The Sun.
London, England, 1836-02-12 00:00:00

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LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1836.

The Deputation which waited upon Lord MEL-
BOURNE, yesterday, at the Treasury, for the purpose
of impressing upon the Government the necessity of
abolishing the Stamp duty on Newspapers, consisted of
thirty Members of Parliament, and five other Gentle-
men who rank - among the foremost advocates of

popular education. Their names, and a report of
what took place on the occasion, as furnished
to the Press by one of their number, will be found
in another part of The Sun. A new light was
thrown upon the question by the Deputation ;
and this led to the avowal, on the part of the
Government, of the main object of the News-
paper tax. Mr. HUME made the rather startling
declaration, that the Unstamped Press was in a
condition to compel Parliamentary sympathy, because
sufficiently powerful to controul the election of Mem-
bers of the House of Commons—a proposition which
was confirmed by the testimony of Colonel THOMPSON,
who had himself personal experience of its correctness.
The Hon. Member for Middlesex further observed, that
if the only object of the Government in . retaining the
tax was the gross amount of the revenue raised by it,
resources were not wanting to supply the deficiency
which its abolition might create. These arguments
were repeated in a variety of forms by the other mem-
bers of the Deputation, so that Lord MELBOURNE
was forced to acknowledge, that a regard for
public morality—the effect of the change upon
" tile pursuits, habits, feelings, and opinions of
the people " alone prevented Ministers from
abolishing this impost. We are glad that his
Lordship has made this acknowledgment. It is
highly creditable to him ; and at the same time re-
lieves us from the farther necessity of groping about
for the real cause why this tax has not been sooner
abolished. We repeat, that the acknowledgment is
creditable to the Premier, however trivial may be the
grounds for those fears which have deterred him from
acting in accordance with the wishes of the people.
How very seldom do we find a Government that has
the virtue to allow the continuance or the aboli-

lition of a tax to be determined by its effect upon
public morals ? Some will doubt his Lordship's sin-
cerity, We are not of the number. We believe that
Lord MELBOURNE spoke his own sentiments and
those of his colleagues, when he stated- that the reve-

nue raised by the Newspaper tax was not the most

important part of the question. All that the aboli-
tionists have now to do, is to prove that the
fears -entertained by the Cabinet, on the morality
of the question, are entirely groundless. This
is easily done. We can speak from experience ; for
the country has already felt the operation of the Un-
stamped Press. The morality of a nation may be
fairly estimated by the popular observance, or the con-
trary, of the laws for the protection of property. Now,
Mr. PLACE and Dr. BOWRING both showed, that in

England and in several of the Swiss Cantons, every
.. _

kind of machinery was destroyed through the ignorance
of workmen before the circulation of cheap News-
papers ; and that in fact the popular insubordination
was calmed, and the growing prosperity of all
classes preserved, solely by the circulation of cheap
knowledge. This is one great point gained ; for it is
one from which no intelligent person can dissent. But
let us ask Ministers, if the morality of the question
be made the test, in what unstamped Newspaper has
the Reform Bill been denounced as subversive of the
British Constitution ? Who among the advocates of cheap
knowledge support those abuses which the present
Government is so anxious to eradicate ? On what
occasion have they clamoured against the Reform of the
Municipalities ; the Church; the Courts of Law ; the
Bribery Prevention Acts ; the improvement of the
Law of Libel ; or, in fact, any one measure of a
healing nature, brought forward by a Cabinet that has
persecuted them with relentless cruelty ? The men
who support the unstamped Press are the very men.
who keep the present Administration in office. They
are only liable to a charge of
_immorality, in so far as
they forcibly set aside a law which would, if observed,