A Hundred Years Ago
" THE SPECTATOR," Auov'si, 1ST, 1835.
CONSEQUENCES OF REPEALING THE NEWSPAPER-TAX.
TnE publication of the unstamped daily paper, which we noticed last week, has been relinquished, fur i lie present ; in consequence, it is said, of threatened proceedings by the Government against the parties concerned in it. Yesterday, some unstamped papers were seized at a shop in the Strand ; and at Portsmouth, two venders of theM have been fined, and compelled to desist from the business. It appears, therefore, that the Government has begun to stir in the matter : will it persevere ? if it do, we venture to predict that in a few weeks. it will become one of the most unpopular Administrations that over existed ; for a'stirer method of acquiring odium no set of men could adopt. But it is understood that the effect of these measures of severity is.soon to be neutralized by the repeal of part, if not all, of the Stamp-duty on newspapers
let it be all I—for the sake of the Government itself—of those engaged in the maintenance and conduct of newspapers—but chiefly for the sake of the great nines of the people, now, in spite of .High Churchmen and Tories, become a reading public.
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