The Sun.
London, England, 1833-02-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

In the Standard ut. 6,ttuidiy last we find the
following intimation:—
"We have been informed that the utmost extent to
which it is at present proposed to diminish the taxes upon
newspapers, is the removal, or reduction to the amount of
of five-sevenths, of the duty now payable on advertise-
ments. It is unnecessary for us to repeat here our opinions
•Ipon the general effect'of a taxation of the puidie journals;
hut we feel hound to acknowledge that the proposed retitle-
'ion is the most advantageous partial reduction that could
he made ; and, indeed, not merely unobjectionable, hut
orobably the greatest benefit that conh4 be conferred upon
the public, in proportion to the amount of revenue which
can possibly be sacrificed; we would, however, go farther,
and say that, by the suggested reduction of advertisement
newspaper
lrlo,oolo ,1/I.,ine New,n_ erery
duty, no revenue will he sacrificed, hot the reverse—a
great increase of revenue will he realised. The whole
amount of newspaper advertisement duty last year was
shout
ntlm,who aware
known anything
f
every
manman, indeed,
if the extraordinary exertions to which trades must have
recourse, to make public the advantages of dealing with
his person or in that commodity—every man who wit-
nesses the daily devices of chalking, placarding, hand -
Idling, circular letter writing, &c. &c., all to evade the
expense of the advertisement duty, can doubt that, were
the duty reduced so far as must see newspaper advertise-
ments cheaper, the advertisements in the newspapers would
multiply six or seven-fold.
" The truth is, that this high duty is a public loss, as
well as a public nuisance—and that it has been continued
so long can be 'accounted for only in one of two ways.
First, the high advertisement duty, being without the least
reason associated with the newspaper stamp duty, the dif-
ficulty attending the repeal of the latter may have served
to keep alive the former, long after it would have been
extinguished but for such support; or, secondly, the in-
fluence of the Times newspaper, the slave and bravo of
every Administration, may have been employed to pre-
serve a monopoly upon which iat existence, in a great
measure, depends.
" To whichever of these causes we are to attribute the
annoying and spendthrift continuance of the high adver-
tisement duty, we cannot suppose that that canse will he
permitted to operate longer.
" Whatever objections may exist to oppose the removal
of the newspaper stamp duty—the indisposi,ion of the
great hotly of newspaper. proprietors and newsmen—the
difficulty of dealing impartially between town and country,
in the matter of postage—between morning and evening
papers—above all, the great sacrifice of revenue—what-
ever objections exist to oppose the abolition or reduction
of the stamp duty, these objections can have no place
with regard to a reduction of the high advertisement duty;
and if it is intended to relieve the press front all taxation,
it would seem the wisest course to begin as soon as pia:-
Bible, and, of course, to begin with the reduction of that
duty which will give meat general satisfaction to tie
public, while it will be attended with no loss to the
revenue."

We dare to say that the information of our
evening contemporary is perfectly correct—that
the Government has, in part, changed its views
respecting the reduction of the taxes on news-
' papers--and that it is not intended to make any
other change than that which is mentioned
above. We say that we believe such to be the
fact—not because we possess any special infor-
mation on the subject, but because we happen
to know that two influential contemporaries have
been using their utmost efforts for some time
past, to induce the Chancellor of the Exchequer
to propose only such a reduction as would be
beneficial to them, and would not advantage
others. We agree also in the view taken of the
matter by our evening contemporary, and join
with him most cordially in affirming that the
Government, in its intention to reduce the duty
upon advertisements from 3s. 6d. to i s., is
about to begin reform in the right way.
The tax upon advertisements is unquestion-
ably a more serious injury to the public, as well
as to the press, than the fourpenny stamp duty ;
and a great boon its reduction will be, as well as
a great credit to the Government. We are glad
to see it come forward, not with a half•and-half-
measure, which would do good to no one, but with
a sweeping reform, which will not only benefit
all, but even increase the funds of the Ex-
chequer. We wish that we could speak in the
same terms of praise and approbation of a similar
announcement in the columns of another evening
contemporary—the Globe. What "a falling oft'
is there !" Our cotemporary, who his h-
therto been a steady Reformer, is apparently
afraid "of the sounds himself has made,'
or rather of their echo ; and- preaches
as zealously, if not as powerfully, against the
diffusion of knowledge among the people, as he
usually does against the spread of Toryism and
the absurdity of Tory principles. He gives no
information respecting the change which is about
to be made or proposed ; but he has evident:),
" got his lesson" from an official quarter, and ha
employs it with a modest assurance which can-
not be too well known, or too amply imi-
tated. Speaking of the measure about to be
proposed by his Majesty's Ministers, our con-
temporary says, " We take the liberty to w 444,
them, that of all the subjects which have attracted
any attention, no one has been so little discussed
by those who are most competent to give 4
correct opinion on its effects," This is an
affirmation of what is not true. Lord Althorp
took every pains to make himself thorouglz,'q,
acquainted with all the bearings of the sut-ket,
and to procure information from the only gnat-,
ters in which it could be obtained and—we
now reluctantly state it—had the satisfaction of
finding his original plan not only approved of,
by a majority of the editors and proprietors o,t
newspapers, but every argument against it put
down, and scattered to the winds, by the only
impartial and independent representatives of the,
press who were present upon the occa,-;:04,
Our contemporary takes special care 40: say
nothing on this subject, or rather, indeed,
tphuotsse itw who advocate de combatdvocateam by denominating
those generousenomnaimtienag,
sure than a mere reduction of the adver-
tisement duty, "as gentlemen of the
Movement," and by characterising all news-
papers, with the exception of the Herald 40
Times for the morning, and Globe for thegiven-
ing, as " quacks." We thank our contemporary
for waging war on such unequal terms, and repel
the insinuation with all the contempt which it so
amply merits. We do not deny the merits of
our evening contemporary, any more than we re-
fuse our meed of approbation to our so mt:4)
lauded morning rivals ; but in repelling tlAe
sinuation of " quackery," we beg to, observe,
also, that in point of property—in point of value
—there is not one of them—nay,—there are not
any two of them combined,—which can
with this humble journal. There is aeiother
matter, also, in justification of Lord Althorp's
original plan, so much condemned by our Co-
temporary, on which we must jog his memory—,
and that, is, that a certain meeting of the editors
and proprietors of newspapers took place two veata
ago, at Peel's Coffee-house, and that at that
meeting the Globe and the Times formed the
minority ! They were not only out-argued upon
every point, but out-voted;—there being seven
impartial and independent votes in favour of the
reduction proposed by the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, and two only against it. Yet the
Globe has the impudence to affirm that the voice
sub_
vsoic)e
of the Press has never been heard upon the
ject—that Ministers are imperfectly acquainted
with it—and that when Lord Altliorp proposed
the double reduction of the stamp, and advertise
mnt duty, Its did so as " ashly' as he " care

lessly" abandoned it ? Our contemporary, how -
ever, not only calls names, but reasons ; and for
the reasons which he gives we forgive the names.
•

He says—
" The stamp duty on newspapers has been called a tax
on knowledge—and it is a faielon knowledge in the same
sense as the excise on gin islt *Arlon fowl. Gin, no
doubt, is in one sense food. Gin wonlit keep-a man alive
for a time, who bad no other sustenance. -':.Gitte,co.mbined
with other articles of food, may be even sa►utost. -In the
same sense, political writing addressed to men who have
had the means of acquiring other knowledge, excites pnd
improves their intellect. But the great mats of .the
population, especially the agricultural population, have
had little means of acquiring that previous knowledge
which makes the violence of political writing innoxious,
and under the cheap knowledge system they are to be fed
with intellectual gin, and gin alone, and we are to find as
the result a composed and sober people.
" The last Ministry, with the best intentions, passed
a measure which has established beer-houses by thousands
and tens of thousands throughout the country—frequently
in the places most removed from the casual inspection of
Magistrates, where the half-employed labourers of the
southern counties congregate to improve their minds by
converse, and to spend the parish money. Into every one
of these houses the removal of the stamp duties would
send periodical political essays suited to the tastes of the
customers. The readers, or rather listeners (for the ma-
jority of the people cannot read, but would listen to
readers), would learn, as Cobbett has taught his disciples,
how gross is the tyranny of vestries and overseers ; that
an attempt to limit the allowance of the poor out of the
land is a trampling on their natural rights ; and that the
effects of rick-burning have been visible in the improve•
ment of labourers. Assertions of this kind may not be
injurious, when addressed to the purchasers of expensive
publications; but can sane statesmen, who look to the
state of the mass of the population of a considerable part
of this country (a population unfortunately left destitute
of other knowledge) become instrumental in furnishing it
with the most fiery stimulants of its discontent?
" The gentlemen of the Movement say this will furnish
the rich with a strong motive to instruct the poor--and
of course the poor will get knowledge when there is a
motive to furnish it to them—and when they are well fed
and well taught they will weigh at their just value these
incentives to mischief. This is true ; but in the proposed
plan, as in many other parts of the revolutionary common-
wealth, the end forgets the beginning. The incentive to
mischief is to come in the year 1833, the knowledge ten
years hence. The farmers may, indeed, teach the poor
their moral duties by the light of their burning stacks ;
but we doubt much whether the best preparatory step for
filling the people gradually with solid instruction, is to
plunge them at once into a fury of revolutionary in-
toxication. _ _

" Let penny, or halfpenny, or farthing political publi-
cations (and they may be printed profitably, in large now-
here, for the smallest coin mentioned) be spread through-
out the southern counties ; let them be artfully directed,
au they will be, to the passions of the agricultural la-
bourers; let a year or half a year of distress intervene,
and it matters not a straw what else the Ministers intend
or think of."

The whole of the above tirade of nonsense
amounts to this, and to this only—that the re-
duction of the duties on newspapers will bring
forth a mass of bad publications, without any
antidote ; and that, because the people are igno-
rant now, they ought not to be furnished with
the instruments of knowledge. Shame ! Shame"!
But we must have done for the present; for our
limits are exhausted. To-morrow we may,
perhaps, revert to the subject. In the mean
time we take leave to inform the public that the
measure whose merits we have been discussing,
has not yet, notwithstanding many assertions to
the contrary, received the sanction of the Cabi-
net.—Morning Advertiser.

The selection of Mr. Marshall, of Leeds, to
second the address in the Commons (Lord Or-
melie is the mover), speaks well for the inten-
tions of Ministers; for the principles of Mr.
:Marshall are decidedly liberal, and we are cer-
tain that lie would not have agreed to second
the address, if' he had not been assured that
Ministers, in their measures, will not deceive
the expectations of the country. The people
may well be excused for feeling somewhat un-
easy on this subject, after the Conservative tone
which has for some time been assumed in certain
newspapers devoted to the support of Ministers.
The first ground for suspicion was the hint from
head-quarters during the election, that there
would be no great harm in the return of a consi-
derable number of Conservatives—a hint which
was so far acted on, that in many places a dis-
tinction was made between Whig and Reform
candidates, and single votes were given to the
former, in order that a Conservative rather than
Reformer might be returned. Ever since, man)
of the most honourable and independent men in
the country hare been singled out in Ministerial
journals as Revolutionists, as Republicans, as
Destructives, and so forth, and abuse not surpassed
by any thing that appeared in the Treasury papers
in the high and palmy days of Toryism has been
incessantly heaped on them. The people, no
doubt, wondered why a Ministry, which gave to
*barn the Reform Bill, should wish to perpe-
tuate the abuses generated by boroughmonger-
ing ; but it was natural to infer that the endea-
vours to conciliate the Conservatives could not
be without an object, and that that object could
not be an honest one. We do not believe that
the Whigs can form a junction with the Tories,
in order to prevent the improvements which the
people expect from the Reform Bill, If a junc-
tion take place, it can only be through such an
abandonment of all principle, on the part of
both, as would rouse the country from one ex-
tremity to the other. We certainly see no symp-
tom of change in the Tories. The election of
Scotch Peers is a pretty decided proof of the
hostility of the Tory aristocracy to Ministers
and to Reform in every shape. In the Su folk
Chronicle of Saturday last, we observe a report
of a Conservative dinner at Halesworth, in ce-
lebration of the return of Lord fienneker,
which was numerously attended by the gentry
and parsons. We observe no symptoms of im-
provement in any of the speakers at this dinner.
Sir Thomas Gooch, the Chairman, honestly
stat;:d that, as a whole, he abhorred the Re-
form Pill, though he approved of the clause
'admitting the 501. tenants to become voters.
He'said, afsc, that " he knew not which was
the worst—the Ministers or the mob ;" an ob-
servation which was received with " great ap-
plause."
" The Ministers (added Sir Thomas) had pushed for-
ward the mob ; but a bludgeon and a brickbat mob would
net do, for some of their most respectable supporters had
been ashamed of their conduct and joined the Conserva-
tives.—(Cheers.) It was the fashion now to speak of
concession, expedience, and policy, its lieu of honesty and
loyalty; but, he would ask, what bad been gained by con-
cession to the Catholics ? He voted against Carbolic
Emancipation ; for he knew it would not satisfy the Irish,
nor make them less blood-thirsty than before. lie con-
ceived the hanging of Mr. O'Connell would not be
a had thing.—(Loud cheers.) There is no safety (he
said) but in the Conservatives ; he knew they would be
powerless in the Commons, but they must act as a check
on Ministers. Let them, therefore, be true Conservatives ;
and fear God and honour the King."—(Cheers.)
by way of contrast to this dinner, we turn to
an account in the Glasgow Chronicle of Wed-
nesday last, of a dinner given at Falkirk to
Admiral Fleming, the representative for Stir-
lingshire, on the Thursday preceding. Admiral
Fleming may be taken as a fair average sample
of the majority ofthe supporters of Ministers t—
" He trusted ( he said) that the country would repose
much confidence in his Majesty's Ministers. Their vast
conduct was the best guarantee for the future, and he
hoped that the people would not be led away by the (la.
moms of wicked or designing men. For his own part, be
/aad often been taunted as a partisan, He owned that he

was one. He had every reason to approve of the boom
intentions and straight-forward conduct of the Ministry,
and certainly considered them entitled to his warmest
support ; but he assured kis friends, that if they ever
acted otherwise, he would be one of their bitterest ene-
mies.—(Cheers.) Although it might be called a harsh '
expression, yet he knew no etconger or better distinction
between Whig and Tory than honesty and dishonesty.
Whatever his nolitital opponents might say of him, they
Must confess that no„man, situated as he was, could op-
pose Tory Governmmts for forty yeas without being an
honest man.—(Cheers.) He did not mean to say, how-
ever, that there were no good, honest, and conscientious
men arimngst the Tories ; but he begged to be understood
'44 speaking geneially, and he' begged to caution his friends
against being" misled by any foolish clamour about liberty.
Reform, to be effectual, must be gradual, as the chair-
man had already explained ; but the„Tories would tell
them—these very men who had set their faces against all
Reform—would tell them that they were deceived and trifled
with. They would set up a clamour about obtaining what was
altogether impracticable, and they-would try to raise the
voice of the non•electors on their side ; but he would
earnestly warn his friends—he would remind them they
had a sacred trust reposed in them, and he hoped they
would discharge it calmly, fearlessly, and conscientiously.
He saw the Tories arming to fight at home, as they had
already fought abroad."
How, we say, can there possibly be a junction
between men who cheer enthusiastically the
sentiments expressed* by Sir Thomas Gooch,
and men like Admiral Pleming, who " know no
better distinction between Whig and Tory than
honesty and dishonesty." Were Ministers,
therefore, to be so weak as to abandon their own
principles, and form a junction with the Con-
servatives, they could only carry the venal and
the base of their supporters along with them.
Such honest Whigs as Admiral Fleming would
turn indignantly from them were they to adopt
such a course. We observe that several country
papers are propagating a report that Lord
Brougham has become oligarchical. The fol-
lowing passage is from an article in the same
journal in which the account of the dinner to
Admiral Fleming appears :
" Lord Brougham is said to have communicated to his
intimate friends the necessity of putting a drag on the po-
litical wheel. Reports of a similar sort have been diffused
from so many quarters, that we fear his Lordship is not
prepared to fulfil all the hopes of the country. He appears
to have adopted, in sober earnestness, a bitter sarcasm of
Machiavelli; and has bestowed most of his patronage
upon his political opponents, trusting that his friends
would adhere to him merely through affection or principle.
He may chance in this to argue amiss. Already he is
singled out as the most oligarchical Member of the Ca-
binet ; and, if he take a lead in disappointing the reason-
ahle hopes of the people, he may expect to become very
unpopular. There has always existed a predisposition to
doubt his political sincerity; and Reformers will not fail
to mark in him what might pass without comment or re-
sentment from any other Minister."

We have no hesitation in saying that Lord
Brougham will not desert the cause of improve-
ment. His Lordship has the weakness of think-
ing that he is more cunning than he really is,
and hence, for instance, his belief that he could
trick the Bishops into a love of Reform, by
affecting an extraordinary zeal for the Church,
his investing them with patronage, &c. The
eagerness of the Bishops to trip up the heels of
the Ministers, the very first opportunity, showed
that they were too old birds to be caught with
chaff. In endeavouring to conciliate opponents,
it isalways necessary to make certain advances and
admissions, which may be turned against the
party making them ; and it is in this way we
account for the reports which, originating in the
Tory Papers, are now going the round of the
country of Lord Brougham's hostility to im-
provement. Having stated it as our conviction,
that Ministers cannot form a junction with the
Conservatives, we shall notice a passage indica-
tive of a belief to the contrary in an able article
signed J. A. R. (said v." be Mr. Roebuck's) in
Tait's Magazine for February :
" If," says the writer, " the Ministerial, or Whig por-
tion of the House, possess the feelings which the late
leclarations of Mr. Stanl?y and Lord Althorp naturally
lead us to believe, we see no reason why an immediate
junction should not take place between them and the To-
ries : for our first great difficulty is 'in understanding
wherein the difference of our opinions consists, The
Tories evidently are bent on preserving or conserving all
the power which they can in the hands of the aristocracy,
and doubtless desire that it should be intrusted to their own
section of that body ; so, we learn from the declarations
,f the two Ministers above-named, do the Whigs. The
Tories would, perhaps, be willing to make a compromise,
,nd shore the geed things with the Whigs, rather than be
entirely ousted from all enjoyment thereof."
This would be a most hazardous policy indeed.
The Whigs seem so far conservative, that they
are determined to consider the Reform Bill a
final measure. Here they will be supported, as
a matter of course, by the Tories. They will,
by the aid of the Tories, have no doubt a strong
majority against the ballot, and against shorten-
ing the duration of Parliament. Without the
Tories, they would probably have a majority on
these questions. Yet several Whigs have ex-
pressed themselves en the subject of the ballot
in such a way as to cause it to be believed they
would advocate it in Parliament. Thus, for
instance, Admiral Fleming, speaking of the in-
timidation to which recourse was had so exten-
sively in Scotland, observed—
" His Tory opponents had tried to set up a clamour
against him by the most false and disgraceful means. They
had even accused him of intimidation—at least he had
been so accused in the public prints—but be believed that
out of the 976 votes in his favour, he did not owe one of
them to intimidation.—(Clieers.) He could have wished
that no such means had been resorted to against his friend '
,t the other end of the table—be could have wished that
no such means had been practised amongst his country-
men ; but he bad seen so much of it in this quarter and
elsewhere—he had seen so much undue influence, even in
This very county, that if vote by ballot were brought for-
ward in Parliament, he would give it his serious conside-
ration, and he did not think that he would oppose it."
We trust that there are many Whigs who
will reject indignantly the doctrine, that the
power to intimidate voters is necessary to the
security of property. Mr. Roebuck, in the
article above alluded to (assuming it to be his),
lays down the policy by which he supposes the
independent Members will be guided in this
eventful Parliament :

" They (the popular representatives, he says) will put
these things, viz., ballot, repeal of the Septennial Act, in-
crease of the number of voters, and the renewal of all
obstructions to knowledge, in the very front of their pro-
ceedings. They will consider that their chief great mis-
sion is the attainment of these; that all other views must
be made subservient to these, and that they must be sa-
crificed for no purpose whatever. Should this be their
view of their own position, an immediate practical diffi-
culty arises, which they ought to anticipate and de.
termine on. Are they prepared to pursue these great
ends, in so unflinching a manner, as even to endanger the
existence of the present Ministry, should they (the Mini-
stry) be found hostile to them? During the last Parliament,
and while the Befor in Bill was going through the House,
it became necessary for the independent Members—those
linked to no party; those who pursued according to the
best of their ability the welfare of the nation—to decide
this very question. When the Tory faction divided the
House on the Russian-Dutch Loan, it was evident that
the Ministers would have been left in a minority, bad the
independent Members followed the bent of their opinions
on that individual question. Had they done so—and we
may cite Mr. Home's declaration on the matter as good
authority—they would have voted against the Mini
stens, Should they be in a minority, the Ministers de-
clared they would resign. The independent Members
determined that such resignation would at that time
have been a greater evil than the loss of two millions of
money. They, therefore, in order to keep the Ministers
in their places, voted against their own opinions, and
in favour of the Ministers. Is the present situation of
the Ministers at all similar to this ? Are they so impor-
tant to the nation, as to make a sacrifice of principle in
order to retain them in power, justifiable? There ate p. r-

son, who would answer in the arliirultlve. We, how -
ever, and we believe almost all who can be considered as
really independent men, and not belonging to any party in
the House of Commons, would vehemently protest against
any such assertion. We believe the public mind now to
be so thoroughly made up, that no reaction can take
place; also, that we possess an interest which, though far
from perfect, is still a very formidable legal protection—
we mean the Reformed Parliament ; so that now no pos-
sibility of injury, at the hands of the Tory faction, can be
supposed to exist. If the present Ministry be obliged to
resign, it will be because they have not obeyed the voice
of the nation—have not been sufficiently liberal in their
views and conduct.: Any Ministry which succeeds would
come with promise of more liberal proceedings ; and so
that we attain what we desire, it matters little by whose
hands the good is produced. No Ministry can exist for
a moment which comes in on principles more approxi-
mating to Conservative than those of the retit ing Ministry.
The time for retrograding is past; why, therefore, need
we dread the going out of the Whigs? The mere change,
and the bustle and stoppage of public business, attendant
thereon, are certainly evils, and evils not of small amount ;
yet are they not to be, for a moment, compared with the
monstrous mischiefs resulting from a compromise of great
principles. All the good th Whigs will ever do cannot
compensate for this; all the evil the tories can possibly
accomplish cannot equal it. If this view of the matter be
correct—and we know of nothing to impeach it—the
course to be pursued by the indeppndent or popular
Members is a straightforward one; and whatever the
difficulties attending it, the evils and difficulties of trim-
ming and shaping their conduct to suit petty expediences
will not beset it."
Whatever may be thought of this policy, it
is pretty clear that Ministers, by abandoning the
cause of the people, would not find their situa-
tion a bed of roses.—Morning Chronicle.
For the first time in modern English history
we have a Ministry whose opinions apparently are
midway between those oftwo extreme parties. One
Member of the Government appears to lean to
this side, another appears to lean to that ; a
third thinks both in the wrong, and a fourth
does not think at all. But the result on the
whole is, that the policy of the Cabinet is vague,
and uncertain, and unsettled ; that we have
Bills drawn in the morning and burned at night;
that the Speaker's Chair is offered to one man
and given to another ; that Mr. Stanley de-
nounces what Mr. Thomson recommends ; that
we may fancy Edmund Burke our Premier
to-day, and Thomas Paine to-morrow. Such
a state of things, it is obvious to all men, can-
not continue.

" Whatso'er you say,
With strong aversion shun the middle way;
The middle way the best we sometimes call,

But 'tis in politics no way at all."
Whether such a doctrine might be true for all
ages we will not inquire ; but it is most indis-
putable in ours. Two parties, both powerful,
although the power of one is of a different nature
from the power of the other, are contending for
the mastery. The arms of the one are numerical
force, active combination, constant excitement :
of the other, rank, property, intelligence. Be-
tween these two parties the King's Ministers
place themselves ; a few individuals of at least
suspected integrity, of at least respectable abili-
ties'; scarcely likely to add strength to the ranks
of either, utterly unqualified to control the ani-
mosity of both. They must make a choice, col-
lectively or individually, for themselves. They
must be with the attack or with the resistance.
They must be for a King or for a President.
If they will maintain, they must maintain with
the Conservatives : if they will subvert, they
must subvert with the Levellers. From this pe-
culiar position of the King's Ministers every
little circumstance which tends to show the in-
clination either of the Cabinet, or of any Mem-
ber of the Cabinet, derives unusual importance.
And therefore we attach to the fact we are about
to relate an interest greater than any which in
ordinary times would belong to its scene, the
town of Nottingham, or to its hero, Lord Dun-
cannon. At the late election for the town the
Noble Lord, being a candidate, was supported,
as might have been expected, by much influence
arising from his personal friendships and his po-
litical connections. But it was not enough.
The partiality of Earl Grey was ineffectually
urged ; the memory of Sir Thomas Denman
was invoked in vain. A letter was exhibited,
more potent than a circular from the Treasury,
or a mandamus from the King's Bench. The
letter was from Mr. O'Connell. It stated that
the Whigs had been perfidious to Ireland ; that
it had become necessary to expel from Ireland
all Whigs ; that on this account Lord Duncan-
non, a Whig, had been dismissed from Kilkenny;
that, on the other hand, the Whigs had been
liberal to England ; that it was desirable to in-
troduce Whigs into Parliament for the English
constituencies ; and that on this account he,
Daniel O'Connell, recommended Lord Duncan-
non, a Whig, to the favour of the people of
Nottingham. Lord Duncannon holds high
office under the existing Administration ; he is
very active in all the more confidential arrange-
ments of the Government ; he is supposed to be
on terms of the closest political sympathy with
those members of the Cabinet who have been
chrisened by the Times, not by us, " the Lick-
sp. ittles " This nobleman is " recommended"
to the electors of Nottingham by a patron who,
in common sense, if not in law, is guilty of high
treason between the rising and the setting of
every day's sun. The result of the battle fought
by his Lordship with the aid of so mighty an
auxiliary could not be doubtful. When we
count up the nominees whom the Agitator has
sent to Parliament, we must remember that his
authority is not confined to his own green isle.
When we have written down the O's and the
Mac's, the Maurices and the Morgans, we must
add to the account one more illustrious item,
Viscount Duncannon.—Morning Post.

The Standard states that the measure con-
templated by Ministers, relative to the News-
papers, is the reduction of the advertisement
duty from 3s. 6d. to I s., and that the stamp
duty is to remain as at present. We know not
what degree of confidence may be reposed in
this statement of our respectable contemporary.
The reduction of the advertisement duty would
certainly be a wise and just measure, and would
be hailed as a boon by nearly the whole body of
newspaper proprietors, and would put an end to
that monopoly which has too long been enjoyed
by certain journals. It would have a tendency
too to remove one of the greatest nuisances of '
the large towns, namely, the bid-sticking, f
walls, the the
advertising placards, the chalking of
defacing of houses and shops, and the other and
innumerable practices resorted to in order to
elude the duty, and of course cheat the Govern-
ment. Newspapers would then become, what
they ought to be, the principal medium of no-
tices of this kind, and the
.registers of wants
and sales. We are quite satisfied that by such
art alteration the Government would lose nothing
of the revenue at present derived from this source.
But if this is to be the only alteration affecting
newspapers, or in other words, if it be not the
intention of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
reduce the stamp duty, we are afraid that the
measure will not give general satisfaction. The
complaint is that newspapers are too dear. Four-
pence of duty on an article which sells for seven-
pence, is an exorbitant tax. It is true that it is

carried free through the Post .office, not in the
first instance only, but as often as it may please
the possessor ; and therefore as concerns the
papers so carried, the tax is not exorbitant ; but it
is so to the consumer on the spot, and to all par-
ties who purchase, but do not transmit the article
to a considerable distance from the place where
it is published. We say nothing for ourselves on
this subject ; for although anxious to see a re-
, duction in the price, to a certain extent, we are
nevertheless content to bear with the tax so
long as the public are content with paying it.
But it is complained that the vast number of penny
publications, in which the most revolutionary
and dangerous principles are inculcated, can
only be superseded by cheap newspapers. These
publications are printed and circulated in viola-
tion of the law. They abound everywhere, and
are rapidly on the increase : they are calculated
to do much mischief, and have a most pernicious
influence on that class of men, who have re-
cently come out of the hands of the school-
master, and have no way of acquiring informa-
tion but in the pot-house, or by means of these
rubbishy productions. When the importation
of silks was prohibited, and when Mr. Hume
waved his India handkerchief in the House of
Commons, and boasted that it was a contraband
article, the wise men and Solons of that day,
and the whole herd of political economists,
insisted that the only way to remedy the evil
was to impose a moderate duty on the impor-
tation of foreign and India silks. It was the
same with Scotch whisky, which was smuggled
over the borders in cart-loads, despite all the
vigilance of the Excise officers. " Reduce the
duty," exclaimed the same persons, " and there
will be an end to smuggling." If that policy
was justifiable in the instances of the silk and
spirit trade, what objections can there be to
resorting to it in the matter of the cheap publi-
cations ? Reduce the stamp duty, or abolish
it altogether, and then, it is argued, the
newspapers would drive these obnoxious vehicles
of sedition, licentiousness, and pollution out of
the field. We do not say it would, unless other
measures were employed to suppress these illegal
traders ; but at any rate if the policy be sound in
the one case, it is equally sound in the other.
Besides, it ought to be borne in mind that the
present Ministers have always been the advo-
cates of cheap knowledge. It was they, in fact,
who set the example of dosing the public
with penny papers, and forcing down their
throats the most desperate trash that ever
blushed black under the pressure of types.
They are therefore bound, if there be any con-
sistency in their characters, to carry into effect
their own avowed principles, and relieve the
public from that sort of taxation which presses
most severely upon the dissemination of infor-
mation. But will it be believed, by the simple
reader, that the Ministerial journals are opposed
to these reductions ? The little Globe, like a
tea-pot in a tempest, is quite frantic at the pro-
posed reductions. It says that the cheapening
of newspapers would produce a revolution ! Oh
dear ! this from a Reformer is terrific ! Any
competition with the Ministerial journals—any
measure which affects their interests—any change
touching their receipts,— touching their cash-
box, is a revolution ! Was there ever such
twaddle as the following ?
_ . .

" If there be any one me;,ure, after the vote by ballot
and universal suffrage, which is more likely than another
at this moment to precipitate a revolution, we believe it
to be the removal of the stamp duties on newspapers and
papers of political discussion."
The " revolution" here spoken of in this
melancholy strain must mean a revolution
amongst the newspapers, and a sort of discount
from their profits. The murder is confessed in
the next paragraph

" But a grosser error st 11 is to suppose that the most
prosperous newspapers would maintain their present
character or comparative influence. The newspapers
and stamped political writings which now flourish are those
which suit the taste of the sevenpenny buyers; they
represent, perhaps. the tiste of the middle classes ; they
are enabled, by the support of these classes, to expend
money for intelligence—the intelligence causes them to he
re d by those who probably do not always approve their
politics, but who become insensibly influenced by their
doctrines."

The Globe trembles at the idea of any change
which would interfere with the exclusive enjoy-
ments of the middle classes, thereby meaning
the shopkeepers, and extend to the lower orders,
thereby meaning the operatives and labourers of
the country, that information which is solely in-
tended for the edification of their superiors of
the shop. This is genuine Whiggery. What
is the meaning of this sneer at the operatives ?
Does the Globe mean to insinuate that they
are less informed than the order immediately
above them ? If it do it is indulging in a
very gross error. The operative mechanics
of London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, and
other places, are much better informed than
the lower order of shopkeepers. We
know at least fifty journeymen printers,
any of whom could write a much more
grammatical letter, and one containing a vast
deal more of valuable information upon any
given subject, than could be done by the united
talents of the Common Council of this, the fir't '
city in the world. What invidious meanness
is it, therefore, to sneer at the labouring classes,
and place them beyond the pale of information,
merely because they are not admirers of the
shuffling politics of the Globe and its patrons,
the Whigs! We say again—we care nothing
for ourselves in this question ; but if any al-
teration is made we contend that the poorest
man in the kingdom is entitled to have the ad-,
vantage of it. Our contemporary further states
that the " majority of the people cannot read."
This is false, and a libel upon the country; but
even if it were true, why be jealous of circu-
lating papers among a people who " cannot
read ?" It might with equal justice protest
against feeding horses upon plum pudding !
Guardian.

A German paper gives an interesting de-
scription of a late sitting of the Hungarian
Diet. The Emperor of Austria had called to-
(Tether the States of Hungary, to demand from
them resources which he could not obtain with-
out their consent, and to propose changes in the
existing laws to which their concurrence was like-
wise necessary. But he has found it easier to
convoke the assembly than to direct its pro-
ceedings ; he has conjured up the spirit of free
discussion, which he cannot now lay. From
finding that they were not mere ciphers, of va-
lue only as they were added to the Imperial
Unit, the Members of the Diet have begun to
assert the rights of freemen. Sensible that the
publicity of their proceedings would augment
their influence by bringing to their support the
whole of the reading public, or by, in fact,
enlarging their audience, so as to include
the whole of the kingdom, they have or-
dered reports of their deliberations to be printed
and published. The King's Lieutenant in
the assembly strongly protested against this de-
' cision, but his opposition was fruitless. The
members of the Diet even went further. They

demanded an entire liberty of the press, as well
for discussions beyond their own assembly as in
its bosom. The Imperial Lieutenant again pro-
tested, telling the Diet that the regulation of the
press belonged to the King, and not to them.
His opposition was equally ineffectual—the
assembly having decided not to insert his pro-
test on their minutes. Thus has a contest be-
gan between the Government and the people in
one part of the Austrian Empire which may
extend to others. The Government has still the
power of curbing the press, but will not have
that power much longer. The journal which
began the publication of the Diet's debates has
been ordered to discontinue its reports, but will
the assembly, if allowed to sit much longer, per-
mit this extinguisher to be put on a privilege on
which it seemed to set so great a value ?—Times.

We publish to-day the conclusion of the of-
ficial article from the Supplement to the Madrid
Gazette, omitting some irrelevant portions, of
which the first part was given on Saturday last.
This document is said to contain a detailed re-
lation of all that took place before the Cortes in
1789, when the repeal of the Salic law was ob-
tamed by the then King Charles IV., and is the
basis upon which the Queen would fain rest the
claims of her daughter to the Spanish throne.
We use the word said, because there has been
hitherto no official promulgation of such an act
of the Cortes; but now a document has been
found, or pretended to be found, which purports
to bean authentic record of the proceedings of
the Cortes on that occasion ; a document, the
production of which, after 4' years of con:
cealment, cannot but be regarded with sus-
picion, and we think leaves the claim of the
infant daughter of the present Queen just
where it was before. It has been seen that our
Spanish correspondent is of opinion this do-
cument will avail nothing unless confirmed by a
new appeal to the Cortes, whose authority in so
important a question, he says, can alone have
weight with the people. In this we believe his
opinion correct; but it may be necessary to in-
form our readers that he does not speak of the
Constitutional Cortes, which is the reverse of
being popular in Spain, where it is regarded as a
revolutionary innovation. He alludes only to the
ancient ecclesiastical and aristocratic institution
called the Cortes per estamentos, composed of
the clergy, nobility, and certain officers of the
municipal corporations. Yet as even this assem-
bly seems, at least in name, and in historical
associations, to have something constitutional
about it, the Queen has not the spirit to con-
voke it, and, in conjunction with her " liberal"
Minister, Zea Bermudez—the persecutor of the
Constitutionalists, she prefers relying on a
musty and suspicious document to an appeal
to the living wisdom and justice of the as-
sembled Estates of the realm. As to the
Queen of Spain, we believe the whole of
her liberality, and the world will find it out,
consists in the selfish policy of securing the
succession to her daughter in defeazance
of the alleged rights of Don Carlos, the
King's brother. Our own opinion is this,
that if she can induce the " Apostolical"
party, by any means, to transfer their " alle-
giance" from Don Carlos to her daughter, she
will be quite content that Spain should be governed
by apostolic doctrines and apostolic institutions,
that is, upon the unmixed principles of religious
intolerance and civil despotism. But if that
party remain firm in their attachment to their
present leader and his son, the Queen will then
throw herself into the arms of any party that she
may believe strong enough to make head against
the faction of Don Carlos. This can hardly
be the Constitutional party, for they are exceed-
ingly weak, having the priesthood against them,
the nobility, and the populace. There is, we be-
lieve, a numerous party of moderates, between the
admirers of despotism and the friends of demo-
cratic institutions. The Queen seems not yet
to have made up her mind whether to intrust the
cause of her daughter to the latter party—and
the reason of her hesitation is, that she has still
some hopes of conciliating the favour of the Apos-
tolicals—and then farewell to any ameliora•
tions in the laws and institutions of Spain. After
all it is very likely that the knotty question of
the disputed succession must be cut by the sword.
In the case of Ferdinand's death it can hardly
be otherwise, unless the head of the Carlist
party resigns his pretensions previously to that
event, which appears not very distant. Our
correspondence, as we have already stated, leaves
no doubt of the fact, that the grand object of the
Mission of Sir Stratford Canning to Madrid
has proved a total failure. That object, as an-
nounced by the Government papers at the time,
was to obtain the consent of the Court of the
Escurial to an arrangement for putting an end
to the civil war in Portugal, and settling the suc-
cession to the throne of that country in favour
of Donna Maria, whom we had already recog-
nised as Queen de jure, but whether in con-
junction with the adoption of a constitutional
form of Government did not appear. This at-
tempt to settle the affairs of Portugal, has proved
as abortive as our interference to adjust the Bel-
gico-Dutch dispute, though our Government did
not set about the matter in as foolish a way as
they adopted in the latter case. They did not
collect a Conference of the crafty diplomatists
of France and the Holy Alliance at London,
and thence issue volumes of protocols, which pro-
duced about as much effect in bringing matters to
a peaceable termination as if Lord Palmerston
had employed himself, during two long years, in
flying the paper kite of Martinus Scriblerus.
The mission to Madrid, we believe, was under-
taken without involving ourselves in the prelimi-
nary fully of forming any entangling alliance.
If, by her good offices, England could put a
stop to the miseries and bloodshed caused by the
unnatural conflict of the Portuguese brothers,
it were well. If not, why should she intermix
herself in the quarrel of other people, especially
as she has repeatedly shown of late years, more
particularly in reference to the insolent ambition
of Russia, that she has not spirit or energy to
resent injuries offered to herself, or to vindicate
her insulted honour ? Of the Anglo-Gallic
Convention, by which England and France
combined to terrify the little kingdom of
Holland into their measures, and faded, the
people
toofbe so. We
this country are
haveashamed,
n n w atnod
hope
have
reason
that experience has not been altogether thrown
away upon our Ministers,
and that they
will not, although hints to, that effect have
been thrown out by the French papers, be
ofguilty otfimwakpinnrgpaoisteotloief settling
r A
Gallic Co t n
nevCio n foy
for
the affairs of Portugal or Spain, or, indeed, for
any other purpose whatever ; not even in rela-
tion to Turkey, where England ought to ope.
rate by herself, according to the best view of her
Convention I
own interests, or not at all. In the mean time,
if our Ambassador, Sir Stratford Canning, has
any propositions to make at the Court of Madrid
in favour of the commercial interests of Great

Britain, he has no time to lose. It is of much
more consequence to the people of this county;
that they should have a favourable commerce
treaty with Spain, than that the sceptre of °lag
once mighty kingdom should be wielded by 01
puny hands of a baby-girl or an apostolical 0,5'1
woman I. The foreign news received last trig'
merits but little attention. The German papers'
details of which will be found elsewhere, re,
1
port that the Sultan had at last seriously resolve"
upon negotiating with the victorious Ibraki°l;
upon the conditions that if his father makes
his submission to the offended Porte, the deaf,
of excommunication against him and his s°c
may be recalled, and even the Pachalick °
Syria, the great object of ambition to both, COa'
ceded to him. It is added that Halil Pah j°l
formerly Capitan Pacha, had already et-111)01P
for Alexandria, and thence to the head quarter:i
of Ibrahim, to convey the resolutions which 113,
been taken by the Divan. It was understorl
also that these conciliatory steps on the part °
the Porte would be powerfully seconded at Ale•.
andria by the English Government, and a°
immediate armistice and eventual aecommodariel
were looked upon as probable. The news
these events had given general satisfaction I°,
Constantinople, which, at the date of the
accounts, remained perfectly tranquil. Belr
papers, which reach to the date of Saturday, COn:
tain contradictory statements with respect to 11'6
opening of the Scheldt to the ships of Englan
France, and Belgium, which only go to prol
that nothing exact was known in Brussels tlP°',
the subject. These papers are otherwise barrel'
of even allusions to concerns of general interest'
—Morning Herald.

COUNTRY CORN MARKETS

DURING LAST WEEK.
Wheat. I Barley. Oats.
.Bead
Per Quarter. s. to 8. s. to s. s. to s. s.
Carlisle . 54 :26 18 40
48 60 28 33 18 23
Horpeth ...--...... 41 53 29 30 15 21 29 31
Penrith 55 26 19
Sheffield 56 33 19 4p
Winchester ....... 40 58 21 28 22 24 42 4
Per Bushel. s.d. s.d. s.d. s, d. s.d. .;11
Carmarthen....... 5 6 6 0 2 9 3 3 1 3 1 8 0 0 '6',
Coventry 7 0 9 0 4 8 5 4 3 6 4 0 5 0
Newcastle (Staff.) 80 86 56 59 29 33 50, ei
Northallerton ...... 70 93 36 46 33 40 5 If
84 90 53 60 32 40 60 01
Swansea 68 70. 36 39 1 9 20 00 /f
Warwick 90 10 01 4 6 50 22 26 79
Per Roll,
Barnardcastle......l2 0 16 6 8 0 8 6 5 0 5 6 10 0 11
Durham .1116 14 3 7 0 80 40 50 g 0 101
Richmond :11 0 16 6, 6 6 7 0 4 6 6 2 9 0 of
Stockton [ll 3 12 61 9 6 10 0 4 0 4 4 0

WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET.—Feb. 1.
Wheat, Red, Norfolk and Suffolk -3.
s. 465. to 555. fine ‘,',";;
Lin. and Cam.
-- Yorkshire
White
Foreign, Red
White
Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk —
ssss
to
ttt
000
5-4%)2fis
.fifiree e n
fine 5
0.56°, ,
30s. to 355. fine
Lincolnshire 29s. to 365. fine
Yorkshire Wold
Foreign —s. to —s. fine ,;
Beans, Small
Tick
Oats, Potato
Poland 320,251t0 225. fine
—s. •
18s. to 208. fine
Friezland and Small —s. 16s. to 19s. fine
Mealing
Shelling °ls. to 265. ed. per Loa
Malt 33s. 425. fine 455. per Lowi:
Rapeseed 2Ol. Os. 221. Os. 23/. 10s. per 1.33