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    Untitled Article

    Doyle , her guardian , was endeavouring to find a suitable residence elsewhere for the lady . { Hear , hear . )" The case came on for hearing again before the Lord Chancellor , on Thursday , but Mr . Holt , who appeared for Mr . Doyle , said they would not be prepared to discuss the affidavits which had been filed on the other side till Saturday . Mr . . Page Wood thought the case should be referred to the Master , who would decide whether Mr . Doyle or Mr . Berkeley would have been the proper guardians for her . Mr . Rolt said the feelings of the young lady had been already tortured , and if the matter was referred to the Master , ? hey would be tortured still more .

    The Lord Chancellor said he had caused inquiries to be made with respect to what should at present be done for the comfort and happiness of the young lady . He had spoken to a lady of unimpeachable character , and had requested her to take temporary charge of her , and she had consented to do so . He had in consequence ordered the young lady to be brought up on Monday . He did not think it necessary to mention the lady ' s name , for she would not like publicity to be given to it , but he would hand the name to counsel . He thought that until some arrangement was come to it would be better that the young lady should be with a lady entirely disinterested in the case . She would therefore come up on Monday , and be received by the lady whose name he had handed down . He thought the better course would be that the matter should be referred to the

    Master . He would take care that that Court was not made an arena which was to give publicity which did not belong to it . All he had to look to was as to the residence of the young lady and her welfare and comfort .

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    LANDLORDS , LABOURERS , AND POOR-RATES . The Irish landlords do not seem to consider that the work of depopulation has gone far enough yet , if we may judge from the hord . es of wretched immigrants whom they are driving off the land . In addition to the thousands of the less indigent who go to America , immense numbers still continue to flock over to the large towns of England and Scotland , to compete in the labour market , and to swell the poorrates . Last Sunday no fewer than 1000 men , women , and children are said to have arrived in London from Ireland , most of them in a very wretched condition . They had been shipped to this country at a very trifling sum per head , and many of them commenced begging soon after their arrival . In the rural districts our own labourers find great difficulty in obtaining employment , and as the poorlaw is administered much more harshly in the country , we may expect a large influx of unemployed agricultural labourers into London from the neighbouring countries during the next few months . At the Suffolk Quarter Sessions , yesterday week , in referring to the case of the persons charged with riot in Barham union workhouse , the chairman observed that

    the house was exceedingly full , and a large portion of them , about 120 , were able / bodied men . Jle regretted to see so large a number of men in such a position ; men who were able and willing to maintain themselves and their families , but who , from circumstances , had been obliged to go into the house . In Essex the farmers , following the advice lately pi veil by Mr . Elluian , have issued the following proclamation : —

    " TO OUK WORTHY LABOURERS . " We , the neighbouring farmers , deeply deplore our inability to continue the present rate of wages to our worthy labourers—the fact in , that we cannot afford it . free trade liaa brought us into close competition with foreigners , who pay so little money for labour , that dark brown rye bread , skim milk , cheese , and a few onions , is all the men get . With these foreign serfs , who are now bought and sold with the land like cattle , are we now contending in our own markets . Much an we deplore it , we are obliged manfully to tell you that if we are to give you constant employment we cannot pay the present wages . Esflex must corno to what many other counties have already come , six and . seven shillings a-week . We will give an much as we can , but it must be in proportion to the price of corn : the money lost by fanners this year is dreadful . Down with the malt tux . God save the

    Queen !" Now , Enhcx is a very fertile county . In addition to what in consumed at home it seiuln annually about . 'JOO . quartern of wheat , and l / i () , 000 quartern of malt to London , besides cattle , sheep , wool , butter , and all other kinds of farm produce . Of eour . se Khhox will receive a prett . y large sum of money in return for nil the . se articles , and one might fancy that the funner . s could afford to give their labourers good wages . But , unfortunately , the farms are very large , and the farmers need all the money they ean get to pay their enormous routs . In 17 <> 7 , Mr . Arthur Young found Bomu of the farms in Essex as high as £ 1000 , JJl / iOO , and even £ 2000 a-year . II' the landlords would reduce their rents 2 /> per cent . it . would afford much more relief to the farmers than any reduction of wages will ever give .

    It is rather remarkable to find , at the very time when tin ; Kshcx fanners declare ! their inability to pay their labourers for cultivating the fertile soil of that county , and while the Suffolk farmers an ; maintaining their altlebodied poor in forced idleneHH , the Leeds guardians should be taking steps for the reclamation of waste laud by pauper labour , in a report recently mementod . to the guurdiuna of thut town , by

    a committee formerly appointed for the purpose , «* On the Reproductive Employment of Ablebodied Pauper Labour , " the advantages derived from it are thus pointed out : — " From all the information that your committee have been able to gather , they are decidedly of opinion that the reclamation of waste or uncultivated land has been found of the highest advantage , thereby adding to the previous productive powers of the country , and creating a larger amount of rateable property ; and that if the Leeds guardians could purchase or lease for a long term , a quantity of moor or waste land at a suitable distance from the town , the labour of the ablebodied paupers might be beneficially employed in inclosing , trenching , draining , and otherwise in making it fit for cultivation by spade labour , when it might be either sold or sublet as circumstances should dictate and the law permit . "

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    THE ASSOCIATION FOR . PROMOTING THE REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . To the People op the United Kingdom . Fellotv Countrymen , —For many years past the necessity of popular education , and the difficulty of agreeing on any system that should be satisfactory to the country , have formed the theme of all reformers , philanthropists , and statesmen . But , through it is difficult to organize a national mode of doing any good work , it is comparatively easy to remove the hindrances which exist in the shape of restrictive laws . Years must elapse before all our population can receive a good and systematic instruction ; but a few months may suffice to abolish the laws which forbid the cheap newspaper to circulate among the poor , which hinder the communication of mutual wants , and which force the best authors out of the field of cheap and popular literature . The taxes on knowledge consist of—The duty on foreign books , which , in the year £ s . d . 1849 , produced 7 , 751 0 0 The duty on paper 867 , 120 11 7 ^ The duty on advertisements 158 , 164 16 0 The penny stamp on newspapers £ 350 , 289 9 s . 4 d . Deduct 6 , 169 2 3 for expense of stamping 1 and say 194 , 120 7 1 for that of the Post-office 150 , 000 0 0 £ 1 , 183 , 036 7 7 i Deduct Government grant for education , which in 1850 was—For Great Britain £ 125 , 000 For Ireland 1 : 25 , 000 £ 250 , 000 0 0 £ 933 , 036 7 7 $ The duty on foreign books in foreign languages is so manifest an absurdity , and produces such a trumpery amount to the revenue , that we may dismiss it without further comment . The duty on advertisements not only enhances the price of every book , but is a revenue destroyer , not a revenue producer ; a much greater amount than £ 158 , 161 must be lost to the revenue by the injury caused to trade from a want of sucli means of communication . Thousands misemploy their time from mere ignorance of the wants of others ; the repeal of the advertisement duty would tend to correct this evil . There is some reason for believing that the duty is retained in order to cripple the newspaper press ; advertisements are permitted in railways and omnibuses , and no attempt has been made to alter the law in their behalf ; nay , the law , as it stands , requires the duty to be paid on advertisements in every literary work , but , by the laxity of the Board of Inland Revenue , the advertisements in books are allowed to go free ; indeed , it would almost appear that there is no crime looked upon with such an evil eye by the Government as that of retailing news , for every possible hindrance is thrown in its way .

    Some idea of the effect of the paper duty may be arrived at by considering the fact that Charles Knight paid £ 10 , 500 to the excise on the Penny Cyclopedia , the cost of which for literature and engravings , exclusive of paper and printing , was £ 42 , 000 . In his Struggles of a Hook against Jixoessiva Taxation , Mr . Knight nays : — " Upon a tolerably accurate calculation I have , from my own unaided resource , expended , during the l : » st twenty years , X'NO . OUO upon copyright and editorial labour . During the name period I have paid jfc' 50 , 000 paper duty . " And again : — " A revolution has been effected , in which wound literature might have liigher encouragement in the inuuy than in the few , if the Government did not bUiikI in the way . " The duty paid on the paper , lid . per pound , would be enough in a publication of large circulation to remunerate the very highest talent .

    If the paper duty tends to substitute mischievous works of iiciion instead of wholesome instruction , the penny Htinnp in . still more potent , for it absolutely prohibits a cheap record of facts , and thrown insurmountable obstacles in the way of a communication of ideas between different clauses of the community . Let any one who reads tliene pngcH null himself what he knows of i . he opinions and feelings of the agricultural labouring population ? We guenH at . them occasionally by the light of burning hayricks , or by the aHttistancc of pauper riots . We inaiy particularly instance the Rebecca , insurrection

    in Wales , which would never have taken plain ; if the aggrieved parties had had any easier and cheaper method of making known to Government a grievance which was not more rcniurkiihlc for its oppressiveness than for the ease with which it , could bo remedied . We have no admiration for the literary <[ ualiti « H of the rural American press , but we believe ; that it Haven the Government aiome millions annually in the shape of soldiers and police , prevents heartburnings and misundrrntandings , which would otherwise involve rival districta in deadly lend , mid keeps ulive the power of reading among the working elastics , ho

    as r which -we make so much boast , but which in this countr y is confined to a few , and , by being thus made a class privilege inflicts an additional pang upon those whose poverty excludes them from it . Above all other knowledge we demand the free circulation of political knowledge . Millions of our country , men have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them they have no means of learning the law but through the cheap newspaper , and yet so to teach them is a crime . It is a punishable offence to circulate without a stamp the proceedings in Parliament or in the law courts . For many years discontent has raged among the working classes at their exclusion from political ri ghts ; they are told they are too ignorant to be trusted with , political power ; and yet the Government not only refuses to educate them , but obstructs them in educating themselves . — . ^ . **^ ^** *^ ^ ** " * * ^

    On the other side , the only objection raised b y the Government , or expressed in the House of Commons , ia the want of revenue . That the paper duty is a source of revenue cannot be denied , but in the face of the present large surplus no argument can be deduced from this fact . The abolition of the advertisement duty would benefit the excise by increasing consumption ; and as to the penny stamp , its net revenue is only about £ 150 , 000 , which might be made up by admitting not only newspapers but all printed papers to a cheap rate of postage .

    But there is another reason not only for demanding but for expecting the repeal of the penny stamp . The Board of Inland Revenue , whose motto appears to be " anything for a quiet life , " have gradually allowed a practice to grow up of breaking the law . TheNewspaper Act declares that every copy of a newspaper shall be stamped ; the Post-office Act confers the boon of free postage on stamped newspapers , but not on mere publications : it follows that every publication registered ag a newspaper ought to stamp every copy . But the practice has grown up of allowing publications to register as newspapers , and to stamp only their country edition . The great object of this association is to make this practice general and legal , and the most effective way of doing this is to demand that the existing law be enforced .

    About ten months ago the Board informed JohnCassell , the proprietor of the Freeholder , that his paper was a newspaper , both in virtue of its registration and of its contents , and that he must for the future stamp every copy . Mr . Cassell has never complied with the demand , and no proceedings have been taken against him . About nine months ago a similar notice was sent to the proprietors of Charles Dickens ' s Household Narrative , and legal proceedings are pending against that paper . The length of time to which these have been protracted without coming to trial leads to the inference that Government are not very sincere in their prosecution , and that they have neither the grace to repeal the law nor the courage to enforce it .

    An important exception must be made to this remark ; the law is enforced very strictly in the country , where a letter from the Board meets with that respectful obedience which is not one of the characteristics of London publishers . Mr . Hugh Jones , of Llangollen , was in the habit of publishing fortnightly a penny paper , called Tr Ipsyr , of which be used to sell 2300 copies . The Board obliged him to stamp it . He then brought it out monthly , at 3 d ., and the sal" fell to GOO , which caused its discontinuance . Mr . Bucknall , of Stroud , published a monthly paper , of which he sold 17 , 000 . He was obliged to stamp it , its sale was ruined , and the paper dropped . The most flagrant case which has come to our knowledge is that of the Wake field Examiner , which was threatened with a fine of £ 10 , 000 ( afterwards commuted to £ 10 ) for publishing slips—a practice < uiite common in London , and not interfered with by the Board , even when copies are forwarded by informers , with a view to

    prosecution . We confidently appeal to the existing press for their support , not only on public grounds , but because , from having the advantage both of capital and of possession of the market , they would obtain the largest share of the newspaper trade which would spring up on the abolition of the stamp . This has been already exemplified in the case of the Times , which gained an increased ascendency when the stamp was reduced in 1846 . No objection could be made to a reasonable newspaper copyright to protect the high-priced journals from wholesale piracy , but , while piracy deserves suppression , free trade in knowledge is an essential as free trade in corn ; and nothing can bo more absurd and unjust than to prevent the public from having

    as many journals as they want , at as many different pricetf as may suit their convenience . Nor do we fear the promulgation of violence or of immorality . The great mass of English readers are lovers of peace and quietness , and , as no man tolerates any vice but hia own , a paper intended for general circulation can Hiipport no immorality that is not already universal . Am , although sectional papers might indulge in violent language , hard words are better than rough deeds . The aggrieved , who are able to pour out their comp laints through the press , feel their wrongH , real or imag inary , already half redressed ; and the true statesman wi-11 never so well know how to govern , uh when the people themselves tell him what they feel and desire .

    Bestir yournelveH , then , to obtain the repeal of th ° taxes on knowledge ; let every borough , parish , papermill , printiiig-oflice , mechnnien' institution , or politic ' ' association , petition ; and , above all , importune the Hour " of Inland lie venue with lcttem of complaint till they grant to the benighted districth of the country thorn ) privileges which their lazinesn or their timidity allowri to the inhabitants of London . At the next general election , demand of every candidate that he support the repeal of the taxen on knowledge . | i ( t no legislator , no Minister of the Crown , no member of the Board of Inlundl Kevenuo rent till the prc » s ia exempted from taxution

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    to lead in time to that literarjcultivation of 200 Stt ) £ fytaitt . CSaiuedat , _ _ ~ mA ~ WJl «« B w «^ 4 & lJ 1 I ii M ¦¦¦¦ " ¦ tT 44 T * li « «*«« Xm a _ - _ £ * V « «

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1851, page 290, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1876/page/6/