The Sun.
London, England, 1848-04-10 00:00:00

NING

pUBL IC ANNOUNCEMENT
From the " Hull Advertiser" of FSIDAT, MARCH 24. 1848.
We have this week to announce an entire change in the Proprie-
torship of the " Hull Advertiser." 31r. William Bettison, the lest
of a spirited Reform Proprietary, dating from the era of the Re-
form Bill, ceased to have any pecuniary interest in this Journal
from the first day of March Instant. This event, usually:so important in
the social and political life of a community, involves in the future
conducting of this Paper no change of persons ; no modification of
political principles
; no fresh combination of party associations.
The late Proprietor had nothing more at heart than that the " Hull
Advertiser " should always be found the faithful and fearless advo-
cate of liberal opinions; and the hands to which he has entrusted it
have never penned a sentence which a Fox, a Grey, a Itonailly, a
Mackintosh, or a Cobden could have objected to as favouring mono-
poly in trade, inhumanity in law, bigotry in religion, or corruption
in Parliament. Ile who was the Editor for the last six years, and
who, Burin, the whole of that time,
was guided is his treatment of
all public questions by the free and undisputed exercise of his own
unfettered judgmett, is still Editor, and one of the two Proprietors
to whom the Paper now belongs. The other has for settle years
conducted the pecuniary business of the office, and will continue to
confine himself to what the Chancellor of the Exchequer would call
" the Ways and Means " department—an important one in a news-
paper office as well as in a Royal Cabinet. To the general reader,
therefore, there will be little at first besides the imprint to remind
him of a change which has been toreed on the late Proprietor by
the necessity of extending his regular trade as a brewer. The most
satisfactory way of placing this before the public will be to quote
the following letter titan Mr. Bettison to the Editor :
" 18, Charlotte-street, Hull,
March 21, 1848.
"My Dear Sir,—lt will gratify a very natural degree of public
curiosity, and relieve me from more personal questionings than I
have time to attend to, if you can make it convenient to announce
this week that I am no longer proprietor of the ' Hull Advertiser,'
and that the sole proprietorship of the paper is now vested in your-
self and Mr. Marling.
" When, many years ago, I became one of several proprietors,
and in 1844, the sole proprietor of the Hull Advertiser,' I made up
my mind never to part with it, unless to some one as strongly devo-
ted to the support of true Reform principles as I was myself. The
management of newspaper property was far from being as congenial
to my habits as the business of a brewer, which I inherited front my
father ; but I looked upon the Advertiser' m.o. public trust, which
I felt bound only to delive.: to one capable of carrying out the ob-
jects for which it was first purchased for the Reform party. For six
years you have been its uncontrolled, irresponsible Editor. By the
fearless and able exercise of your talents and your industry, you
have obtained for it a larger circulation, and a more commanding
influence than it ever possessed before; and such is my unbounded
confidence in your personal and' political integrity, that I believe
that I cannot perform a greater st.rvice to the Liberal cause than by
committing the chief organ of the Liberal party in the East Riding
of Yorkshire permanently to your management and direction. You
have made the paper a good property, and one with which I should
be very loath now to part, but that there is a necessity for very
greatly extending my brewing business. My son Samuel, as yell
know, has become my partner in that business, and it requiras that
all our energies should be employed in carrying it on with spirit.
This is an age of competition, in which to do one thing well is enough
for one establishment.
" In Mr. Marling you have a trustworthy colleague, and a safe
man of business. During his management or the affairs of the Ad-
vertiser office he possessed, and proved himself deserving of pos-
sessing, all my confidence. You know his worth, and how to appre-
ciate it at its true value. •
" And now, my dear Sir, in severing my connexion as proprietor
with the' Advertiser,' it is my earnest wish, as it is that et
all my family, that the friendly and affectionate intercourse which
has subsisted between us, without an hour's interruption, since the
day of your first appearance in Hull, may be continued on the old
looting. You can hardly represent yourself as less free from all poll-
teal influence, on my part, than you ever were. Let us then retain
tke old intimacy so gratifying to us all. Yourself and Mr. Marling
have the sincerest wishes of my heart for your joint success in an
undertaking, in which it would be hard to find two men mere compe-
tent for their respective parts. Indeed, I knew that your labours
must be crowned with success, if mcrit meets witk its duo reward.
am, my dear Sir,
Yours very affectionately,
" WILLIAM BETTISON.

" E. F. Collins, Esq."
This letter is all that we could wish—all that the public can rea-
sonably desire ha Vie way of explanation of a change, which will not
be felt either in Cie political tone or in the general management of
the " Hull Advertiser." The new Proprietors have few professions
to make, and are content to rest their success on the extent and fide-
lity or their endeavours to deserve it. One promise the editor may
make to the people. The " Bull Advertiser" will never, under his
management, be the tool of any party, or the organ of any clique or
faction —political or religious. It will never be found supporting
corrupt and ambitious men at the expense of great and enlightened
principles ; nor attacking tl•e foundations of law and order to court
an ephemeral popularity. Not that we wish the shsdow of doubt to
be felt as to our political principles. We are Liberals in the most
general interpretation of that term. We are the advocates of Free-
Trade—Church Reform—Law Reform—the supporters of an ex-
tended Electoral Franchise--of the abolition of the Navigation-
Laws—the University Tests—the mockery of Official Swearing—
Capital Punishments—and for the substitution of Peace for Military
principles in the :government and control of ail the nations of the
earth. We are strongly in favour of a system of National Educa-
tion, and look upon the schoolmaster as the great regenerator of our
social system.
It will be our peculiar study and our greatest pleasure to co-ope-
rate with every movement having for its object the improvement of
the social and physical condition of the people among whom this
journal more especially circulates. Local reforms are, after all, the
things which should chiefly occupy the constant attention of a pro-
vincial press. And here we hope to be well supported by our con-
temporaries of every shape of opinion. We have no jealousy of rival
newspapers, and do not propose to ourselves the employment of any
means to diminish their profits, or curtail their circulation. We can
speak of the success which has attended our own labours without
directly or indirectly imply ;eg a want of success on the part of our
contemporaries. The great mission of a free press is not fulfilled by
the traduction of rival journals, or the ♦ituperative railings and
counter-railings of the organs of adverse opinions. The press, as a
great intellectual institution, owes a respect to itself inconsistent
with those coarse bickerings which are never popular but in a semi-
barbarous state of society.

We trust to be pardoned for observing that henceforth all our in-
terests are mixed up with the prosperity of Hull. In assuming the
proprietorship of this paper, we have aimed as much at making our
residence in Yorkshire a permanent one, as in obtaining an organ
wherewith to effect some social and political good in our generation.
We are happy to say that it would require no increase of our present
circidation to make the engagement upon which w e have entered a
profitable one. To stand still would be to obtain a remrnerative
share of success. But, with the blessing of God, we are not destined
to enter upon what, in this ever-advancing world, should be con-
sidered as a retrograde course. We have arrangements in contem-
plation, which, when completed, will place us in an advanced posi-
tion as regards our most enterprising provincial contemporaries.
Wherever lurking genius is to be ibund, it will be our peculiar care
to draw it forth, and to enrich the world with its hidden treasures.
There is a great abundance of unemployed intellectual
wealth in Hull, for which we hope some day to find profitable in-
vestment. There is also a vast amount of moral and social evil to
be remedied, not entirely beyond the reach of newspaper influence.ln the way of sanitary reform there is more to be done than would
suffice to constitute the twelve labours of Hercules. With these
views, and with an earnest determination to do all in our power to
redress the real grievances of every class and party of our fellow-
townsmen, we enter upon the more extended sphere of our puLlic
duties. We ask from all extens vs support, and generous sympathy
and encouragement.

The "Hull Advertiser" is most extensively circulated in Hull, the
East Riding of Yorkshire, and North Lincolnshire, and is therefore
an excellent Advertising Medium for
professional gentlemen, Agri-
culturists, auctioneers, commercial agents, So.
It it published for the proprietors, Edward Francis Collins and
Jolla Marling, early every Friday morning, at the office, 26, Low-
gate, Hull, where all communications, orders for papers, advertise-
ments, &c., are respectfully requested to be sent.
N.B.—Posting Bills, Hand Bills Circulars, and every description
of Printing, executed with the greatest neatness and dispatch.