+--------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------------+ | |No. of | No. of | No. of| Amount of | | |Papers.| Stamps. | Adver-|Advertisement| | | | | tise- | Duty. | | | | | ments.| | +--------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------------+ |London Papers, | 93 |15,100,197|292,033|£21,902 9 6| |English Provincial Papers,| 217 | 7,290,452|317,474| 23,810 11 0| |Welsh Papers, | 10 | 190,955| 6,499| 487 6 6| |Edinburgh Papers, | 13 | 768,071| 20,579| 1,543 9 6| |Scotch Provincial Papers, | 46 | 1,121,658| 45,371| 3,402 16 8| |Dublin Papers, | 21 | 1,493,838| 45,848| 2,292 8 0| |Irish Provincial Papers, | 60 | 1,049,358| 41,284| 2,064 4 0| | +-------+----------+-------+-------------+ |Total in Great Britain } | | | | | | and Ireland, } | 460 |27,014,529|769,088|£55,503 5 2| +--------------------------+-------+----------+-------+-------------+ The reduction to which we have alluded was followed in 1853 by the total abolition of the advertisement duty, the effect of which can be best appreciated by a glance at the columns of any daily or weekly paper, class or general, which possesses a good circulation. The first paper published in Ireland was a sheet called _Warranted Tidings from Ireland_, and this appeared during the rebellion of 1641; but the first Irish newspaper worthy of the name was the _Dublin Newsletter_, commenced in 1685. _Pue’s Occurrences_, a Dublin daily paper, originated in 1700, was continued for half a century, and was followed in 1728 by another daily paper, _Faulkner’s Journal_, established by one George Faulkner, “a man celebrated for the goodness of his heart and the weakness of his head.” The oldest existing Dublin papers are _Saunders’s_ (originally _Esdaile’s_) _Newsletter_, begun in 1744, and the _Freeman’s Journal_, instituted under the title of the _Public Register_, by Dr Lucas in 1755. The _Limerick Chronicle_, the oldest Irish provincial newspaper, dates from 1768. Ireland has now nearly 150 newspapers, most of them celebrated for the energy of their language and the extreme fervour of their political opinions. Their Conservatism and Liberalism are nearly equally divided; about a score take independent views, and nearly fifty completely eschew politics. Irish newspapers flourish as vehicles for advertisement, and their tariffs are about on a par with those of our leading provincial journals.