The Sun.
London, England, 1851-01-03 00:00:00

largsst amount of public sympathy in his motion.—
(Hear, hear.) All these taxes were bad; but if he were
to express an opinion as to which was the worst, he
would say the stamp on newspapers wns.—(Cheers.)
Powerful as the arguments were against the paper duty,
ha thought those against the stamp not less cogent. He
was for cheap newspapers.—(Cheers.) If competition
w's good for the farmer, if it was good for the trader,
why should it not be good also for the newspaper pro-
prietor?—(Cheers.) Let them have the power to enter
into the hitherto unexplored field of those to whom a
record of facts has as yet been denied—with cheap news-
papers, and communicate through them not only
political, but social information.—(Cheers.) Statesmen
might put off the question on financial grounds; but the
fact was not to be disguised, that there was amongst
many of them a latent fear of the spread of the know-
ledge of facts amongst the working classes.—(Cheers.)
Why should there be this feat? What was to be appre-
hended? The stamp was intended to prevent cheap
periodicals from containing the current events of the
day. That could be the only reason, for the cheapest
publications were allowed to exist, to be circulated, and
to give theories, fictions, and some sort of information.
But when it was proposed to allow penny publications—
the only publications that practically, c )old reach the
masses of the country—(Heer, hear)—to contain records
of daily occurrences and events—to publish those facts
which would give men a knowledge ef the laws and in-
stitutions which they were to live under—when it was
proposed to do this, they were met by the most unworthy
fears, and told that they should be flooded by an im-
mense torrent of trash, and that it would not be safe to
leave an unfettered iiiscretion to such newspaper writers
as would be called into the field if this tax were repeated.
—(Hear, hear.) lie entertained no such fear.—(Cheers.)
An enlightened people were the best supporters of laws
and institutions.—(Cheers.) He believed there would be
- no such effective aid of education as to allow facts which,
after all, were the foundation of real knowledge, to be
• circulated, cheaply in cheap publications, without
let or hindrance. (Cheers.) Without that they
had no free press.—(Hear, hear.) They may talk to
the world about the free press of England, but they had
no free press so long as there were previous restric-
Lions by taxation and the vexatious proceedings at the
Stamp-office.—(Fleur, hear.) There could be no free
press unless men were allowed to print facts and com-
ments upon paper without previous restraint, making
them only responsible afterwards for any violation they
might commit, by libel or otherwise, of the laws of the
country.—(Hear, hear.) If he were permitted, he in-
tended to submit his motion to the House of Commons
in the same way he did before, and would ask them on
br cad grounds of public policy to abolish all taxes which
directly and specially impeded the advance of know-
ledge.—(llear, hear.) He did not believe that existing
newspapers had any reason to complain of such a pro-
position, nor was there any real ground to fear that its
adoption would interfere with newspapers of established
reputation. They would retain their position, and the
only change would be that you would have cheap pub-
lications circulating amongst the humbler classes who
have no newspapers now, conveying to them valu-
able information, and recerdieg the current events
of life.—(Hear, hear.) The Times—(Hisses and groans)
paid a fine or tax every year to the Government of
95,0001.; 16,0001. paper duty, 60,0001. fur stamps,
19,0001. for advertisements. As far as my recollection
serves, these were the figures it gave itself. Of these
relative amounts, that for stamps was certainly the
greatest, and it showed that it was the heaviest item to
be paid, in order to carry on a paper of large circula-
tion.—(Hear.) He had no doubt but the repeal of the
advertisement duty would he highly bsteficial to the ex-
isting newspapers. It would increase the number of
advertisers, and, to quote an expression that had been
usei, so put flesh on the bones of some of the news-
papers which now had a bard struggle to keep in exist-
ence.—(Laughter.) But not only would the great body
of established newspapers be benefited by the repeal of
the advertisement duty, but society at large would be
materially advantaged by such a change.—(Hear, hear.)
If the present question should come to a vote, though he
was anxious to co-operate wit'i his friends near him for
the repeal of the duty on psner, and would not
do anything to prevent them from attaining the %.,13) set
which they sought, yet, consistently with the course he
pursued in the House of Commons, and which, if per-
mitted, he would again take next session, he should feel
it his duty to give his vote for the amt.ndment.—(Cheers.)
The res elution as amended was then carried.
Mr. EDWARDS moved a vote cf thanks to the chair-
man, observing that the working classes rejeicsd to see
such gentlemen as those now upon the platform coming
among them, for then they heard from the mouths of the
working classes themselves that they would not be satis-
fied with half mes.sures.—(Cheers.)
The vote of thanks is the chairman having been car-
ried unanimously, was duly acknowledged by Mr. Cowan.
Thanks were then voted to Mr. M. Glbion, who briefly
returned thanks, and the meeting broke up at about a
quarter past ten o'clock.

REWARD FOR MRS. SLOANE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sia,—l beg to enclose twelve stamps towards a
suitable reward for the apprehension of Mrs. Sloane,
with her accomplice, Louisa Devaux. I am a bar-
rister's clerk in the Temple ; and, following the mag-
nanimous example of "J. D.," whose letter you
have justly praised, I would ply my brother clan with
similar arguments to those which his zeal, intelli-
gence, and humanity so happily suggested to his
mind, so as to stimulate them to !‘ go and do like-
wise." Why, Sir, if every barrister's clerk in the
Temple were only to subscribe sixpence each in this
laudable, Christian, and (mav I not add) incumbent
duty, in a very short time -both Mrs. Sloane and
Louisa Devaux would he in the grasp of that justice
which is literally thirsting for the administration of
its provoked retribution on the bazbarous heads of its
three abominable enemies.

I will at once make a canvass amongst my "learned
trethren" the " Knights Templars," for their pecu-
niary aid in this urgent and important case ; while
I trust that if any of them should see this letter
(i. e , if you give it publication) they may be in-
duced to make you the almoner of their smallest (as
well as their largest) contributions.
I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
ANOTHER "J. D."
Pimlico, Jan. 1.