The Sun.
London, England, 1850-07-16 00:00:00

POSTAL

I LORD A
ARRANGEMENTS.

From the Leader Weekly Newspaper.)
Sir,—Quite enough: has been written and said on this
subject t ► convince any unprejudiced mind of the in-
justice of Lord Ashley's interference with people in the
csuntry.ebtaining their papers through the m, dium of
the Post-office. Eut the way in which a an all portion
of the press and a few news-egents are endeavouring to
support his Lutthirip in carrying out his one-sided views
deserves seine net ice and reprobstior. A report eppears
in the columns a the 11l °min.' Herald of an int .rview
with Lord John riussell, containing, probably, a treater
q :entity of nonsense ard untruth than ever before ap-
peer« din a clown lied a half ef that paper. We are
gravely told by the Herald it a; the deputation represented
a large and influential body of proprietor., printers,
euhli.here, and venders of London weekly papers.
Let us test this assertion by their own report. We
tirel representatives from Belt's Messenger, the
Britanni a. Patriot, Banner, Record, and Christian
Times. Now, four of the aboie papers are avoeudly
religious papers, and not published on Saturday or Sur-
day, therefore not-likely to be effected by the new postal
arrangements—utterly incompetent to judge of the effect
produced on Saturday papers; unjustly interfering in a
measure likely to affect the interest of the proprietors c f
papers published on Saturday; unnecessarily and obtru-
eively tendering information to Lord John on a subject
that from their position they ate not' likely to be well
informed on, and unnecessarily mixing themselves up in
a question they have no interest in; and have therefore
no pretension to be called the representatives of Satur-
day and. Sunday papers. Bell's Messenger has long since
ceased to publish on a Sunday, for reasons best known to
the conductors of that journal. So that the Messenger
and the Britannia are the only papers that were repre-
sented by this influential deputation out of forty papers
publishing Saturday or Sunday editions, .and, oddly
enough, the gentleman who represented the Britannia
had not a word to say on the subject, the whole weight
resting on the shoulders of Mr. Lee, whose strength is
so great as to euable him "to-sustain the representation
of the Herald, Standard, St. James's Chrbnicle, and
Bell's Me.isewger; so we find him stating to the Marquis
of Clanricarde, who appears to have received a visit
from some of the same gentlemen that occupied Lord
John Russell's time the other morning. The only
printers who chivalrously stepped forward on this occa-
sion were Messrs. Tyler and Reed, printers of the
beforenamed Banner and Patriot. The influential
publishers probably consisted of the gentlemen whose
names grace the imprints of the respective papers, as-
sisted by Mr. Freeman. The news agents were misre-
presented by Mr. Smith,. whose religious scruples will
not allow him longer to suffer the Post-office to deliver
papers on a Sunday, though his men and horses are
busily employed every Sunday morning in conveying
Sunday editions of London newspapers to the different
lines of railway for the purpose of being conveyed in
parcels to be delivered by the country agents, men and
boys, who have been working all the week. Mr. Gilbert,
who appears to have been specially retained by the Sab-
batarians for the purpose of getting up a demonstra-
tion in their favour, appears from the report to have
given utterance to some original and not very clear
notions of his own. Take an example or two. Mr.
Gilbert " assured Lord John that the cessation of print-
ing, publishing, and selling of newspapers on Sunday
would be a social benefit." What does the pro-
prietor of the Herald say to this, whose staff of
compositors and editors work on the Sunday to produce
Monday's paper? Perhaps the Herald will ex,,lain what
Mr. Gilbert means in this sentence. Again, Mr. Gilbert
says, " if the papers hithert t distributed late on Satur-
day afternoons and Sunday mornings were to be sold on
Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings, the sale
would be greatly facilitated and increased, and
their tine of morality much improved." Per-
haps Mr. Gilbert is ingenious enough to inform
us by what process the Saturday evening
papers are to be published on Friday afternoon or Sa-
turday morning, mad can also show, by some process of
reasoning, how the tone of morality of any newspaper is
affected by being published on Friday in preference to
Saturday or Sunday. Is the Ob%erver, which is published
on Sunday, less mural than Lloyd's _Newspaper, which
publishes on Friday?
Again, Mr. Gilbrrt tells us, " that his own experience
convinces him that the London newspaper interest en-
tirely misunderstands its own interest.' In all humility
we must differ from this gentleman, and believe the

ewspaper proprietors quite as capable of looking after
heir own interest as Mr. Gilbert.

However, these are trifling matters compared to the
imposition Mr. Gilbert attempted to practise on Lord
John. Ho ea'd—" The newspaper agents who trans-
mitted the papers by post to all parts of the kingdom
were, with one exception, entirely in favour of the ct aqge
which bad taken place in the Post-aline arran; ements."
Now the Herald reports Mr. Gilbert to have used these
words to Lord John on the 9th of July, although he was
present at a meeting of news-agents, called by him: elf,
on July the 4th, at which the following amendment was
carried, in api'e of the opposition of Mr. Gilbert and bis
party:—
•' Mr. Wild suggested several difficulties, and moved
an amendment to the tffect, That the closing of the
Yost-office on Sunday for the delivery of newspapers and
le,ters is arbitrary and unjust, and that this meeting
considers such a proceeding opposed to the feelings of a
large macs a the people, and pledges itself t., make
every law'ul exertion to get such older rescinded.'"
low much is it to be reg,etted that Lord John Rus-
sell had not been furnished with a report of the meeting
at which the above resolution was carried.

I refrain from expressing my opinion on the short-
ness ef Mr. Gilbert's memory, or the unscrupulous
course pursued by those persons a•ho ere endeavouring
to assist Lord Ashley in preventing Englishmen rea-l-
ing newspapers on a Sunday.—l am Sir, yours, &c.,
July 11,1850. A LONDON NEWS-AGENT.

PURITANICAL INCREASE OF
SUNDAY LABOUR.
(From the Leader.)
Really the public must make a push to rescue the
weekly day of rest from the immense increase of la-
bour entailed upon numbers by Lord Ashley's ill
contrived and hopeless attempt-, with the connivance
of Ministers, at converting it into a Puritanical
S thbath. On every side we are met with corn-
pleints at the interruption occasioned by the call for
unpractised hands to do th 3 work of the Post-office in
carrying letters and papers.
In the metropolis, persons connected with Sunday
schools have observed a remarkable falling-off in the
attendance of the boys during the last two or three
Sundays ' • the boys having been enticed away by the
wages they can earn in delivering newspapers. A
company for conveying " parcels throughout the
kingdom receives a new impulse to its activity.
In' Manch;ster, one of the largest newsvendors
advertises that he has engaged a staff of boys "equal
in number to the men employed by the Post -offire,"
for the delivery of newspapers on Sunday morning.
In Liverpool, Messrs. Willmer and Smith announce
that they have organized a distribution of newspapers,
by their own messengers, on Sunday morning. "Be-
sides foot-runners they will have sixty mounted
messengers, and, considering the extent of their busi-
ness and the wide range of town and country they
propose to supply, such a staff is by no means too
large." Another newsagent complains that the
change has forced him to become " a Sunday trader,"
which he never was before. He says he must either
Surrender a large part of his business or hire several
messengers to deliver papers to his subscribers on the
holy day.
These are only samples of what is taking place in
every large town. •
Nor is this the whole of the evil. Those artisans
and mechanics who were in the habit of receiving
their London pipers by post, on the morning of the
only day in the week when they have leisure to read
them, must now either pay for the delivery or go to
the newsagents for them. As the latter course is ge-
nerally preferred, the result is said to be an increase
of drinking, since the travellers are very apt, when
they meet together at the newsvendor's, to adjourn to
some public-house and discuss the news of the week—
not drily.
The newsagents also justly complain, and the
newspaper proprietors have a still greater right to
complain, that Government, having imposed a penny
stamp upon each paper, in consideration of i s
being sent postage free, has no right to refuse the
performance of its contract. If it persists in doing
so, the penny stamp should be abolished on all news-
papers sent en Sunday. Under the present system,
instead of sending the papers by post, as they were
wont, to Bristol, Birmingham, Manchester, Liver-
pool, and other large towns, the newsagents send
them by the mail train; a very costly process. Now,
were Ministers disposed to act fairly towards the
weekly newspapers, they ought to allow all those
which are thus sent by parcel to be printed on un-
stamped sheets. Unless they do this they are guilty
of taking money under false pretences.
It will be seen that the increased labour is not
limited to the news trade or parcel carriers—ser-
vants and all who receive communications are called
upon to take extra trouble at awkward times. And
the evil will increase—unless the new plan be
'abandoned.

[ A DvERTISEMEvr.]—A Person, 75 Years Old,
cured of a Bad Leg by Holloway's Ointment and Pills.—Mrs.
Larendon, of No. 2, Richardson 'a-buildings, Goswell-street,
ever sinee giving birth to twins, 34 years ago, had suffered
with dreadful wounds in her leg, and wnich several medical
men, both in France and England, had been unable to cure.
Her sufferings were intense, and oftentim. s she was during long
periods wholly confined to her bed. Ultimately, by the advice
of her friends, she made trial of Holloway's ointment and pills,
and these celebrated remedies have completely healed her
wounds, and she can walk about with the greatest comfort
Sold by all vendors of medicines, and at Professor Holloway's
restablvdiment, 244, Strand, Loudon.

NAVAL ELLIGENCE.
L 161331.1, JULY .—The royal yacht, Victoria and
_A-1-bert, has ved here. Lord Fitzclarence and his
distin , • d party ere all well, and have much en-
joyed their voyage out. The yacht has made the most
wonderful passage on record (the quickest ever made
by a steamer from England occupied seventy-eight
hours). The Victoria and Albert has made it in
sixty-five hours. The distance she ran is about 760
miles. The current was against her crossing the Bay
of Bi•cay, by which she lost thirty-nine miles; con-
sequently she averaged a mean speed per hour of 12
knots '2 fms. for sixty-five consecutive hours, an
achievement never before accomplished by any steamer,
and altogether unparalleled.

,The yacht brought out a copy of Lord Palmer-
ston's interesting speech on his defence, and delivered
it at the residence of the British Minister at Lisbon
in sixty-six hours from England !
The Stromboli steam-sloop, Comminder Lord A.
Bcanclerk, stood no chance of keq,irg company with
the 'Victoria and Albert; sh,? arriv€d in the Tagus
29 hours after the royal yacht.
Commodore Martin's squadron are all here, looking
remarkAhly we'l, and in most supr.rh order.
The Victoria and Albert will shortly proceed on her
voyage, and may be expected back at Portsmouth th%
latter end of this month.

Retribution will leave Woolwich for Greentli he
on Thursday morning, and thence proceed to Ports.
mouth.

Princess Alice is to come round from D. ver
on the 25th instant, to be fitted with new boilers at
Woolwich.

Inflexible was commissioned on St:fu-dny after.
neon by Commander Peche Hart 131)k. at Woo!.
w!eh.
Polyphemus arrived at Wo lwich from Portsmouth
on Sunday evening, in charge of Mr. Macdonald,
master-attendant.
PLYMOUTH, MONDAY..—Her Majesty's steam-slos4i
Vixen, 6, Commander R. Jenner, came in from the
West Indies on Saturday evening, and proceeded to
Barn Pool. In the early part of the year she was
engaged conveying the Governor of Barbadoes on.
his annual visit of inspection to the Windward
Islands. She arrived at La Guayra on the Bth, and
left the 28th of May; called at Port Royal on the
Ist, and sailed therefrom on the Bth of June;
reached Havannah on the 13th, and left the 14th
of June.

The shipping on the station are healthy, but on
shore fever has visited the British islands severely.
Vice-Admiral the Earl of Dundonald, in the Wel-
lesley, 72, Capt. G. Goldsmith, is supposed to be at
Halifax; the principal part of the squadron are in the
northern latitudes.

At Grenada, on the 4th of March, the Alarm, 26,
Captain G. Ramsey, and a Dutch corvette, name
unknown.

At Port Royal, on the Bth of June, the Imaum,
72, Commander T. Bennett ; expected daily, the
Trincomalee, 24, Capt. R. L. Warren, and was to
proceed to England.
The schooner Bermuda, 3, Lieutenant-Commander
A. D. Jolly, after a 48 hours' chase, had captured a
schooner off the Isle of Pines, with 280 slaves on
board. She secured the prize by firing into her a
great number of shots, some of which eventually
disabled her foretopsail-yard and jibboom.
June 21, the Vixen spoke the barque James Shep-
pard, from Jamaica to England ; and July 9, ex-
changed colours with the Ida.
Since her commission, on the 11th of May, 1847,
the Vixen has been constantly moved about in active
employment. Her engines (Seward's direct) and
boilers, although so much employed, have not re-
quired repair, and are still Efficient. She sails well,
making by log 11- knots wind abeam and quarterly,
and close-hauled 81 knots ; but on the latter part of
the passage h. me she sprang her foretopmast badly,
and, like other steamers, not being allowed spare
spars, was obliged to come in here for coal.
Her crew are very healthy; during three years
four deaths only have occurred, of which three took
place at the Nicargua expedition, where two were
drowned and one shot.

The Vixen has orders for Portsmouth, and sailed
at 7 o'clock this morning, but she is, we believe, to
be paid off at Woolwich.
The three-masted screw-steamer Hellespont, Cap-
tain William Watts, put in here last evening. She
left Constantinople June 22, Srnyrna 25, Malta 30,
and Gibraltar 7th instant. The Mediterranean fleet
was at Malta. The steam-yacht Victoria and Albert,
Captain Lord Adolphus Fitzclarence ; the steam-fri-
gate Stromboli, Captain Lord A. Beauclerk ; and the
Janus, were at Gibraltar.

Spoke, July 3, screw-steamer Astrologer, lat. 37
18 N., long. 5 40 E., steering E. by S. ; sth,
schooner City of Julian, 70m. E. of Gibraltar ; 6th,
schooner Liffey. off Gibraltar; 11th, schooner
Torch, off Cape Finisterre, steering S.S.W. ; Penin-
sular and Oriental steam-ship Jupiter, 40m. N.E.of
C Ipe Finisterre, outward bound ; 60 miles W.S.W.
of the Eddystone, barque Louisa Munro, steering to
the eastward.

The Hellespont lands mails here ; she bas a full
cargo of valuable goods for London and Liverpool.
After coaling at Millbay-pier, she proceeds up the
Channel.