The Sun.
London, England, 1851-03-06 00:00:00

THAMES.

Roger M'Grath, an Irish labourer, who has bee❑
twice remanded, was brought up before Mr. Ingham,
charged with cutting and wounding John O'Briant, one
of his countrymen, on the night of Saturday, the 15th
ult., with intent to murder or do him grievous bodily
harm.

The parties have been repeatedly before the Court,
and their disputes have nearly terminated in murder.
The prosecutor, who has been for 17 days in the London
Hospital, appeared in a very deplorable condition and in
a weak state from loss of blood.

It appeared that on the 15th of February the prose-
cutor was charged by the prisoner's wife with using
abusive language towards her, and was fined 2s. without
costs. As he was leaving the court the woman struck
him with her fist, took up a brick and threw it at his
head, and inflicted a very severe wound. On the same
night, about twelve o'clock, the prosecutor was coming
out of his own house for the purpose of going to market
to buy a piece of meat, when he was intercepted by the
prisoner and his wife at the corner of Stepney-causeway.
M'Grath said he wished to be friends with O'Briant and
have some beer. The prosecutor made no objection, and
they walked a few paces, when M‘Gratli, who had his
hands in his jacket-pockets, took from one of them what
appeared to be a book, but which proved to be a small
hand-axe or hatchet, with which he struck O'Briant a
tremendous blow on the mouth, which cut his lips open
loosened several teeth, and felled him to the ground
As he was rising the prisoner struck him across the
temple with the hatchet, and inflicted a severe
wound, from which the blood flowed copiously.
As he was falling the prisoner's wife struck him on
the head, and cut it open. The prosecutor called out
" Murder" as loud as he was able, and to stifle his cries
the prisoner's wife put her shawl over his mouth, threw
him down, and beat and kicked hira—in-a most savage
manner. A police-constable, 75 K, hearing the cries of
murder, hastened towards the spot whence they pro-
ceeded, and passed the prisoner and his wife, who were
running away in a contrary direction, Mrs. M'Grath
saying "Hurry home, hurry home."Jhe policeman found
O'Briant on the ground apparently dead, end bleeding
profusely from several wounds on his person. He
caused him to be conveyed to the London Hospital,
where be has ever since remained. O'Briant's life was
despaired of for several days, and he left the hospital
for the first time yesterday, and presented himself in the
court in a very weakly condition. The prisoner was
subsequently arrested by Potter, 212 K, and on being
made acquainted with the charge, he said, " that he
only struck O'Briant with his fist, and that he did so be-
cause he was a cuckold." Potter found the hatchet with
which the wounds had been inflicted, in the prisoner's
room.

Mr. INGHAM expressed his intention of committing
the prisoner for trial; but, as the surgeon who had
dressed the prosecutor's wounds was not in attendance,
he remanded the case till Saturday.

REPEAL of the TAXES on KNOWLEDGE.
Last night a public meeting was held in St. Martin's-
hall, Long Acre, to promote the repeal of all the taxes
on knowledge, and in particular the penny stamp on
newspapers. The large hall was filled to overflowing,
and some interruption was caused at the commencement
of the proceedings by the "pressure from without."
Professor T. it Key took the chair at half past eight
o'clock. Among the Members of Parliament present
were Mr. Cobden, Mr. M. Gibson, Mr. F. O'Connor, and
Mr. Stanford.

The CHAIRXAN, who stated that he presided in the
absence of Mr. Grote, said that ho had been for thirty
years an advocate for the repeal of the taxes on know-
ledge. He thought the present a suitable opportunity of
expressing the gratitude he felt for Mr. Rowland Hill, as
a labourer in this cause, whom he regarded as one of the
greatest benefactors this country ever had in procuring
the penny postage for the people. We had obtained
cheap food for the bodies of the people, and it now be-
hoved us to gain cheap food for their minds. No one
could object to the diffusion of knowledge but those
whose power or whose wealth was founded upon fraud;
and with them he had no sympathy. What was wanted
was, not only the advancement of knowledge, but the
diffudon of knowledge.---(Hear, hear.) It was not
enough that one class of the community should be edu-
cated, and the other half ignorant, becaase then the
people would make only occasional advances, to be fol-
lowed by subsequent reaction.—(Hear.) This was the
ease in Spain, where the intelligence of the towns was
counteracted by the ignorance of the country. It was
also the case to some extent in France, and in England
too.—(Cheers.) The Minister of the Crown had ad-
mitted, although reluctantly, that the franchise ought to
be extended. He would only be consistent if he also
attended to the spread of knowledge among the class
whom he proposed to enfranchise.—(Hear.) The Chair-
man concluded by reading a letter from Mr. Hume,
sI.P., whose absence, he regretted to state, was caused
by indisposition.
Mr. J. CASSELL said that France and America had
their penny periodica!s and penny newspapers, but in
England it was exceedingly difficult to maintain a
penny periodical iu consequence of the tax upon paper.
The Messrs. Chambers' weekly tracts had a circulation
of 80,000, yet they did not pay, and were obliged to be
given np. They had since started a 14d. publication, but
it had not obtained half the circulation of the others,
and they would be obliged to give that up also. The
reduction of the taxes upon knowledge would lead to the
employment of thousands of persons in the paper and
printing businesses, and all classes would be benefited.
The working man would have his daily paper for 11,
and, instead of being obliged to go to the ale-house and
pay lit for beet i❑ order to get a sight of the paper,
he would be able to take it home to read by his own
fireside.—(Hear, hear.) Where we had one newspaper
at present, we should have ten, if the paper and ad-
vertisement duties and the stamp duty were repealed.
The Government gave 100,0001. towards education; but
it ought never to be forgotten that they took 1,000,0001.
a year from the people by the taxes on knowledge.—
(Hear, hear.) He moved—
" That all taxes which impede the diffusion of know-
ledge are highly injurious to the public interest, and
are most impolitic sources of revenue, and that their
retention by the Legislature is utterly inconsistent with
the opinion now universally professed in favour of po-
pular education."

Mr. E. Mum., in seconding the resolution, congratu-
lated the meeting upon the auspicious time at which
they were assembled. Events had reduced the Budget
to a state of liquefaction, in which it was melted down
to its original elements, and had to be cast in a new
mould. While the Chancellor of the Exchequer was
pondering, he hoped the present meeting would be able
to set the stamp of its purpose upon his new Budget
A gentleman upon the platform here produced a copy
of the New York Tribune, a daily paper published at two
cents (one penny). There were, he said, from 15 to 20
newspapers published in New York every day. Almost
every village had its newspaper; and the consequence
was, that the people of the United States were well edu-
cated and instructed.—(Cheers.)
Mr. G. H. LEWES seconded the resolution. It was
said, that to remove the stamp duty upon newspapers
would be to make that class of literature " low." But
the objection seemed to him to be founded upon that
eternal " snobism" of the English character that made
everything " low" that was not exclusive.—(Cheers.)
They were told that a good case might be made out
against every tax, but the taxes on knowledge struck at
the root of all other taxes, for the removal of these taxes
would so far diffuse political knowledge, and would so
democratiz' the House of Commons, that the people
would take care they were not more taxed than was
necessary for the wants of the nation.—(Cheers.)
Mr. COBDEN, who was received with great applause,
next addressed the meeting. The part ho had to take
on this subject in another place would render it unne-
cessary that he should trouble them at any length. He
believed that no other tax would have called together so
large an assemblage; but this was a tax on knowledge,
and when they complained of the Government for con-
tinuing it, it was, in point of fact, laying an indictment
against the Government for depriving the people of
mental food.—(Cheers.) He was, and always had been,
an advocate for the advancement of knowledge, and
these three taxes were in point of fact impediments to
knowledge. Of these taxes perhaps the most objection-
able was that of the penny stamp on newspapers. It
was, in the first place, so trifling in its proceeds that it
laid itself open to the supposition that it was imposed
not for the sake of the amount it yielded to the revenue,
but for some sinister purpose. The annual receipt from
the tax was about 350,0001. Not less than from
60.000,000 to 80,000,000 newspapers passed through the
Post-office every year. Now, what they proposed was,
that every newspaper that went through the Post-office
should have a Queen's head upon it; and that, their
friend Mr. Hume would tell them, would produce as large
a revenue as was derived from the present sj stem; but,
whether it did or no, the loss of a small sum on such
a commodity bore no proportion to the benefit to
result from the repeal. He fully believed if we had no
stamp duty, and no duty on advertisements or paper,
that wo might have penny daily newspapers with large
circulations. A paper had been produced called the /Vtre
I ork Tribune, which was published at a penny. There
were others as cheap. The actual cost of producing
paper in this country was as low as in New York—
literary labour was as cheap—all the adjuncts were as
accessible—why, then, was not the newspaper as cheap
in London as there? It would be, but that the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer intervened.—(Cheers.) The fact
was, that this country had no daily press. The daily
press only existed in London. It was scarcely known in
the country, and it was not the exponent of the wants
and interests of the working class.—(Cheers.) Let
them look at the "leaders" of the daily press and their
politics, and compare them with the leaders of the
weekly press, and he asked which were the better
(Cheers.) Why, no weekly paper could live upon the
.....
politics of the Morning Herald or the Morning I st.
(Laughter.) He did not wish to constitute himself a
judge in these matters, but he did say that those who
patronised the weekly press ought to have the opportu-
nity of supporting a similarly cheap daily
press. At the
same time let it not be supposed that he would say any-
thing to injure any portion of the daily press. He com-