The Sun.
London, England, 1833-05-09 00:00:00

tradesman must frequent the public-house for
the purpose of reading it, and the poor man can
only snatch a glimpse of it at the coffee-shop.
Were the price lowered by the reduction of the
stamp duty, the tradesman would be able to pur-
chase a paper, and he would lend it, after read-
ing, to his poorer friends ; or five or six poor
men, subscribing together, could take a daily
paper themselves. As newspaper reading is the
best for general information and improvement
to those whose time does not permit
them to read works of science, the more

it is thrown open to the public the more effec•
tually will their true interests be served. It is
of high importance that the poor man should be
relieved from the taxes which press materially

upon his bodily wants, but it is of equal im-
portance that every facility should be afforded to
him to provide food for his mind.
As a general impression has got abroad that
the Government have no longer a desire to re-
duce the taxes on knowledge—an impression

grounded on a foolish supposition that an article
in a Ministerial Paper, in defence of those taxes,
was from the pen of the LORD CHANCELLOR,
it is only fair to Lord ALTHORP to state that
he has expressed himself as anxious for their
reduction as ever, but that the state of the re-

venue (as he asserts) prevents him.
Of all taxes, those on knowledge are the most
injurious to the interests of society, and moss

discreditable to a free Government. A recen

writer, alluding to the newspaper duties, says,—

" The heavy duty on newspapers, whether considered
as a source of revenue, or, in its injurious tendency. to
restrict the diffusion of intelligence, is the most objection-
able part of our fiscal sys-em. A fourpenny stamp. on
an article which sells for sixpence, is a tax of 200 per
cent. Some of the weekly papers endeavour to evade
this onerous impost, by selling a I irger paper at a higher
prke, which reduces the per centage, the duty not being
an ad valorem one ; hut they are subject to the disadvan-
tage of a more limited sale, owing to the higher price of
their publi:•ations.

" A reduction in the duty would be more than compen-
sated by an increase in the circulation of papers ; hut then
the object of the Government has been not so much to
realize revenue as to control public opinion. Our limits
do not admit of our treating this subject so fully as it de-
serves ; nor is it necessary, after the able and conclusive
exposition it has undergone in other publications ; we shall,
however, submit a few brief observations :-1. On the

influence of the high stamp duties on the state of the
newspaper press. 2. On the consequences of restricting
the sale of cheap political pamphlets, subjecting them to
the same duty as the regular journals. Our arguments
will be addressed to those who feel an interest in social
improvement, not to those who seek only to thrive by
abuse and oppression.
" The first and most obvious effect of the high duty is,
by enhancing the price, to curtail the benefit of news-
papers, whether as the source of innocent amusement or
useful instruction, to the more opulent classes. But the
newspapers depending for support upon what may be
termed the proprietary of the country, they will, of course,
be conducted on such principles and in such spirit as is
likely to be most agreeable to the interests, the prejudices,
and passions of their subscribers. Hence the predominant
character of the press has been A APUOCRATIC : and it
seldom compromised the favour of its chief patrons by the
fearless exposition of any political abuse, superstitious
error, commercial or chartered privilege, private vice, or
public oppression, in which they were especially interested.
" But the press being under the influence of the opulent,
it leaves the indigent, as we shall term them for brevity,
without protection. They may be calumniated with im-
punity, as they often are ; their motives, views, and con-
duct may be distorted, and they have no effective means—
no organ—by which they can set themselves right with
the community. Hence it is that the great mass of so-
ciety—the industrious and trading chases—those numerous
and useful orders which constitute the bone anal muscle of
the social state—are no more represented—their interests
are no more maintained, by the daily journals, than they
are by the Commons' House of Parliament.
" Of late years a great deal has been said of the advan-
tages of commercial freedom and unrestricted competition;
but is a monopoly of knowledge less pregnant with miss
chief than a monopoly of corn or other article of general
consumption ? The exclusive privileges of Oxford and
Cambridge have been objected to as well as of the Bank
and East India Company ; but how does it happen there
is so little outcry against the Press? The reason is obvious
enough ; the press is the common crier ; but, though loud
and prompt in proclaiming the abuses of others, it has
been marvellously silent concerning its own. How much
the monopoly of the great brewers was reprobated, even
by most of the journals; but the public injury, from this
source, was limited and unimportant. contrasted with that
originating in the monopoly of the press. 'No doubt the
beverage of the people was diluted and adulterated, but
this evil, at the worst, was local in its effects ; it was not
like the press, whose despotic authority is not limited to
the metropolis, nor the provinces, nor even the empire,
but extends to every corner of the globe."
It is impossible, we think, to controvert this
reasoning. That the Press is essentially aris-
tocratic, whatever it may be in practice, cannot be
denied. It would be inconsistent to continue a
tax which prevents the diffusion of political infor-
mation among the industrious classes, after having,
by the Act of Parliamentary Reform, admitted
them to an exercise of the elective franchise which
they can neither understand nor appreciate, ex-
cept by the expansion of intellect which is pro-
duced by the labours of the Press. One of the
arguments urged by the Tories against Parlia-
mentary Reform, was, that the people were not
sufficiently enlightened to possess it with safety
to themselves or to the State. A Liberal Mi-
nistry has declared that, up to a certain point, the
objection was vain; yet the Tories are not altogether
wrong in the argument which they use. Utile means
of enlightening the public be withheld or so
1 shackled as to be unavailing, a portion of the electors
must be comparatively unenlightened. It is the
duty, therefore, of the Government to give every
facility for the diffusion of knowledge, with the
double view of making the present electors ac-
quainted with the nature and character of the
duty which they have to perform, and of prepa-
ring the way for that enlargement of the con-
stituency, without which good government
cannot long be carried on. Indeed Lord AL-
THoRP cannot, without dishonour, abstain from
redeeming the promise which he held out of a
reduction in newspaper stamp duties. For the
reduction proposed in the advertisement duty,
the Press and the public are very grateful ; but
they would be much more so, as Mr. HUME
suggested, if the duty were only one shilling.
However, let us try the proposed reduction for
one year, and the improvement in that branch
of the revenue may induce Government to make
a further reduction.

We have received a file of the Oporto
paper (Chronica do Porto), to the 28th of
April. The private letters from that place
have, however, anticipated everything of interest
in the papers.

The discussions on the different subjects
brought before the House of Commons last
night are so condensed in our report to-day
that
we deem it unnecessary to give any abstract of
them. There are, however, one or two points
to which we wish to direct the attention of our