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Untitled Article
the strongest terms a sense of their grievances . Say that the language of such a journal should be intemperate in the highest degree , and it would still be better that the public should be roused , by such means , to consider the actual physical and moral condition of so large a portion of the population , than that the subject should be forced upon the attention by the fearful spectacle of the midnight conflagration which is now so often witnessed .
Even were we to advance a step further , and admit that cheap journals would exist , in which incendiarism would be openly advocated , yet as the same cheapness would be given to innumerable other journals in which the madness and folly of such a doctrine would be plainl y exposed , much less mischief would be done than by the present policy , which forbids an antidote to the poison already in existence .
mere is no greater tallacy than the notion that it is better to prevent the diffusion of information than to risk the propagation of error . It is only the ignorance and credulity of mankind which render error dangerous , and there is no other way to remove that ignorance and credulity , than to allow the most unlimited discussion of all known facts and opinions . Since the press was first introduced , of how many follies and fables has it been made the organ ; yet is the world less enlightened than before the art of printing was discovered ? No permanent evil can arise from publishing error , where every one is at liberty to publish the truth through the same channel , and it is surely better that error should be openly taught than secretly disseminated : while we are ignorant of its existence , wo know not the extent of
the delusion , nor the danger to be apprehended from it ; but when it is openly avowed , we may array our forces against it , and drive it from its strong holds . If we would really get rid of the mischievous doctrines which are cherished among sections of the working classes , let us encourage every man to speak out ; a free discussion of the policy of incendiarism , could the minds of its abettors be opened to discussion , would do more to put down the practice than a thousand special commissions .
A friend to the taxes on knowledge has lately appeared in the person of Captain Hamilton , by whom we are told that the only effect of their repeal would be to extend the circulation of journals of the worst description , and to create a host of others of the same class . This opinion is echoed by the Editor of ' The Globe , ' who tells us , that instead of cheap knowledge we should raise the cry for cheap gin , for such would bo the character of the trash most eagerly coveted by the public . The argument \ ipon which these assertions are founded , is that the sale of a work depends not so much upon its intrinsic excellence as upon the intelligence of its readers , and the extent of the circle b y whom its intelligence can be appreciated . The promises aro true , but the inference is obviously incorrect . Because
Untitled Article
106 The Taxes on Knowledge .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1834, page 106, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2630/page/22/
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