stamp duties

Hi,

I am not quite sure about the meaning of the underlined sentence. Could anyone do me a favor?


The stamp duties, like the ongoing prosecutions for seditious and blasphemous libel, hepled to realize this aim, but did not succeed in curbing the influence of the illegal unstamped press entirely. Rather, it was the convergence of these interests with those of advertisers which proved to be even more effective in soliencing oppositional voice.

Thank you very much. :D

Mei

[Tdol]

I#m afraid I need a little morecontext to work out what the interests were- could you give me a paragraph or two that came before it? Thanks

[Tdol]

I#m afraid I need a little morecontext to work out what the interests were- could you give me a paragraph or two that came before it? Thanks