compact under which she became a member of the Union, and has enjoyed hitherto all the benefits resulting from it. It would appear, therefore, that the president has with him the strict constitutional law, though it may be questionable how far he could enforce it without arraying one portion of the population against the other; for the regular troops at the president's disposal amount only to about 7000 men, and the militia of the Union, amounting to 1,308,000, could hardly be considered as effective in a case where the population would be divided against itselt But, secondly, if we concede to congress that it has not exceeded its constitutional powers, (which very many, including Mr. Jefferson, were of opinion that it had exceeded,) it is impossible to stigmatize the tariff too strongly, as being not only unwise, but also unjust. The restrictions upon industry and the freedom of commerce, existing in European countries, had their origin in less enlightened ages than the present; and when an erroneous system has become interwoven with the national institutions and the various interests of society, it is always extremely difficult to change it for a better. But when the Americans achieved their independence, they were embarrassed by no difficulties of such a nature. Their industry was free and unfettered, and they were in the very state best calculated to forward a nation in the career of improvement. They should have abstained from the restrictive system, not only because reason and experience had proved it to be inimical to the advancement of mankind in opulence and population, but because they were not previously entangled in the web of existing prohibitions. They should have respected the principle of the division of labour; and, possessed of an almost unlimited extent of fertile land, they should have looked to the obvious advantages of their agricultural industry, and considered that the growth of raw produce must, for a long series of years, be the most profitable kind of employment in which American citizens could engage. They should have reflected that they were encroaching upon that equality of protection to which all interests in the Union, as in every free state, are entitled; and that they were forcibly withdrawing capital from the land, and turning it to manufactures, without making the smallest addition to the capital and industry of the republic, but, on the contrary, to the diminution and injury of both. In the face, however, of tne principles of public economy, and the lessons of experience, the American legislature set itself steadily to work to protect its home manufactures, especially its woollens, cottons, and hardware. Vainly aiming at making the United States independent of foreign nations, but attaching as absurd a meaning to the word independence, as if a country gentleman who had his coat and shoes made on his own estate thought himself more independent than his neighbour squire who bought them, congress proceeded to impose heavy import duties on articles of foreign manufacture. With the view of promoting the woollen manufacture, a duty was laid on woollen cloths imported, which from being 5 per cent. ad valorem in 1790, was gradually raised to 33 per cent.; and by the tariff of 1828, it was enacted that all goods which had cost 50 cents (2s. 1 d.) a yard, or under, should be deemed to have cost 50 cents, and should be charged with a duty of 45 per cent. ad valorem; and further, that all goods which had cost above 50 cents the yard and not more than 100 cents, should be considered as costing 100 cents, (or 4s. 3d.) and should pay a duty of 46 per cent. on that sum-so that every yard of cloth, costing 51 cents, would be valued at 100, and would consequently pay a duty of nearly 90 per cent. By the tariff of 1832, which comes into operation the 3rd of March, 1833, a duty of 5 per cent. is imposed on plain kerseys; of 10 per cent. on worsted stuffs and shawls; of 20 per cent. on worsted yarn; on blankets, hosiery and carpets, 25 per cent.; and on woollen manufactures in general, 50 per cent.; modifications which cannot be considered as great improvements upon the last tariff. Again, on cotton fabrics imported, the tariff of 1828 charged a duty of from 30 to 100 per cent., although there was abundance of evidence that the high duties of former tariffs had rendered the cotton-mills anything rather than thriving. The tariff of 1832 charges 25 per cent. upon cotton manufactures, and provides, that cottons not dyed, not exceeding in value 30 cents a square yard, shall be valued at 30 cents; and if dyed, and not exceeding in value 35 cents a square yard, shall be valued at 35 cents. Cotton yarn, unbleached, to be taken at 60 cents the pound, and bleached at 75 cents the pound. So also, iron-bolts and bar-iron were charged under the tariff of 1828 with a duty of 77. 17s. per ton. By the tariff of 1832 they are rated at not much less, namely at 30 dollars a ton, and various other duties on iron manufactures are imposed, those on iron not otherwise rated being 25 per cent. These instances will suffice as examples. So far as these duties were aimed against Great Britain, it should here be observed, that we deal with the Americans on far more libcral terins than they deal with us; for, upon the majority of American articles which we import, the duties do not, on an average, exceed 8 per cent. ad valorem. The result has been that the tariff has been injurious to every interest, and to every section of the country; and whoever will take the trouble to read the Report of the committee on the commerce and navigation of the United States, drawn up by Mr. Cambreleng, and submitted to congress the 8th of February, 1830, will be satisfied of it beyond the possibility of doubt. The commerce, navigation and capital of the New England States (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusets, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) have been sacrificed in order to bring forward new competitors in manufacturing to embarrass old and skilful artisans; and as their wealth and industry have declined, so has the ratio of the increase of the population diminished. The navigation of the United States has retrograded since the peace; ship-building has begun to decline; the manufacture of cordage has been driven to Great Britain and Russia; and by the high duties upon coarse woollens, salt, brown sugar, molasses, tea, and coffee, burdens have been heaped on articles essential to the comforts of the poor throughout the Union. The tide of emigration to the Western States has been excessively accelerated, although full employment for population might have been found in the older states. But, above all other evils, has been the depression of agriculture, by the prevention of the sale of agricultural produce to foreign nations whose manufactures have been shut out of the American markets. Taking a view of the whole Union, the Americans are at this day as much an agricultural and as little a manufacturing people, as they were at the time of the adoption of the constitution. There are many thousand millions of acres yet unoccupied ; eleven agricultural States have been added to the Union; and the Territories are very far more extensive than at the period mentioned. Of the 12,856,171 persons who, according to the census of 1830, composed the population of the United States, more than four-fifths are employed in agriculture-and thus the interests of the mass of the inhabitants have been sacrificed in the vain hope of fostering a few miserable manufactures, which must ever be sickly whilst surrounded by an artificial atmosphere, instead of being exposed to the natural and wholesome breezes of competition. The staple products of the Middle and Southern States, and of the Western States along the Ohio, are cotton, tobacco, rice, wheat, and sugar. The exports of cotton for the year 1831, were of the value of 25,289,492 dollars, being nearly half of the 61,277,057 dollars, which were the amount of the exports of American produce and manufactures for that year. The next greatest export is that of wheat-flour and biscuit, which amounted to 9,938,458 dollars; and of tobacco, the export amounted to 4,892,388 dollars. So that the value of these three articles thus constituted two-thirds of the value of the entire export; and nothing can be more natural than that the agricultural state of South Carolina, where the objects of culture are cotton, rice, wheat, and tobacco, should consider the suspension of the market for those articles a very serious grievance. It has indeed been proposed that the states of North and South Carolina, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi, should join in a convention for the protection of their common interests, and the resistance of the tariff. At present only one state appears to have openly resisted; but that the tariff can long continue to oppress the other agricultural states, unopposed, is what we cannot believe. Of the Western States, the agricultural and mineral wealth has been obliged to be left to perish in the interior, or to be wasted as worthless productions. Under a system of restriction, these productions must remain, without value, beyond the Western mountains, and the treasures of the mines can be but slowly realized. But an active foreign commerce would give an impulse to the internal trade, and put in circulation the vast agricultural ad mineral resources of the Western States. If the trade now restricted were once made free, there can be little doubt that the enlarged intercourse would not less effectually increase the commercial marine of the United States, than|tion and the impertinence of the news-writers, led to the comdevelope the internal resources of the country. The history of the American tariff, even up to the present time, furnishes an useful lesson to other governments by exhibiting the pernicious effects of the so called protective system. It was idle to suppose, that because duties were levied on manufactures as high as 75, 100, and 200 per cent. they were therefore really protected. It is a wholly different thing to stimulate capitalists to overdo, for a season, a particular branch of manufacture, and to secure a permanent and cheap supply. The cheaper fabrics of Great Britain have been smuggled into America, in spite of hosts of revenue-officers, and all other impediments which the wisdom of congress could contrive, just as French silks used to find their way into English consumption, when strictly prohibited by the English law; and just as foreign spirits and tobacco are at this day smuggled into this country to an enormous extent, in spite of cruisers, coast - blockade, and martello towers. The course for statesmen is, never to tax foreign manufactures with a view of stimulating home manufactures, for cheaper fabrics cannot thus be permanently excluded; but to remove those taxes on raw materials, or any other taxes which enter into the price of the home manufactures, and let them make their own way through free competition. Whilst, therefore, we are inclined to believe, that the letter of the American constitution is against the proceedings of the inhabitants of South Carolina, we cannot but regard the tariff as contrary to the principles upon which a free nation ought to be governed. If the result should be the dismemberment of the Union, it will indeed be a lamentable end of the folly of this restrictive policy; but its evils have already been sufficiently great to induce us to hope for the abolition of the tariff whilst it can be done peacefully, and before the integrity and safety of the republic of the United States are brought into jeopardy. NEWSPAPERS. WHEN Roger L'Estrange (who, soon after the restoration of Charles II., was appointed to the odious office of "surveyor of the printing presses") set up, in 1663, his "Intelligencer," he announced that " One book a week may be expected to be published every Thursday, and finished upon the Tuesday night, leaving Wednesday entire for the printing it off." The "Intelligencer" preceded the "London Gazette" about two years, being, like the Gazette, published "with privilege." This paper, of which there is a copy in the British Museum, consists of four pages, about the size of the pages of the "Companion to the Newspaper," but equal in matter to a little more than two pages of the "Companion."-As it occupied all Wednesday in printing off, all Tuesday was employed in completing the arrangement of the information it contained; and thus, this very slender allowance of news, which the public of London could purchase on the Thursday, was not of a more recent date than the previous Monday. The post then did not go every day; and it went very slowly when it did go so that in many parts of the kingdom, the "Intelligencer" of August 31st, 1663, (the date of the first number,) would be still fresh on the following 30th of September. The title of this newspaper imports that it was published" for the satisfation and information of the people;" but their rulers were not very anxious to promote this information and satisfaction, for the privileged author of the "Intelligencer" says, in his first number, "As to the point of printed intelligence, I do declare myself, that supposing the press in order, the people in their right wits, and news, or no news, to be the question, a public Mercury should never have my vote; because I think it makes the multitude too familiar with the actions and counsels of their superiors, too pragmatical and censorious, and gives them not only an itch, but a kind of colourable right and licence to be meddling with the government." The people, however, were not to be stinted in the extent and quality of their information after the fashion of this writer; for, in spite of privileges and surveyors of the press, by the beginning of the next century, before a stamp was required upon newspapers, there were published in London one daily paper, fifteen three times a week, and two twice a week. About this period, provincial papers first began to appear. The desire of news from the capital, on the part of the wealthier country residents, and probably the false informa mon establishment of a very curious trade,-that of a news correspondent, who, for a subscription of three or four pounds per annum, wrote a letter of news every post-day to his subscriber in the country. This profession probably existed in the reign of James I.; for in Ben Jonson's play" The Staple of News," written in the first year of Charles I., we have a very curious and amusing description of an office of news manufacturers : "This is the outer room where my clerks sit, The news thus communicated appears to have fallen into as much disrepute as the public news. In the advertisement announcing the first number of the "Evening Post," (September 6th, 1709) it is said, "There must be three or four pound per annum paid by those gentlemen who are out of town, for written news, which is so far, generally, from having any probability of matter of fact in it, that it is frequently stuffed up with a We hear, &c.; or, an eminent Jew merchant has received a letter; &c.; being nothing more than downright fiction." The same advertisement, speaking of the published papers, says, "We read more of our own affairs in the Dutch papers than in any of our own." The trade of a news correspondent seems to have suggested a sort of union of written news and published news; for towards the end of the seventeenth century, we have news-letters printed in type to imitate writing. The most famous of these was that commenced by Ichabod Dawks, in 1696, the first number of which was thus announced: "This letter will be done upon good writingpaper, and blank space left, that any gentleman may write his own private business. It does undoubtedly exceed the best of the written news, contains double the quantity, is read with abundance more ease and pleasure, and will be useful to improve the younger sort in writing a curious hand." We have been somewhat minute in pointing out the channels of information on public events possessed by the nation little more than a century ago, because, if these circumstances are fairly considered, we shall cease to be surprised at the trifling interest which the great body of the people then felt in the proceedings of their rulers. Public opinion could not then have existed in the form which it wears at the present day Thrones were indeed shaken, and ministries dissolved; but the great changes of the state were almost wholly brought about by those who were working, or hoping to work, the machine of government. The people, comprising most part of the middle and all of the poorer classes, sometimes picked up the stale information which reached their patrons and employers; but, except in the metropolis, they knew little about public events, and they were indifferent to their consequences. They were satisfied to address the throne, or to petition the parliament, at the will of some leader, who still retained much of the power and influence of feudality. In London, certainly, the middle, and even labouring classes, were eager for news, and exercised their right of commenting upon it with considerable energy. Even those who published newspapers, after the revolution, affected to lament this temper of the metropolis. "The meanest of shopkeepers and handicrafts," says the "British Mercury" in 1712, "spend whole days in coffee-houses to hear news and talk politics, whilst their wives and children want bread at home." Coffee-houses were, in the same spirit, called "Penny Universities." Politics, however, did not form the sole attraction. Swift, in his " Journal to Stella," speaking of the effect of the new stamp duty, says, "Do you know that Grub-street is dead and gone last week? no more ghosts or murders now for love or money." But if London had a scanty meal of intelligence, the provinces were almost without a mouthful; and thus the public opinion of London had always an undue power, till, by the diffusion of newspapers, the pulsations of the heart were felt at the extremities of the political body. When the debates in parliament were not permitted to be reported,-when a meagre paragraph from the" Low Countries" gave the first intelligence, without detail or comment, of a battle or a treaty,-even London must have been indifferently supplied with materials for the formation of public opinion. But when the coach to York was a fortnight upon the road,-when even Oxford was a twodays' journey-although a few of the population might comprehend, in the fullness of time, "quid habent novorum the great body of the people were not in a much better state for bringing their sentiments to bear upon public affairs than the inhabitants of the colonies. At any rate, they could not catch the ball at the rebound; the game of party was played out before they could look upon its movements. very debate which he heard; and the speeches of the members given at a much more satisfactory length than they were accustomed to be in the best conducted morning paper of his younger days. But the wonder is not even yet over. In another half hour the waiter brings in a London evening paper and there, to his still greater astonishment, he sees five or six columns of debate on the night before, broken off in the middle with "we left the Hon. Member speaking at 8 o'clock, and at half past 8 our express started to catch the mail at Barnet." These operations are somewhat different from the "one book a week may be expected, to be published every ThursLet us contrast this forgotten state of things with the news- day, and finished upon the Tuesday night, leaving the paper operations of the present time. There are six daily Wednesday entire for the printing it off." L'Estrange's morning papers in London, and eight evening. Each of" Intelligencer" comprised about as much matter as a close these would have appeared a miracle to our forefathers a column of a daily paper-and it probably did not sell a century ago. If a man had shut his eyes only for forty hundred where the best circulated daily paper sells a thouyears, they would still appear miraculous. Let us suppose sand. Here, therefore, is two hundred-fold as much mea reverend gentleman, of the days of hair powder and chanical labour employed upon the modern paper as upon the queues, arrived in London from some distant place, where ancient; that labour is performed every day instead of once for some quarter of a century his eyes had never looked upon a week; and it is performed in a fifth of the time. The the wonders of "the broad sheet." He arrives at a time of rapidity which begins in the very first process of writing, great public excitement. He gains admittance to the gal- is continued through the editing, printing, and publishing; lery of the House of Commons. Everything there is interest- and is followed up with equal rapidity in every stage of its ing to him. The topics are unfamiliar; the speakers are circulation. Far removed must he be from the haunts of new. He sits there, a patient listener, till four o'clock. men who does not know all the details of a public event The House rises; and he perceives the hour with dismay, within a week, at the utmost, from the period of its occurrence, for he has taken his place in the "Birmingham Tally ho" at ás familiarly as he knows the circumstances that have been eight. The old gentleman is punctual; but he enjoys a going on in his own family-much more familiarly, in many short nap, and, to his inexpressible surprise, he finds himself cases, than the argumentations of his own little senate, the at breakfast at St. Alban's, within two hours of starting. Parish Vestry. The old gentleman is refreshed, and becomes communicative. A fellow-passenger is poring over the "Times;" and the following dialogue may be imagined, the veteran beginning:"I can give you a little fresher news than that, Sir: I was in the House of Commons this morning, and heard all the debate." “Thank you, Sir, I have it all here."-"I mean last night Sir! That I presume is yesterday's paper.""I beg your pardon, Sir, it is the 'Times of this morning." -"Indeed: but then it can't contain last night's debate, you know."-" Every word of it,-twenty columns, small print; and the division." There are some persons who think that all this activity of newspapers is a public evil. This species of opinion has been endeavouring to make head against every diffusion of knowledge by the press, since the invention of printing. In some states, the opinion is still acted upon by those in authority; and newspapers are put by the government under censorships. It is long since, in our own country, they have been attempted to be thus controlled. Cardinal Wolsey was of opinion, when the invention of printing had brought schism into the church, that since printing could not be put down, it were best to set up learning A smile of incredulity passes over the countenance of the against learning;" and, in the same way, when L'Estrange ancient stranger, but he resolves to be satisfied. In another (who appears to have represented the court of Charles II.) hour, he has the paper in his hand. As he begins to wade began his " Intelligencer," he says, "There is not any through the almost interminable mass which contains as thing which at this instant more imports his Majesty's many words as some goodly hot-pressed volume, his cu- service and the public, than to redeem the vulgar from riosity is roused; his wonder is boundless; he hears the their former mistakes and delusions, and to preserve them very phrases which he listened to with such interest only a from the like for the time to come; to both which purfew hours before; he can discover no inaccuracy in the arposes the prudent management of a Gazette may contriguments; quotations are given with scrupulous fidelity; bute in a very high degree." L'Estrange was wise enough the calculations that he could not follow as a listener are to set up newspaper against newspaper, as Wolsey was wise Seventeen here presented to his eye with all the clearness of tabular enough to set up learning against learning. arrangement. He applies for information to his fellow-pas-years after the publication of L'Estrange's "Intelligencer," sengers: and, towards the end of his journey, he imperfectly the government was weak enough to make proclamation comprehends that, by the division of labour, mental as well "for suppressing the printing and publishing unlicensed as physical, followed up by powerful machinery whose ope-news-books and pamphlets of news." The proclamation rations may be depended upon to a minute, such a wonder as the paper before him may be produced. But that it should be produced every day with undeviating punctuality, and should attempt every day completely to satisfy public curiosity, even up to the very hour when it is printing, seems to him somewhat unnecessary. He does not yet know the eagerness with which large communities watch and wait upon public events. He will soon learn. At seven o'clock of the same evening, he is at dinner at an hotel in Birmingham. The waiter puts the "Times" into his hand -"Grand debate, Sir, last night," says a gentleman in the opposite box. "Debate, Sir! what have you read the debate already?" "Oh dear yes, Sir; the paper was here by express at three o'clock; and a deputation of the Political Union are gone off, in consequence, with a petition to the House, that we hope will settle the question." "Wonder of wonders," says the old gentleman, "when will these wonders cease?" They have not yet ceased for him. At his breakfast the next morning a Birmingham paper is laid upon the table, in which, it being Saturday, he expects under the postscript, according to the old arrangement of provincial newspapers, "London Mail, Tuesday. Instead of this, he finds two columns of editorial comment upon the "What Dawks and Dyer have of news." These writers of news letters were hitched into the immortality of a Latin Ode, by one Anthony Alsop. was put forth in vain. When a country is making even the faintest approaches to a representative government, the people will be informed upon those public affairs, in the transaction of which they have a share, however remote. When their representative system is really a valid one, no attempts to interrupt the dissemination of this species of knowledge, directly by censorship, or indirectly by tax, can ever long succeed. There is a question at issue between two classes of political thinkers of the present day, whether the tax upon newspapers ought to remain as it is, or be partially, or entirely, abolished. The question, as it appears to us, may be narrowed, by being divided. The taxation of newspapers has to be considered, first, with reference to the amount of revenue to be raised by the tax; and secondly, with reference to the political expediency of curtailing or extending the circulation of newspapers. With regard to the first point, we have no doubt that the revenue produced by newspapers would not be diminished,it might rather be increased,-by the reduction of the tax, from a nominal stamp of fourpence to a real stamp of a penny. We use the word nominal stamp, as distinguished from real stamp, because there is a discount of twenty per cent. from the fourpenny stamp. This proposed deduction of about 21d. from the cost of a newspaper, so as to allow what is now sold at sevenpence to be sold at fourpence, would no doubt treble the circulation of newspapers; and the increased excise duty upon paper might produce a surplus over the present amount of newspaper revenue. This, then, is a question of finance, to be solved like any other question of the same nature. A low duty is often capable of producing more revenue than a high duty; and if newspapers are to be taxed, let them be taxed in the way most favourable for production. If it be convenient to raise half a million of money upon newspapers, in preference to raising it upon any other article of luxury or necessity, there can be no good reason why it should not be so raised. All taxes are evils, and more especially those taxes which impede production. A tax upon knowledge may be a great evil, and so may be a tax upon cleanliness, or a tax upon ventilation. The tax upon newspapers, as tax, stands in the same relation to the individual consumer, as the tax upon soap or upon windows. The question of revenue in this case, as in all others, should be separated from any supposed incidental consequences of taxation, to be rightly understood. But if the increase of newspapers be considered an evil, and the continuance of the high duty be advocated for the prevention of that evil, let us consider the question apart from that of revenue. Let the tax, in that point of view, stand upon the same grounds as a censorship, or a privilege, for the accomplishment of the same ends. newspaper purchasers, those papers will have the best hope of a large circulation who deal with great political subjects, not in the spirit of partisanship, and therefore of insincerity, but with an honest, trustworthy, and comprehensive spirit. Those, as we think, will be the most popular, who take the ele ments of political philosophy for their guides; not exaggerating the slander of the day for a momentary triumph, and, above all, recollecting that they are addressing a people who have recently become invested with political power, to a much larger extent than they ever before possessed it. The people, if we know them rightly, will not be led away from a deep sense of the responsibilities of that power, by the sophistry or the violence of any phrase writer, however skilful he may be in his vocation. Whatever may be the future complexion of the newspaper press of this country, there can be no doubt that every lover of our national peace and prosperity must ardently desire the diffusion of sound political knowledge. The people of England, by the recent great change in the constitution, have acquired the power not only of influencing the measures of government by the force of public opinion, but of controlling and directing them more immediately than at any former period of our history. It is not only necessary that the people should feel their rights, but that they should exercise them wisely and temperately. They cannot The people of this country, as it appears to us, have been do so without political knowledge. Without political knowmaking rapid strides during the last half century in the ac- ledge it might be possible that the nation would suffer as quisition of sound political knowledge. They have been much from the ignorance of the many who will influence making these strides concurrently with the increase of news- public affairs, as from the selfishness of the few who have papers. In 1782, when the population of Great Britain was influenced them. Political knowledge, like all other knowabout 7,000,000, the number of separate newspapers pub-ledge, is tolerant and considerate: it does not live in an lished was 58; in 1821, when the population was 14,000,000, element of incessant agitation; it does not spurn the good the number was 166; in 1832, when the population was above which is proposed to be accomplished because it may fall 16,000,000, the number was 294. We had thus in 1782, one something short of the good which may be imagined; it newspaper to each 110,000 of the population; in 1821, one does not consider that true patriotism consists only in the to each 90,000; and in 1832 one to each 55,000. In the clamour for the repeal of a doubtful tax, or in the needless United States the increase has been still more rapid. Be- assertion of an inapplicable principle. True political knowfore the Revolution, in 1775, there were only 37 newspapers ledge weighs every measure of finance, but not in the scale of in the British North American colonies. In 1810, when the some hunter of popularity anxious to please his little knot of population of the United States was 7,000,000, the number constituents. It tests it by the examination of its effect upon of newspapers was 358, or one newspaper to about every the general national industry,-not partially, but comprehen20,000 of the population. In 1830, when the population sively;-not by the shopkeeper's petty cash book, but by the was above 12,000,000, the number of newspapers was above great ledger of the wealth of nutions. True political know800, or one to about every 15,000 of the population. The ledge, whilst it is thus always ready to refer to principles, newspapers of the United States bear no tax at all; but the knows also that the sudden application of the wisest prineipostage, if the paper be not carried above one hundred miles, ple may be the grossest injustice. It does not degrade the is one cent (about one halfpenny). Now, during all the pe- principle by a hasty and imprudent application of it, but riod of this rapid increase of the circulation of newspapers, by waiting upon events it ultimately secures their direction. both in Great Britain and the United States, it cannot be It knows its own power and it abides its time. We believe shown that the people of either country have fallen back in that a competent knowledge of public affairs, and a tolerably real political knowledge. On the contrary, we have no doubt correct appreciation of their moving principles, will lead the that they have each made a great and rapid advance in the great bulk of the people very far towards the attainment knowledge of their own duties, as well as of their own rights. of sound political knowledge; and in spite, therefore, of the We believe that while they have each become more impa- passions and prejudices of individual newspapers, we have tient of misgovernment, they have each acquired a greater no fear of their general extension. The good sense of the capacity to be honestly, wisely, and quietly governed. The British community will give the preference to the soundest time, we hope, is fast passing away (although the argument adviser; and that adviser will ever be found the most has recently been used) when a distinction shall be attempted honest, and we believe, in the long run, the most attrac to be made between the ability of the great and that of the tive, who rests upon facts and principles which take no humble to comprehend a political question. We do not be- colour from the false opinions of the hour. lieve that all newspapers, with an expensive stamp, must necessarily be the advocates of social order, and especially the defenders of the rights of property. We do not think that a low stamped newspaper must, to be acceptable to the poorer classes of readers, put forward doctrines which have for their object the subversion of all society, and the establishment of anarchy upon the ruins of law. We believe that the humbler classes of newspaper readers are not to be captivated so easily as the writers of some newspapers imagine, by the rhetorical graces which have such a peculiar charm in their own little coteries. Violent denunciations and the most perverse misconstructions of the motives of every man in office, incessant sneers, never-ending suspicions, hatred of every practical measure of improvement, unceasing agitation to change the state machinery, indifference or opposition to its most useful workings, outpourings of personal spite, and chucklings of personal vanity-these are not the materials to please an earnest and straightforward population; and the papers who deal in such wares will not find the demand for them extended with the extension of the market. On the contrary, we have no doubt that should a reduction of the tax add greatly to the number of individual newspapers, because adding to the number of NOTICE. The COMPANION TO THE NEWSPAPER, No. 2, will be published on the 1st of April; and on the same day will be published a SUPPLEMENT, being No. 3. LONDON-CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. London, GROOMBRIDGE, Falmouth, Philp. noster-row. Bath, Simms. Birmingham, Drake. Liverpool, Willmer & Smith. Nottingham, Wright. Bury St. Edmunds, Lan-Landovery, D. R. & W. Lane End, Staffordshire, kester. Derby, Wilkins & Son. & Rees. C. Watts. Worcester, Deighton. Dublin, Wakeman, Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES, Stamford-street. Parliamentary Reporting CONTENTS. APRIL 1, 1833. PARLIAMENTARY REPORTING. WHAT should we now think of a newspaper which gave no reports of the debates in Parliament? Yet little more than sixty years since" none of our newspapers contained anything of the kind. Although accounts of single speeches, and even of entire debates, had been occasionally printed from a much earlier date, the only regular record of parliamentary proceedings which was given to the public up to within a century of the present time was that contained in the "Historical Register" and the "Political State of Europe," both of which were only annual publications. Parliament at this time sternly asserted its right to prohibit all promulgation of its doings through the press, at least while it was sitting; and many persons maintained that it had the power to prevent any publication of its debates even during the recess. Nay, it was not quite clear that an account might be printed, with perfect impunity, of the debates even of a defunct Parliament. In 1713 Sir Robert Walpole, in concert with Lord Somers and other eminent persons of the Whig party, wrote a pamphlet, under the title of " A short History of the last Parliament," intended to influence the coming elections. It appeared anonymously; and many years afterwards, Sir Robert himself, when prime minister, stated in his place in the House of Commons, that the author of that pamphlet " was so apprehensive of the consequence of printing it, that the press was carried to his house and the copies printed off there." The monthly magazines were the first publications, appearing more frequently than once a year, which ventured to give reports of the debates. In January, 1731, the first of these, the "Gentleman's Magazine," was established by Edward Cave, for the purpose simply, as announced in the first number, of collecting into a permanent repository the most interesting and valuable of the fugitive pieces from the various newspapers and other sheets, or rather half sheets, which had appeared during the month. Of these it is stated that, "besides divers written accounts, no less than two hundred per month were then thrown from the press only in London, and about as many printed elsewhere in the three kingdoms." As none of these publications, however, gave the debates, so neither did the Magazine. It was not till the year 1735 that it began to do so, upon the discontinuance of the" Political State." At the head of the number for July of that year, printed at the end of the month, appeared the following announcement:Note.-The Gentleman's Magazine Extraordinary will be published about the 20th day of August, and will contain Proceedings of the last session of Parliament." The supplementary number, accordingly, came out, we presume about the day thus announced, with a report of the debate in the House of Lords on the 23d of January preceding. The history of parliamentary proceedings, it was promised at the end, should be continued in the number for August; and from this time, accordingly, the report of the speeches forms a prominent feature in each month's publication. Still, however, it will be perceived this was no publication of the debates during the sitting of the houses; the session was always over before anything that had been done in the course of it was given in the Magazine. And even while following, as they did, at this respectful distance, the reports were of the most cautious and timid description. The names of the speakers were given at most only by the first and last letters; and, in many cases, no speaker's name is mentioned VOL. I. 66 Price 2d. at all all that appears is a summary of the discussion, divided into what the compiler designates the argument, the answer, and the reply. As so much, however, was allowed to be done with impunity, the publisher gradually got bolder; and at last the names were printed at full length. The reports were thus given both in the "Gentleman's" and the "London Magazine: in the former, by a well-known literary labourer of those days, Mr. William Guthrie, the author of a voluminous History of England and other works; and in the latter by Mr. Thomas Gordon, the translator of Tacitus: they were both Scotchmen. They used to attend themselves in the gallery of the House of Commons, and also received information from various members of both houses. Sir John Hawkins, in his Life of Johnson, says that " Cave had an interest with some of the members of both houses, arising from an employment he held in the post-office;" but the editor of Hansard's " Parliamentary History" (see Preface to vol. x.) states that the reports in the “London Magazine" are for some years much superior to those in the "Gentleman's;" and that, throughout 1737 in particular, those in the latter publication are copied verbatim from those in the former, down to errors in the press. Obtained as they were, these reports, it may easily be supposed, were often extremely inaccurate, and no doubt frequently contained misrepresentations annoying enough to individual speakers. As they assumed a more daring and unguarded shape, without probably any accession of accuracy, they naturally excited the irritation of those members who were most jealous of any infringement of what they conceived to be the privileges of Parliament; and, accordingly, the subject was at last formally noticed in the House of Commons. On the 13th of April, 1738, the Speaker himself introduced it by complaining of the indignity done to the house by the publication, in some newspaper, of the answer to the address before it had been read from the chair. On this a long and very curious debate arose. It was begun by Sir William Yonge, who strenuously urged the house to take instant measures to put down the abuse which had grown up. It was, he maintained, altogether a false notion which was held by some, that the standing order against the publication of their debates was in force only while Parliament was sitting. Reports, even during the recess, he contended, were equally infringements of their privilege. 'If you do not," he continued, "either punish them, or take some effectual method of checking them, you may soon expect to see your votes, your proceedings, and your speeches, printed and hawked about the streets, while we are sitting in this house." Little did the honourable member think that in this tirade, which was probably intended as a mere flourish of oratory, he was describing, almost to the letter, a state of things which a few years were to realize. The next speaker was Sir William Windham. His address was more moderate. While acknowledging that misrepresentations frequently occurred in the reports, he states that he had seen many speeches fairly and accurately taken; adding that "no gentleman, when that is the case, ought to be ashamed that the world should know every word he speaks in this house." He admits, however, that the mistakes of the reports had of late been monstrous. But still he objects to the prohibition of the publication of the debates during the recess, on the ground that the public, having been long indulged with some account of what their representatives say, may possibly think it a hardship to be deprived of it now." He even ventures to insinuate that they have, in his opinion, a right to this information. This declaration, which, in the temper of the house, must have been received as quite an outrageous piece of absurdity, roused Sir Thomas Winnington, who began his speech by declaring eagerly for a strong resolution to put down the nuisance in every shape. Have not the Lords, he argued, lately punished some printers for publishing their C |