The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-22 00:00:00

TO ADVERTISERS.

It will be seen by the following extract from the
Stamp Office Returns, that THE SUN is now the
Leading Evening Paper, in point ofcirculation, as
the Lists for the Months of March and April
last will show :
Sun ..... 136,000
Globe and Traveller
Courier 70,500
'True Sun, and Weekly True Sun 58,500
Shipping Gazette

Ihe publication of Tu SUN NEWSPAPER commenced this day
at 50 minutes past Three o'

.„,jt- 14'14
.
.74,

TIV

LONDON,

WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 22, 1836.

Our Contemporaries, whether in favour of, or op-
Fried to, the motion of the Right Hon. the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER, for the reduction of the
Stamp Duty on Newspapers, seem inclined to discuss
the question with a degree of moderation which does
them credit. This is the more extraordinary on the

part of those who oppose the motion, inasmuch as they
assure us that the question does not at all affoct their
"selfish interests"—being wholly an affair appertaining
to the public. The world is so well acquainted with
the patriotism of the Conservative organs, that it must
be astonished to learn that they succeeded in keeping
their temper when they saw the CHANCELLOR
of the EXCHEQUER. preparing the way for a mea-
sure which they believed calculated to lower the
moral character of the British people. To ob•
serve the most decorous demeanour—to practice that
sacred principle which directs the smitten on one
check to expose the other to the blow of the miter—
to permit the coat to be carried off by the pilferer of the
cloak—to watch the progress of a self-immolating Bill
with looks as unconscious of resistance as a lamb led
to the slaughter, is no more than the public must be
prepared to expect from such High Church, King,
and Constitution-loving journals as the Herald,
the Post, and that most devout of converts to
Toryism, the Times. But surely such apparent
resignation to the will of the CHANCELLOR of
the EXCHEQUER will appear rather curious when
it is known that self has nothing to do with
the convictions which our contemporaries have so
calmly and indifferently expressed this morning. Had
our contemporaries stated that the reduction of the
Stamp Duty on Newspapers would entail upon them
losses to the Amount of some millions sterling, we
would have seen nothing surprising in their apparent
indifference to the measure. We of course know that
Conservatives are indifferent to the charms of vulgar
gain ; and that, like the primitive Christians, they
would be too happy to have such an opportunity of
becoming martyrs for the sake of their cause and the
country. But we cannot so easily reconcile indiffer-
ence to a question which they assert will operate mis-
chievously on the public mind of Great Britain and
Ireland.

Do we misrepresent the language of our Tory con-
temporaries ? Take the following from the Times of
this morning :
" Our present office is with the tax affecting Newspapers,
and we repeat, that as a matter of selfish interast, there is no-
thing in the mere reduction of that impost which gives us the
slightest concern. The difference between 4d. and Id. per
sheet is paid by our readers, not by us. Whatever advantage
at present accrues to us from the fact of our being established,
and from the connexions of half a century, is in no degree de-
pendent on the amount of tax which we pay in periodically to
the Stamp-office, but of which we are the mere vehicles from
the pockets of our customers to Somerset-house—a circum-
stance out of which it would puzzle a clearer head than that of
our superficial necromancer at the Treasury to bring home
against the existing London Press a charge of commercial
monopoly !" •
Thus, in a pecuniary point of view, the reduction of
the duty does not give the Times the " slighest con-
cern ;" and, as a sort of curious corollory, high prices
limiting circulation—and the impossibility of carrying
on business, without an enormous capital, does not
create a monopoly ! 'Will the Times have the kind-
ness to inform its readers wh4ther an Act of Parlia-
ment which would exclude all wines from this country
except those of the vintage of France would not give
a monopoly to the French wine grower ? Assuming
that its answer must be in the affirmative, we beg to
ask what possible difference can there be between the