Star. — London, England, 1803-02-22 00:00:00

my client will be ailoWeal to fuller 4011 :by acfcag. The Defendant has impofed this talk ups me, and if I was not at liberty to decline, far lefs am I at liberty to betray his caufe. He will find me at leaft a faithful. zealous, intrepid, an& rearlefs ad vocate. In this place, in this drefs, I might per haps have fpared Come of the epithets. Intrepi dity is fo ufual a quality in the praftitioners at this bar, that it has ceafed to be matter of praife or boa Indeed, if ever that intrepidity bad been overborne by the weight of power, it could not have been fubdued alone,' but the independence of t our Courts, the purity of juilice--above all, the trial by jury kid& the pride of Our jutirprtuience, could not have rub fi fied. But in this Court fear never enters a heart but that of the criminal. " I have dwelt, perhaps, too long upon this point, but I hope to be forgiven. When I hate who are the real parties in this caufe, I know that in what I am going to fay, my learned Friend, the Attorney General, will underhand me candidly, and will pot imagine that I mean any reileaion upon the part he Las ailed in this affair. But I' mull fpeak it freely; the real parties in this eaufe are—the Firfi Conful of France, the molter of the greateft Empire in the Civilifed World, and my client. a poor, proferibed, helplefs, friendlefs, de fencelefs exile. M. Peltier, the Defendant, is a French Royalift, who,in the eventful year of 1792, was driven from his country along with the flower of its Nobility, the ornament of the Magiftracy, the moll venerable of its Clergy, by the daggers of thole blood-thirity favage . s who then contended for power in a cornea and rtvalfhip of hatred and perfecotion of every thing great, good, virtuous, and eftimAble. He was one of that helplefs exiles who fought an afylum in this land, at a moment when our litotes were covered by the old, the young. by women and children flying from a dearusSion that fpared neither re: nor fttuation— neither the innocence of youth, nor the infirmity of age. Of thole unhappy fugitives, the greaten part, the fad furvivors of poverty, difeafe, and the (word, of noxious climates. of mifery and broken hearts, have returned home to partake the melan choly confolation of dying in their native land.— They have been Allowed to return under condition of fubmitting to fuch obligations of fealty as were impofed upon them by the a&ual Government— fnch conditions as would have been deemed fuffi eient to fatisfy the jealoufy of a Government mere jufily And naturally jealous. It is not my bufinefs to cenfure thole conditions,or thofe who fubmitted to them. Bur, in making every allowance for thole who chofe to return to their country, you will not judge with feverity of the motives of thole who, like my client, declined from any stffeseions, however naturai, to facrifice other feelings winch they had fo long chetilhed, and a caufe they con• ficlered facred. Had the cafe been your own, I hope you would not think it unreafonable to look for pardon, or at leaft indulgence, for a ftubborn loyalty and a devoted attachment. This unfortunate gentleman, fince his exile has been compelled to employ his talents in various literary ~cettpations. After the peace be rsfolved, f-om the molt laudable motives, to abftain from' any lerious difeuffions, and publifbed the journal, called the 'ltalia, which, if the jealoufy of the moll jealous Government that ever exilled could have Ilept a moment, mull have paffed un noticed or mu colored It was not likely to be read in England, becaufe it was not in our language. It was not likely to be read in France, where the prohibition againft the introduftion of foreign jour. mils is executed with an aCtivity that °pooled an almoft infuperable barrier to its progress. The objee of it merely was, to amine a handful of friends, the finall remains of men who adhered to their old habit= and partialities, a party too weak to meditate a, attempt any thing againft a Govern ment they could not recognife. Its objee theu was to reprefent in a Rile of pleafantry an account of the ',idiot's, the intrigues, the cabals which pre vailed in a country, to whole fate it was impolEble they fhould be indifferent. In this publication of the Defendant there was nothing remarkable, ex cept one thing, which indeed exhibits a moil 144- ing illunratton of the inftability of human affairs. —My learned Ft iend, the Attorney General, has alluded to a pmfscution in this Court for a libel on that unhappy Princefs, who, after witneiEng fuch cruel reveries of fortune, and being fubjelt to fuch complication of woe, fell at laft one of the mat ;hilarious 'idiots of the fanguistary monikers of the French revolution. Now, incised, it is remark able that the Defendant's journal erns t* only one publifhed which ventured to write in favour of a ramily, within 14 years courted by all, and within 14 years protedted 42 the Queen of a mighty king dom from the afperfion of libeller by the laws . or this country. I do not mention this to quail= the right of the prtknt French Government to proteeson. 1 am fenlible that our laws will protest a Government from libellous attacks, whether it he of yefterday. or has fnbfined for one thoufand years. I doubt not that if Cromwell's Ambaffa dors bad complained at Paris of Clareadou (had he then publifised his history), of the verfes of the hiarquis of Montrofe, of the lampoons of Cuwky, or the retires of Ender, the Preadent Mole, or any other Magifirate, the ornament of French jurrf prudence, would-have adminiltered. to the ufurper the protein= of the laws. I agree with my learned Friend the Attorney Generaf, in his general prin ciples upon this fubjell ; but I could not help far ing fo much, to cots eat a favourable bearing for the defence of an exile, diftinguilked by his fidelity to his honour and loyalty, and ni.w marked out fir perfecution in tins 101 l afylum which the world Las to offer him. Indeed. I (peak it with featiments t gratitude to the Govetnenent of this country. that it is to their firmoefs it is now owing that the afylum of this country ) it remains to my untonu. tate client. tfith feelings juhly alive to she ho. n.,tir and dignity of their country. hfunners r . filled to drive the unfortunate Defendant from his I ...nd wifely refilled a demand, the e. :a cc with which world have been of the moll am- I Fuous exampl:. Be tbii as it may, howeve.,my ioent now appears in the only place in which the' st ntel hetw.:,n him and the Firll Conful of France ' could be equal. An Engle& Jury is the moll I profpee which the aim who is the TAM oe power its perfecntlon esln beholkl; Ala we mutl feel grateful to the Protedor of Empires that you are now met in fuch a caufe, in fuch co - cum. (lances, to adminiller juilice in her greatell fanc. tuary. I have Rated that the real parties in thiscaufe are the Fir( Confid of France, the matter of the rteß empire in the world, and my client, a elplefs, friendlefs exile. Notwithftanding loch difparity, however, he fubmits with confidence every thing he holds dear, his reputation, his for tune, his hopes to the honeß decifion of Twelve Englithmen. But in another repel I beg leave mod (aim* to call your attention to this caufe. It is, I will venture to alert, the beginning of a long feries of conteds between the Mailer of the welded Empire, and the only Free Prefs now in the world, This I fay, not with the leall infinu ation that my Learned Friend, the Attorney Ge neral, will ever abufe the trull and the dignity of his office to be the inßrument of the caprice or the revenge of a foreign power ; yet, if the lituation of Europe be confidered, it will be Peen that it was not without foundation I affertcd that this was but the beginning of a fcries of contells between the Mailer of the greateß Empire, and the only Free Prefs now in the world. This diflinetion, indeed, is a new and melan choly era in the hißory of human affairs. Till the great earthquake of the French Revolution had (wallowed up all the afylums of free difcuffion there exalted in Europe by the divifion of the great empires, the independence of the leffer Rates, by privilege or by indulgence, Rill preferred a Free Prefs, which poffeffed a powerful influence over opinion, and a moll important controul over the affairs of nations. In Holland, in Switzerland, this freedom esilled, as well as in different free Rates and towns of Germany. Holland and Swit zerland are no longer independant nations, and alma& fine; thetommtneement of the prefent fecution, many of the free Rates and towns of Ger many have been erafed by a dalh of the pen. Few have confidered how intereffing and important pate of the fyßem of Europe thefe divifions form ed. Great empires, in order to preferve their power and their greatnefs, are obliged to cultivate a military fpirit among their firbjefts, and to dc , fend their pretenfions by frequent wars. But the (mall Rates were exempted from that neceflity, and they had leifure to examine the tranfaftions I which pallid around them. Thus they formed a fort of audience and a public opinion, which pof felled an efficient influence and controul, becaufe no integrity, however high, no crime, however powerful, can render men wholly indifferent to praife or blame. There intereßing parts of the European (yawn enjoying the molt perfea fecuri ty, the moll indifpnted quiet, fublifted for ages as the molt fkriking monuments of the 'plaice, the mo deration, and the forbearance which Chriffian Eu rope had attained, and proves the high degree of its prngrefs in the virtues. as well as in the arts of eivilifation. Now all this is gone, and what is to fucceed it we hardly dare to conjecture. This we know,however, that the rnodet ation which had been introduced into the Councils of Erbpires, and that freedom from raft and extravagant enterprifes of ambition which we have fees for near a century, was owing to that public opinion, to that indepen dent, impartial audience which the freedom of dif e uffi n n in the (mailer Rates had formed. By mean s of this difcaffion, a meafure of great injußice, alarm ing to the general intereßs of the European fyf tem, was immediately denounced by preffes. Now from Palermo to Hambnrgh not one free prefs re mains on the Continent. In England alone a free prefs is to be found. Our free prefs, proteCted by our ancient laws, and by the valour and gallantry of the Englith nation, 11111 remains. It is an aw. ful, but it is a proud confideration, that the fabric of Liberty reared by our anceltors, Rill "Rands ere& It (lands indeed amida the ruins of the ci wailed world. It fiends alone. Placed in this critical &nation, furrounded by dangers, ailing as the advanced guard of Liberty, fighting in the front of the battle in a (cries of contells for a free prefs,allow me to remind you what your ancellors thought of the importance of a free difeuffion, par ticalarly as it iegirds foreign affairs. Our anceflors, Gentlemen of the Jury, were too wife, too prudent, to attempt to define by pre cite defcriptions the vague and fhifting boundaries ' between what fhould be reckoned innocent as hit. . tomtit difentrion, or criminal as defamation. They never attempted a thing fo vain, fo fruitlefs, and even fo dangerous, as to fix the limits, and to af fign permanent charaders to what was incapable of being reduced to any general Ilandard. They were contented with laying, that whatever was malignant towards the individual,feditioin towards the State, and mifchievous in the intention in the difetifflon of the conduit of a foreign power, fhould be tried and determined upon the merits and the cireumlbinces of each particular cafe. They trolled for the protealon of that free difcuffion Which they Co highly prized,to the moderation of Magiflrates. Nor has their confidence been mifplaced. Making allowance for the imperfection, the tempers, the vices, perhaps, of individuals, it may be fairly maintained, that, fine the revolution, the confi dence of our anceflors in the judgment and good feat of the MagiA rates, whore province it is to put the law in force againft offenders, has never been difgraced t and I am Pure that in the hands of my Learned Friend, the prefent Attorney-General, that utak will never be attended with dithouour to the &ate, or with opprellion to the fubjea. But they nulled, too, to the candour, the good fenfe, the moderation of Juries—popular in their origin, popular in their conflitution, popular in their feel ing, chats from the mats of the people. and, after performing their duty, returning back again to the body of the people. Our ancellors trulled that while libels would be checked by fuch an admini- Malkin of jullice, by fuch tribunals , while libels fhoulii be checked, free difcuffion would be encou raged. Englifli juries, indeed, have decided that libel refembles no other fpecies of offence. In other offences they were fenfible that rigour of punifhment (truck tenor only among the guilty ; in matter of libels they were fenfible that rigour of I punifinnent Bruck terror only among the innocent. The reafon of this too is obvious. They knew that it was impoftble to define, to &keratin with Con the boundaries of difeufilim and of hit t^ to aetermine when we are within the territo ries of the one or of the other. In thefe eircum. flames, rigour of punilhment of libels in difcullion, particularly of foreign proceedings, tends to pro duce that difcouragement, alarm, and timidity, which difqualify men from pointing out with force the dangers with which their country may be threatened. It is not from the trembling viaim who dreads the vengeance of the Potentate whore defigns he expofes, that a nation need expel to be warned of its danger, to be admonithed of its errors, or routed to the fpirit and the firmnefs by which fafety muff be obtained. " But it is not on thefe general i grounds, Gen tlemen of the Jury, that I earnelily mprefs on your attention the importance of maintaining a free dill cuflion of foreign affairs. There arc circ tim[tonces , in thc hiflory of this country in all times which (hew how tender our anceitors were of the liberty of dial:llion on this fubjed. Tliefe circumftances arife from the peculiarity of our relations with the continent. Ever firsce England happily renounced all views of aggrandizement on the continent, we have had no intereft in its firuation but that of na tional fafcty and commercial profperity. National fafety in regard to continental powers depends upon nothing but on the uniform obfervanct of the rules of jullice—that is, in other words, on their regard to the facrednefs of ancient boundaries, and their refped for ancient poffeCGons. The in terell we have in continental affairs is an intereft that the rules of jultice fhould be obferved, fo that no flaw by encroachment and by aggrandizement rife on the ruin of our neighbours, fo as to be formidable to ourfelves.—As to our commercial profperity, it depends effentially on peace and tran quillity : for whatever foolilh and abfurd men may pretend, no war can be gainful to a commercial nation. Our interea depends upon the tranquil lity of other nations ; for whatever vulgar politi cians may flupidly alien, nothing can be more fatal to an induflrious people than poverty and mifery among neighbours ; for it is clear that as it is for the benefit of a tradefinan that his cuflom ers lbould be opulent, fo it is advantageous fur a manufacturing nation to be furrounded by wealthy neighbours. Indeed, among other caufes, the great commercial profperity of this country may be afcribed to the general improvement of fociety in Europe, to the diffufion of wealttf, and to the increafed ability of confumption. Our commer cial profperity accompanied the profperity of other nations. It received nourifhment from the gene ral profperity, and repaid it from its own.—Every inch of land that was cultivated on the banks of the Mifliflippi, or in the wilds of Siberia, gave a new impulle to our profperity, becaufe it prefented new fources of wealth, new abilities for confump tion, new demands for objeds of enjoyment, that is, for that luxury againit which civil declaimers have inveighed fo much, and which, notwithßand ing their clamorous lamentations, has only kept pace with the improvement of the human fpecies, and is the meafure of their progrefs in knowledge and in happinefs. Our national interet, there fore, in the affairs of the continent, embraces thefe two points, to prevent the dangerous aggrandize. ment of any power, and to promote the general tranquillity of Europe. It mutt, therefi;re, be highly advantageous for this country to promote a bold examination of the conduct of Foreign Powers, and to excite a jealoufy of their ambitious projefts. The effect of this vigilant jealoufy, and manly fpirit of inquiry,is to animate and prepare the minds of men to refill an attack which they know is nieditatedagainft them. As was faidbyagreatman of antiquity (Cicero) concerning himfelf, that no perfon was an enemy to the Republic, without at the fame time being an enemy to 'him, fo no Rate or fovereign can be the general enemy of Europe, without being, in a particular manner, the enemy of England. The hiftory of pall times affords fo clear an illuftration of this truth, that when ever we find . the ambitious and the unjuff con fpiring to difturb the repofe, and to attack the rights of their neighbours, they are compelled to announce their intention by manifelling their ha tred to a country whore intereft is the confervation and proteftion of all. This brave and generous nation, therefore, has ever been the firfi mark againft which the attacks of the ambitions have been ditefted. We have been Rationed in the front of the battle. Thus our ancellors always encouraged, inftead of repreffing, that firit of proud indignation againft injuitice, that fenfe of wrong which, when Europe was menaced, was likely to fupply the only refources by which danger could be repelled. Our aneellors, though they never felt, they infpired fear; but difdaining the reltillinefs of looking only to their own local and immediate interefts, fuperior to the pufillanimous fentiment of crouching to the ambitious, or trem bling at the frowns of powerful neighbours, they (hewed a perfpeltive fear, that wife difcernment of danger which is not the parent of cowardice, but which leads to precaution. Our anceftors knew well, that if danger was abroad, it was only to be repelled or prevented by energy at home.--- , They knew that no great enterprifes, no national efforth can fucceed. unlets feconded by a hearty zeal on the part of the people at large. There. fore they wi(hed to fee the country prepared for any extremity by putting on the armour of anger and indignation againft thofe who were to become their enemies. I need not tell you, Gentlemen of the Jury, that, without public fpirit, fleets and ar mies are nothing. Pnblic feint is a thing very &Rant from courage, and without it courage is Weld's. No nation ever periftied for the want of perfonal courage; but many have perifbed for want of publiC fpirit; that fpirit which unites all private perfonal courage, gives it a livelier fenfe and a common diredion. In thii country. varied es it is in every fcale of rank, of mind, of inforrltion and character, public fpirit depends in a great meafure on the energies of the popular parts of the nation. It depends on that manly pride, that fenfe of dignity which even the lowefl perfon in this community has of himfelf, and the (hare he has in the public caufe, and often in the exercife of the moll important political rights. Thisfpirit then mull wife and be directed in no (mall degree by public dirculon, betide every man finds the appeal made to oncterftzading, and feels himfelf tailed upon to exerci le his judgment. If then there Ibe a difpofition to examine %val. fiecdom, and to expofe with holdnefs the do lips of p:•wcrtul and ambitious neighboui ~ to check that difpofitioli by undue feveiity of punithmtnt, would be to check that public fpirit on which national vigour depends —it would be to break down our bell bulwarks, and to ditirrn that force by which public danger mull be repelled. Theti:, Gentlemen, are no new principles. They are found old-fafhioncd Englith fentiments, founded upon an acquaintance with Englifh intereas, and with Englifh hillory. Let me now, Gentlemen, call your attention to the libels charged in the information. My I Learned Friend the Attorney General admitted that he would not confider it fair to fcize upon a . warm cam-elfin() of indignation which might be made in the courfe of Indorical narrative of the tranfadions of nations or governments with which we are at peace. But lie contends that it is not I truth, it is not free difctiffion, but a malignant dif. pofition to difluib the harmony of two countries, which diflinguifltes the publications in quellion.— It is now my duty to avail myfelf in behalf of my . client of the candid admialons of my Learned Friend. If he would overlook a generous indig nation expreffed in a hiflorical narrative—if he would not cenfure the re-publication for informa tion or curiofity of an important document, furely he would not exclude hittory from that important province of laying open caufes and explaining mo tives and intention's, as well as detailing effects ? Bet the articles in the publication of the defendant may be confidered in both there views. My Learned Friend will not deny that it might be per. fetftly innocent to re-publith for example, a decla ration of war by a foreign power, though contain. ing the molt libellous matter and the moll 'Cana lons charges ? The intention of the declaration might be libellous, but the intention of the repub lication might be perfectly laudable, and might be to expofe the malignant nature , and dangerous tendency of the original document. This may be the cafe with the publications of the Men dam. Let me remind you of the plan of his work. It was intended to amufe a handful of Royalifts, cut off from their country, their attachments, their hopes, by prefenting them with a view of the pal lions, the fadions, the parties, the cabals, which now occupy the fcene, and the country front which they themfelves teem banifhed for ever.— I What then is the defcription of the Ode charged as libelous ? It will be found to be a document, ferving to illuarate the radians which have ruled, • and which yet partly furtive in France. There is reafon to believe, nay, I do believe, that the ode was written by Cheek/. or Ging:tend, or fume one of that party. Suppofe then the Jacobins had publi flied a libel on Bonaparte,would it be a libel if republifh ed folely with a view of exhibiting the ftruggle for power, and the malignity of opporitioa which pre. vail between Bonaparte and his enemies. If fuch a thing republilbed were a libyl, how can my Learned Friend account for the impunity allowed to the newfpapers in publifhing the numberlefs atrocious manifefloes iffued during the war—ma nifeaoes in which the King's perfon, his Govern „ ment, the country in general, were molt grofsty traduced? Whence this impunity, but from admit ting that the intention was to give information, to expofe the temper and malignant difpofition of the enemy. If a newfpaper at Paris publifhes a grofs, falfe, and fcandalous libel, with a view to excite mutiny in the navy, why does the newfpaper that republifbes efcape profecution, but becaufe it was republilbed to confute its Ganders, and difappoint its end ? If this be not the motive, I would remind my Learned Friend that he has no more facred duty, than to protat the reputation of officers abfent on the fervice of their country. But whatmore atro cious libel on a Britifh officer can be conceived., than thatwhich appeared lately in the Mositearr, and was republiffied in all the newfpapers in England, that General Stuart had written letters inciting to affaffination. Unlers this be the motive, why does my Learned Friend fuller the molt malignant libels to be circulated again It the perfon and cha meet of a Prince whore private virtues and per lona! merit (if, unactuftomed to praife the great t may add my feeble teftimony to the virtues of a Sovereign), have during a reign of •43 years amicift ill the violence of oppoGte parties, never been called in queftion ? How is it, then, that libels too are circulated with impunity upon this nation, which, in all the ainimofity of honourable war, was never Rained by perfidy, or difgraced by a bare ',Rion ,• a nation which has pafed through the fevereft trials, and come out unfullied ; a na tion which has feen mutinies without murder, tri. umphant mobs without mifacres, bloodier' revo. lutions and civil concept without the horrors of profcription ? How is it that my Learned Friend . Infers it to be hated in evirg newfpaper that bit.: Majelly intended to confer upon au alraffin a bads* k o f honour, moor, referved for th e hi heft mike'''. t.* L Statefman and the Soldier, of Cabinet' Ad fir Field; that badge of honour w . ch took its rffe from the fields of Cray, which was worn by the Henry IV. of France, the Guaavus Adolphus of Sweden ; that badge f honour which ',night re• ward the heroifm difplayed on the walls of Acre, the ancient and renowned fcene of the 'brightelt glories of Englifh chivalry t And Gull it be raid with impunity that this unfullied garter was the deltined reward of an *Giffin? Wthefe nevrfpap per publifhers efcape the punilliment where they have not the intention to libel, why mould not my • client receive the benefit of a fimilar defence ? It is certain that this ode was circulated at Pali., and is the produeion of tome of the parties there. Oa the other band, my Learned Friend brings forward nothing hut fufpicion that the defendant was the author of this performance, or publifhed it with the intention or libelling the Fit* Conful. But furely it is incumbent on the profecutor to prove the bad intention, before'it is incumbent on me to prove an innocent one. But roppofe that this ode had been intended as a fatire upon the perfons to whom it is attributed, could it be takes for a libel on the Full Conful ? It is extremely probable that many perfon in Paris entertain the fentimeats which this ode expreffes. It might be a libel on Cigna a Garcia, to impute foil fend.