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    rests , supposed to be conflicting , but which we believe to be identical , instead of extending the franchise over the country . The constituency will be increased by this measure ; but the increase will be found , in the actual working , to produce little practical improvement ; for the whole measure is restrictive in its character , and e ntirely overlooks the large and rising communities of our great towns ; although these are the chief centres of our national intelligence , and the principal sources of our national prosperity .

    On the whole , we would earnestly recommend all our fellow-countrymen to adopt vigorous , constitutional , and peaceful means to secure a full , just , and safe measure of real reform , instead of the delusive scheme which has been laid before Parliament . To carry this object meetings must , of course , be held , resolutions passed , and petitions adopted ; all which modes of action are open to every British subject . The friends of this cause will find much to aid them

    in the publications and efforts of the National Parliamentary and Financial Reform Association—a body which , by its untiring energy and perseverance , under the presidency of Sir Joshua Walmsley , has done and is doing much worthy of its patriotism , and calculated to vindicate and secure the rights of the people , and to entitle it to the cordial sympathy and support of the public . The franchise is a trust bestowed by Divine Providence as a means of securing the welfare and good order of the community ; and every man has a solemn duty to perform in the discharge of that trust . But the Christian , above all , is under special obligation to contribute his share of activity to every movement calculated to bring at once glory to God , peace on earth , and good will to men .

    Thomas Archer , D . D . ; Thomas Aveling j W . R . Baker ; Henry N . Barnett ; H . Batchelor , B . A . ; B . S . Bayley , F . A . S . ; William Bean ; James Bennett , D . D . ; John Blackburn ; James H . Blake ; W . A . Blake f W , H . Bonner ; W . Blackwell Bowes ; James Baldwin Brown , B . A . ; Samuel Brown ; John Bufiter ; John Burnet ; Jabez Burns , D . D . ; L . H . Byrnes ; William Campbell , M . A . ; John M . Charlton , M . A . ; E . Corbishley ; George Corney ; Daniel Curtis ; John Chapman Davie ; Ebenezer Davies ; John Davies ; ~ S . A . Davies ; Stephen J . Davis ; Isaac Doxsey ; Clement Dukes , M . A . ; William Henry Elliott ; J . Emblem ; James C . Gallaway , M . A . ; Jonathan George ; Robert Gibson ; A . Good ; Samuel Green ; Rofcert Hamilton ; Ebenezer Harris ; John Harris , D . D . ; Thomas W .

    Jenkyn , D . D . F . G . S . ; B . Kent ; Kotfert Maekray , M . A . ; Henry Marchmont ; D . Martin ; Joseph Mather ; Samuel Milner ; John Morison , D . D . L . L . D . ; Joseph Morison ; J . Vale Mummery ; FrederickNeller ; William Owen ; William Stern Palmer ; G . W . Pegg ; Samuel Ransom ; J . W . Richardson ; John Robertson , M . A . ; George Rose ; Joseph Rothery ; Robert Simnon , M . A . ; Philip Smith , B . A . ; Samuel Joseph Smith , ! B . A . ; James Spong ; John Stevenson , M . A . ; Alexander Stewart ; William Hendry Stowell , D . D . ; David Thomas ; George B . Thomas ; Thomas Timpson ; Frederick Trestrail ; William Tyler ; Williiun Underwood ; Charles Fox Vardy , M . A . ; George Verrall ; W . Walters ; William Ward ; William Wcare ; Charles Williams ; B . Woodyard ; William Young .

    SIB FITZBOY KELLY ON THE DERBY POLICY . Sin Fitzboy Kelly , having decided to stand for East Suffolk , where the death of Lord Kcndlesham has caused a vacancy , visited Woodbridge , a thriving town in that division of the county , on Wednesday ; and after the business of the market was over , addressed the farmers and others present from a window overlooking the market-place . Ho asked tliem what benefit they had received from Free-trade . Free-trade , when applied to some articles of general consumption , was a great benefit ; but Sir Robert Peel hud gone too far . The repeal of the Corn-laws which that statesman

    effected in the last year of his power , was intended only as an experiment . It might be impracticable to restore the Corn-laws , but tho Earl of Derby , if the constituencies of tho country should support him at the general election , was resolved to apply n " substantial and effectual remedy" to the grievances under which agriculture in now labouring . With regard to the Maynooth grant , it . was a serious mutter to decido whether tho faith of tho country was pledged or not to its continuance , but in hia opinion it had not

    improved the , cluvracter of tho Irinh priesthood , and ho mhould cordially support n motion for a committee of inquiry into tho Hubjcct ; and if that committee of inquiry should consider that it was possible to put nn end to that grant , ho should rqjoico to concur with tho Government in an net to repeal and put an orid to it . Sir Fitzroy concluded by assuring tho meeting that if elected ho should do his duty by thorn and tlio country . Three cheers for Sir Fitzroy Kelly , and the assemblage dispersed .

    REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . To the Right Honorable Benjamin Diseaeli , Chancellor the Exchequer , the Memorial of the Association for Promoting the Repeal of the Taxes on Knowledge . - ; ( Presented by Mr . Milneb Gibson . ) Sir , —When , two years ago , we had the honour of addressing the then first lord of the treasury on the subject of the newspaper stamp , his lordship hinted that there was no disinclination on the part of Government to do anything that might tend to advance the enlightenment of the people ; and he has since emphatically disavowed any desire to retain the taxes on knowledge for the purpose of curbing the free expression of public opinion .

    We shall not , therefore , repeat at length arguments which have already been admitted by government to be based in truth ; but we are anxious to point out the very peculiar state in which the press of this country now stands , and to protest against the doctrine , that any portion of revenue should be obtained by a process which obstructs the progress of knowledge , and the formation of a sound public opinion . We beg respectfully to submit—That taxation is mischievous , not so much in proportion to its amount , as to the manner in which it is levied . That all taxes which impede the diffusion of knowledge , are injurious to the best interests of the public .

    That the tax upon newspapers—called the stampthe excise duty upon paper , and the tax upon advertisements , are direct obstacles to the spread of all kinds of valuable information amongst the great body of the people . That the paper duty , besides crippling the paper trade and driving the small capitalists out of the market , pollutes the springs of popular instruction , by destroying the fund which in cheap publications would otherwise be spent in authorship ; and thus substitutes rubbish in the place of wholesome instruction .

    That an adveetiseb may be considered in the light of a steward to the-public , spending a large sum , which is ultimately to be repaid in the price of the article ; therefore any saving in the cost of advertising is a general and public benefit , as effecting a reduction in the cost of the article itself . That the inequality and partiality of the duty consists in its being levied only on announcements" in Periodicals ( leaving untaxed , posting-bills , circulars , placards in omnibuses or rail carriages , and all other announcements ) , and in the charge being without discrimination , either of the value of the thing advertised , the length ( whether one or 100 lines ) , or of the number of impressions printed .

    That from the tables printed in the Report of the Parliamentary Committee ( which sat last session ) , showing the number of newspaper stamps issued during thirteen years to the various papers in Great Britain , may be gathered : —that of an advertisement inserted in the seven best selling papers , 350 , 000 impressions are circulated at a cost for duty ( at Is . 6 d . each ) of 10 s . 6 d . ; and that the duty for the same number of impressions obtained from the average selling papers of Great Britain ( taken nt 1500 each ) , would amount to 17 Z . 10 s .

    That this disproportion is increased by bad debts , and must remain as long as tho tax is levied in tho present mode , and forms a serious impediment to advertisers who would avail themselves of the local and class papers , which papers are those deliberately read by country gentlemen and men of leisure , and those which penetrate to tho family circle . That the aggregate of a six months sale would , of course , compensate for tho smaller individual editions , and that this invaluable medium might bo secured by a standing advertisement , were it not that tho duty is rohnposed at each chango of date , preventing such an arrangement for price a « would be equally advantageous to tho advertiser , the newspaper proprietor , and tho public .

    That an advertisement in a paper circulating 36 , 000 shall cost 178 ., which sum roprcsents—share of pnpor , printing , composition , 5 s . ( 5 d . ; and duty once , Is . Cd . . JEO 7 0 That the same put into a country papor , circulating 1500 , would require its insertion twenty-four times to got 36 , 000 , ' coating tho newspaper proprietor as boforo for paper , printing , and composition , 5 b . Cd ., but for duty 36 h . 21 C

    Two years ago wo complained of the inequality in tho administration of tho law ; but wo then believed that a definite law oxiated on the subject of newspaper stamps ; wo wore of opinion that tho four rules laid down by tho offlcors of the crown wore strictly legal . These rulos wero— j

    1 st , That a registered newspaper was a newspaper in virtue of its registration . 2 nd , That any paper containing public news was a newspaper without regard to the intervals of its publication . _ 3 rd , That any paper published bftener thaii once in twenty-six days , was r a newspaper , if it consisted chiefly of'advertisements . 4 th , That any paper containing comments on public news , published offcerier than once in twenty-six days , was a newspaper ^ unless it reached a certain size and price .

    About twenty-one months ago , the Crown commenced proceedings against the Household Narrative —a monthly paper ; the Crown contending that as that paper contained the events of the previous month up to the day of publication , it was a newspaper , and liable to stamp-duty under the first clause in the schedule of 6 & 7 Wm . IV . Cap . 76 . As the Sotisehold Narrative was a registered newspaper , we cannot but think the law officers of the Crown were to blame for not demanding a decision on the question , whether a registered newspaper is a newspaper in virtue of its registration .

    The decision in this case has been , that a certain infrequency of publication prevents a journal from being a newspaper ; arid that it is lawful to print news , however recent , in any paper that is not published oftener than once in twenty-six days . " With regard to the effect of this decision , we beg to quote the following question put by Mr . Rich to the solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue , when examined before the Newspaper Stamp Committee , which sat last Session .

    Me . Rich : "If Mr . Dickens were now to estahlish hia right to publish his newspaper monthly , would it not be competent for him to combine with some other persons , who might also bring out what they called a monthly newspaper , and then publish them in succession on the first week , the second week , the third week , and the fourth week of every month , whereby they would , in fact , have a weekly newspaper , and avoid paying the stamp-duty . " Mb . Timm : " Certainly , that plan might be adopted ; and unless we could prove that these publications were one and the same , the newspaper stamp-duty would be evaded altogether . "

    It appears , then , sir , that though it is a breach of the newspaper act for one man to publish one paper oftener than once a month , it is not contrary to that act for five men to publish five monthly papors at such intervals as would give their customers the advantage of a weekly paper ; nor for twenty-seven men to publish twenty-seven monthly papers , at such intervals as would give the advantage of a daily paper .

    You , sir , perhaps are not aware that , in almost every small town , a local organ would naturally establish itself , if not prevented by the Stamp-office . In several places , monthly papers have been put down , or forced to stamp ; and if the recent decision of the Court of Exchequer is a correct interpretation of the law , it now appears that such conduct on the part of the Stamp-office has been not only oppressive , but illegal .

    But there are other points of law besides those we have alluded to , which require to be decided . To publish public news , except at intervals of twenty-six days , renders the publisher liable to a fine of twenty pounds per copy ; but the Stamp-office appears to be unable to define what is public news . The solicitor , Mr . Timm , states that tho Queen ' Speech is npws , and that the Chancellor of the Exchequer ' s is not—a distinction which we are utterly unable to comprehend , and in which the secretary , Mr . Keogh , does not concur . It is the practice to allow weekly papers devoted to

    any class interest , not only to publish any news bearing on that interest , but any discussion - by moinl ) ers «* such class on mattors of general politics . Thus , the Buil&er contains , not only news about building , but information respecting tho alterations in the taxes which att ' ect building . Tho Racing Times gives reports of trials connected with tho turf ; and tho Legal Observer not only gives reports of t rials , political news , and reports tho meetings of laW . yoru tho subject of what ia called Papal aggression . AH those are weekly papers , partially stamped , » w ^> ' * published in the country , would certainly bo c ompelled

    to stamp every copy . „ , Tho question , What is a commentary on public nowsr is alflo one that requires decision , since in tho country a strict rule is generally applied on this hood , while m London all sorts of political comments are permitted to bo published every week , without a stamp . There is considerable ronson to believe that ^ ^ ° " cent decision has swept away tho first clauso of tl » o schedule to tho C & 7 Wm . JV . cap . 76 ; and if eo . nny daily or weekly paper , containing more than 714 sq « inches , and sold for not low than sixpence , oxohmvo or

    Untitled Article

    362 ^^ CSATtrftB ^ Y ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1852, page 362, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1931/page/6/