The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-02-15 00:00:00

FRIDAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 15, 1833.

NUMEROUS as are the changes and innovations now
cmtemplated in state affhirs, for the projection of many
of which, and those the most dangerousove are indebted
to the reform bill, and the unconstitutional means by
which that measure was, in a great degree, forced onward
into a law,—numerous, we say, as they are, the most im-
portant, perhaps, of them all is one which applies pecu-
liarly to our own craft—we mean the talked-of change
with regard to the stamp on newspapers, and the duty on
the advertisements which they contain.

We 'are fully sensible how difficult and how delicate is
the task which he undertakes who approaches this ques-
tion with a view to its discussion. Nor is this difficulty
one which is usually, and_ mote especially at this time,
overrated. We repeat, if there be any one question
which, at the present crisis, exceeds all others in impor..
tance, it is the question whether, or not, the stamp on
newspapers is to be removed; or, to use the new cant
phrase of the day, whether the " taxes on knowledge"
are to be continue 4 or withdrawn.
Unlike the Times and some other London journals,
-we have no monopoly of advertisements to guard; which,
in their cases, would be utterly demolished by the re-
moval of the stamp duty ; a fact that will, of itself, ac-
count for the violent hostility of some of those journals
to the measure either of abolition or-extensive reduction.
On the contrary, we feel assured that our pecuniary in-
terest would be served by the change. But we take
higher ground. It is as a subject in which are mixed up
the most vital interests of the British empire that we
treat it; and in that belief, regardless of the consequences
to ourselves from the discussion, we propose to show the
paramount importance of this question.
To the presence of the "schoolmaster" we apprehend
we are indebted for the substitution of the new term,
" taxes on knowledge," for that which; in olden times,
was sufficiently known by the more familiar- phrase—the
"liberty of the 'press." For, turn it as we may, the lat-
ter then meant, what the former now 'means—the per-
mission for every man to print and publish whatever lie
pleased, unrestrained by legal power or fiscal measures.
In this sense, then, we will discuss it; and we would ask
our readers, what, in the times in which we live, they
think would be the consequence of such unrestricted li-
berty ? If, in looking at all that is passing around them
on every side, they cannot furnish an answer to this ques-
tion, we will endeavour to convey one in the succeeding
observations.

So much has been said and written in fa-vour of the
liberty of the press—such a mass' of
.prejudices has been
raised as a bulwark around it—so deeply is it interwoven
with the frame, and so much has it contributed to the
growth, of the constitution—it is so powerful a weapon
for the defence of our liberties, and so' extensive a me -
ilium for .the correction of error and the propagation of
knowledge—to praise it is so sure a road to popular fa-
Your, and to speak of it impartially is so certain of being
construed into an attack upon its existence, that we ale
only accustomed to hear it mentioned in terms of blind
and indiscriminate panegyric; and the man who ventures
to hint that it may be rendered the instrument of mis-
chief, and that it occasionally prOducPs evil, is at once
clamoured into silence, and his principles and under-
standing are alike loaded with the most disgraceful im-
putations. In such a state of things to appear in public
life has become altogether a matter of nerve, and not of
intellect ; and those who, by rank or real talent, are the
best qualified to adorn,high station, and to benefit their
country by seeking it, wholly shun a conflict which is
sure to cover them with mud, and to load them with
derision.

Reason teaches us that a free press may be rendered
the means of propagating all kinds of useful knowledge—
it may .be made the scourge of public delinquency—it
may be converted into the most efficient check on the
abuse of all public authority—it may keep public opinion
in a healthy state, and from its boundless influence over
the public mind, it may rouse the nation to resist all in-
fringements on its rights and liberties—may call forth all
its energies to punish and resist foreign insult and ag-
gression, and rally around it everything estimable in the
world for •its succour and protection; in short, it may
operate as a law to which all other laws must be subor-
dinate; and may become that poWer on earth which
makes the nearest approximation to• Omnipotence.
But cannot it be made to effect the converse of all this?
Cannot an engine thus mighty for good be rendered equally
mighty for evil Cannot it be made the means of es-
tablishing ignorance, and of protecting it from the opera-
tions of true knowledge, by enclosing it in an impenetra••
ble fortress of prejudice and delusion ? Cannot it be
rendered the scourge of virtue and honour, and the as-
sassin of spotless reputation? Cannot it be made an
instrument for the overthrow of all legal authority ?
Cannot it give to public opinion the most fatal direction ?
'Cannot it unite the ignorant in a mass of disaffection,
marshal them in opposition to the constitution and laws,
and inflame their hostility against every thing which is
essential to the honour and comfort of individuals, and
the existence of society ? Let the present 'state of the
country answer these questions. The means of inflicting
injury in every contrivance of human power are exactly
commensurate with those which it possesses for con-
ferring benefit. The sword which strikes to the dust the
,most deadly foe, may be plunged into the breast of the
dearest friend; and the matches which, from the ship of
war, pour broadsides upon her enemies, may, if applied to
the magazine, blow the vessel and her gallant crew in a
moment to atoms. These are truisms which it would not
be necessary. to repeat, did we not live in times when
(despite the "Schoolmaster") nothing is doubted but ex-
perience and demonstration.
We wish it were in our poWer to say that the questions
which we have here put were altogether hypothetical in
their character; and, disclaiming their applicability to the
existing state of things, we could adopt the more agree-
able picture which precedes it. Deeply do we lament to
say, that we have no such power. Stubborn facts crowd