London, June 18. There were several curious circumstances 
connected with the publication of Prince Albert’s speech and 
Palmerston’s reply. The speeches were made at Trinity House* on 
Saturday, June 9. The following Monday the daily newspapers 
only mentioned the annual dinner of the Trinity Brotherhood in 
passing, without dwelling on Prince Albert’s toast. Not until 
Wednesday, June 13, did The Daily News print the toast and the 
speech of thanks, followed by The Times on Thursday, June 14. It 
has turned out that their publication was a trick of Lord 
Palmerston’s to restore his own popularity at the expense of his 
royal wellwisher. Prince Albert has now discovered at his own 
expense where “‘self-sacrificing confidence” in the noble viscount 
leads, the sort of confidence that he recommended so eagerly to 
the country. The following extract from Reynolds’ Weekly will show 
how Prince Albert’s toast was received by the majority of the 
weekly press. Reynolds’ Weekly,” it should be noted, has a circulation 
of 2,496,256 copies. After detailed criticism it goes on to say: 

“The royal censor maintains that no want or weakness exist, which is not at once 
denounced, and even sometimes exaggerated with a kind of morbid satisfaction. The 
patience of the English people is proverbial; [...] like Issachar, they may be compared 
to an ass crouched down between two burdens—usury and land monopoly; but this 
taunt of the Prince-Consort is the most insolent and deadly insult with which even 
Englishmen have borne. “Morbid satisfaction!” That is, the English people have a 

‘morbid satisfaction’ in contemplating the horrible sufferings to which [...] treason and 
aristocratic imbecility have exposed our heroic soldiers— morbid satisfaction at having 
been made the dupes of Austria—morbid satisfaction at having squandered 
40,000,0001 of treasure and lost 40,000 of the bravest human lives—morbid 
satisfaction at having excited the distrust of the ally whom we profess to help, and the 
contempt of the foe whom we wish to chastise. But the charge is not only insolent and 
insulting, it is also false and calumnious in the highest degree. Whatever may be the 
faults of the English people—and heaven knows they are many—they have no 
satisfaction in the miseries and disasters of their soldiers and sailors, nor in the 
disgrace that have been entailed on the national character [...] with the exception of 
royal Germans, aristocratic traitors and their abominable and disgusting parasites... 
At the same time, we are prepared to admit that it is very difficult for an obese and 
lazy Sybarite and feather-bed soldier to conceive of the sufferings and trials of real 
soldiers and sailors.... There is one thing in which we agree with the royal warrior. 
Constitutionalism is an enormous sham—a most clumsy, bungling, incongruous, and 
mischievous form of government. But the Prince is silly in supposing that there is no 
other alternative than despotism. We beg to remind him that there is such a thing as 
republicanism —an alternative to which it is possible for this nation to have recourse, 
and in the direction of which, we think, the current of public opinion is tending, 
rather than to the unlimited despotism which the martial Prince covets.” 

Thus writes Reynolds’ [Weekly Newspaper]. 

The new Act for the abolition of stamp duty on newspapers received 
the royal assent last Sunday and will come into force on June 30. 
Thereafter, stamp duty is only required on copies to be sent free 
by post. Of the London dailies, The Morning Herald is the only one 
to announce that it will reduce its price from 5d.to 4d. A large 
number of weeklies, on the other hand, such as Lloyd’s,” Reynolds’, 
The People’s Paper, etc., have already announced a reduction from 
3d.to 2d. A new London daily, the Courter and Telegraph, in the 
same format as The Times, is announced, price 2d. As for new 
weekly papers at 2d., the following have appeared in London to 
date: The Pilot (Catholic magazine); the Illustrated Times and Mr. 
Charles Knight’s Town and Country Paper. Finally Messrs. Willet 
and Ledger have given notice of a new weekly London penny 
paper.° What is more significant, though, is the revolution in the 
provincial press caused by the abolition of stamp duty. In Glasgow 
alone four new daily penny papers are to appear. In Liverpool 
and Manchester the papers that have hitherto only appeared 
weekly or twice weekly are to turn into dailies at 3d.,2d.,and 1d. 
The emancipation from London of the provincial press, the 

* Reynolds’ Newspaper, No. 253, June 17, 1815.— Ed. 

decentralisation of journalism was, in fact, the main aim of the 
Manchester School in their fierce and protracted campaign against 
stamp duty.