Mr. Humewished to call the attention of an hon. and learned Gentleman opposite to the fact, that prosecutions were, at the present moment, going forward against certain vendors of cheap publications under the Six Acts. He wished to know whether the Attorney General was aware of the fact?
The Attorney Generalcould not deny that he was aware of the circumstance, for he saw it stated in the public prints. Those matters were generally left in the hands of the Commissioners of Stamps. He had not been consulted on the subject, and he believed it was not usual for the law officers of the Crown to interfere.
§ Mr. Cressett Pelhamthought that the stamps on newspapers, as now imposed, 500 were eminently useful in their effects, as newspapers were thus placed under the control of men of wealth and character, who, for their own sakes, would conduct them in a more respectable manner than was likely to be the result of a pauper management.