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Leader (1850-1860), 17th April 1852, Edition Town of 1, Page 363

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      dntv is not a newspaper— -a state of things which would enable nearly all the London weekly papers to coineout without a stamp . . , . We would especially direct your attention to the following suggestion , given by a member of the late 2 overnment , during the examination of Mr . Timm before th « r Parliamentary Committee , which sat last session , on the subject of newspaper stamps , . .

      « Iii all questions of law , have you not found it very difficult to define precisely the matter at issue , and that the definition is generally made out by experience from proceedings before the courts ?" "We cannot but consider the above suggestion as anarchical : at any rate , to say that the legislature is incapable of making an intelligible law , and that the law must he broken before it can be understood , is an invitation to the people to try conclusions with the

      government . We cannot , then , doubt that you will feel bound to prepare a new Act of Parliament j by which all existing doubts may be removed . The government has lately asserted , that the newspaper stamp was a revenue question ; we humbly suggest that this idea is an error : a perusal of the 60 Geo . III . cap . 9 , will show that the object of the extension of the stamp duty made by that act , was to cripple the press , while the exemption from duty which that act conferred on large and dear papers , which , could best afford to pay duty , shows that revenue was not the object .

      Our opinion on this subject is strengthened by the fact , that since the decision of the Court of Exchequer in the case of Charles Dickens ' s Household Narrative , the Solicitor to the Board of Inland Revenue has revived this act , which has been obsolete since 1836 , John Gardiner , of Wisbech , in the year 1845 , commenced the publication of the Wisbech Advertiser without a stamp . At the command of the Stamp-office he registered his paper as a newspaper , and paid stampduty on every copy ; this compliance with the will of the

      Commissioners of Stamps of course ceased when their interpretation of the law was contradicted by _ the Court of Exchequer , and Mr . Gardiner brought out the Wisbech Advertiser without a stamp , and advertised a new paper , to be brought out in the middle of the month , to be called the Wisbech " Record . He has given up this project in consequence of a letter from Mr . Timm , stating that the 6 th Geo . III ., cap . 9 , clause 4 , prohibits monthly publications , under a penalty of 201 ., from being published on any day except the first of the calendar month , or two days before or after .

      But , sir , so much of the 60 th Geo . III ., cap . 9 , as imposes stamp-duty is repealed by the 6 th & 7 th Wm . TV ., cap . 76 ; and we contend that , as clause 1 imposes stamp-duty on daily and weekly periodicals , clause 4 is a subsidiary clause , meant to prevent any evasion of clause 1 , by bringing out weekly periodicals under the guise of monthly ones . If , however , clause 4 is unrepealed , it must be con ? sidered as a substantive provision for the purpose described in the act , namely , protecting " our constitution " and our holy religion by restraining the publication of " seditious and blasphemous papers in great numbers , " and at small prices . "

      Wq submit , then , sir , that if this clause is un-repealed it is not a revenue clause , and that Excise officers are not exactly the persons with whom a government can safely trust the protection of religion . We feel it also our duty to state , that so anxious are we to ascertain whether tliis clause is still the law , that we havo encouraged Mr . Turner , of Stoke-upon-Trcnt , to publish a newspaper in the middle of the month , on purpose that the question may bo tried before a Court <> t Record on the prosecution of the Government , such paper to bo discontinued if the Court declare it illegal . And hero wo would state that one of the great evils ot the present system is the substitution of the opinion oi the Board 6 f Inland Revenue for the decision of a superior court or the verdict of a jury .

      A country publisher , having to - pay costs , oven " successful , is obliged to pay implicit obedience t 0 tho Stamp-office , as ho cannot afford to gain a causo "gainst the Crown , much less to lopo one , while nobody w » t tho Attorney-General or tlio Board . of Inland Kovonuo is allowed to institute proceedings j so that J » o London publishers , whom the Bonrd < laro not touch , violate tho law ovory weok without tho slightest "" pediment . _ -hi a late speech' of yours , sir , wo find an opinion K » ven , that tlio proas should bo dop ' ondont only on its waulorti , and never on the government ; that this indo-J oiHlonco is impossible' nn'dor a stamp , is shown by all fi M 8 r tablo ; 1 ) V whioh ' ^ appewS ' tl'ftt nearly u tho London daily press , except tho Times , is gramauy sinking—a fact which wo attribute to the noces-» y wluch the stamp creates for them all to coiao out M one price .

      1837 . 1845 . 1846 . 1850 . Morning Chron . ... 1 , 940 , 000 1 , 554 , 000 1 , 356 , 000 912 , 547 Morning Herald ... 1 , 928 , 000 2 , 018 , 025 1 , 752 , 000 1 , 139 , 000 Standard ............ 1 , 330 , 000 846 , 000 780 , 000 492 , 000 Morning Post 735 , 000 1 , 200 , 500 1 , 450 , 500 828 ^ 000 Daily News ......... ..,.... ; . 3 , 520 , 500 1 , 152 , 000 Morn . Advertiser ... 1 , 380 , 000 1 , 440 , 000 1 , 480 , 000 4 , 549 , 843 Globe ......... ' 864 , 000 852 , 000 764 , 000 585 , 000 Sifn ...: ' ... ;¦ .. 794 , 000 1 , 098 , 500 1 , 104 , 000 843 , 500 True Sun ..,. 398 , 000 ......... ......... ^ ....... TOta 6 f the Times } 9 ' ' 9 , 009 , 025 12 , 207 , 000 7 , 601 , 890 Times .................. 3 , 065 , 000 8 , 100 , 000 8 , 950 , 000 11 , 900 , 000

      In this table there is one encouraging fact . The Daily News while it sold at threepence had a circulation of three millions and a half , of which three millions were purchased by persons who never took—as is shown by the increase for that year , amounting to 3 , 300 , 000—a daily paper before . Nor is the gap filled up which was caused by its rise in price . It is clear , therefore , that there is no fair field for any increase in the number of fivepenny papers ; but that for papers at a lower price there is a field open in England , as well as in Belgium and America . Should the stamp continue much longer , we may expect to lose nearly all our morning papers ; by taking ofif the . stamp , a field will be opened which will enable us to have a daily press dependent only on the public . Our opinion on the subject of the newspaper stamp is supported by that of the Parliamentary Committee , who reported last session that , apart from fiscal consi * derations , news was not a desirable subject of taxation . Tour memorialists , therefore , pray that you , sir , will take into serious consideration the propriety of introducing an Act of Parliament for exempting the press from all taxation , and liberating it from all control except that of a court of law . Signed by order of the Committee , and on their be * - half , by ¦ - - '"¦¦ Tbancis Place , Treasurer , Temple-lodge , Hammersmith . - J . Airbed Novelio , Sub Treasurer , 69 , Deanstreet , Soho . ^ Bichaed Moobe , Ghairman , 25 , Hart - street , Bloomsbury . C . Dobson CoMiET , Secretary , 20 , Great Coramstreet , Brunswick-square .

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      THE MISSING ARCTIC EXPEDITION . The morning papers of Wednesday , ( that is , some , for the Chronicle and Daily News were pointedly exeluded }) published a singular set of documents , evidently supplied by the Admiralty , respecting the missing Arctic Expedition . A merchant captain at Tynemouth , stated lately , in conversation with an officer of one of her Majesty ' s ships , that two threemasted vessels had been seen on an iceherg off Newfoundland , in April , 1851 , by the brig Renovation , of North Shields , on her passage to Quebec . This statement being accompanied with a surmise as to the possibility of their being Sir John Franklin ' s ships , the Lords of the Admiralty havo instituted the most rigid inquiry . Letters havo been written to the collectors of Customs at all the whaling ports in England and Scotland , in order to ascertain if any whalers answering to tho description given wore missing in 1850 or 1851 ; and the master of the Renovation will bo closely interrogated on his arrival at Venice . There ia great agreement among the persons who are said to have seen tho ships in the accounts they give .

      Tho master of the Renovation , Mr . Coward , is reported as having originally told tho story to a fellow sailor at Quebec , thus ;—" Whon near tho east edge of tho bank , in latitude 45 dog . 30 min . N ., wind N . E ., fresh breezes and clear woathor , as much as I could carry foretopmaat studding sail , foil in with icebergs , one of which was vory largo , with field ico attached to it , in which thoro woro two throomaated ships , having thoir masts struck and yards down , and all mado Bnug 3 * ° ftM appearance they hiva patted tho winter together in tho ico . At about fivo o ' clock in tho

      morning , whon within ono mile of thorn , tho mato called mo to boo tho borg and ships . By tho time I got up and dressed and on dock , my ship was abreast of thorn ; took Bpying-glass and carefully examined them , to seo if thoro was any ono on board , but could not hco any ono . At tho timo I did not think of Sir John Franklin's missing ships , ahxioty to got ahead out of tho dangor while tho weather was clear from fogs , and being too far pas ); before I could inako up my mind , caused , mo not to rod , uco sail and oxainino thorn more accurately . 1 am flinco of opinion they might possibly ho tho missing ships . "

      Mr . Simpson , now of tho British Queen , formorly mate of tho Renovation , says" ( 1 30 p . m ., 4 th April , 1852 . "About tho 20 th of April , 1851 , Mr . Simpson , then mato of tho Renovation , aaw two iull-riggod ahipa ( about six a . m ., ono larger than tho other ) on an ieoborg about 10 or 12 foot high , about fivo miles long . Tho lorffoefc vessel was on hor lioum-onda , bead to tho westward ; tuo smaller ono head south , and upright , with , topmast on end , and no

      topgallant mast . The Renovation was then about 30 miles west of Cape Race , and the iceberg about five miles northwest . The master was very sick at the time , and the mate could not take it upon himself to bear up for the iceberg . A Mr . Joseph Lynch also saw the vessels , besides all tho mates . The Renovation at that time was under double reefedfore and main topsails and forecourse , blowing very strong . -The morning TVaa very clear , and the matecanno * recollect any further particulars , and cannot tell whether the log is oh board the Renovation , or whether the owners have it . The owner is Emanuel Young , a large ship-owner in North Shields—Northumberland-square . " One circumstance in this affair corroborates in a striking way the story of the sailors . In the lAmerick Chronicle of May 29 , 1851 , there was printed the following letter : —

      Quebec , may 9 , 1851 . "We arrived here , yesterday , after a passage which , for the first thirteen days , promised to be one of the speediest almost on record , having been two miles to the west of the Bird Island in the G-ulf at the time we met the ice , and having been for sixteen days coasting along it , with a fair wind ever since ; it has been very rough and a number of ships have suffered severely ; indeed , to attempt to give any description of the ice would be useless . "We have sailed for sixty miles of a stretch , seeking an opening without being able to effect one , which was most vexatious , as had we not met with it we should have made the passage in fifteen-and-a-half days . The icebergs we met with were frightful in size , as the bases of some of them would cover

      three times over the area of Limerick , and I do not at all exaggerate when I say that the steeple of the Cathedral would have appeared but a small pinnacle compared to the spires on some of them ; and most to be regretted is that we met , or rather saw at a distance , one with , two ships on it , which , I am almost sure , belonged to Franklin ' s exploring squadron , as , from the latitude and longitude we met them in , they were drifting frpm . the direction of Davis's Straits . Was there but a single one ,-it might have been a deserted whaler , but two so near each other , they must have been consorts . They were to windward of us , and a heavy sea running at the time , with thick weather coming on , so that we could not board them . " All the men hitherto mentioned bear good characters . The subject is exciting great interest . ^

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      CONTINUED OUTRAGES ON BRITISH SUBJECTS ABROAD . " I have now on my writing-table , " writes an . intelligent correspondent from Florence , to the Daily News , " papers containing full details of no less than thirteen cases of outrages inflicted on British subjects in the Tuscan dominions , none bearing date earlier than 1850 . Let us glance at two or three : — " In the autumn of last year , Captain Arthur Walker was dragged through the most public streets of Florence , by the police , an | J imprisoned for twenty-two hours , for having been found in the house of a most respectable Florentine , named Marliai [ P ] , the said Marliai having incurred the vengeance of the authorities in consequence of his being known to read his Bible . Again , a Mx . Newton , an architect , seized by tho police at Volterra , illtreated and beaten . He , however , succeeded , with the assistance of her Majesty ' s legation , in obtaining , in the legal tribunals , a verdict in his favour . Tlio policeman who illtreated him was sentenced to a temporary imprisonment , but Mr . Newton himself saw him within tho term of that imprisonment on duty at Pisa . Again , tho case of Dr . Aiton , a retired surgeon of the navy , who proceeding to England , was , on his arrival at Pietra Santa , arrested by tho police , and detained in prison a day and night , although his passport was perfectly en re " gle ; tho only causo assigned ior this treatment was , that hie dress

      probably an artist ' s chapeftu , was calculated to excite a disturbance . Thon wo havo the caso of Mr . Mather , which has recently occurred , and caused so much excitcmen t This gentleman has , however , as we aro informed hero compounded with his enemies , having mado a demand o money aa indemnity . This intelligence has caused tho greatest indignation , in consequence of tho high tone ho assumed at tho timo that somo effort was being mado to bring about an apology on tho part of tho offending Austrian oflicer , and his subsequent indignant denial o tho vory idea of his boiag -willing to accept any pecuniar recompense . "

      Another correspondent of the same journal writes from Florence , regarding a recent transaction in Tuscany , which ho says has been treated with great indifference , arising , probably , from ignorance of the real facts , by members of the British Parliament . " On or about tho 15 tU of March , allusion was mado in both Houses of Parliament to tho caeo of Corporal Baggs , of tho Marino Artillery , belonging to hor Majesty ' s Htonmor , tho JFirebrand , commanded by Captain Goad , and at that timo stationed at Leghorn . Lord Malmosbury stated that tho non-commissioned officer in question hud boon harshly treated , and imprisoned by tho Tuscan polico , but th 6 superior oflicbr of police had himsolf been

      imprisoned in conaoftuenco , and satisfactory reparation mado . Such , or noarfy ho , was Lord Malmcabury ' fl statement . Tho statement , I proceed to mako ia literall y and substantially correct in ovory particular , and nothing is therein inserted of which I have not ascertained tho truth . On Sunday , 16 th February , Baggs , a corporal of marino artillery , obtained leave from his commanding oflicor to go on shoro , and remain absent until Monday morning . During tho Sunday evening , Corporal Buggs , when -walking in tho atrootB of Leghorn , porcoivod that ho was followed by two or three police officers . As this dogging his footsteps was pertinaciously continued , and was naturally offensive to him , ho romonofcratod , tolling them in Englinh

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      AiKiul 7 , l $ 52 l THE LEADER . 363

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1852, page 363, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1931/page/7/