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290 ®t>« IUatr*r. [Saturday,
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LANDLORDS, LABOURERS, AND POOR-RATES. Th...
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in Wales, which would never have taken p...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Miss Talbot—Convent Discipline. The Case...
Doyle , her guardian , was endeavouring to finda suitable residence elsewhere for the lady . ( Hear , hear . ) The case came on for hearing again before the Lord Chancellor , on Thursday , but Mr . Eolt , who appeared for Mr . Doyle , 8 aid they would not be prepared to discuss the affidavits which had been filed on the other side till Saturday . Mr . Page Wood thought the case should be referred to the Master , who would decide whether Mr . Doyle or Mr . Berkeley would have been the proper guardians for her . Mr . Eolt said the feelings of the young lady had been already tortured , and if the matter was referred to the Master , t hey would be tortured still more .
The Lord Chancellor said he had caused inquiries to be made with respect to what should at present be done for the comfort and happiness of the young lady . He had spoken to a lady of unimpeachable character , and had requested her to take temporary charge of her , and she had consented to do so . He had in consequence ordered the young lady to be brought up on Monday . He did not think it necessary to mention the lady ' s name , for she would not like publicity to be given to it , but he wou'd hand the name to counsel . He thought that until some arrangement was come to it would "be better that the young lady should be with a lady entirely disinterested in the case . She would therefore come up on Monday , and be received by the lady whose name he had handed down . He thought the better course would be that the matter should be referred to the
Master . He would take care that that Court was not made an arena which was to give publicity which did not belong to it . All he had to look to was as to the residence of the young lady and her welfare and comfort .
290 ®T>« Iuatr*R. [Saturday,
290 ® t >« IUatr * r . [ Saturday ,
Landlords, Labourers, And Poor-Rates. Th...
LANDLORDS , LABOURERS , AND POOR-RATES . The Irish landlords do not seem to consider that the work of depopulation has gone far enough yet , if we may judge from the hordes of wretched immigrants "whom they are driving off the land . In addition to the thousands of the less indigent who go to America , immense numbers still continue to flock over to the large towns of England and Scotland , to compete in the labour market , and to swell the poorrates . Last Sunday no fewer than 1000 men , women , and children are said to have arrived in London from Ireland , most of them in a very wretched condition . They had been shipped to this country at a very trifling sum per head , and many of them commenced begging soon after their arrival .
In the rural districts our own labourers find great difficulty in obtaining employment , and as the poorlaw is administered much more harshly in the country , we may expect a large influx of unemployed agricultural labourers into London from the neighbouring countries during the next few months . At the Suffolk Quarter Sessions , yesterday week , in referring to the case of the persons charged with riot in Barham union workhouse , the chairman observed that
the house was exceedingly full , and a large portion of them , about 120 , were ablebodied men . He regretted to see so large a number of men in such a position ; men who were able and willing to maintain themselves and their families , but who , from circumstances , had been obliged to go into the house . In Essex the farmers , following the advice lately given by Mr . Ellman , have issued the following proclamation : — "TO OTJlt WORTHY LABOURERS .
" We , the neighbouring farmers , deeply deplore our inability to continue the present rate of wages to our worthy labourers—the fact is , that we cannot afford it . Free trade lias brought us into close competition with foreipnem , who pay so little money for labour , that dark brown rye bread , skim milk , cheese , and a few onions , is all the men get . With these foreign serfs , who are now bought and Hold with the land like cattle , are we now contending in our own markets . Much as we deplore it , we are obliged manfully to tell you that if we are to give you constant employment we cannot pay the present wages . Essex must conic to what many other counties have already come , nix and ncviti shillings a-week . Wo Avill give as much as we can , but it inust be in proportion to the price of corn : the money lost by farmers this year in dreadful . Down with the malt tax . God save the Queen !"
Now , Ksbox is a very fertile county . In addition to what in consumed at , homo it sends annually about . ' $ 00 , 000 quarters oi " wheat , and 1 / 30 , 000 quarters of malt to London , beHides cuttle , sheep , wool , butter , and all other kindH of farm produce . Of eour . se Essex will receive u pretty large huiii of money in return for nil these articles , and one might fancy that the farmers could afford to give their labourers good wug ' . ; u . But , unfortunately , the farms are very lurge , and tlie farmers need nil the money they can get to pay their enormous rents , in 17 <> 7 , Mr . Arthur Young found some of the farms in Essex hh high us £ 1000 , £ 1 / H )(> , and even £ 2000 " ayear . It' the landlords would reduce their rents 2 /> per cent , it would afford much more relief to the furmcra than any reduction of wa ^ eH will ever trivo .
It is rather remarkable to find , at the very tune when the Mshox farmers declare their inability to pay their labourers for cultivating the fertile soil of that county , and while the Suffolk farmers are maintaining their ublebodied poor in forced idleness , tho Leeds guardians should be taking steps for the reclamation of waste land by pauper labour . In a report recently presented to the guurdiuns of that town , l ) y
a committee formerly appointed for the Purpose , " On the Reproductive Employment of Ablebodied Pauper Labour , " the advantages derived from it are thus pointed out : — 11 From all the information that your committee have been able to gather , they are decidedly of opinion that the reclamation of waste or uncultivated land has been found of the highest advantage , thereby adding to _ tbe previous productive powers of the country , and creating a larger amount of rateable property ; and that it tae Leeds guardians could purchase or lease for a long term , a quantity of moor or waste land at a suitable distance from the town , the labour of the afclebodied paupers might be beneficially employed in inclosing , trenching , draining , and otherwise in making it fit for cultivation by spade labour , when it might be either sold or sublet as circumstances should dictate and the law permit .
In Wales, Which Would Never Have Taken P...
in Wales , which would never have taken phuic if the aggrieved parties bad had any easier and cheaper method of making known to Government a grievance which wan not more remarkable for its oppressiveness than for the vane with which it . could be remedied . We have no admirution for the literary qualities of the rural Aincricun press , but we believe that it saves the Government vorno millions annually in the shape of soldiers and police , prevents heartburnings and misundeiBtandiiigH , which would otherwise involve rival districts in deadly feud , and keeps alive tho power of reading among the working classes , no
as to lead in time to that literary cultivation of which we make so much boast , but which in this country is confined to a few , and , by being thus made a class privilege , inflicts an additional pang upon those whose poverty excludes them from it . Above all other knowledge we demand the free circulation of political knowledge . Millions of our country , men ' have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them , they have no means of learning the law but through the cheap ne wspaper , and yet so to teach them is a crime . It is a punishable offence to circulate without a stamp the proceedings in Parliament or in the law courts . For many years discontent has raged among the working classes at their exclusion from political rights ; they are told they are too ignorant to be trusted with political power ; and yet the Government not only refuses to educate them , but obstructs them in educating
themselves . On the other side , the only objection raised by the Government , or expressed in the House of Commons , is
the want of revenue . That the paper duty is a source of revenue cannot be denied , but in the face of the present large surplus no argument can be deduced from this fact . The abolition of the advertisement duty would benefit the excise by increasing consumption ; and as to the penny stamp , its net revenue is only about dG 150 , 000 , which might be made up by admitting not only newspapers but all printed papers to a cheap rate of postage . But there is another reason not only for demanding
but for expecting the repeal of the penny stamp . The Board of Inland Revenue , whose motto appears to be " anything for a quiet life , " have gradually allowed a practice to grow up of breaking the law . The Newspaper Act declares that every copy of a newspaper shall be stamped ; the Post-office Act confers the boon of free postage on stamped newspapers , but not on mere publications : it follows that every publication registered as a newspaper ought to stamp every copy . But the practice has grown up of allowing publications to register as newspapers , and to stamp only their country edition .
The great object of this association is to make this practice general and legal , and the most effective way of doing this is to demand that the existing law be enforced . About ten months ago the Board informed John Cassell , the proprietor of the Freeholder , that his paper was a newspaper , both in virtue of its registration . and of it 3 contents , and that he must for the future stomp every copy . Mr . Cassell has never complied with the demand , and no proceedings have been taken againat him . About nine months ago a similar notice was sent to the proprietors of Charles Dickens ' s Household Narrative , and legal proceedings are pending against that paper . The length of time to which these have been protracted without coming to trial leads to the inference that Government are not very sincere in their prosecution , and that they have neither the grace' to repeal the law nor the courage to enforce it .
An important exception must be made to this remark ; the law is enforced very strictly in the country , where a letter from the Board meets with that respectful obedience which is not one of the characteristics of London publishers . Mr . Hugh Jones , of Llangollen , was in the habit of publishing fortnightly a penny paper , called Yr Ipsyr , of which he used to sell 2300 copies . The Board obliged him to stamp it . He then brought it out monthly , at 3 d ., and the sale fell to 600 , which caused its discontinuance . Mr . Bucknall , of Stroud , published a monthly paper , of which he sold 17 , 000 . He was obliged to stamp it , its sale was ruined , and the paper dropped . The most flagrant case which has come to our knowledge ia that of the Wakejield Examiner , which was threatened with a fine of £ 40 , 000 ( afterwards commuted to £ 10 ) for publishing slips—a practice quite common in London , and not interfered with by the Board , even when copies are forwarded by informers , with a view to
prosecution . We confidently appeal to the existing press for their support , not only on public grounds , but because , from having the advantage both of capital and of possession ot the market , they would obtain the largest share of the newhpaper trade which would spring up on the abolition of the stamp . This has been already exemplified in the case of the Times , which gained an increased ascendency when the stamp was reduced in 1840 . No objection could be made to a reasonable newspaper copyright to protect the high-priced journals from wholesale piracy , but , while piracy deserves suppression , free trade in knowledge is as essential as free trade in corn ; and nothing can be more absurd and unjust than to prevent the public from having as many journals as they want , at as many diflertnt pneus tne
as may suit their convenience . Nor do we fear promulgation of violence or of immorality . The great muss of English readers ure lovers of peace and quietness , and , as no man tolerates any vice but his own , « paper intended for general circulation can supp *" no immorality tlmt is not already universal . An <« , although sectional papers might indulge in vl 0 ' ' 11 language , hard words are better than rough deeds . 1 »« aggrieved , who are able to pour out their complft »" through the press , feel their wrongs , real or imaginary , already half redressed ; and the true statesman will n < iv <; r so well know how to govern , as when the people tnemselves tell him wh ; it tliey feel and desire . of the
Bestir yourselves , then , to obtain tho repeal taxes on knowledge ; let every borough , pnri » h , P P ' " mill , printing-oflice , mechanics' institution , or P olincl \ association , petition ; and , above all , importune tu ? . , of Inland Revenue with letters of complaint till U « 'y grant to the benighted districts of the country t iok « . privileges which their laziness or their timidity allows to the inhabitants of London . At the next general election , demand of every candidate that he support the rc |>« " of the taxes on knowledge . Let no legislator , no Mininnr of the Crown , no member of tho Board of Inl <«»» ltevcnuo rest till the prcBS la exempted from taxation
THE ASSOCIATION FOR PROMOTING THE REPEAL OF THE TAXES ON KNOWLEDGE . To the People of the United Kingdom . Fellow Countrymen , —For many years past the necessity of popular education , and the difficulty of agreeing on any system that should be satisfactory to the country , have formed the theme of all reformers , philanthropists , and statesmen . But , though it is difficult to organize a national mode of doing any good work , it is comparatively easy to remove the hindrances which exist in the shape of restrictive laws . Years must elapse before all our population can receive a good and systematic instruction ; but a few months may suffice to abolish the laws which forbid the cheap newspaper to circulate among the poor , which hinder the communication of mutual wants , and which force the best authors out of the field of cheap and popular literature . The taxes on knowledge consist of—The duty on foreign books , which , in the year £ s . d . 1849 , produced 7 , 751 0 0 The duty on paper 867 , 120 11 7 £ The duty on advertisements 158 , 164 16 0 The penny stamp on newspapers £ 350 , 289 9 s . 4 d . Deduct 6 , 169 2 3 for expense of stamping ' and say 194 , 120 7 1 for that of the Post-office 150 , 000 0 0 £ 1 , 183 , 036 7 74 Deduct Government grant for education , which in 1850 was—For Great Britain £ 125 , 000 For Ireland 125 , 000 £ 250 , 000 0 0 £ 933 , 036 7 7 J The duty on foreign books in foreign languages is so manifest an absurdity , and produces such a trumpery amount to the revenue , that we may dismiss it without further comment . > The duty on advertisement * not only enhances the price of every book , but is a revenue destroyer , not a revenue producer ; * much greater amount than £ 158 , 164 must be lost to the revenue by the injury caused to trade from a want of such means of cornmunication . Thousands misemploy their time from mere ignorance of the wants of others ; the repeal of the advertisement duty would tend to correct this evil . There is some reason for believing that the duty is retained in order to cripple the newspaper press ; advertisements are permitted in railways and omnibuses , and no attempt has been made to alter the law in their behalf ; nay , the law , as it stands , requires the duty to be paid on advertisements in every literary work , but , by the laxity of the Board of Inland Revenue , the advertisements in books are allowed to go free ; indeed , it would almost appear that there is no crime looked upon with such an evil eye by the Government as that of retailing news , for every possible hindrance is thrown in its way . Some idea of the effect of the paper duty may be arrived at by considering the fact that Charles Knight paid £ 10 , 500 to the excise on the Penny Cyclopaedia , the cost of which for literature and engravings , exclusive of paper and printing , was £ 42 , 000 . In his Struggles of a Book aqainst Excessive Taxation , Mr . Knight says : — " Upon a tolerably accurate calculation I have , from my own unaided resources , expended , during the last twenty years , . L'HO . 000 upon copyright and editorial lubour . During the name period 1 have paid jt 50 , 00 l ) paper duty . " And again : — " A revolution has been effected , in which wound literature might have higher encouragement in tlie iimiiy than in the few , if the Government did not Htund in the wiiy . " The duty paid on the paper , lid . per pound , would be enough in a publication of large circulation to remunerate the very highest talent . If the paper duty tends to nubstitute mischievous works of fiction instead of wholesome instruction , the penny stamp is still more potent , for it absolutely prohibits a cheap record of facts , and throws insurmountable obstacles in the way of a communication of ideas between different classes of the community . Let any one who reads these pages auk himself what he knows of the opinions and feelings of the agricultural labouring population ? We guess at them occasionally by the light , of burning hayricks , or by the assiHtnnce of pauper riots . We may particularly instance the Rebecca insurrection
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1851, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29031851/page/6/
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