The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-15 00:00:00

of Bs. 4d., to which he wrote 100 replies, paying anotk3l
Bs. 4d. ; various persons inserted 25 advertisements in rN
Leicester ifercury, paying 375. 6d., and received Nei
answers, paying in postage 1/. 55., and Henry Pitmac,l
Guildford, inserted one advertisement in the Times, PaY,Id1
ls. 6d., and received 43 answers, paying in postage 38• if.
to which he wrote 42 replies, paying in postage 33' 04
He trusted that, on the basis of such facts as these,
house would think he had made out a fair case for the n,
peal of the tax. (Hear.) Ho should add that the =lll4
nate proprietor of periodicals was not required to Pay
tax merely on the advertisements for which he himself 1: if
ceived payment ; he had also to pay it on those which
inserted for the purpose of giving utility to his paP3l.,
as announcements of coming events, pieces of iutelligeDo
of news, in fact, for the insertion of which he received
payment. This was a great injustice in itself, and 3' gr„cil,
impediment to the diffusion of information, and, as 3"
ge
various subterfuges were practised for evading it so faro
was possible. For example, when new books were 01
nounced, in the Publishers' Circular say, the practice
to state that such or sus bra book had been published,_;
the information to the public was left incomplete, bee`'`
in order to avoid the impost, the publisher's name,. 0,
omitted. New periodicals would gladly insert such p
nouncements for the public information free of charge
the book publishers were the tax repealed. (Hoar.) gVI
ing thus disposed of the subject of the advertisement
he came to the second resolution he had to propose, p
reference to the policy of rostraing the cheap peri°' for
press from inserting news. He had good justificatio%iti
submitting this matter to the house. He had been °1,,,4
man of the committee of that house which, in s{o ntj
Parliament, inquired into the working of the stamp
on newspapers. The report of that committee
mended that the attention of Parliament should be no
to the anomalies of the stamp duties, the state of the If
on the subject, and the expediency of the policy of Pfp
venting the cheap periodicals from containing news.rr
would not read the words of the report, but he had re{, tee
to it as a justification for calling the attention of the
to the subject. It was said that this was a question 'leg
venue; in the first place, he was prepared altogether t°
test that view of the question. From the time wilt
press first lad influence in this country there had_, beo
legislaticu for the purpose of restraining it—there
th censorship, there had been the licensing system, Pl' 10
which were abolished in 1699, and throughout there
always been a great jealousy on the part of the authonto
of what was called news. (Hear.) It had been said 4)4
extreme political writings, and writings questioningtoj
truths of religion ought to be prevented ; but, if;
looked into the proceedings of past times, they would y;
that there was something else which the authorities
always been very much afraid of, and that was the cir!„,),
tion of news— the narration to the conntay of the clui4!,,
events of the day. (Hear.) In the London Gazette el'
5, 1680, there was this announcement :
" This day the judges made their report to His MajOtli)
Council, in pursuance of an order of this board, bY
they unanimously declare that His Majesty may by 1,11
hibit the printing and publishing of all new books an°, 0.
phlets of news whatsoever, not licensed by His Majest93
thority, as manifestly tending 0,
to the breach of the pos6'o
disturbance of the kingdom. Whereupon a procloo.sp
was issued restraining the printing of newspapers,
and pamphlets of news without leave."
This restraint upon news continued down to the °11.1;
1694, when the licensing system expired. The authony
then went on for a few years without interfering Withd"
press, but in the latter part of the reign of Queen
" regular newspapers," wrote Mr. Hallam in his Co'
tional History,- -
t• ttP
" Not merely designed for the communication of
gence, but for the discussion of political topics, 01;17,
great circulation, and became the accredited organs 0'
ferent factions."
" The Tory Ministers," added Mr. Hallam, " were 310,
sot
at the vivacity of the press, both in periodical and tl
writings, which led to the stamp duty, intended chief. 1,4
diminish their number, and was nearly producing more I"`i
nicious restrictions, such as renewing the Licensing
compelling authors to acknowledge their names." h
They did not renew the Licensing Act, indeed, which
been abolished, but with the same intention they adoPte"ll!
stamp duty on newspapers for the purpose of lessening,,
number of those papers. If hon. gentlemen would
over the journals of the house at that period theYlt
see that Ministers had come down, time after time, "'tilt
purpose of doing something to restrict the press, WI
last a Committee of Ways and Means suggested the off;
object in view, of restricting the press might be a;e°oi
lished by a heavy tax on all newspapers 1
newspapers and printed el
phlets. That was the origin of the stamp duty on IV,
papers. He now come to the act of 60 George prr
,:'rap. 9, one of Lord Castlereagh's Six Acts, thy
Imble of which fairly set forth :—" Whereas, ji;i;'
expedient to restrain the small publications 101
issue from the press in great numbers, and at °,1,1
price, be it therefore enacted that a stamP pl
shall be imposed on every paper containing Pi,
news, intelligence, occurrences, or any remarks or olo3d
tions thereupon." The act, then, was not "for thelet,
pose of granting a supply to his Majesty," but nv°lo,
for the purpose of restraining the press. In Deelt,
1819, Lord Ellenborough said, upon the Newspaper
Act :
"It was not against the respectable press that this 1.„/
directed, but against a pauper press, which, administer',V
the prejudices and the passions of a mob, was convern)
the basest purposes—which was an utter stranger to
and only sent forth a continual stream of falsehood and'?l
nity—its virulence and its mischief heightening as 14
ceedcd. If he was asked whether he would deprive theo
est classes of society of all political information, he wOoti
that he saw no possible good to be derived to the co
from having statesmen at the loom and politicians at the '
fling jenny." (Hear, hear.)
tl4
At present, however, we legislated against the very
01
which were the antidote to the poison ; for by prey°.
the circulation of facts and of the current events d'
we prevented the circulation of the antidote, and perlit,
men to become the dupes of political or other iiinPv tr,
Lord Erskine was so impressed with this at the tinloe
he left upon the table of the House of Lords the fdi
protest : ix
" Because by the stamps imposed by this bill, 3nci 1.1 °,1;1
mfuerntltlicorneddi:caltainigu
sruemeo:nsoisaunlc.gese - a ton be entered into l'iro•
probable credit of such persons, or the
printers and publishers of the pamphlets and PaPet7 to 11
publications, it is manifest, and has, indeed, been not nt
indistinctly admitted, that a discouragement amoun'te,
almost a prohibition is thus suddenly aimed at a veil
and often useful, branch of trade ; because the great 13r,)01
British subjects have no such moans of being informed of f
passes in Parliament and in the courts of justice; or
general transactions of the world, than through chenP Pto es
cations within their means of purchase ; and I desire ° dew,
press my dissent from that principle and opinion that th_ 0:400
p_rofiptosrtc)fousaucch
of the State and the happiness of the multitude in the IsOnlo
condition of life may be best secured by their being keTV:
ignorance of political controversies and opinions, as I h°
the contrary, that the Government of this country
continue to be secure while it conducts itself with fidclo,tel
justice, and as all its acts shall, as heretofore be thorn
known and understood by all classes of the people ; .1) ,74)1
this obstruction to the sale and circulation of small Pell et,'
publications is not confined to those of a political chs°olo
but most unaccountably extends to all such as shall co ,r;
any public news, intelligence, or occurrence, or any 000
or observation thereon, or description which obviously
prehends and involves all the transactions of human life,o3
which reasonable beings, putting national freedom vril%
of the question, can seek or desire to communicate vg"
another."
,
Now, who, he asked, were the opponents of the a° ttd,
60th Geo. 111., c. 9 ? They were Sir James MackiOrd
Mr. Brougham, Mr. Tierney, Viscount Althorp, 14°40,
Russell, and. Sir James Graham—(hear)—whosetbd
were to be found in the minority against that bill eT.4!
ground, as stated by Sir James Mackintosh, that , 1
attempt to put a restraint upon the liberty of the
press. The distinguished leaders of the Whig P 34 Ili
that day were the men, small in numbers, who fog!' ex
good fight of freedom in behalf of the press ovine; 01),?1
tlereagh and the ministers of that day; and he calleu_;,
4
them to refer to their former eloquent and outhliTecol
speeches, expressed sometimes with a feeling and id cofr
that he would scarcely venture to imitate, to act in ,
o
sistency with those great principles ; and, to come
other and better times, whin we had a contented and
population, when there was no signs of disorder/ „O;
when they were contemplating the of therf
cal franchise—he called upon them to let the proem'?
that political franchise be a free and unrestricted Pet/
giving to the masses that knowledge and intelligenG
which alone they could be enabled to exercise theirg,P;
cal franchise with advantage to their country. , Tba
But he would pursue the question to a later date", t 1
60th of George 111., c. 9, was imported into the I?
William which reduced the duty on newspapers.
that occasion Lord Lyndhurst said, acting in co-01)°',V
with the members of his own party, " Bring in titewpt,
bill—bring in a bill to repeal the whole of the stare yr,
on newspapers." That was the reception which o'l
Lyndhurst gave to the bill for reducing the stare Pot,
newspapers. The answer of Lord Lansdowne upe°
occasion was this—
" The noble and learned lord, in concurrence with Piik
with whom he would not offend the noble and learned 1(,)_le
saying he usually acted, declared himself anxious to Os" ,
the whole of the duty levied on newspapers ; but, 11..
present circumstances, he was not prepared to say thiev
tax could, with safety, be remitted to that unqualifiede4l
to which the noble and learned lord expressed himself fd
able."
si'eL s

The term "safety" was applied to the policy. Ile
the house was it safe now? (Hear.) Was there Old,"
son why the leaders of both parties should not unite ti
the altered circumstances to remove that duty : betl
trusted he did not appeal in vain to gentlemen on opt
sides of the house. Ho declared, upon his conscience
44)
he did not view this as a party question. (Hear, Pool'
All parties had an interest in their views being Plly
gated ; and in these days he did not see that any PestrA
the State could fear the consequences. On the 000
they ought to hail with exultation any means that ,40
be devised for extending useful knowledge—aye, Al'" Illejj
tical information, among the great body of the peoplejtic
house would remember thatwhen Lord Melbourne re`` tOj
the stamp duty he was charged with having " courts be
Radicals.', (A laugh.) But these were times whop_a
a Radical could be no reproach. We had got aRs s 4
the Administration, we had a Radical in the Cabinet;i4lll
more than that, we had a Radical acting with thosed4,l
once were Conservative Ministers. (Cheers.) The tP,,
then, for any reproach upon Radicalism were past. iber
party watchwords had lost their force. Each dal 4. tio;
old conflicts were becoming more and more matters e'l,4
dition, and every party now that aspired to power
found its claims upon the utility of of its policy
sincere desire to benefit all classes of the people. -1-1' ecoP;
be supposed by some that the reduction of the duty :1,,,00
plished all that was required, and that a penny tirt J'o
newspaper was but a small tax after all. 1,3„1;0101
member that the penny tax was upon the `-_,"ssc
Penny publications there might be • but insert ne"be i
the paper became liable to the tax ; be;
price must tavc,°:
vanced to 2d., which' might prove a fatal circtuus
and securities must be found. Upon this part of the j.,
tion Lord Brougham, in a letter recently written, 594,,5,
Now, the stamp is by far the most hurtful of t," "„f
taxes in one essential particular. The instruction, " 000
working classes in the country districts, where it Tieo
wanted, has been almost entirely prevented by it. We efel,u
Useful Knowledge Society made, for years, efforts °' ja
kind to diffuse sound information among the peasantry t
villages, cottages, and farm-houses, we. were always nietli°`,
defeated by this stamp. Our only chance of makiqo 0;3
poor people read. was by wrapping up good inforniati too g
fa Ili
lasting value in news—especially news respecting
ata
matters and things in their own neighbourhood. Pool r
penny stamp made this impiassible. The paper nceroer)
octavo pages, of which four would have been Oa
and the other eight of a more general description 831, co
01,
permanent value„instructive or entertaining, orb °",' oot
easily have-been sold for a penny, after the uccess%Ystortoo
auce to the hawker or -other retail dealer. The ''olso
the Penny Magazine shows this, But the vast cite