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Leader (1850-1860), 28th February 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 4, LETTERS FROM PARIS. [From our own Corres...

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      Repeal Of The Taxes On Knowledge. St. Ma...

      the latter ; and in proof of that , . he quoted the preamble of the Stamp Act passed in 1819 : — "Whereas pamphlets and printed papers , containing observations upon public events and occurrences tending to excite hatred and , contempt of the government and constitution of these realms as by law established ( Hear , hear , ) and also vilifying our hol y ; religion ( cries of Hear , hear , and laughter , ) have been lately published in great numbers , and at very small prices : And it is expedient that the same shall be restrained ; therefore be it enacted , & c . " ' -. ' ...,.,

      But what a stupid policy was that which permitted any essay or opinion , however extreme , and however cheap , to be published ; but if they attempted to give facts , on which alone safe opinions could be formed , then the Stamp Act did its best to fetter and restrain them . All the despotic powers of Europe had imitated this " ingenious device of the English aristocracy" by putting a stamp on all newspapers . He wished it to be observed ,. that though his remarks had chiefly applied to the newspaper stamp , yet he was equally opposed to the excise on paper and to the advertisement duty . Mr . Edward Edwards moved the first resolution : —

      ¦ " That the duties on paper , advertisements , and newspapers curtail the liberty of the press , obstruct the diffusion of knowledge , and are inconsistent with the professions of the Legislature in favour of popular education . " [ In the course of tins gentleman ' s observations , Mr . Hume entered the room , and was received with- enthusiastic cheering . } Mr . Scholefield , M . P ., seconded the resolution , and in referring to the change of government , said that they could not have a worse Chancellor of the Exchequer than the one they had lost , for one of Sir Charles Wood ' s last acts was to tell them iu the House of Commons that though he would not again prosecute the rich publishers of the Household Narrative , yet he would not pledge himself not to prosecute others . ~

      Mr . Cobden rose amidst the most tremendous applause , and congratulated the association on the erowded state of the Hall , suggesting that the next annual meeting should be held in Drury Lane Theatre . ( Laughter and applause . ) After three or four years ' agitation of free-trade in Lancashire and Yorkshire , when they once got installed in one of hor Majesty ' s patent theatres , he found that they were not far from carrying the question to a triumphant issue ; and he predicted that so it would be with this Association ; let them hold their meetings in Covent Garden or Drury Lane , and the Chancellor of the Exchequer would soon put these odious taxes into his budget with a view to their abolition . The question of the penny stamp was not a fiscal

      question at all ; the preamble of the act which their Chairman read let the cat out of the bag . Its object was to exclude the mass of the people from political reading . The various governments resisted the removal of these taxes on principle ; they preferred darkness to light . But what folly it was for politicians , like the late Whig Government , to invite the people to exercise the fluty of electors , to become judges in the last resort as to the policy tlnd principles of the Legislature , and yet to deny them the fullest opportunity of making themselves acquainted with the best means of controlling the destinies of the country . But whether proper facilities for forming a sound judgment be ailbrded or not , nothing can prevent the discussion of those

      questions . "They « uv tluit , on the Continent of Europe qm-stions Juki been r . iimil , and had obtained a considerable amount of popularity , which if they had been allowed to be discussed rationally and calmly , he believed would not for a moment have borne the light of inquiry . But instead of tlicir being met with reason and argument , attempts had been made , and successfully to some extent , to put them down by brute force . But was the battle to be decided in that wuy ? No . They could not destroy ideas by bayonets and musketry . ( Cheers . ) Iu every country on the Continent where they thought they had established peace and order by brute force and violence , those questions that

      they thought they had lnid for ever m the blood of their professors , would rise again , in spite of the coercion , and the victims would have the titles of martyrs from the future devotcea of the system . ( Hear , hoar . ) lie had very little sympathy with the opinions to which he referred , but let thorn hu met'on the . fair field of argument ; if they could not be defeated and put down in that way , then those opinions deserved to triumph . ( Loud cheers . ) lie said the same of this country , lie was well aware that there were on the platform men whose views on nodal , political , and speculative subjects diU ' orcd very much from his ; but he asked for no other opportunity of triumph , iu hia opinion , than a full , fair , and froi > discussion in the open Held of controversy . ( Cheers . )"

      But then thoy wcro told that if the newspaper press woro perfectly free from taxation , it would degenerate , and become inferior and . discreditable . Ho thought , however , that thoy might trust the people to discriminate between what was good and . bud in newspapers us

      readily as they now did in other classes of literature . Mr . Abel Hey wood , who carried on a large trade in cheap publications at Manchester , told the Committee of the House of Commons that the publications which had the largest sale were invariably those of the highest moral and intellectual quality . There were no doubt some immoral and obscene publications- ; which were read "by a few people " about town , "— , he believed they were called " gents "—( great laughter ) —but they were a declining tribe , a puny

      racenotT very likely to . perpetuate itself —( laughter)—but were not artisans as careful to keep away from their sons and daughters works of this libidinous character as the higher classes ? It was a foul libel , —ira other words could express his opinion—it was a foul libel on the working classes of England to say that they would not be as ready to choose the best and reject the worst newspapers , as they were with regard to other departments of literature . ( Cheers . ) Another argument in favour of this movement was , that at the present time

      they found all the old party interests and family cliques unable to give headway to the vessel of the state , and a policy must be reconstructed out of doors so as to give an impetus to the parties that were now at a deadlock . Statesmen would never know what the real state of public opinion was until there was a really free circulation of newspapers . "Now , take the present predicament of the Earl of Derby being in power ( laughter and hisses ) ; he was not going to trespass upon the rule which the chairman had laid down ; but he had no doubt that Lord Derby had come into office to carry out his opinions , which they all knew were in favour of re-imposing a corn-law on this country . ( Hear , hear . ) Now , if Lord Derby could have

      the advantage of seeing at his club the penny newspapers which would circulate by 50 , 000 or 100 , 000 among the working classes , he would see what public opinion was on this subject ; and probably he would not have taken office to do that which he saw was impossible . But now , instead of learning that from newspapers he would have to learn it from public meetings . There would be a great public meeting in Manchester—he was going to one there on Tuesdays ( loud cheers)—he would have to meet his constituents in the West JJrdmg— -the London constituencies would have to meet- —and why ? To tell Lord Derby , that he should not put a single farthing of duty on corn . ( Vehement and long-continued cheering . ) But all that might have been told him in a constitutional and tranquil manner through the press , if the press had been free . "

      He wanted the newspapers to be free that they might communicate facts , —that was the life-blood , the aliment of knowledge , —so that the people might acquire a healthy knowledge , and draw right conclusions . Mr . Hume inferred from the crowded attendance that the working men of the metropolis were beginning to arouse themselves on this important question , the removal of all taxes on newspapers , which was the best , and in many cases the only literature that working men could attend to .

      Mr . Collett , the secretary , illustrated the working of the newspaper stamp , by calling upon every man in the room who purchased a daily newspaper to raise his hand , when about twenty hands were held up—a result which elicited loud cries of " hear , hear , " from the audience , especially when the speaker intimated tliat every mechanic in the United States regularly took in his daily newspaper . He said the society proposed to defend country publishers who should take the same course as the Household Narrative had done ; and a

      Mr . Turner , of Stoke-upon-Trent , had undertaken a monthly unstamped publication , published in the middle of the month , which the Board of Inland Revenue' declared to be illegal . This society resolved to defend him if the'Government should prosecute , and for that purpose they were resolved to raise 500 A this your . ( Apphuwo . ) He concluded by moving" That the insignificance of the amount of revenue yielded by the newspaper stamp shows , that it is now retained , as it was originally enacted , for the purpose of destroying the independences of the press , and preventing the circulation of cheap newspapers . "

      Mr . George Dawson seconded the resolution . After various renmi'ka nguhiHt tho present Hytitcui , ho mud that , to him , the most humiliating incident in our parliamentary annuls occurred on thut first night of the [{ resent m'Htuon , when . the " chivalrous" noun of England found fault with the English preOs because they upoko too strongly of the man over tho water . ( Loud cheers . ) Some words to that ott ' eethad , fallen from the lips of men from whom he would have hopod better things . ( Hero Mr . Dawsou looked hard at Mr . Humo ¦—great cheering . ) TIioko chivalrous Britons were afraid that Louis Napoleon might really bo offended ; ho might got angry , and perhaps ho might invade uh . ( Laughter . ) Well , if ho did , there was a passage in Macbeth which applied to such a case" Come on , Mucdufl' I And damned be he who first erica , ' Hold , enough I '"

      ( Vehement cheering drowned the latter part of tfr quotation . ) Mr . Brontei * re O'Brien here came forvvi 1 and , amid great interruption , denounced the law whir requires a man to find sureties against his circulatin libellous matter before he could publish a newspane ^ There was not one newspaper at present publishej * England that fully expounded and defended the socid and political rights of Englishmen . ( Audible marks of dissent . ) Mr . O'Brien diverged to the " currency » and other like subjects , which the meeting would not tolerate , so he was obliged to retire . The resolutions were all agreed to ; and a highly successful and cheering meeting wound up by a hearty , well-deserved vote of thanks to Mr . Milner Gibson .

      Vehement Drowned The 192 The Leade El L^...

      192 THE LEADE EL l ^ ytiiiiu ^

      Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...

      LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter IX . Paris , Tuesday , February 24 , 1852 . The Confiscation Decrees have / produced a very different effect upon the Princes of the house or Orleans to what Louis Bonaparte had anticipated . In reply to these decrees , the Princes have set themselves to reknit their relations with their old partisans , and already they are the soul of a vast conspiracy . Public opinion is with them at this moment . The bourgeoisie Openly insist on their recal : the old conservative party is flocking to their standard , and in Paris their return is freely talked of as a necessity .

      A most important negotiation with the " Comte de Chambord , in their favour , is opened . The question is , to induce that Prince to abdicate in favour of the Comte de Paris . The Comte de Chambord has often manifested the intention of peaceably enjoying his immense private fortune . Whenever a proposal has been made to him to take the initiative of returning to France by a decisive personal act , he has constantly refused . Notably , after the Act of the 2 nd December , a-few-of ' his devoted lieges waited upon the Prince , expressly to urge him to place himself boldly at the

      head of the noblesse , as the defender of the rights and liberties of the country , and to march j in the name of violated laws and principles , against Bonaparte . He refboe-d , alleging " that his sole ambition was to lead a quiet life ; thafr We yrimted nothing ; that he had a sufficient fortune ; that Heaven' Wrf » g denied him offspring , he had but one only pretension—to enjoy % & . revenues in . peace . " These were his exact words . It is

      in obedience to this declaration that the persons charged to negotiate his abdication profess to act . They will plead on behalf of their mission that France aspires after stability ; that she now knows well that , apart from the principle of legitimacy , and from her legitimate king , order and stability are impossible ; that he is her legitimate king ; that he should either act as a king , or , if the crown seem to him too great a burthen , that he should entrust it to another .

      It is M . de Salvandy , and two others , who have been charged with this delicate mission to the Comte de Chambord . His abdication would be drawn up in this form : —¦ " Acknowledging that the unjust prejudices which for twenty yenrs have opposed the return to France of tho elder branch , still subsist in undiminished inveteracy , and are the only obstacle to the re-establishment of tho principle of legitimacy , ho abdicates , in his person , for tho sake itself of that time-honoured and tutelary principle , in favour of the innocent scion of the eldest of the younger branch /'

      You will remark , as I did , that the word innocent is italicized ; which implies , of course , for tho younger branch , the avowal of great crimes : such ns , tho turpitudes of the Regent ; tho regicide vote of Philippe Egnlite ; the assassination of the Due de Berry , iatlier of tho Comte do Chambord , attributed to Muw Philippe ;* and finally , tho protest of tho last-mentioned , against the illegitimate birth of tho Conito « o Clmmbord . This word innocent would bo a gtaw ° light thrown upon tho sombre secrets of tho past ; would bo at once an act of confession , and an act ot p

      mtuncc . re Will this negotiation succeed ? Nbno can my . it were to micceed , however , wo should have unoii _ revolution in Franco before a mouijh w over our !»»>»• Tho Princes of Orleans , in the name of Albert tho l'ii » j would declare war nguinst Bonaparte , as a trUltor 1 ' ifta 0 an usurper ; thoy would , in case of need , . } " }*» gonei-ulu , uh Bonaparte hun done , and he vouldjai * - Meanwhile , tho Duchess of Orleans has rotunea dowry of 300 , 000 francs , which the French Uovo ^ mont had asnignod her . Her refusal was addresse « Bonupartef in three Hues of withering disdain . * We do not profess to concur in this odious charge- " Et > . of leader , f See leader , No . 100 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/4/