On the taxes on knowledge ..

UE.H

[Wilson, Effingham]

On the taxes on knowledge

LE.

H Yl^4>irn('//;

*76nx ^*" VJ JM

ON THE

TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE

FROM THE

WESTMINSTER REVIEW, No. XXIX,

'l, 1831.

Unpublished by RoennT HKWARD, at the Office of the Westminster Review, 0,
Wellington Street, Strand, London. Sold there, and by B. STEILL, 20, Pater-
noster Row ; W. STRANGE, 21 , Paternoster-Row ; and by alMgente of the West-
minster Review.

PRICE FOURPENCE.

T. C. Hansard, Printer, 32, Paternoster Row, London.

ON THE

TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE

ART. XVII. — 1. The Moral and Political evils of the Taxes on Know-
ledge, expounded in the Speeches delivered at the City of London
Literary and Scientific Institution, on the subject of a Petition to
Parliament against the continuance, of the Stamp Duty on News*
papers, the Duties on Advertisements, and on Printing-paper. Effing-
ham Wilson. 1831.
2. — Letter to a Minister of State, respecting the Taxes on Knowledge.

1831.

3. The Real Incendiaries and Promoters of Crime. (From the Exam-
iner of February 20 .) 1881.

TN what country could any government have enforced a law,
by which it was enacted, " that no man shall be permitted to
relate any thing to his neighbour, for the purpose of instructing
or amusing him ; informing him of the laws which he is bound
to obey, and of the conduct of the agents by whom those laws
are made, unless he, the relator, give heavy securities first,
that he will answer for any libels he may utter ; that is to say,
(according to the best definition of libel, from numerous cases
thereon decided), for, anything he may utter, which any body,
at any time may be pleased to dislike for any reason, and for any-
thing he may utter, which may tend to bring any agent into
hatred and contempt, how untrustworthy, how consummate a
scoundrel soever such agent may be. And next, that he, the
relator, also give securities that he will for our use, exact from the
person informed, a tax for every act of information ?" The most
ignorant of the community would perceive and revolt against
the moral and political evils of obstructions to communication by
means of speech, such as are occasioned by the actual obstruc-
tions imposed upon communication by means of print ; but by
concealing the government familiar behind the vendor, or
agent for^the distribution of the printed communication, and by
disguising the tax under an extra charge for the commodity,

A 2

the people have been hitherto blinded to the mischievous opera-
tion of such imposts. The only essential difference which we
can perceive between the two modes of communication is, the
more extensive operation of print, and its greater exactness,
fixedness, and security against falsehood. Let us further illus-
trate the nature of these imposts, even in those cases where poli-
tical considerations can have no direct influence ; namely, on
the means of communication by advertisements, which are usually
deemed legitimate subjects for taxation. The town-crier was the
ancient medium for advertisements of occurrences, announcements
of the arrival of goods, and whatever it was requisite to have
promptly made known to the public. We will suppose that this
functionary is employed to proclaim the occurrence of a calamity
and callupon the charitable to meet and devise the means of relief;

or, that he is employed by a distracted mother, to make known
the loss of her child. He has assembled the people of the
neighbourhood, and is proceeding according to his formula to

advertise the matter, when forth steps an official personage,
and interrupts the proceeding, saying, " At the peril of a suit
in the Exchequer, and a fine of not less than twenty pounds,
I command you in the king's name to stay until you pay to me
three and sixpence as his advertisement duty."* The effect of
this interposition would be, even with those who tolerate the
exciseman, to bring down upon the commissioner a shower of
stones, and it would be the active exertions of his heels, or of
a company of soldiers that could save him from exemplary
punishment. But innumerable extortions of this nature are
daily perpetrated by the operation of the advertisement duty.
All applications, by means of advertisements, to the public for
relief, whether from the effects of calamities, of famine, fire or
flood, all are made to pay. Several thousand pounds were un-
avoidably spent in advertising the first subscriptions for tin-
n-licf of the sufferers by famine in Ireland, and the duty on
advertisements must have absorbed a grievous amount of the
money subscribed for the relief of the sufferers, by the floods in
Morayshire. A direct tax on all verbal announcements, in the
n.iinre of advertisements by tradesmen, would be equally into-
le, yet they are essentially of the same nature as printed
advertisements, for since a shop-keeper cannot bring all tin; in-
habitants of a district to his shop, to view any commodity, by
means of an advertisement, he places a description of the com-
modity I)- ' • :ill tin- inhabitants. By advertisements in ;i news-
paper the property for sale in a district is made known to ill.

• See 65 Geo. :*. r. 185.

inhabitants, as the goods for sale in a shop are made known to
the passenger by means of the shop-window.

In some cases these imposts operate as obstacles to inter-
change, and checks to production; in others, as taxes upon
literature, and checks to the liberal arts ; in some cases they
operate as taxes on calamity,* in others they intercept relief
from those who would give relief were the need made known to
them ; in some cases they prohibit the use of the means of
obtaining relief, for every tax operates as a prohibition, — as a
prohibition applying to all who cannot find wherewithal to
pay it. The generic designation of the whole has been correctly
assigned as Taxes on Knowledge.

We trust that the present House of Commons will feel con-
vinced that the means of obtaining political information should
be extended and improved concurrently with the extension of
the franchise. We shall now offer some facts for the consider-
ation of those who have hitherto been enemies to the diffusion
of political knowledge among the people ; and to those who
rarely trouble themselves with the moral consequences of fiscal
imposts, and are governed solely by financial considerations,
we shall shew that the full extension called for may be effected,
not only without injury to the revenue, but with strong pro-
bability that it would be improved.

The first effects of the taxes on knowledge are : —

By rendering the public journals dear, to place them out of the
habitual use of a large proportion of the middle classes, and
almost the whole of the labouring classes of the community.

By restricting the field for the circulation of the public jour-
nals, and by rendering it impracticable to obtain remuneration for
any journal of original information, which has not a consider-
able sale, to allow room only in the metropolis for the exist-
ence of a few large journals ; hence a quasi monopoly is created.

Of the moral and political effects of these two consequences
of the Taxes on Knowledge we shall speak immediately.

According to the parliamentary returns, it appears, that there
were in the year 1826 the following numbers of sheets of news-
papers stamped for circulation : —

England 25,684,003

Ireland .. 3,473,014

Scotland .. f 1,296,549

Total .. .. 30,453,566

* As au illustration of the extent of this prohibition, we may state, that
by one calculation, recently laid before a public assembly, it appeared that
advertisements which in America cost 7*. Id., in England cost 31. 18*.;
and where a matter was advertised in America at the rate of 6/. 8*. a year,
in this country it cost 2QQL 16s.

The population in 1821 was in round numbers, twenty millions,
which i;ives one sheet and u half of newspapers per annum toeach
individual. Taking one- fourth of the population ascapable of read-
; v, this would give six sheets annually for each indi-
\ idual. We might take one-eighth as capable of reading, and 1 Ill-
supply would appear sufficiently inadequate. But of the total
number of papers printed annually, it appears that from thirteen
to fourteen millions are daily papers published in the metropo-
lis. These are sold in quantities of three hundred sheets, to
one individual, or to a small number of individuals. The remain-
der of the papers circulating throughout the country, consist
chiefly of weekly papers, fifty-two of which are sold for the use
of one individual, or for a small number of individuals ; and
when we take into account the number of stamps which must
be consumed for papers published twice and three times a
week, — making no allowance for the increase of popula-
tion, and every allowance for the extent to which one paper
may be read by several individuals, — the field which these
vehicles pervade will be found miserably contracted. Phy-
sical wants are satisfied, and physical gratifications are
sought, by the mass of mankind, before they think of the intel-
lectual. These, however disencumbered, are always at a disad-
vantage as against the former. We may further estimate the
force of the obstacles imposed by the Tory government on the
diffusion of knov. -isider that Id., the price

•e\\>p;ip.-r, will pu.ehase a meal fur a labouring man ; that
the annual subscription fora daily paper will purchase a suit of
clothes fur a p i it -1 ir in r rank, or pay the wages of a
servant, and is almost, double the amount of the subscription to
a club-house, equal to most palaces belonging to the European
;eigns. If there were only weekly papers published in
England, and every < iixhth person were to subscribe for one,
the consumption of newspapers would bo one hundred and
thirty millions nl>heels annually, instead of thirty millions as
at present.

'I'll'- last Dumb >. to which

parliament has, by fiscal im, the sphere of the im-

mediate influence which its debates ought to exercise upon the
innnU «»f -ill clashes o( the community. It cannot be denied
that the n« \\spap- , -jc hy which the ideas and

thinking of the mop- in re propagated

among the more i-norant ; and is far the most commodious and

which the adults of the labour-
ing clfWH i.lation can h • -. ! ni o whatever

II, il would scarcely be practicable to
prevent sound information, elicited in the public discussions of the

larger assemblies, from exercising its fair share of influence upon
the minds of all readers. Had the discussions in parliament on
the truck-system been fully or fairly reported, and, by the opera-
tion of a free press, presented to the minds of all the classes
concerned in them, much, if not all of the outrages and loss of
life that have been occasioned by the contests on that subject,
must have been prevented. In further illustration of the opera-
tion of the obstructions to discussion, we quote the following
passages from the " Letter to a Minister of State,"" which is
written by a gentleman of the best information with relation to
the working classes :—

' The constant practice of Government for the accomplishment of
its purposes, in respect to the common people, has been two-fold -t
namely ;

1 . The perpetuation of their ignorance.

2. Coercion.

c It was as commonly as absurdly believed, that unless the people
were poor and ignorant, soldiers and sailors would not be found ; and
with this false notion every one above the degree of a common
labourer concurred. It is not, therefore, surprising that our great
statute-book should not contain a single statute in favour of the
common people, whilst it has contained hundreds against them.
Scarcely in any instance has the law recognized them as creatures
capable of reasoning. It is not perhaps desirable that many or any
statutes should be made in their favour 5 it would probably be suffi-
cient, that none were made to oppress them. Coercion has all
along been tried ; and however it may have answered the purpose in
former times, it cannot any longer keep the common people in the
state which they who would oppress them desire j and its exercise
must be abandoned, or they will right themselves with a vengeance.
If the rich and great are not utterly besotted, they will as speedily as
possible adopt a different mode of proceeding. * * *

* Before the laws against combinations of workmen were repealed^
both masters and men believed, that they were the means by which
wages were kept down, and each regarded the other as bitter enemies.
The workman saw in his employer a cruel, savage task-master, who,
by the aid of unjust laws, cheated him of the reward due to him for
his labour ; the master saw in his journeyman an unconscionable
rogue, who, but for the law, would rob him of all his profit. Plainly
erroneous as these notions were to some thinking men, it was only at
the end of twenty years' discussion, and of unremittecl efforts made
during the six preceding years, that a committee of the House of
Commons, on the motion of Mr. Hume, was obtained, and in which,
by his indefatigable exertions, the inquiry was made which led to
their repeal.

' As soon as they were repealed, the workmen generally expected a
rise of wages, and attempts on an extensive scale were made to obtain
higher wages ; these attempts failed, and the workmen as well as the

lh SOUK - rception wen convinced 'thai (In ic-tl amount
• lid not depend on the laws which had been repealed. This
prejudice removed, the masters and men came into closer contact than
formerly. They now met and discussed their interests each in their
o\\ a way, the men were now talked to as they never before had been,
and their attention was drawn to matters, to them of great import-
ance, to which, until the laws were repealed, they would not attend.
The violent destruction of power-looms in 1826, led to long1 and UM -
ful discussions in the local newspapers, in various meetings of work-
men, which could not have been held whilst the unjust laws were in

nee, and to many useful conversations between the leaders of the
working people, and others of different ranks, between whom there
could ha\e l>een no intercourse, had the barbarous laws remained in
the statute-book. And now pray do mark the consequence. Early
in the last year an association was formed, of delegates sent from
various places in the North of England and the South of Scotland, by
whom it was agreed, that such of the working people as pleased
should form societies in as many places as possible, and that the whole
body should be called " The National Association for the Protection
of Trade." This association has been objected to by some, whose
fears are easily excited by combinations of this description. No harm
in any way can be produced by this association, much good will cer-
tainly result from it. Men cannot receive information half so readily
when isolated, as they can when associated j discussion must lead to
information, and more especially now, when so many amongst the
working people are comparatively well-informed, and able and willing
to communicate useful knowledge to their associates.

' A committee, appointed to conduct the affairs of the association,
published a tract, called " The United Trades' Co-operative Journal ;"
it appeared once a week, and was sold at as low a price as the number
purchased would permit. On this tract, the commissioners of stamps
laid their deadly paws. They informed the publisher, that if he con-
tinued the publication without putting a fourpenny stamp upon it, he
would be prosecuted. This at once extinguished the pamphlet j but
the penny-a-week subscription, which had for some time been carried
on, was now more strenuously urged, for the purpose of establi

r, .ind so rapidly did it increase, and so widely did it sp-
lint upuards of 3,000/. were soon collected, and on the first day of
the present year the paper appeared, under the title of the " Voice of
:" it is wholly got up by working men, and is particularly
well conducted. Several circumstances of considerable importance
icd with these pro* Had not the pamphlet been

;uit down, it would in time ha\e been read by many thousands of

>eoplr, who will never see the newspaper, which will not, then -
-hundredth part so useful as the pamphlet would have
been. By means of this cheap tract, the errors which the workpeople
still cherish, would have been gradually exposed, reasoned on, and
removed in a much khortrr time than they can be by any other mean-.
1'utting down the tract is considered a wanton and oppressive act of

9

power, directed against the poorer class of workmen, who cannot
afford to purchase the paper ; and so it is. But the most important
and most remarkable circumstance is, that in " An Address to the
Workmen of the United Kingdom," urging them to subscribe their
pence to establish the newspaper, in which every thing likely to
operate on them is urged, not one word is said against machinery,,
and yet, only four years ago, complaints against machinery were relied
upon as by far the most likely to influence the very same persons, and
so they would still have been, but for the discussions m the news-
papers, the meetings, and the private conversations : these satisfied
the leaders, and produced effects upon others to such an extent, as to
warrant the leaders in refraining from depreciating the use of ma-
chinery in their address. Had there been an unshackled press, there
would now be very few working men, or even husbandry labourers,
who would not have understood the principles which relate to ma-
chinery and wages, and not an ordinarily honest man amongst them,
who would not be ready to acknowledge that machinery, instead of
being an evil, was a positive good.' — p. 6-8.

We know that it is now felt by the larger manufacturers in
every part of the country, that the most ignorant of the work-
men are not only the most dangerous, but are becoming the
most unprofitable ; and that it is much better to conduct and
settle disputes by means of writing or print, than by the break-
ing of machines and the burning of factories on the one side, and
rounds of musketry and the shedding of blood on the other.
Our space will only permit us to advert to a few of the imme-
diate advantages of extending the circulation of the public jour-
nals to the labouring classes.

It is of great importance, that there should exist means of
obtaining constant, certain, and speedy access to their minds,
for the purpose of instructing them as to facts, and reasoning
with them whenever an emergency occurs. Many striking
examples of this, equally applicable to the manufacturing
classes, might be drawn from the occurrences in the agricul-
tural districts during the last winter. At the commencement
of the disturbances, addresses and proclamations were distri-
buted, and exhortations were published in the newspapers,
stating what were the penalties which the law attached to the
commission of the acts of the nature of those prevalent. But
the newspapers were entirely beyond the reach even of those of
the labouring population, who happened to be able to read,
and they were then in too high a state of excitement to pay any
attention to separate addresses, nor would they have trusted
these strange communications if they had paid attention to
them. Week after week whole parishes of labourers went on daily
committing capital offences, but at the same time never suspect-

io

i hat they rendered themselves liable to heavier penalties
linn line and imprisonment. They were only undeceived when
they s i\v ihf work of the executioner. The publication of the
examination of the first prisoner apprehended would in the
metropolis have at once checked the progress of the crime, in

<v as it was occasioned by ignorance of the punishment
attached to it. With the exception of those guilty of arson,
the great majority of the culprits were punished for their i.
ranee, the consequence of misgovernment. By means of pre-
established channels of communication, a multitude of evils
would be checked at the outset. As compared with such channels
how limited is the influence, how slow and uncertain the operation
of irregular addresses and separate treatises, even upon the read-
ing classes in the metropolis ? Compared with the former, it is
worse than the old mode of supplying a town with water by
means of water-carriers, as contrasted with the modern invention
of conveying simultaneously, by means of an arrangement of
pipes, a supply to every apartment of that town, where it is
wanted. Let the taxes be removed as soon as they may, we
fear from the condition of large bodies of the people that we
must be prepared for many calamities, which habits of consult-
ing channels for information, — habits which unhappily require
time to form — would have averted.

Since, judging from all past experience, we cannot expect a

large portion of the educated classes to study the language
and state of mind of the uneducated for the purpose of instruc-
tion ; it is important that the uneducated should be habituated
gradually to understand the mode of expressing ideas used by
the educated. We can only expect to have the value of
this object appreciated by those who have paid attention to
education, and who are aware of how few there are qualified to
instruct the labouring classes, and how great is the labour

• site to write to them so as to be understood. At no time
it ever of greater moral and political importance, that every

s of communication between various classes should be
facilitated.

,M what other source than the reports of judicial proceed-

which are published in the newspapers, can the public

«; any notion of the law s which they are bound too!
" By publicity/' says our great jurist, " The temple
justuv .1 Id- io its other functions that of a school; a school of
i he hi^h( at Older, where th< m<>- 1 impressive branches of morality
are, ( we should add), taught by the most impres-

sive means ; a theatre in which the sports of the imagination
give place to the more mU resting exhibitions of real life. Sent

n

thither by the self-regarding motive of curiosity, men imbibe
without intending it, and without being aware of it, a disposi-
tion to be influenced more or less by the social and tutelary
motive, the love of justice. Without effort on their own parts,
without effort and without merit on the parts of their respective
governments, they learn the chief part of what little they are
permitted to learn of the state of the laws, on which their fate
depends."

A habit of reading the public journals, cannot fail gradually
to loosen the authority of a certain class of ignorant popular
leaders, whose governing motives are less sympathy for the
sufferings of the people and a desire to advance social happiness
than insatiable vanity and love of power, and whose only claims
to authority are reckless confidence and incessant action, which
never waits, or allows others to wait, for evidence or deliberation.
To such men as to the priests who sway an ignorant people,
divided attention is divided power. Discussion as to the merit
of their actions is fatal to implicit unity of action, to habits of
blind obedience. A master of the art of war, in speaking of a
particular occurrence, says, "The soldiers reasoned openly
on the chances of success ; which in times of danger, is only
one degree removed from mutiny." And it is much the same
with the ignorant classes, towards their leaders in times of ex-
citement. We by no means expect or wish, that political ex-
citement and exertions by large classes of the community
should cease, but we do wish to see abated the blind fury by
which the labouring classes are constantly impelled to courses,
not less mischievous to themselves than to others. There are
yet a strong body of the disciples of Mandeville whose senti-
ment, " If a horse knew as much as a man, I should not like
to be his rider," is more constantly seen to govern their actions
than avowed in their discourse. The sentiment is as false as it
is base, and we venture to say that those by whom it is enter-
tained would find such an animal above all price. There would
be less of brutal conduct on the one side, and service would be
better performed on the other. If, for example, the farmer's
horse did not often know much more than his master, as when
bearing him home fuddled from market on a dark night, there
is not a district in the country which would not weekly hear of
some one of that valuable class of men having been found
defunct in a ditch or pool or fen. In the metropolis we have
almost daily some fatal illustration that a little knowledge is
indeed a dangerous thing, and that the possession of much
more would have conduced to the safety of the creature and its
superior, and have saved it from the impulse by which both are

12

dashed to pieces. The Mandevillians h;ive brutalized millions
of human bein».>, and brought them t<» a state in which they
are ready to rush on to the injury of themselves, and the de-
struction of all around them. But happily it is no longer a
question whether the labouring population shall read or not.
Dr. Whately observes in a sermon on the education of the poor.
" There are but two ways of preserving the established order of
things : one is, to keep the lower orders in a state of ignorance
and degradation ; the other that the higher orders should avail
themselves of their own ample opportunities, to cultivate their
own minds, and acquire a superiority of knowledge and intelli-
gence. Which of these two is the more honourable procedure
is a question which needs not be discussed because it so hap-
pens that the choice is not allowed us. It is in the power of the
higher orders to improve their own education : to keep the
mass of the people in a state of blind and brutish ignorance is
not in their power. I wonder not much, considering what
human nature is, that some should think the education of the
poor an evil : I do wonder at their not perceiving that it is in-
evitable. We can indeed a little advance or retard it ; but the
main question is how they shall be educated and by whom."
Circumstances have created a demand for political information
and will ensure a supply. It has been abundantly proved, that
the taxes on knowledge, act as a smuggler's premium, and
ensure the circulation of a commodity of the description which
advocates for such taxes would deem the worst, whilst it ex-
cludes from competition the journals which are under the
heaviest securities against extravagance, and present the greatest
extent and variety of the particular facts from which sound
general rules of action may be deduced and receive illustration.
If the man of one book is to be avoided, much more is the poli-
tician with one remedy, one universal nostrum ; and yet these
arc the description of writers to whom the advantage of a pro-
tecting duty is secured by the Government. In an article which
appeared some time ago in the " Examiner," it was shewn that
since fanaticism and monomanias generally obtain possession
of minds of a very limited range of ideas, the chief preservative
against these maladies, is the occupation of the mind by a
variety of objects of attention, which prevent any one object from
obtaiiMii'j. exclusive mastery over it. For this purpose, after want
ami i <>f want have been removed, instruction of every

kind, and all innocent amusements should be promoted. Hut
the most powerful iii>trmucnt for supplying constantly a variety
of object ition, the newspaper, has hitherto by means

of trie taxes on knowledge been withheld from the people.

13

Adverting to the class of publications on political subjects,
which are now circulated in defiance of the law, the " Examiner"
stated some facts which cannot be too often presented to the
consideration of the enemies of the Press.

' Were it possible for the government to suppress these publica-
tions which it deems the most mischievous (and prosecution, we need
not say, only gives them interest, and wider circulation and influence),
nevertheless it would be expedient to tolerate them, since they actually
supersede a mode of communicating sentiment which, whenever there
is an adequate motive to put it in action,, is infinitely more dangerous.
Fanaticism, says a philosopher, " est une maladie de 1'esprit, qui se
gagne comme la petite verole. Les livres, la communiquent beaucoup
moins que les assembles et les discours. On s'echauffe rarement en
lisant j car alors on peut avoir le sens rassis. Mais quand un homme
ardent, et d'une imagination forte, parle a des imaginations faibles,
ses yeux sont en feu et ce feu se communique ; ses tons, ses gestes,
ebranlent tous les nerfs des auditeurs. II crie : ' Dieu vous regarde,
sacrificez ce qui ne est qu'humain j combattez les combats du Seig-
neur ; et on va combattre."

' Sentiment is now propagated amongst the agricultural population,
by viva voce communication, from farm to farm — from parish to
parish — in their daily or Sunday meetings — in the same manner as
before the invention of printing. An apt expression of sentiment, by
the wear of frequent repetition, is rounded into verse, and it runs on
feet in the style of the old saw,

" When Adam delv'd, and Eve span,
Where was then the gentleman?"

e As an instance of the prevalence of this mode of communication,
we may cite a case tried at the Sleaford quarter sessions.* The poor
people, as their best circular for summoning their fellows to a meet-
ing, put the summons in verse, or rather on feet, on which it hobbled
round. The following is a verbatim copy : —

' " Notice is hereby given to all labourers to meet upon the Green, at the
hour of seven,

For to state the ways here,
Or else at Sleaford they must appear ;
And if no justice there be done,
Elsewhere they must run."

' So we have a saw, which was copied from a wall in Kent j and
is, we are assured, in circulation amongst the labourers as ' their sen-
timent :' —

" If the people of England be wise,
They will neither pay taxes nor tithes."

' Another which has got amongst them is pithy in sentiment, and
is better finished, by more frequent repetition, or has been borrowed
from the store of some skilful workman : —

See Morning Chronicle, Jan. 15.

" Hungry gilts and empty purse,

JVluy be better, — can't be worse."

'At the examination of a labourer and his wife, brought before th,e
Lewes bench of magistrates, in November last, on suspicion <>1 h:n ing
set lire to MJUH- promises, the wife \\ as asked whether her husband
had not drank an iiiilainniatory toast ? She declared that she had ;
and - In- irladly repeated it. It. was as follows :

" Ye gods above, send don u your love,

\Vit1i swords as sharp as sickles,
To cut the throats of genth folks,
NVho rob the poor of victuals."

Print is necessarily comparatively diffuse, and therefore more dif-
ficult to be remembered and rommunicuted. These saws, however,
arc apt to the tongue ; and the gingle gives them their iterative qua-
lity. They are. suggested to the mind of the labourer by any the
slightest occasion for anger. Like the barbarous laws by which lie i
punished, they allot one indiscriminate measure of vengeance to e\cry
variety of offence. When a sentiment is in print, there is something
to be seen, and answered, and guarded against, and to persons in
power this'form of communication would also have the recommenda-
tion of there being something to prosecute. These saws circulate
unseen j and we fear that many a life will be lost on the point of an
epigram. The instance of our agricultural population may be added
to those of the uneducated population of France before the Revolution,
and that of the Irish peasantry (and indeed of any country sunk in
ignorance and impelled by want), in proof that government, by keep-
ing them in political ignorance, prepares a retribution of evil for itself
in common with the remainder of the community.

Before we advert to some of the effects which the monopoly
created by the tax, hns upon the quality of the commodity
taxed, we must notice the external operation of these imposts.

In the effect of the tax, and of the Post Office regulations, m
restricting the circulation of newspapers to the colonies, \\«
have a striking instance of the. Yahoo legislation of our (late)
government. The stamp-duty \\;>.s not sufficient in checking
the exchange of intelligence, and the maintenance of sympathy
between the mother country and the colonies, and post, (•hiinjv-;
Ix-en added. In the llobart's Town Courier, of July the
10th, Irt'iO, we iiiid the following statement: —

' By a new Post Office regulation, commencing the 1st of .lanuan ,
v lie sent by the regular mails to Van Die-man's Land.
New South \Vale.i, and Swan Kiver. mi tin- -ame trims as they have
hitherto b-vn M»nt to India, naiix-ly, on payment of the charge of two-
pence an ounce — a rluina- which I lie India rwbobs could well allord to
pay, while it will operate MS a c<tim>lefe denial on the humble settler
in young agricultural colonies like these. Considering the
revenue which these useful vehicles of information pay to the govern-

15

ment in England, we think it a pity that the little trouble they would
occasion to the people at the Post-offices should be charged BO high.
For on weighing one of the late Morning Heralds now before 113, we
find it amounts to If ounces, which would subject it to a postage of
threepence half-penny. The earnest desire which exists in these
colonies to be familiar with the condition and with every transaction
of the parent country, had newspapers been allowed to go free instead
of being subjected to so heavy a tax, would have given their circula-
tion such a stimulus in England, in order to be forwarded hither, that
the advantage to the revenue through the additional stamp-duties,
would have much more than counterbalanced the small gains which
will now accrue through the Post Office, to say nothing of the infi-
nitely greater advantage, in a national and political point of view,
than would have arisen by drawing closer the knot of allegiance to the
home government, and of attachment to the Mother Country ; while
the check these sentiments will sustain by the present measure in the
absence of intercourse and information will be apt to bring on for-
getfulness and estrangement.'

So no captain is permitted to deliver a colonial journal to any
person on his arrival into this country. He is bound to put
it into the Post Office, in order that a tax may be imposed in
the shape of a postage charge for service which is not wanted.
It is no exaggeration, to state that these regulations will hasten
by some years the separation of such colonies from the mother
country. We object to them, as tending to interfere with the
social feelings between people and people, and to produce a
greater distance in this respect than is occasioned by space, and
difference of circumstances.

But the effect of fiscal rapacity is strikingly exemplified in
the regulations respecting the transmission of the English
journals to France. It appears that the clerks of the Foreign Post
Office charge 31. 6s. 3d. for forwarding a daily paper to France.
A proportionate sum is charged for forwarding weekly publica-
tions. The paper must be purchased by the clerks, so that, as
we understand, a person could not if he would, have the use
of a paper and then forward it to his friend, or send it abroad in
exchange for a foreign paper. Whether the clerks pay the full
price for a paper, or purchase, at a reduced price, one that has
been used, we cannot state, but it must be obvious that such
exactions must defeat the object ; which is, to obtain the great-
est amount of money. On the continent English papers sell for
from one shilling to half a dollar each. The various imposts
which might be abolished by our government, or by the exer-
cise of its influence, amount to a prohibition of the circulation of
English journals abroad. The following is a copy of the official
return. " An account of London newspapers sent beyond the

16

seas by the officers in the Foreign Post Office, during the year
1829, distinguishing the morning, evening, and other papers :
mornincr 163 ; evening, 163 ; three days a week, 130 ; weekly,
113!"

At Paris, Hamburgh, and one or two other places on the
continent, English newspapers are reprinted. These reprints
being clearer than the original English journals, without the
tax, would be, have a proportionately limited circulation. Other-
wise, the mischief occasioned by the English imposts, consists
in the gratuitous injury done to the English paper-makers,
printers, and journalists. In those cases where, in conse-
quence of the taxes, English journals have no circulation
whatever, it is scarcely necessary to state, that the effect
of those taxes is, to prevent English ideas and modes of
thinking from obtaining their fair influence in forming the
opinions and feelings of the civilized world. If educated people
on the continent had been accustomed to read our parlia-
mentary debates, would opinions, such as now prevail in many
parts of the continent respecting the English people, have been
generated ? and would the whole people have received the
character which has hitherto belonged chiefly to its govern-
ment? Would it, for instance, have been believed, that the
supporters of free trade only aimed at the suppression of rival
manufactures abroad ; and that the sole motive of the English
people as well as the English government, in adopting the mea-
sures which have cost them so much for the abolition of the
slave trade, was to check the prosperity of rival colonies !
Were our government to perform its duty in removing all fiscal
imposts, and in obtaining a system of reciprocity in the post,
English journals would be extensively exchanged for foreign,
and mucn social good would be accomplished ; national preju-
dices and antipathies would be softened down, and a feeling
of honourable emulation and sympathy between country and
country, would take their place.*

* We are happy to mention a fact, which evinces a disposition on the
part of the French government to set a liberal example of reciprocity in
tin- dilVn-ion of information. Prince Talleyrand lias been instructed to
propose to our government, that it shall send to Paris one copy of each
work published in England, and that, in return, the. French government
should send to this country one copy of each of the works published in
Frauee. Tin: KiiglHi \vorl- to be deposited for public use in the National

Library at Paris ; the I-Yem-h works to he pl;l(-,-d lor public use in the
British Museum. With the exception of the copy deposited in the. Hrilish
Museum, there is not one of the other so called public libraries, which
has the privilege of receiving a copy of every published work, from whiel.
that privilere mirlil not be withdrawn, and be advantageously li

17

It is unnecessary to enforce the importance which should be
attached to the faithful publication of what takes place in par-
liament. But it should be well understood, that reporting is essen-
tially a business of abridgement, requiring for its best perform-
ance severe la.bour, superior talent and integrity. The report
of a speech of one hour, delivered by a fluent speaker, will
occupy from four to five columns close print, or nearly one
page of a full-sized daily newspaper. A close report of a ten
hours debate would, therefore, fill two papers of the size of the
Times or the Morning Chronicle. It has been calculated, that
a paper like the Times, contains as much print as a book of
Thucydides, or as one volume of Sir Walter Scott's novels. To
report every word that is uttered, as some ignorant members of
parliament have proposed to require, would be to destroy the
utility of the debates ; for how could the people read them,
even if they were as instructive as Thucydides, or. as amusing
as Sir Walter Scott ? In order that the most extensive know-
ledge possible may be communicated to the public, respecting
the proceedings in parliament, the reports must necessarily be
considerably abridged. Hence the business of reporting public
proceedings, if it be well performed, must always be one of
considerable discretion and responsibility, and can only be well
performed by persons of more than common attainments ; and
certainly it is often performed in a masterly manner. Mediocre
speeches generally gain rather than lose by the reports in the
daily papers, and the public have not unfrequently suffered
by an offence to which the reporters are addicted, of the
character of that recently charged against a candidate for
public office : — dressing up jackasses, as an exercise of skill,
to impose them on the world as creatures of a superior order.
They have also been charged with offences of an opposite de-
scription. A faithful abridgement, it has been observed, like
the faithful picture of a statue or any other object, would pre-
sent each part of the figure reduced in just proportions. The
newspapers, to make the productions of orators fill their columns,
often abridge them in the same way as Procrustes abridged his
victims to make them fit his bed. Even if the process of

ferred to the purpose proposed by the French government. It would be of
great public advantage, as well in the example of a national exchange of
good offices, as for the promotion of literature, if the same system were
extended to other continental states. The international recognition of

forms part of the taxes on knowledge, and is a barbarous tax on the culti-
vation of foreign literature.

18

getting rid. of the redundant length be accomplished by the
laborious course of reducing instead of the shorter one of lopping
pff the limbs, the work is done so irregularly and clumsily, us
to produce deformity. They place the head and shoulders of u
colossus on the trunk or legs of a pigmy, and make other more
strange distortions ; they heighten beauty, and aggravate or
conceal deformity, as favour or aversion to subjects or persons
may direct, The effect of the monopoly, created by the taxes,
is to give enormous power to the daily press in directing with
greater or less force, the public attention to particular subjects
Ly reporting them at disproportionate length, or suppressing
them altogether. Hence it has been well said, that there is no\\
a new and fourth estate in the constitution, and that the acts of
the legislature should be recorded as having been sanctioned by
the King, Lords, Commons, and Reporters in Parliament as-
sembled.

The merit of having carried the Catholic Question, is com-
monly ascribed to the duke of Wellington, but we believe
that he was, On that occasion, a mere agent acting under
paramount influence ; and that the fourth estate has superior
claims to the glory of having achieved that measure so many
years before the majority of the lower and even perhaps of tin-
middle classes in England were prepared for it. It is probably
known, that the greater number of the reporters are Irish law stu-
dents, who are obliged to come to London to keep their terms, and
Irish barristers who have not succeeded in obtainiii<_> practice.
The circumstances which gave them the majority, were partly
perhaps their greater aptitude for debate and declamation;
partly doubtless, because theirs were the best available talents
in the market, and the majority has been kept up perhaps from
somesuch causes as those by which we rind that theVvelch occupy
the business of supplying milk, and the Scotch, that of baking,
in the metropolis. At present, there is a proportion of English
law students and barristers in the gallery, but Ireland has
there an overwhelming majority of representative's.

Whenever the Catholic question was brought forward, they
worked with redoubled zeal ; and morning after mornin;;. ai tin-
public may too well remember, the papers appeared full of (lie
te. Every speaker had all the aid that /cal and -ability
could j;ive him. Volunteer patriots \vere sum to be repaid
with the display which forms part of the existence of orators.
Hence members of I In- Legislature judging fioni the space which
iho siT'ieel :il\\ay*; • •••ciipicd in the daily papers, formed an e\-

'imati- of the strength of public opinion on the
iion, and the atlciitinii and y.eal thus stimnlati-d u :u 1< d

19

upon the public and especially upon the reformers. Ultimately
the public opinion upon the subject certainly acquired strength,
but we believe that, in truth, it was at all times over esti-
mated, and that had such exertions been made in all the
counties as were made in Kent, the fact would have been proved.
In the city the public took very little interest in the ques-
tion until the later debates, when it was the defeat of the high-
church party, rather than the question itself which occasioned
the excitement amongst the great majority of the people. Had
the matter been in the hands of the English reporters exclu-
sively, we doubt whether they would have cared more about
it than any question which related to the eligibility of the
worshippers of Bramah or Vishnu to hold office in India, or
have taken a deeper interest in it than the Irish reporters
themselves would take in any question which concerned the
spiritual scruples of the members of the kirk of Scotland.
The English reporters would certainly have been friendly to
toleration, but we cannot believe that they could have been
made to comprehend that the making the Irish Catholic gentry
eligible to office, was the first and only certain measure
to relieve the sufferings of the Irish people, The question
would therefore, in all probability, have been permitted to
occupy no more space in the public attention, than an ordinary
debate on a petition, and a report of one eighth or of one quar-
ter the length of any of those which actually appeared would
have been given* In this way the zeal of advocates would
have been damped in England, and possibly in Ireland, see-
ing the little attention gained for the subject in the metro-
polis : thus it might have been delayed for years, and it is ques-
tionable whether Absenteeism, the Poor-laws, and many other
questions which English reporters would have understood much
better, might not have taken precedence of it. It is, however^
perhaps " all for" the best." But it was extremely edifying to ob-
serve into what hands the high-church party had by their mea-
sures against the press placed irresponsible power* and the
way in which their sin against the truth was visited upon
them.*

Formerly parliament was much more under the control of the
fourth estate than at present. One or two great questions
were laboriously reported, but on all the others both Houses
were dealt with in the most independent and summary manner.

* We have been assured by one gentleman who is a member of the
fourth estate, and who speaks the sentiments of others of it, that they
are determined to do their best for the repeal of the Union.

B2

20

At ten or eleven o'clock the Houses were adjourned, for on the
motion being put, and seconded, the reporters adjourned ; those
of the Lords to discuss a bottle at the Star and Garter, those of
the Commons at the Ship. Whether Burke or Fox spoke after-
wards mattered not : all that the public were permitted to
know was, that "The House sat until late." It was a iul<
that the public should not be troubled with any debate, which
occurred in Committee, and whilst the House was thus occupied
the reporters often sat in committee over a bowl of punch : one
being left as a scout to watch the House ; but if the House
thought proper to resume, it by no means followed that the
reporters would. The control exercised over individuals was
frequently as potent. Mr. Windham for some intemperate
expressions was condemned to obscurity, and during one whole
Session, when his talents shone with the greatest brilliancy, his
speeches were suppressed. These continual vexations are
believed to have preyed upon his mind, and probably accele-
rated his decease. Competition somewhat more powerful has
occasioned more complete reports, but even now an enormous
amount of power is exercised irresponsibly by the corps.
Amongst other orders, which they have adopted (justly indeed
in their own defence against excessive labour) is one, that tin n-
shall be no debate, or what is very nearly the same thing, that
there shall be no debate reported on the Wednesday night. In
the Session of 1830 one of the most brilliant debates which
have occurred for some years past, was suppressed, because it
took place on a Wednesday. Individuals have been dealt with
more arbitrarily than questions. Mr. Tierney, we understand,
was for a time under the cloud of their displeasure. Mr. Spring
B-ice was in the same predicament.* A short time ago, a gentle-
man related at a public meeting, (what by the way none of ihc
papers reported) that he was one night in the gallery of lh<-
House of Commons, and that he overheard the reporters whis-
per to each other, on the occasion of a particular member
rising, " Let us Burke this fellow," His speeches were stifled

* As a body, the reporters an- ^entlemrn, ;uul we never heard that they
urn- ntiTiiptrd, e.xerpt l»y alteetion or aversion, 01 by ruilitirs in a ^vntle-
inanly way. Old Mr. .Jolille, for example, n.srd to £0 into thr Krpui -ii-r>'
room, merely as a loiin^i-, and say, " are then- any gentlemen of thr ,
\vlio wan! frank-," and a reporter" was snrr to ha\r a> many as he rhox- I.,
i-rrept. Soon -it't- r, \\hrn thi* civility was forgotten, ihc mniilx-r was foi -
,i. \\hrn In- would -TO and remonstrate in a lachrymose tour, -ayiiitf,
" Now, my n'ood fellows — ^ive us a drn-nt >perrh, don't rut it -liort |>y

Baying only that .Mr. .lolili'e supported the motion. \(r mlirr I am a

county ineinhrr, and people think \\hat | say of consequence, and you
know I im ,i IYi' ml «.l the ,.i ,

on other occasions, and had he been a younger or less powerful
speaker, he certainly would have been " Burked" effectually.
To protect the legislature and the public, it has been proposed,
that each House of Parliament should engage sworn short-hand-
writers, and publish the reports of its own proceedings. If
trustworthy reports could be obtained, we should only object
to the plan on the ground of the great expense and delay ; for
otherwise it would be of great service to have verbatim reports,
from which the public might see what vile rubbish in matter
and style is sometimes uttered by their representatives. But
we should utterly distrust the House or the chief orators, as we
well know how untrustworthy in such matters are all orators, for
their practice being to colour and exaggerate in manner as well as
in words, for the sake of immediate effect, the mendacious habit
of mind thus generated is sure to govern them in all their acts
relating to effect, when not placed under strong restraints.
Unless some private pique or sinister motive can be proved
against the reporter, he is on all questions, as to the accuracy of
reports, immeasurably the more credible witness, even where tne
orator happens to be bona fide. The reports of the examination
of witnesses before committees have, hitherto been constantly
garbled and interpolated. We have shown that it would be
folly to expect the reports to be read, unless they are to be
abridged, and to what party should that duty be intrusted ?

Security might perhaps be found (there is reason to be-
lieve it was found in the Spanish Cortes by their Comite de
redaction] for recording the speeches of members in all their
integrity, — and this would certainly be a great service done,—
but, after all, the obvious and the most efficient remedy
seems never to have occurred to them; namely, the entire
removal of the taxes on knowledge, and the consequent
powerful competition of Reports. Our legislators can com-
prehend, that if they made such arrangements as to dimmish
the traffic in a given road, and to permit only a certain number
of coaches to run upon it, the coaches would not be uniformly
so well horsed, nor the public so well treated ; but they have yet
to see and feel, that the only mode of having the newspapers
subjected to proper responsibilities, is, by letting in upon them
a full competition. At present, one or two journals lead the
rest : the smaller journals are too poor and too weak to compete
with them : increased profits from increased demand, and espe-
cially from the entire removal of the advertisement duty, would
put flesh on their bones, and enable them to act independ-
ently and run their adversaries with vigour ; it would bring new
and powerful competitors into the field, and all the usual salutary

22

effects of competition would fnllow: No one journal could

•i» or suppress any mailer of nnpoi r.mcr, \\hirh .MinHier
\\OuM not find it l<> its interest (o publish.

.mother point of view, the entire !V« •« -dom of the
M quisle, to subject tin: lending journals I hemselves to the
s;duf;iry control of public opinion.

Much inisrhicf is occasioned b\ ;i prevalent. belief 1 '
journals, such as the " Times," which are said (o mak«' il I heir
business to follow public, opinion, thereby represent that opinion
nn all public, questions. Such organs would doubtless be of
f value, but none such exist. It must be admilted, thai on
i and prevailing topics, a public journal which subsists by
ineans of extensive sales, must conform, not to the prevai* n'l
opinions, but to the prevalent sentiment or feeling, with greater
or less exactness. But on nearly all subjects, where no senti-
ment whatever, or no very strong sentiment is entertained by
the public, such journals may, and do lead them. Where, how-
ever, a journal chimes in with the popular sentiment on one
great question, it may, in the present state of the press, go
directly in the teeth of the public sentiment, and falsify it, on
many subordinate questions. Many illustrations of these posi-
tions will occur to those who have been in the habit of reading the
" Times," and have at the same time been accustomed to con-
verse with numbers of individuals moving in lanre societies. We
select this journal for our illustrations, because if a body may
be judged ex pede, much better may it be judged ex capite. The
course of reform, for example, was too potent for any journal of
its commercial character to withstand, but the question of the
ballot it perhaps believed was a subordinate question, with
inspect to which no opinion, or no favourable opinion
entertained ; and accordingly the Times took its own blundi
course. The proposition was scouted, and its advoc;i

i!ed in the coarsest stylo of vituperative ignorance and

insult. Vet. no sooner was the question of the ballot, mooted in

public meetings, than it was carried by acclamation, and

not a doubt could be entertained that, the i>;reat. body of the

I',; were y.eulously in i : then the journal thought

to moderate \> 'in, with relation to the

. Although the " Times" h:nl written so strongly in

•.idministr.ifion.as to convince the l-Yench

liberals that it was in its pay, yet il I demonstration of

i he public opinion in favour of the revolution, was in Jul\
prompt and powerful, ;rs to leave no doubt to such journalists
as to the course to be taken. Not so, however, with regard to
the Belgian revolution. The sympathien of the people were

2S

indeed strongly in favour of the Belgians ; when they heard
of the repulse of the Dutch troops, they believed that the
cause of the Belgians was one in common with that of the
French people ; but of course it was not conceived to be of any
proportionate importance, and there were no loud manifestations
in its favour. Day after day, the " Times" outraged the public
feeling by its comments on the Belgians, by its falsehoods
respecting their grievances, and the characters and views of
their leaders. We remember that its conduct on that subject,
gave rise to a strong suspicion that the Duke of Wellington
meditated an armed interference with the Belgians, and that the
" Times" was employed to blacken their cause, in order to pre-
pare the public mind for the measure. We have not the slight-
est evidence on the subject. We merely assert as a fact, that
the course taken by the " Times" did excite extensive disgust,
and we adduce the fact as an instance, where if the views set
forth by that journal had been acted upon by legislators or by
foreigners, as the views of the people, it would have proved a
false and mischievous guide. We have perceived, that when-
ever it has thus outraged public feeling, it has, at the same time,
or shortly after, fetched up its way, by advocating some case
which interested the narrow sympathies of the people, as some
case of charity or suffering, the flogging of soldiers arid sailors.
1^ would move the public in favour of the Spanish or Italian
refugees, whilst it aided men and measures even more noxious to
the welfare of mankind, than those to which the refugees were
victims.

Numbers of persons purchase the " Times" for its news, who
detest its political conduct. They are in the situation of travellers
compelled to submit to insolence and extortions, because there is
not adequate competition. A choice of daily journals there cer-
tainly is, but, as home Tooke expressed it, when told he had a
free selection of the jurors by whom he was to be tried, it is like
offering a man a choice from so many rotten oranges. Were
the taxes on knowledge removed, a journalist would be bound
to good behaviour, under penalties of the loss of hundreds or
thousands of his circulation for each act of misbehaviour.

In addition to the removal of fiscal imposts, another measure
will be found requisite for the improvement of the public press ;
namely, the enactment of securities for the full enjoyment of
the profit of literary labour, by the labourer.

A large portion of the daily press is made up of literary
plunder. Some journals there are which are mere second edi
tions of others. Now the profit of these piracies, or second
editions, may, in most cases, be considered as so much taken

24

from the journal of original information, and creating a propor-
tionable reduction of tin price paid for news, or original contri-
butions. The only check to this plunder is the slight one of
public opinion, and that only operates with respect to original
articles containing disquisitions, where direct theft, without
any acknowledgment, would be deemed a flagrant outi
The conventional payment, (for want of means to cut
better), for an article thus copied without the consent of
the author, is to give the credit of it to the particular
journal by naming it. Yet this piece of conventional morality
is constantly violated, for we constantly observe in "The
Times," as well as other papers, articles inserted with the ac-
knowledgment only of " Daily Paper." But in the low jalousie
<lc metier, the fraud is carried much farther. It is too much to gi ve
frequent credit toother daily papers, and as most articles of
interest which appear in the morning papers, are copied into
the evening papers, the stolen commodity is acknowledged only
as having been taken from an evening paper ; while no one can
doubt, from the jealousy with which the papers must watch
each 'other, that the article was thus pillaged in perfect con-
sciousness that payment was not made to the right owners.
This is one instance of the immorality occasioned by the
defective state of the law. " Until small rights be " pro-
tected, great ones will not be secure," says the philosopher,
and the proposition remains yet to be carried into effect
over the whole field of law. We remember an analogous
complaint was made by a manufacturer, who stated to a Com-
mittee of the House of Commons, that in consequence of the
impunity with which patterns of small works were copied
immediately they appeared, the only repayment which the
manufacturer can have for the labour of producing new pat-
terns is a short and uncertain priority in the market : In
it was not worth while to employ skilful artists to mukr
designs ; hence the progress of an important branch of
the arts was checked. The daily press is similarly circum-
stanced, and the evil is becoming greater from the increased
rapidity with which printing is now performed. We be-
that a daily journal, which has any exclusive intelli-
gence, is frequently obliged to wait until another is published,
in order that the latter may not instantly pillage its informa-
tion. They fence with each other on this system. A piece of in-
telligence is frequently a costly matter. During the war, the first
account of a battle was often obtained at an expense of seveial
hundred pounds. The report of a county meeting is often obtained
at the expense of expresses. We consider then, that protec-

25

tion should be given for a certain period to the copyright of
the smallest paragraph, as for a large book ; and that the pub-
lisher should within that period be allowed to retain the exclu-
sive possession of it, or prescribe the terms on which he would
allow it to be used.* At present, if a paper be made up of
a dozen or twenty articles, each of which costs one or two
guineas, it would be necessary, perhaps, to pursue the pirates
with as many suits of law, if there were law on the subject ; a
course preposterous an,d impossible. Therefore we conceive
that the power of administering summary remedy should be
given to magistrates, or the judges of the inferior courts, who
should be allowed to award compensation, and inflict a penalty to
the amount of the cost of the article pirated. Wnere a journal
had the priority of publication of any article of intelligence, the
onus of proof should be placed on any other publication, to
show that he had truly been at the expense of procuring it by
his own agent ; and in default, conviction should follow as for
piracy. In many cases the proof would be difficult, but in
the larger proportion it would be easy, and all of these would
be so much gained to honesty. The proposition for giving
protection to such labour will, we well know, excite much
astonishment amongst the gentlemen of the press, who will
find it as difficult to conceive how papers can subsist without
pillage, as the Mahratta chieftain felt, to conceive how such
fine armies as the Europeans brought into the field could
be maintained without plunder. Those journals which are
compilations would probably make arrangements with the
journals of original information which would have their just
preponderance. The circulation of intelligence would not be
checked. On the whole it would be found that a reciprocity
of payment would be a much better system, than one of a reci-
procity of pillage. Enterprise would have its proper reward,
and would be more completely stimulated. It is also of no
small importance, that the maintenance of good moral habits
should be enforced upon those who are by their vocation censors
and guardians of the morals of others.

And now follows the proposed reformed system of circulating
the public journals.

The committee appointed at a public meeting of the friends,
to the diffusion of Useful Knowledge, held at the City of Lon-

* While \ve plead thus for the protection of copy-right in its various
forms, we do not in our own case object, but rather invite, the republica-
tion of any portion of our pages in any form, for circulation, stipulating
only that the republication shall contain an acknowledgment of its being
reprinted from the Westminster Review.

26

don Literary and Scientific Institution,on the 31st of January last,

(at \\lnch ni'M-iing \)r. Hiikbeck presided), have proposed, that

government -hould take a\\ a\ aHogel her lli<- stamp duty on news-

papers. 'I lu- eonrautfcrt ha\e aUo siate.d, that newspapers, hunks,

: and all printed publications, may be conveyed by the post, with

the public, and with the enjoyment of full liberty

of conveyance, and that u revenue, not less than the present

1 stamp duty might be thereby obtained for the government.

The grounds on which they supported this conclusion, in a
confi i' nee \\ith the Chancellor of the Kxehequr.r, were —
That the government, having already established the compl

ncy ibr the distribution of letters, this same agency mi^ht.
be used to distribute the great mass of publications by post,
at a comparatively small additional expe,
That to compete with the government, the private distributors
(or vendors) must maintain an agency, almost solely for
this one purpose.

In all cases of the delivery of letters from the post-oflice, the
labour of distributing a great quantity of other things may be
performed, without any additional expense. The postman who
traverses a street to deliver half a dozen letters may, in passing
through it, deliver twenty or thirty newspapers, without any mate-
rial additional expenditure of time, and the labour " is all in his
day's work/' But the private vendor must employ a person lor
the one purpose of delivering the newspapers, and he cannot,
therefore, do it so cheaply as the government. For example, the
cheap publications, at present sold for two-pence, three-pence,
or six-pence, are forwarded to the country in monthly parts, as
the sale and profit are insufficient to bear the expense of convey-
ance weekly, except in the case of the larger towns, su<
Birmingham and Manchester. Were the government to convey
MK-O publications, as it might do weekly, by the post, and

deliver them to the purchaser at such a rate of post on Id

put them into his hands at the same price as lie now <
monthly, it will not be deemed a rash presumption, that the
more, speedy mode of conveyance will be extensively pre-
1. Parcels of publications on which the profit is but a
iy each, are sent to various towns which have a considerable
ilation. The sale of these publications is confined to the
in a town, or to those who visit it regularly, for it can-
not extend to villages at the distance of several miles, as the
ordinary piofit, a penny, would not pay for the trad.-.-iiian's -
labour of forwarding them thither. But it would pay the post,
by whom the labour is already performed for other puipos
But it may be said, that additional vehicles would be requisite

27

for the conveyance of the mass of papers which must be sent
by the main roads. Doubtless ; but a large profit might never-
theless be obtained after all additional expenses were paid. The
average cost even for parcels sent irregularly by the mail is IJrf.
per pound, or 14s. per cwt. every hundred miles. A thousand
papers of the largest size usually weigh eighty-eight pounds, or
two thousand papers are about the average weight of one male
passenger. The carriage of a thousand papers at the maximum
rate would be only ten shillings, fifty papers might be carried
for one shilling, and the orofit to government for the distribu-
tion of a thousand would oe 3/. 13s. 4d. Ten millions of papers
are now annually transmitted to the country through the post.
There can be little doubt that, by the removal of the stamp-
duty, the number would be quadrupled ; and it is to be taken
into account, that every one thousand newspapers pay I/, paper
duty. But there can be no question that papers could be con-
veyed by contract to the extremity of the kingdom, for less
than the sum mentioned.

It has been proposed, and we trust the plan will be speedily
adopted, that printed papers, not exceeding four or six ounces, shall
be permitted to be sent by the general post : that a sheet of demy
of the ordinary or full-sized paper, namely, a sheet of the size
of half the sheet of a daily newspaper, should be conveyed for
one half-penny postage, and that a sheet of the size of the daily
newspapers should be conveyed for one penny postage, to any
part of the united kingdom.

Thus not only newspapers but pamphlets, essays, pros-
pectuses, price currents, reviews, magazines, and almost every
description of literature, would be sent by post.

Thatjsuch arrangements are practicable is set beyond doubt
or question, from even the most reluctant functionary, by
the fact that in America, and in France, such a system has long
been in operation. In France, books and all kinds of publica-
tions may be transmitted by post from Paris to any part of the
kingdom, at the rate of five centimes, (or a halfpenny) per sheet.
In America the charge for conveying a newspaper by post is
three farthings every three thousand miles. In several of the
German states similar facilities have long been enjoyed. In
/France, the postage for circulating a paper within each depart-
ment, where it is published, is two centimes and one half, or one
half the price charged for conveyance to any part of the king-
dom. Half price is paid for the conveyance of a half sheet.
The French government have directed that some descriptions of
works which relate to the arts and sciences, shall be conveyed
free of postage.

28

Many persons justly consider it a matter of importance, that
the metropolitan journals, on which greater capital and more
talent are employed, should circulate with the utmost facility
in the provinces, in order that metropolitan impressions may
have their fair influence against local feelings and prejudices.
They fear that the people would be disinclined to pay the p«>~-
in addition to the price of the newspaper, and that such a re-
gulation would operate prejudicially against the metropolitan
journals.

These fears we believe to be entirely unfounded. Competi-
tion will cause the public to be supplied with papers, without
any addition to the price. The present news-vender's profit is
one penny and a fraction. Upon the proposed system the penny
would go to government, in payment for the labour of delivering
the letters, and the fraction would pay a commission for the
collection of subscriptions, quarterly or yearly, as it might be.
This would be a matter which would easily adjust itself, and to
every objection the committee may reply, " Itis done in France."*

* After this article was in print AVC perceived that a writer in the Edinburgh
Review asserts, that the mass of the people " would infinitely nit her pay
four-pence for a paper to the publisher, than three-pence to him and one
penny to the Post-office." The objection is entirely fallacious ; and founded
on the supposition that each paper would be paid for as it arrives, when
in fact, the money would be paid as it is now, to the publisher in advance,
and be would settle with the Post office. Any American post officer would
instruct the English Post office as to the details. The Reviewer contends,
that an ad valorem stamp duty, with the privilege of free postage, should
be retained. Now, those who have any technical knowledge on the sub-
ject, ars aware that the first outlay for literary labour and printing falls
with disproportionate weight on publications of a small circulation, and
that the most popular journals might be sold the cheapest in consecjucnce
of the increased profits derived from all sales after the first expense ir>
••leared. Is the writer aware, that one commercial journal in Scotland is
enabled, by the profits derived from its advertisements, to distribute, im-
pressions gratis to ten or eleven thousand places ? The popular journals
would, therefore, pay but a slight ud rulornn duty, or would evade it alto-
gether, whilst it would often fall with the weight of a prohibitory lax upon
t In i M-J. .I i rnal- which rather deserve bounties; namely, upon thoa* publications
which, in consequence of their application to literature, to moral or scientific
disquisitions in advance of the popular mind, would necessarily obtain but.
,i limited circulation. A journal devoted to the collection and diffusion of
information iv-pcrting any particular branch of education, would only cir-
culate aiinm-- the teachers concerned in it, or amoni; 'he small da
philanthropists who take an intere-t in the subject. The expense of the
outlay nm>f then fi.rr, for the want of the profit to be derived from an ex-
tensive sale, be made up by an increased price, incurring an increased duty.
On the subject of the operation of the advertisement duty, and the neces-
sity of its'removal, the writer of the artich- in question ha- hem uell
informed, and we concur in his observations : had he been equally well
informed on the subject of the stamp duty, he must have advocated its im-

29

The government would, if the regulations were well framed,
entirely supersede the private distribution so far as relates to
distant conveyance, the immense multiplication of papers r£sult-
ing from the change, would more than compensate them for the
loss; and, certainly, if there is a subject on which private in-
terests should not be permitted to stand in the way of public
improvement, it is the present.

Not only would the sale of existing publications be immensely
extended by the removal of the present obstructions, and the
adoption of a system of cheap and free postage, but there is
reason to believe that it would bring a number of new and
valuable publications into existence. There are several bodies
of individuals occupied in trades and branches of art and science,,
who are sufficiently numerous to maintain cheap publications,
devoted to the collection and diffusion of information concerning'
their particular pursuits, but so widely spread, that at the pre-
sent cost of conveyance such publications could not be sent to
them. A cheap publication, for example, generally requires a
sale of four or five thousand to pay. There are trades, com-
prehending eight or ten thousand individuals, of whom perhaps
but three or four hundred reside in the metropolis, the remainder
being spread all over the country. Such a body could not
maintain a trades journal or price current, but it might upon an
improved postage system. If this system be adopted, there
can be little doubt that numerous price currents and journals
for particular trades would arise. Innumerable publications,
addresses, prospectuses, and circulars, which would not admit of
the loss of time and labour of getting them stamped, would be
sent by the post.

The great objection to any stamp duty is, that no one can be
imposed that does not, and will not, however modified,
place obstructions in the way of the efforts of individuals to

mediate abolition. Was he aware of the expense to the government of
the labour of stamping the paper, or of the vexatious obstructions and
loss occasioned to the consumer by the Stamp-office regulations ? Was he
acquainted with the fact, that the carriage of paper to be stamped, and
other expenses incurred by provincial journals, which he says ought to be
encouraged, are on an average not less than ten per cent ? We beg to
inform him, with relation to the post charges, that the people view them
as remuneration for labour rather than as a tax ; and that, although they
sometimes justly complain of those charges as excessive, there is no direct
tux which is paid more cheerfully, or which was ever so popular. We
cannot believe that any class is so obtusely ignorant, as not to be able* to
perceive and acquiesce in the superior utility of a well-regulated postage
charge in preference to any stamp duty.

30

adapt publications of various sizes and shapes to moot the
wants of the people.

If the price of a publication be two-pence, a penny stamp
will be eighty per cent on the wholesale price.

If the price is \$d, the penny .stamp is one huiuhvd p»-r mil.

If the price is one penny, the penny stamp will be one hun-
dred and fifty per cent on the wholesale price.

Thus the burthen of the tax increases in proportion to the
inability of the people to bear it. The fiscal obstacle l<> the
diffusion of information becomes greater, precisely as every in-
ducement of cheapness ought to be held out, and as the price
is more adapted to the means of the working classes, by whom
information is the most needed.

It may be proved, from an intimate inquiry into tho moans
and habits of the people, that the capacity to purchase gratifi-
cations, which do not form part of what are considered neces-
saries of life, extends from certain points, in proportion to tin-
cheapness, in a greater than a geometrical ratio. Thus, if in any
town or place, composed of the average relative proportions of
the different classes of society, there are found one hundn <l
persons who can purchase a work sold for one shilling, there also
will be found more than three hundred able or disposed to pur-
chase a thing for sixpence ; more than a thousand able or dis-
posed to purchase a work sold at three- pence, and so on.

The most enterprising publishers have discovered the fart,
we have, thus stated, as a general principle for the guidance
of legislators, which might be proved by an overwhelm i no mass m
evidence. And were the authors of financial measuresaccustomed
to possess themselves of a knowledge of the state and habits of
various classes of society ; were they accustomed not to rely
solely on the opinions of those who are governed by blind
routine, or swayed by sinister interests, they would more I'M
<|iirntly increase the revenue, while they benefited tho subject,
by bold reductions of fiscal imposts on articles of genera!
sumption.

Tu France, the partial removal of some obstructions, and of

reduced, though still ini<|uitously heavy imposts on the encu-

i of knowledge, have produced an immense increase of the

rhanm-ls for COtnttlUtUCattng it. In Kn;j;land, flu- variation of

uoith mentioning, and

ulie 'ed \\ith ivhilioii lo the increase of population, it

uill be found Hint llieiv ha-; li.-rn a positive reduction. In

». the nuinhei ..!' tlOWftpapers I ransinitled daily fi'om l';ins

by the p lb; ,,, |,S'J!), h u;,s 68,000, WV may

31

farther estimate the increased activity of communication in that
country, by the increase of the postage for letters. In 1815,
the number of letters sent from Paris, was 40,000 ; in 1829, it wus
60,000. So that while the increase of letters has been 50 per
cent, that of newspapers has been more than 80 per cent. The
produce of the postage of letters and newspapers was in 1815,
5,248,000 francs ; in 1829, 7,080,000 ; and we know that the
demand for newspapers is still greatly on the advance.

We know not from what sordid interests the alteration of the
taxes on Knowledge may be opposed. But it is requisite, that,
the public should aid the friends to the diffusion of Knowledge
by demanding firmly of the government, the entire abolition of
all these noxious imposts. After what we have adduced, the plea
that the produce of the taxes cannot be spared, can only be received
as a discreditable fallacy. It is to be seen whether the journals
will have the effrontery to claim their continuance. We ob-
serve that one has modestly suggested, with relation to the sub-
ject, " that when once property is vested under peculiar arrange-
ments, every modification of them requires the nicest consider-
ation." True, and we trust we have given it such consider-
ation. " It is no slight mischief not to be at rest, nor to be able
to repose confidence in any arrangement," growls " The Times.'*
And may not the boroughmongers, and every possessor of mis-
chievous power say the same ? To all public or private re-
monstrances of these monopolists, a minister might reply in
their own forcible and meritorious language, when disinterestedly
aiding the public voice for the abolition of other monopolies. We
would take for example the article on the abolition of the licen-
sing system in "The Times" of April the 14th, 1830, when it
complained of having received a thousand letters in favour of
the brewers' and publicans' monopoly of the sale of beer, * now,
it is ardently to be hoped, abolished for ever.'

' Your monopoly, said c< The Times," is a troublesome and vivacious
beast : it yells, and kicks, and twists and struggles indefatigably,
until the death blow has been struck, and only" then have we any
chance of relief from its annoyances. It is the same with all mono-
polies : (hey every one assail us with their ' reliance on public faith'
their vested interests, ' their freeholds.' A pretty thing truly when
ale-house and gin-shop keepers,' (for these names we substitute news-
paper proprietors and newspaper writers,) ' have a vested interest in
robbing and poisoning,' (L e. insulting and misleading) ' the king's
subjects, and raise an outcry against the legislature, for its first though
shamefully tardy and timid attempt to release the people of England
from a nuisance imposed upon them by the fraudulent adulteration of
a lawful beverage, and a scandalous abuse of legislative power. Asto-
nished we are, at the grave presumption of men who write pamph-

32

lets,' (memorials), 'with the apparent design of turning the tables
on the whole community, and making a poor mouth on behalf of the
wrong-doers, as if they were the aggrieved parties, merely for being
hindered from doing for ever what it was criminal to have done at all.'

Our space will not permit us to display the operation of
these taxes in other directions. We have shewn, however, that
scarcely any other taxes can be more objectionable in principle.
or ultimately less productive ; there is scarcely any other, there-
fore, which may not be advantageously substituted for them.
We quit our task with the impression, that when all- the facts
we have stated are presented to the mind of a legislator, but
one opinion can be entertained of his capacity or morality, who
would oppose or refuse to aid -in the entire removal of these
taxes. If seeing their operation in maintaining moral evil, he
does not exert himself for their removal, he is criminally care-
less about the continuance of that evil; if, seeing the misery
and crime which result from ignorance, he determine to main-
tain the obstructions to the diffusion of knowledge, he is a cer-
tain contributor to that crime and misery. We trust that the
public and the legislature will shortly be absolved from any
participation in the guilt of their continuance

THE END.

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