The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-22 00:00:00

THE PAPER DUTY,
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The. Earl of DERBY presented three petitions from Ire•
laud against the repeal of the excise duties on paper.
Earl GRANVILLE presented petitions in favour of the
repeal of the duty on paper.
The" l!tiarquis of CLANRICARDE presented similar
petitions.

THE EXPEDITION TO CHINA.
Earl GREY wished, before the business of the evening
commenced, to put some questions to the noble earl (Gran-
ville), of which he had given him notice. He wanted to
know, first, whether or not the expedition sent to China
would be at the charge of the British Government from the
date of the embarkation; next, whether the English regi-
ments sent to China would bo entitled to Indian pay and
allowances while serving in China with troops from In ia ;
and, thirdly, whether any revision had been made for
placing the expenses of the Indian regiments and the extra
pay of British regiments serving in China in any estimate
hid betore Paryamenf.
Earl GRANVILLE, reading in a low tone from a writ-

ten document amid some confusion, was understood to say
that the troops serving in China would be entitled to Indian
pay and allowances, and that there was no such estimate as
the noble earl had referred to.
THE PAPER DUTY REPEAL BILL.
EarLGRANVLLLE —I Hie, to move the SeConsl reading
of a bill 'the oliect of which is-to repeal a tax which has now
existed for nearly 150 years. That tax, as stated in the
preamble of the act, was imposed for the purpose of enabling
her Majesty Queen Anne vigorously to carry on the war
then raging, and it was to continue until she had secured a
lasting peace. Contemporary writers inform us that the real
object of the b 11 was to impose restrictions on the press,
which was at that time thought too licentious. It is curious
that Swift, the great Tory writer and the friend of the then
Ministry, complained of this proceeding both in verse and
in prose. In verse, describing himself, he said—
, " His works are hawked in every street,
" But seldom rise above one sheet ;
" Of late, indeed, the paper-stamp
" Did very mach his genius cramp."
As you may suppose, in his history of the last four years of
Queen Anne's reign there is a passage, which is too long to
read to your lordships, but which is well worthy of attdr
tio; arguing, upon Conservative gonads, against the
cheap publication's of a political character. The law, how-
ever, with some modifications, :has continued to our
time. In 1832 an agitation was began against it. In 1835
a Royal Commission, of which Sir Henry-Parnell :Was at
the head, Was appointed to examine into the tax. They
recommended soma modifications, and also the reduction of
the duty by one-half. That•reductioa accordingly took
place, wes followed by an enorm.►usly increased consump-
tion, and, what is more remarkable, by a diminution in the
price of paper to double the amount of the reduction. The
Commission begged it should not be thought that they ap-
proved the tax, and they hoped the time would soon come
when far greater benefits would result from its total repeal.
Motions were then made in the House of Commons on the
subject. Two years ago an abstract resolution was adopted
there ; and although in general abstract resolutions respect-
ing t ixation are not very desirable, it was adopted with the
full concurrence of the late Government. Her Majesty's
present Ministers decided upon the repeal of the tax this
session. They brought forward a proposal to the effect in
the House of Commons; it has in different shapes gone
through the ordeal of three divisions in the house; and it
now comes here for your lordships' approval. On any or-
dinary occasion, I should have satisfied myself with the
short history I have given of this tax in order to iaduce

your lordships to take your share, whatever that may be,
in the work of relieving the people from a, burden of this
character. Considering, however, the notice which has been
given by my noble Maid below me (Lord Monteagle), and
the energetic assurances given by the noble earl (Lord
Derby) that he would not only vote for but would use all
his endeavours in the support of the noble baron's motion,
I. think it necessary to trouble your lordships at much
greater length than I should otherwise have wished on this
subject.. I must first briefly refer to the objections which
are likely to be brought against this bill. From the report
of what took place on .Saturday, I have reason to suppose
that the noble earl does not intend to go much into the
merits or demerits of this tax. I was quite prepared for this
course, because the noble earl, no doubt, felt that it was
impossible to say anything in its favour. Half the leading
members of the late Government, indeed, have declared
themselves on this point. Lord Stanley, whose opinions on
any question affecting the sociaPstate of the country are
so liberal and unprejudiced, has long been known as a
warm opponent of the tax. Sir B. Lytton, a very able
public man and man of letters, has been most eloquent
in his denunciations of the tax, and has described it very
truly and very happily as a tax -on knowledge. The late
Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that it combined
moral as well as physical objections, and, as leader of the
house, he agreed to the resolution to which I have just re-
ferred, and which declared that paper was not a fit object of
permanent taxation. By the report of what took place, as
well as by a gentleman who was present, I am informed
that the noble earl, in answer to a deputati,,n which waited
upon him on a previous occasion, declared that he only re-
peated his former impressions when he stated that this tax
was bad in principle and bad in practice. lam not there-
fore surprised at his determination to refrain now from en-
tering into the merits of the tax; but, as I don't know what
view may be taken by the noble lords on the subject it will
be necessary that I should state as shortly as I can what
are some of the principal objections to it. There is a phrase
used by Lord Stanley which so well describes the operation
of the tax that I should almost wish to take it as the text
of the objections which may be advanced to it. He stated

that the tax was vexatious in collection, that it' impeded
improvements in manufacture, that it heightened the price
of an article the demand for which exceeded the supply, and
pressed injuriously on the supply of cheap literature and
the diffusion of news. As to'its being vexatious in collec-
tion, I must refer to the report of the Commissioners of
Inland Revenue published on the Ist of March in the pre-
sent year. I see the noble baron smile, but Ido trust that
in this house we shall not hear the insinuations which
have been thrown out elsewhere, that this is not the deli-

berate opinion of the commissioners, but a report got up to
order. To prevent the repetition here of a statement so
derogatory to the gentlemen of high character who com-
pose the Board of Inland Revenue I will state what I have
ascertained on this point. I went to Somerset-horse for the
purpose of making inquiry on the subject, and what I found
to be the case was this :—Very soon after the passing of the
resolution agreed to by the late Government the difficulty
of collecting the tax daily became greater. Towards the be-
ginning of this year the board got applications for exemp-
tion to which they were unable to give any answer what-
ever; and in this dilemma, not knowing whether the Go-
verment meant to repeal the tax or not, they appointed
some of their most able and practical officers to examine
into the question and see whether they could adopt any
changes which might be draughted into a bill, and which,
if approved by Parliament, might enable them to collect
the tax with something like justice. Afterwards, when the
Government, acting partly on the opinion of the Inland
Revenue, and partly from reasons to which I shall pre-
sently advert, came to the determination of repealing the
tax, a debate took place in the House of Commons, and
Mr. Walpole said that, comparing the former report of the
Board with the statement of the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, he did not think these were perfectly consistent. I
think it only just, both to the commissioners and to Mr

Gladstone, to state that the former drew up this report per-
fectly spontaneously, and without the slightest communi-
cation with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or any other
member of the Government. I shall be confirmed in this
statement by the noble earl opposite, as he can tell your
lordships that during the time he was in office letters were
constantly received at the Treasury from the commissioners
bearing exactly on the same point. [Here the Earl of
Derby made some intimation.] If the noble earl does not
know it, I can assure him that it is the fact. I will read
one or two sentences from the report. (The noble earl pro-
ceeded to rend from the report of the commissioners pas •

sages to tha effect that it was their deliberate opinion that
the paper duty was rapidly becoming untenable; and the
commissioners explained that there was no inconsistency
whatever between their different reports; they stated that

in their third report of last year they were compelled to
draw attention to the great and increasing embarrassments
involved in the collection of this tax, and they might have
added that the evils of which they complained had been ac-
cumulating for many years previously, and that the attempt
to frame new regulations had entirely failed.) The whole
of the report is well worthy of your lordships' attention, as
showing the excessive injustice and inequality of the tax,
and the necessity to which they were driven to exercise
an arbitrary decision, there being no definition of " paper"
sufficiontly.clear. The noble earl opposite, in the course of
a speech he delivered on Saturday last, stated that he had
heard a good deal of a contrary character from publishers,
booksellers, and newspaper proprietors, and stated that be
was intrusted with petitions from Irish newspaper proprie-
tors on the subject: I can explain this matter to your