§ MR. BRIGHTsaid, he wished to put a question to the right hon. Chancellor of the Exchequer relating to the subject upon which the hon. Member for Birmingham (Mr. Scholefield) had appealed to the hon. and learned Attorney General, and on which occasion reference was made to the right hon. Gentleman for an answer. The late Government promised to introduce a Bill to amend the Newspaper Stamp Act, and the matter was thought an urgent one, on account of the litigation that might arise upon the knotty point left in doubt by the existing law. He therefore wished to ask whether pending the consideration of the question, the legal proceedings against Mr. Dickens, in the case of the Household Narrative, were to be put a stop to, and whether other persons, acting according to the judgment that was given in that gentleman's case, would be freed from prosecution by the Government?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, said, that it had not fallen to his lot to conduct the case against Mr. Dickens, and no notice whatever had been taken of this subject in his department, nor had it in any way been brought before him until within the last three or four days, and then it was not with reference to Mr. Dickens. The course that he had taken was to direct a case to be prepared and submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown, upon which they would advise the Government with regard to the state of the law. That was the only step that he had the power to take, and he believed it was the one most calculated for the solution of the question. With regard to any legal proceedings having been taken 352 on the subject, he had no information, and was not aware of any.
§ MR. BRIGHTsaid, that this was a question in which parties were liable to very heavy penalties, and all that he meant to ask was, that, pending the inquiry into the matter by the Government, no legal proceedings should be taken against individuals, which might be ruinous to them.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, that if any regular representation were made to him on behalf of particular individuals, he should be happy to give it his best consideration; but from giving a hypothetical answer at the present moment upon circumstances not under consideration, he hoped that he would be excused.