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 CHAPTER V. DEVELOPMENT OF THE FREE PRESS. 1861-1890. In England there are four parties — individuals, the Press, Parlia- ment, and political parties — and all enjoy freedom of speech and use it. ... I have no desire to flatter ; but I am convinced that of all the four parties mentioned th6 largest advance has been made by the Press — of course I mean the highest portion of the Press, which carries a high standard of national honor. — Earl of Carnarvon, INCE the Newspaper Press has been free, its growth and improvement have been little short of marvelous. In the various towns of the United Kingdom these advances have been, by comparison, more marked than in London it- self ; in other words the Provincial Press is, through various circumstances, now able to give its readers many things which before were to be found only in the Lon- don newspapers. Railway and telegraphic facilities have deprived Metropolitan papers of the advantage they once enjoyed in the priority of publication of many matters of interest. The London daily newspapers still have dis- tinctive features of excellence arising from the literary ability of their staffs, and the enterprise and care exercised in every department of their undertakings, which only the very best of Provincial newspapers can approach ; but for copious and early news, and an interesting survey of the day's events, the morning paper which appears in Scotland, in Ireland, or in the Midl)ands, will be found quite as good as a journal issued from the precincts of Fleet Street. A brief glance at the comparative increase in the num- ber of London and country newspapers, since the Paper Duty was repealed, will show how enormously Press enter- prise has developed in the country, as compared with the