UNSTAMPED PUBLICATIONS—THE NEWSPAPERS.
WE find from some articles which have lately appeared in the True Sun, that the Companion to the Newspapers, which issues monthly from the same office as the Penny Magazine, has entered. into a formal defence of the right of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge to publish that Magazine weekly without a stamp. The law on this subject, as quoted by the Companion and the True Sun, is to be found in the statute 60th GEORGE III. chapter 9, in these words.
" All pamphlets and papers containing any public news, intelligence or oc- currences, or any remarks or observations thereon, or upon any matters in Church or State, printed in any part of the United Kingdom for sale, and pub- ribbed periodically, or in parts and numbers, at intervals not exceeding twenty- 'six days 'between 'rite publication of any two met pamphlets or papers, parts or numbers, where any of the said pamphlets or papers, parts or num- bers respectively, shall not exceed two sheets, or shall be published for sale for a less sum than sixpence, exclusive of the duty by this act imposed thereon, shall be deemed and tak‘n to be Newspapers, within the true intent and mean- ing of several other acts of Parliament new in force relating to newspapers, and be subject to such and the same dutles of stamps," &c.
The True Sun argues, in direct opposition to the Companion, that the Penny Magazine contains " intelligence and occur- rences," and is thefore justly liable to the stamp-duty ; and more- ever, that the statute above quoted was expressly made for the purpose of suppressing all cheap weekly publications, including such as the Penny Magazine. It asserts that there is no just cause why the Voice V the West Riding should be termed a newspaper and be prosecuted, and the Penny Magazine be called a publication and escape scot-free. Upon referring to the words of the statute,—which, being a highly penal me, should not be too severely construed,—it might be argued fairly enough, that the prohibition to relate " occur- rences" extends only to those which have taken place or come to light within twenty-six days of the period of publication : but, whatever be the nature of those occurrences or the remarks thereon, if they have happened within the twenty-six days, then clearly the law requires that the paper which narrates them should be stamped. The True Sun has not quoted any instances of the violation of the law in this respect, by the Penny Maga- zine; neither does it give any extracts enabling us to form an opinion as to the character of the Voice of the West Riding. As we have not seen the latter paper, and cannot refer conveniently to the Penny Magazine, we are not prepared to prove that, ac- cording to the statute as above quoted, either one or the other is liable to prosecution under it for being published without a stamp,—though we retain an impression, that we have seen several "occurrences," and remarks thereon, detailed in the Penny Magazine, and other nnstamped publications, which happened within the prohibited time of twenty-six days. This is a part of the question, however, about which we care very little. We are not advocates for the prosecution or suppression of cheap unstamped publications; and have certainly no especial enmity to the Penny Magazine. But what we complain of is the conduct of Government in permitting the law to remain as it is. Among the very first acts of the Whig Administration, if those who composed it paid the least regard to consistency, should have been a proposition to repeal the tyrannical and impolitic enact- ments under which these prosecutions of unstamped papers are in- stituted, and an abolition of newspaper stamps in general. It may be well enough for the Conservatives to check, by every means in their power, the diffusion of political knowledge among the people : but such conduct on the part of Lord BROUGHAM, Lord ALTHORP, and Lord JOHN RUSSELL, admits of no apology. They cannot pretend that it is injurious to the common weal that the people should be instructed in the rights and duties of citizens ; neither can they deny that such instruction is of vastly more importance to them than any dissertation on the ruins of Paestum or the alli- gator of the Nile. Yet they persevere in using the most effectual means to check the circulation of the important, while they zea- lously propagate the diffusion of a comparatively trifling species of information. This conduct on the part of the Ministry argues a distrust of their own intentions and capacity, which is a very bad symptom. When on the Opposition benches, who more ready than they to assert that none but bad, and consequently suspicious and unpopular governments, feared the diffusion of political know- ledge among all classes? Is their own administration bad, sus- picious, and unpopular? If it is not, but the reverse, why pursue the system of bad governments? why fetter the Press, whose freedom they once pretended to advocate so warmly? The question as to the Penny Magazine being a legal or illegal publication, is a trifling affair. We take a more enlarged view of the subject, and demand from Ministers a change of measures as regards the Press in general. We call upon them to act up to the principles which they avowed a few months ago, when the Reform Bill was in jeopardy,—to say nothing of the declarations on the subject of the Six Acts and the suppression of free discussion, with which they garnished their Opposition speeches in the days of Castlereaghery. At the present time, the state of the Newspaper Press—we allude more particularly to that portion. of it which belongs to the Metropolis—is not such as men of sense and right feeling can approve of. The risk and expense of establishing a journal which looks for support from the virtuous, independent, and reflecting portion of the public, is almost enough to deter the most confident from attempting it. The case is altered if its style is such as to suit the vitiated tastes of the high and low vulgar—if it becomes the tool of party, or the receptacle of the slander and indecency of the day. The conductors and proprietors of such publications as these are the men whose interests are promoted by the newspaper stamp-duties. Were the trade open, were the risk to be run and the capital required to establish a journal of high moral and in- tellectual character less, then men of virtue and talent would be ready to embark in such undertakings, from which they are at present deterred, because they perceive that eminent success in newspaper speculations is only attained by wicked or contemptible means.
The Press, notoriously, stands in need of improvement : what bare the Whigs done to improve it, since they possessed the power ?..,zgagato. ►
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