o by the chancellor of the exchequer, that 1530
square inches, of which the paper might consist without any additional
duty, should be limited to the printed part of the sheet, excluding the
margin, which would meet the size of every paper in the metropolis.
If the sheet exceeded 1530 square inches, but did not exceed 2295, an
additional duty of one halfpenny was to be paid; and if it exceeded
the latter quantity, an additional duty of one penny. Supplements were
likewise to pay a penny additional. Mr. Grote subsequently moved that
every newspaper should be stamped with a die peculiar to itself--an
enactment which was introduced into the bill. The bill enacted that two
proprietors of a newspaper should be registered along with the printer
and publisher. The Radicals contended that every proprietor should be
registered at the stamp-office, and on the third reading a clause
to this effect was carried, the chancellor of the exchequer himself
agreeing to it, he conceiving that it might establish a salutary system
of restraint. When the bill went up to the lords this was the only
clause which encountered opposition; and Lord Lyndhurst moved that it
should be omitted, on the ground that the regulations contained in it
were arbitrary, inquisitorial, unjust, and unnecessary. It was defended
by the lord-chancellor and Lord Melbourne; but the motion was carried
by a majority of sixty-one against forty. The bill was returned to
the commons without any other alteration; but on the motion of the
chancellor of the exchequer it was laid aside, on the principle that the
privileges of the members of the house of commons did not permit them
to entertain an amended money-bill. The chancellor of the exchequer,
however, immediately brought in a bill which was an exact copy of the
one laid aside, except that the provisions in dispute were omitted, and
this bill passed both houses without delay.

The speech from the throne on the opening of the session had recommended
an addition of five thousand men to the navy. This increase was
explained during the session to be necessary for the protection of
British merchants in various parts of the globe--in the Pacific, at
Lima, Mexico, Valparaiso, the coast of Peru, the northern coasts of
the Brazils, the West Indies, Newfoundland, and the East India and the
African stations. Demands had been made in all these quarters, and it
was impossible to comply with them without withdrawing the British naval
fo