Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/450

Rh 420 NEWSPAPERS [ENGLAND, Com- Nearly thirty years ago (in 1855) the total number of London parative daily newspapers was 15 ; it is still (in 1883) only 18. The statistics, total number of London newspapers of all kinds increased from 89 in 1855 to 386 in 1883. In 1855 the total number of provincial newspapers published throughout the United Kingdom was 560 ; in 18S3 it was 1576. The whole number of daily newspapers in the provinces at the former date was but 13 ; at the latter it was 162. This vast growth is due in the main to altered legislation rather than to altered economic conditions. Some account must now be given of the Government restrictions on the British newspaper press, commencing with the Stamp Act of 1712. In 1756 an additional halfpenny was added to the tax of 1712. In 1765 and in 1773 various restrictive regulations were imposed (5 Geo. III. c. 46, and 13 Geo. III. c. 65). In 1789 the three- halfpence was increased to twopence (29 Geo. III. c. 50), in 1797 to twopence-halfpenny (37 Geo. III. c. 90), in 1804 to three pence-halfpenny (44 Geo. III. c. 98), and in 1815 to fourpence, less a discount of 20 per cent. Penalties of all kinds were also increased, and obstructive regulations were multiplied. In the course of the struggle between this constantly enhanced taxation and the irrepressible desire for cheap newspapers, more than seven hundred prosecutions for publishing unstamped journals were insti tuted, and more than five hundred persons were imprisoned, some times for considerable periods. As the prosecutions multiplied and the penalties became more severe, Poor Man s Guardians, Demo crats, Destructives, and their congeners multiplied also, and their revolutionary tendencies increased in a still greater ratio. Blas phemy was added to sedition. Penny and halfpenny journals were established which dealt exclusively with narratives of gross vice and crime, and which vied with each other in every kind of artifice to make vice and crime attractive. Between the years 1831 and 1835 many scores of unstamped newspapers made their app earance. Papers such as those enumerated above swarmed from presses that seemed to rival, in their mysterious itinerancy and sudden vanish- ings, the famous Marprelate press of the 16th century. The politi cal tone of most of them was fiercely revolutionary. Prosecution followed prosecution; but all failed to suppress the obnoxious publications. To the late Lord Lytton is due the credit of grappling with this question in the House of Commons in a manner which secured the speedy reduction of the tax from fourpence to a penny, and paved the way for its subsequent though long-delayed abolition. The reduction to a penny took effect on the 15th September 1836. At that date the number of newspapers stamped in Great Britain and Ireland was about 36,000,000 in the year, and the gross amount of duty upwards of 553,000. Of this sum English newspapers paid 473,910, Scottish newspapers 47,999, Irish newspapers 31,287. In the year ending 9th January 1838 the first complete- year of the reduced duty the number of stamps issued wa* 53,897,926. The gross amount of duty was reduced to 223,425. (English, 182,998; Scottish, 18,671; Irish, 21,756). The results of the reduction surpassed all that had been predicted 1 by its promoters. Yet the total abolition came only in 1855. In the year ending 5th January 1855 the number of penny stamps , issued to newspapers was 107,052,053, and the gross amount of duty 446,050. The details are as follows : Number of Newspapers Stamped. Penny Stamps issued to News papers. Gross Amount of Duty thereon. England 412 87 930 085 366 375 7 1 Wales 21 1 107 434 4 614 6 2 Scotland 102 9,112,245 37 967 13 9 Ireland 108 8,902,289 37 092 17 5 Total 643 107,052,053 446,050 4 5 At the same date the following newspapers (all weekly except. The Times and Advertiser) stood highest as regards circulation and consumption of stamps: Name and Date of Establishment. Penny Stamps issued. Average Circulation. Times (1785) 15 975 739 51 648 News of the World (1843) 5,673,525 109 106 Illustrated London News (1842) Lloyd s Weekly Newspaper (1842) Weekly Times (1847) 5,627,866 5,572,897 3,902,169 108,228 107,171 75,041 Reynolds s Weekly Newspaper (1850) Morning Advertiser (1794) 2,496,256 2,392,780 48,005 7,644 Weekly Dispatch (1801) 1,982,933 38 133 The measure for the final abolition of the stamp tax was substan tially prepared by Mr Gladstone during his chancellorship of the- exchequer in 1854, but was introduced into the House of Commons by his successor in 1855. The second reading was carried by a majority of 215 to 161. In the House of Lords no division took place. To enable the reader to appreciate the legislation of June- 1855, we give here the aggregate circulation of newspapers, as shown by the number of stamps issued and as compared with the growth of population, at various periods during the century pre ceding the abolition of the stamp duty, and also the figures for the first year after the abolition took effect. Tabular View of the Aggregate Issue of Stamped Newspapers from 1753 to 1854. Population. Chief Political Events or Topics of the Year. Number of Stamps Issued. Rate of Duty (Net). 1753 1760 1790 1801 1806 1811 1814 1815 1816 1820 1825 1830 1831 1832 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1841 1843 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1851 1854 1856 England 6,186,366 French Revolution England &amp;lt; 7,411,757 9,464,790 14,035,639 16,085,085 20,532,793 24,424,713 26,308,003 L 24,385,508 r 22,050,354 29,387,843 30,451,176 34,540,496 37,713,068 37,210,691 34,748,922 35,823,859 39,423,200 53,897,926 53,680,880 58,981,078 60,759,392 65,074,219 78,586,650 83,074,638 82,380,875 86,465,684 84,069,472 91,600,000 122,178,501 1 L 39,184,474 IJd,

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ii &amp;gt; j&amp;gt; &amp;gt;j Optional Stamp. Do. . .6 479 730 Do 8,540,738 1 [-Great Britain.. - I 1 Great Britain - and Ireland. J Great Britain.... 10,942,646 Great Britain .... 12, 596,803 United Kingdom 21,272,187 United Kingdom 24,392,485 United Kingdom 27,036,450 United Kingdom 27,724,849 War with Napoleon Do. Do. Defeat of Napoleon Waterloo campaign Congress of Vienna Trial of Queen Caroline Catholic Association French Revolution of July [ Reform Bill agitation ] Stamp Duty reduced to One Penny First Year of Penny Stamp Chartist agitation [ Corn Law agitation ] Repeal of the Corn Laws Famine in Ireland European insurrections War with Russia Inclusive of prices current, trade lists, &c. , and of halfpenny stamps for supplements.