The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-21 00:00:00

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LONDON,
FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21, 1835.

The subject of the Newspaper Stamp Duty is to
be discussed in the House of Commons to-night.
Mr. E. L. Bur, wErt, to whom the public is deeply
indebted for his persevering exertions to relieve know-
ledge from the clog which hampers its movements
and limits its circulation, tal:es the lead on this
as on former occasions. The question, important
as it is in itself, has acquired no small addi-
tional interest from the tergiversation of Mr. S.
RICE, who co ingloriously deserted his colours
on the night of the Budget. The mover, a man of
distinguished talents, and smarting under a sense of
ill-treatment from the Government, at whose particular
request he has repeatedly put off the present motion,
is, it may he suppsed, prepared to enter the lists against
the backsliding CHANCELLOR of the ExcHEQuEit,
with more than his usual ardour. The debate may,
therefore, be expected to be one of the most interesting
that have occurred during the Session.

By the following extract from the votes of the Com-
mons, it will be seen that, besides the motion of the
Hon. Member for Lincoln, two other propositions
tending toward the same object are to be submitted to
the House :

" 1. Mr. Edward Lytton Bulwer,—On reading an Order of the
Day, to move the Repeal of the Stamp Duty on Newspapers.
" 2. .11r. Wallace,— To move, as an Amendment on Mr. Buiwer's
motion for a repeal of the Stamp Duty on Newspapers, That a
Select Committee be appointed, to inquire, whether by placing
the management of the Post Ofr:-e in Commission, contract-
ing for conveying the mails by private steam-packets, amending
and regulating inland P6st conveyances, and the rates Of
Postages, a sav-ir.g might net be effected sufficient to admit of

repealing the linty ofl'Newspapers.
" 3. Mr. Bueliingliam,—To move, as an amendment to Mr. Lyt-
ton Bulwer's motion for a total ~Neal of the Stamp Duties on
Newspaper s, the following resolut:on :—That from and after
the last day of January 1536, it shall be lawful to publish
newspapers at any price, from one penny to one shilliag per
number. provided that every such ne.wsiiaper shall be issued on
a sheet bearing a stamp of the vi,!ue of onc-foe,-h ;he pri_ at
which su.,l nevc-.Tap,,r shall be sold ,-‘y retail ; and that ir,:c
transmission by post shall be given to all si,ll newspapers, as
an equivalent for the duty thus paid."

We can, without much difficulty, anticipate the
ffrounds on which Mr. S. RICE will oppose the Repeal
r,
of the Duty. Whatever the Right Hon. Gentleman's
private opinions may be with regard to the propriety
of fettering the Press, he will not dare to avow any
illiberality on that point. His objections, as we may
gather from the course he pursued on a late occasion,
will be entirely of a financial nature. Let us therefore
look at the question in its financial aspect.
The surplus revenue of the year ending in April last
was 902,0001.—0 f that ending in July, 1,205,0001. In
calculating the probable surplus for the current year,
which ends in April 1836, Mr. S. RICE assumes the
smaller of these sums as the utmost amount on which
he can rely. Why, with so great an increase in the pro-
duce of the first quarter—with so manifest a confutation
of his own calculations as that quarter affords—he should
anticipate so great a.failing-off in the other three quar-
ters, it is not for us to imagine. He has not yet let
the public into the secret. Perhaps we shall hear
something about it to-night ; but, in the mean time,
we must say that it looks as if he had some purpose,
not altogether direct, to serve, by understating the
amount applicable to the remission of taxation.
But let us take the Right Hon. Gentleman's sur-
plus, as he himself has stated it, at 835,0001.—with
the West India interest cutting so deep into it, and
the paramount obligation to reduce the duty on flint
glass, and to render gin more accessible to the poor—
would he run any risk by taking off or reducing the
stamp-duty on newspapers ? We are persuaded the Re-
venue, so far from losing, would gain considerably by
such a step.
_

Suppose the duty taken off altogether, the number
of papers circulated would be greatly increased—some
say five, others tenfold—but taking the increase at five
times the present amount, which is surely a moderate
calculation, the increased excise on paper arising out
of the additional consumption, would cover more than
half the deficiency. The amount of the Newspaper
stamp-duty is 441,000/. ; the duty on paper about
45,000/. ; the remaining 216,000/. would be more than
made up by the increase in the duty upon advertise-
ments, which would follow as a necessary consequence,
and by a small postage, say id. on each newspaper
sent by post.
But a total Repeal of the Stamp Duty is not neces-
sary. 'We conceive that if three-fourths of it were re-
moved, every object aimed at by those who are anxious
for the extension of knowledge among the people would
be better attained t/han by any other method. The
Stamp on a Newspaper is fourpence ; let it be reduced
to one penny, and if the present circulation be increased
three times, or even less than that—and surely this is
no extravagant supposition—the revenue would be
compensated from this source alone, without taking
into consideration the addition made to it by the ad-
vertisements and the consumption of paper.
This, after the best consideration that we can give

to the subject, appears to us the simplest and the
safest plan. The Stamp would then, as at present,
frank the Newspaper through the Post-office ; for the
Post-office, with its minute ramifications, must ever be
the most effectual vehicle for disseminating political
information among the great body of the population,
and no machinery beyond what exists at present would
be required to carry the law into effect.

But should the CHANCELLOR Of the EXCHEQUER
object to any alteration of the financial arrangements,
which he has determined upon for the current year,
there is still a mode by which he may show
his good-will to the cause of cheap knowledge, with-
out much danger to the Revenue. He may pro-
pose that the reduction to be made in the duty
shall commence from the sth of January 1836. By
this means the defalcation in the Revenue, should
his fears be realized, would extend over one quarter
only ; and by the end of that quarter, he would be
prepared to meet the difficulty. With respect to the
amendments to be proposed on Mr. BULWER'S mo-
tion, we can only say that Mr. WALLACE'S proposed
inquiry into the Post-office department is a question
distinct from that of the Newspaper Stamp Duty, and
whatever be the fate of the original motion, ought to
be carried through. Mr. BUCKINGHAM'S plan would,
we fear, not work well in detail.

We have in the foregoing remarks confined our-
selves to the financial view of the question, because
it is in its relation to the Revenue that it has
hitherto been regarded by the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER, who seems, like the Pharisees of old,
to have been quite indifferent about " the weightier
matters of the law." The instruction of the people is
in our opinion the strong ground on which the re-
duction of the Newspaper Stamp Duty is to be
advocated. It is the right of the people to have
knowledge of every kind communicated to them at as
cheap a rate as possible, and if there be any one
species of knowledge for which they have a stronger
claim than another on the Government, it is that which
is communicated through Newspapers, and through
them alone. If, as some politicians of the illiberal
school have asserted, the people had nothing to do
with the laws but to obey them, it would
even then seem not unreasonable that they should
know what they were to obey. But in those who
hold the doctrine that public opinion is in future to
be the only guide of the Statesman, it does seem not
a little inconsistent to deny to the public the only
means by which its opinion can be enlightened.
What shall be thought, then, of the refusal of the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER to remove the tax
that prevents the extension of political information
to the great mass of the community, while, at the
same time, he would seem to have no scruples
about giving them additional facilities for forming
intemperate habits ? " If," says the Hon. Gentleman,
" I do not give you a mouthful of knowledge do not
grumble, you shall have a bellyful of gin. If you have
not rational, you shall at all events have spiritual edu-
cation." But we trust Mr. S. RICE means to retrace
his steps. We cannot believe that he will hazard
his own reputation, as well as the character of the
Administration of which he forms a part, by persisting
in a course which may in the long run prove fatal to both.
There is still room for repentance. Let him now
remit a portion of this most obnoxious of all taxes,
while he can do it with a good grace. If he do not,
he will soon be compelled to relinquish the whole.

Since writing the above, our attention has been di.
rected to the following tissue of misrepresentation whici
appeared in a Sunday paper (the Obscrver) with re•
spect to the Stamp Duties :

" We have been not a little surprised at witnessing the
course which has been adopted by the promoters of the repeal
of the stamps on newspapers, or, as they have been pleased
to style them "the Taxes on Knowledge." Their conduct has
been such as to place the greatest obstacles in the way of the
accomplishment of their own object. These gentlemen, who
from having paid (by their own account at least) more attention
than any others to the subject, ought to be qualified to give the
Chancellor of the Exchequer the most correct informaCon on the
subject, assured him that any measure short of total repeal would
be not only productive of no benefit, but of positive injury to
the parties interested. Nay, more, they told the Right
lion. Gentleman that, so far from being satisfied with the re
peal of the Newspaper Stamp Duty, they required also the
total repeal of the tax upon paper, and the total repeal of the
tax upon advertisements. Now, let us see what amount of
revenue is derived from these three sources—
Newspaper Stamps
Advertisements
Paper ...

£1,415,586

" Thus, with an acknowledged surplus of 200,0001., Mr,
flume proposes to repeal 1,300,0001. of taxation. The Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer took the only course which was left
epen to him, and did not touch the subject."
Setting aside the gross mis-statement in the above
with rospect to those who r!.dvocate the remission or
re.:uction of Ole Stomp Duties, we shall merely re-
mark, that in tbc article of pq;s!-;r, the writer
has actually exaggerated the amount of that duty
upwards of Circe hunch cd thousand pounds !—mis-
represented the amount snore than one hay ! Veri-
table apologist for Mr. SPRING RICE ! Put this is
only a sample of the mirk-liberal friends of the Press.
Another worthy (the Courier of last night), has
taken up the subject of the Stamp Duties in a strain
which it were idle to criticise, seeing that one part e'
the article refutes the other. The Courier is against
any reduction of the " Taxes on Knowledge," because
it would produce a revolution in the morals of the
country ! The burden of its song seems to be—

" Where ignorance is bliss
'Tis folly to be wise."

Their Lordships bid fair to play the same game with
the Irish Church Reform Bill that they have just played
with the Corporation Bill. They will not oppose it bold-
ly, and with undisguised determination of purpose ; but
in an underhand mariner, bringing to bear on it all those
arts of chicanery at which they are such unrivalled
adepts. Accordingly, they permitted it last night to
pass the second reading—an act of consummate absur-
dity, by the bye, since to sanction the second reading
of a Bill is, to all intents and purposes, to sanction
its principle ! Their Lordships, however, in the exu-
berance of their hereditary wisdom, think otherwise ;
being evidently of opinion, that to allow a measure to
go into Committee, is by no means to approve of its
leading features ; but, on the contrary, to show a very
praise-worthy hostility towards them. The very
staff and stay of the Irish Church Bill, is the
Appropriation Clause ; yet this is the very clause
to which our hereditary Solons most vehemently
object I With what consistency could they
allow a Bill, thus disfigured in their estimation, to
get so far as a second reading ? This is a question
more easily asked than answered ; but indeed their
Lordships' whole course of proceeding, during the
last fortnight, is an enigma which none but an CEdipus
can solve. Meantime, let them play what frantic an-
tics they please, the people have but one course to
pursue. They must bring their own determination to
bear upon their oppressors' chicanery, and show the
same zeal for Ireland that they have already shown for
England. It were the blackest ingratitude not to stand
up at the present crisis for the sister country; seeing that
her liberal Representatives have been our mainstay
during the Session, battling as strenuously for us, as
ever they have done for their own local interests. We
must protest therefore against the mutilation of th.)
Irish Church Bill, with quite as much tenacity of pur-
pose as if it were the Corporation Bill, for its destiny
involves equally important results ; and when we see
such men as the Bishop of EXETER among its stiffest
opponents, we are still more bound to be decided in
our conduct, for it is as evident as his own shovel hat,
that that measure to which Ise is hostile cannot but
be beneficial to the community. This surprising