justice has scarcely been dime to the claim of the pro-
vincial press. Take such a case as this : and it is not
an imaginary one. A heal journal, published in a small
borough has 1,000 subscribers ; of these, 900 live within
the borough, their copies are consequently transmitted
to them by hand, only the remaining 100 copies are
sent by post, the charge for which, at ld. each, would
be Bs. 4d. But the law imposes, under the name of a
postal charge, this penny tax on the whole 1,000 copies,
amounting, in all, to 4/. 3s. 4d. on each impression ;
or, in other words, taxes the journal in question at the
rate of 10d. for each copy which passes through the
Post-office. Can it be imagined that this injustice
should be defended, as I have seen it defended, on the
ground that what is thus taken from the small journa-
list is put into the pockets of his metropolitan rival?
To those who apprehend that the character of journal-,
ism will suffer by an increase of cheap local papers,
though holding their anticipations to be erroneous,
should reply simply by a refusal to discuss that question.
We contend that as a matter, not of policy,l but of sim-
ple justice, postal charges should fall u
benefit by the services of the Post-office on t‘hvohsaet
swybeor
may have been the private opinions of public men, no
minister of late years has dareda to avow that the stamp
duty is imposed
purposelyas check on low-priced peri-
odical writing.
o admit this,
is to assert the principle
of athe existing duty, amounting to a
tax ofloo censorship,per T
cent,For on
penny journal, amounts, in
fact, to a prohibition ofall such journals. But, if this
prohibition is designed, it ought to be put in express
words. What the Legislature does should be done
openly. The question, therefore, is reduced' this—
whether Parliament will continue to limit the right of
publication to journals sold at and above a certain price
That, this is the effect of the law is clear ; that it is also
the object of the law, though that object is not acknow-
ledged, seems impossible to doubt. Formerly the stamp
duty was defended on financial grounds alone ; nto_we, ware told that the fiscal question is tans;unimportath
the
ex-
cuse varies from year to year,
nately clung to. policy tillobstisucceed ; but the ultimate result is certain ,
Two or three years must probably stillpas.sbmeefaonretiymo::
erveornuseidynituheatiteew. which
isl shallaat
once gladly
agreatj.oin attemptingimnpnicy and a
gthri
I remain, your obedient3s r vant,
STANLEY.

Secretary to the Association for Repeal of
Taxes on Knowledge.

THE EGYPTIAN BAILROAD.—ThiSI' gad is in good
working order and answers exceedingly well. The trains
do not run on it at present at any statea periods. It is
chiefly used when European or English passengers arrive
in Egypt. English engine-drivers are emp.oyed on it.
The speed is about 20 miles an hour. The railway the
whole distance between Alexandria and Cairo will soon
be 'open. It passes through a level and most fertile •
country. The Arabs do not know what to make of it.
They were dancing before it some time since, and haying
no conception of its speed, they did_ hot get out of . the
way iA time, atld an Arab woman waa .411 W.
. _