The National Register. — London, England, 1817-12-22 00:00:00

Or alatio Lat ir raj moon .Von.. X. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. Our dittg, Con6ti MONDAY, DECEMBER 9,2, 1817. the measure should instantly cease. We are not insen sible to the various modes lry which the animosities of the people aro excited against men in power. The daily and weekly labours of a swarm of pestiferous writers, are little less effective in debauching their minds, than the use which is made of every acquittal upon a charge of treason or libel, nay such is the inge nuity of the uneasy spirits of the present day, that con viction or acquittal, alike tarnish subjects of charge against the Government. lithe accused is found guilty, the jury has been packed and the witnesses suborned ; if acquitted, the virtue of a jury has been proof against the corrupt endeavours of the Court ; thus, whatever be the event, the Government is guilty still, and the idea of guilt in the accused is never for a moment en tertained. Doctrines like these, industriously Mien ' late& have prodigious influence even in London, where men by their habits of close association, have supe rior means of sifting and inquiring into passing events, no wonder, then, that in the country, where society is so much less united, they have tentiild influence ; as has been well observed by our neighbours, the poison circulated by one journal, canna be eradicated by ano ther, for, to say nothing of the influence of a first im pression, those who arc far removed from active scenes of life rarely read on both sides of a political question; and where the industry in circulating the most danger ous opinions is so great as it has been for some months past in this country, we may easily guess on which side is the bias. All this is in itself evil enough, and requires the watchful eye of the executive to guard us from the the evils which it may produce ; but the calamity it encreased tenfold when men; who should be our guides and examples, shrink from the duties of their station, and, as in the case of Sir John Egerton, decline the op portunity of justifying those acts which a sense of jus tice Fad prompted. Let the Electors, then, well consider the responsi bility which lies upon them, let them weigh the situ a tion of the country at the present moment and what it was twelve months ago, and then say to what cause the change is to be attributed. Let them rementb:.‘r that it is no trifling duty which they will soon be called on to perform, nothing less than to choose between men whose avowed principles are in unison with those who have whetted the knife of the assassin, and those who ty layiitg a well-timed restraint on the heated passions of the misguided and ignorant, saved the nation from all the hurors of civil commotion. !n addition to the bust of Blucher, in the Roman style, lately put up in Carleton House, there is another of the same great warrior in marble, in his military uniform, by Turnerelli, to whom he sat when he was in this country. There are also marble busts of Wel lington and Platolf by the same sculptor. The Baron de Stjerneld, Chamberlain to the King of Sweden and Norway, arrived last Wednesday, charged with the special mission to express to the Prince Regent the lively part his Majesty and the Royal Fatuity of Sweden take in the untimely and de 'thimble death of her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta, his daughter, and to deliver, at the same time, to his Royal Highness a letter to that effect from his Majesty. - - - In the Court of Chancery on Wednesiay the Lord Chancellor gave judgment in the matter of )lawman and others against Nuttall, Fisher and Dist n. An in junction had been obtained by the plaintiffs to restrain the defendants from selling an edition of " Cruden's Concordance ;" on the ground that it was pirated by the defendants from the sixth edition, published by the plaintiffs. The Chancellor not being sati..fiA that the plaintiffs had any copy-right in the sixth edition, order ed that the Injunction should be dissolvisl, that the plaintiffs should ti,rthwith bring an action to try the question, the defendants in the mean time being at full liberty to sell and dispose of their baok, keeping so ac cOunt dutch WO (without rejuilice). anti IL abul. No. 515. A CALL TO ELECTORS ON THE AI'PRO ACHING GENERAL ELECTION. WE, last week, adverted to the of Sir John Egerton havin g declined the risk of ft rejection by his constituents of Chester, at the approaching ' General Election, The cause of his intended retreat has been distinctly stated. tie had voted for the sus pension of the Habeas Corpus act, and lie has reason to believe, that the vote has so far soured the minds •f the Electors towards him, that they will not again honour him with their suffrage. Assuming that this statement is correct, we have already expressed our opinion of Sir John's conduct in thus abandoning the field before a shot has been fired; we will now offer a word to the Electors as a warning against the evils which may arise to the country, and of course to themselves, if they adopt that crooked and left-hand ed policy which, by Sir John's conduct, is attributed to their brethren of Chester. After whit have seen of the efforts of the dis-' affected, we cannot but feel both indignation and surprise, when we see men, whose birth has placed there in the higfiest rank in society, where their ex ample and influence may produce so much of either good or evil, by any act, be i. of omission or commission, adding strength to the chuffs of t .e evil disposed. While we saw the pestilential doctrine of radical reform confined to Cobbett and of • ,ffieeraiile associ ates, we had only to lament, that sash contemptible agents should have the power to produce so much Mischic i; The finnuess of f..e Govern :alit gave wood Men conliderke, and they looked forward to the day -when the returning reason of the people would effec tually crust tafat demon of sedition, which had made such hurrid inroads on their happiness. If, however, the example of the Member for Chester is to be fol lowed, the CobGetts, the Hunts, the Woolcrs, and the host cf their 'inferior satellites, have not toiled in vain ; the, noun-day assassin and the midnight plun derer have not been excited in vain ; the enemies of social order, the advocates of physical resistance, may exult in the triumph they have gained, for, by terror they will have elEcted that, which reasoning was *sable to accorylisb. If it be true, as has been stated, that the ;:lectors of Chester are indignant at their representative, let us ask, not only them, but the whole body of Electors, have they dispassionately con sidered the nature of the alleged offence ? Da they subscribe to the opinion which was expressed by some Members in the House of Commons, that the existing laws were equal to the cure of the existing evil? Has not every day furnished unhappy proofs to the contrary, for, in how many instances, where the existing laws were had recourse to, have they failed to inflict that punishment which the objects of prosecution were, by all well intentioned men, allowed to deserve. No one as ventured to assert, that the plunderers the end of December were innocent men, and yet the existing laws acquitted them. Before Electors make hasty decisions against such of their representatives as voted fur the suspension, they will do well to consider what use has been made 'of that great power which the measure plaeed in the hand of the executive government. They will then find that die number of persons imprisoned by virtue of that SlIN,1011SI.! ,, , is now reduced to almost nothing; for, as tae dauger of civil commotion subsided, the rein of power w r..pidly relaxed. They will also do well to pu• :he vekith,n sev,ouk,ly to themselves,—lles not much mischief beca prevented by the suspension ? If the poison which a proliigate press has so widely disse waiaated, ass oet taintel client to the very cure, their confidence seek answer in the affirmative; and it' satis fied. Cla thit point, their hosiiiity to the supporters of t e r+ Paica 9441- FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FtIANCE. The Chamher'of Deputies on the I Ith entered upon the question of the liberty of the Press. M. Martin de Gray opposed the project. " The tighsof imbitshine one's opinion, (said lie,) is a natural right ; for the enslaving of thought supposes or introduces tree, other kind of rsitude." Ile tuok a review of the various summits whirl% had beep neatly PIA "". to fmter the Press ; silvered to the bad faith of the sere:. rat tiavereisents, who had tilt guaranteed its liurr.r, end alt violated it; of the Directory not Napoloov, he .poke iu the forloa tug remarknule ten nn t— " The Meet*, after hinting pleilsed lee some months the liberty of the press, while they always continued to threaten it, sent I authors and journalists to the marshes of Synomiuy. and the sword of one man directed by opinion, overthrew opinion inch. This cursor , dittary man, master of the destinies of France, dimmed die autho rity of opinion, and wished to enslave it ; he fell immediately by the vertigo of error. 'This Colossus of iron, supported on so many du lling trophsoe on the wreck of so many crowns, what has overturned it ? It was not Europe--it was opinion." iMurintue of applause and disapprobation]. Examining the law indetail, the orator proceeded to prove, that the proposed responsibility of all persons concerned, was altogether destructive of every tricks of litierty. The printer, with his commission front the Government. and depending on it foe his existence, will be frightened and become a dangerous censor over the work, whatever the Keeper of the Seale may say to the contrary, The censorship would be less injurious to the freedom of the press, and to the progress of the human mind, than the mode of seizure consecrated by the second part of the law. It would be better to have it mutilated by a censorship, than stifled by a seizure. In the ease of the censorship we know on what to depend. It is not impossible to find a censor who may be divested si a narrow mind and icy heart—a censor whose scissors $:1411 not be those efthe mates. In fine. :hey may make curtailments and sa crifices; and nevertheless, human thought, when it has trete meepoli from this bed of Proerutes, may take a free spring, ant assure the author, the printer, and the bookseller, an entire security. But where is the author who would choose to dedicate himself to intel lectual labour, where is the printer who would expose oimsell enormous advances of capital. to see the joint result of their genius and their art, the fruits 01 their vigils and their speculations. fall be neath the iron hand of the seizure. lluonaparte. who was knowing in despotism, inserted no such severe provision in his decrees on the third • - - which the and of yleissing weakenitig The Member then declared in strong terms the various evils of a censorship, and concluded by au assot duce ut hos opposing the law. M. Jollivet contended, that no one thottOtt of d mantling the indefinite linerty of publishing his thoughts; the wily difficulty consisted in placing wise limits. " They :peak of natioall representation, (said be). Be it so : she King is horn the represcatative of the nation. I: k in the C:u..o that the germ of all of all hoaourr, is la.w d. This legit:- mate inheritance of his Crown, fixes there, with the Usti people, this primitive representation, from which all otherweinartdo. s'here is the silcml residenae of the sovereignty. Tie powers esta blished by the charter, are only the means of that sovereignty. toe the dispemationo:*order aril justice." iTransports of approbation]. The orator next examined the question of trial b. J.l rs which is sought to be iutroiliteed in cases of offences by trio press. " The charter, (said he,) recognises a jury only in criminal met iers. ordinary jury would hut satisfy the adversaries of the pro ject of the law. They must have a jury of philosophers and met. a latter*. In fine, thejournals arc esidently a class apart. These rapers cannot be compared with those literary woras, the pro..uo. Mini of genius and disinterlitedncss, inatured and ourrected ia the silence of the closet." He then 'hewed the dangers to which an unlimited liberty of the Journals would expo se social order. To brave perils, (he said), while we can remove C cm, would appear to be on au equality with that yi 11410111 that would cr y, we wit robust enough for giving ourselves a fever." LA laugh]. M. (ianilh was in favour of absolute libeity, urns Pasquier, the keeper of the seals tleftudeil the lass, sensible amelioration of the existing system. 1$ diliiigo•sh. ed bct.wecii the Journals and es Cry Other specie- h. rothihr sitiout. The Journals %sere in themselves a kind uf row. estop priv ile4t• in Cie midst Of society• it was an lattit lS think that wie journal could repair the evil created Loy ciao. tiler. 11'ould ali those it ha bad read the pernieimis art ode adopt, or even see Ina refutation: or coohl of the culprit prevent the pidsini tram circula; nig! 11-,pt - ct tie the tiwl by jury, tie obsei%eJ, that in oversees aC the press, Ilk. ..judgment requites a mole co.iiplex opt rotian of the mild, than ordinary jo: ors we-re capaute of exereislog. " I might doubtlzw, (saiil,lte.) as a coarnierioner, confine myself within the principle generally acknowledged, whim tikes not permit so important a modal...ad ni as the introduction Pt road hy J ur, to la.:come ill any case the suhjectof simple ainetiumcm. It is one mot this mode of piocedure applied to wriungs, would he tanno.maoic to the existing sy stem: I know all the ineotiveniences of dance Mao ri2S which ar e presented with a Milt Of a:hi...UV:M. Yet port 111111.: u,ans facto. 'Mu gcv.itcsi acid Milo; AtAti of t's tar. :e4e thii.t,lit he could in the throws of trerviAdap toe .•r: 1 6 4 oh areiires GoveriAaii!Atichien has since niaiLllkli a hai.,•• 4,4Toi.ti; bat t'iisgreat gemiti midis hare tour s' & J ury in the first :igos of society, in to: dine justly: , were u slid ui the axine hand. when became the accuser and tie judge sill the cut, eats of society Loraine more totnpitiatol, jtldgus ' appointed tiO d.ci. l cou crimes. Lately lo lerar ajury was adopted; but Franco has carefully t the examination of the mattLia: xi,: In tiospution, 1111)41 - 41,1 ea." .• • • • press. hut let us examine the third part of the law in which the committee propo , es no amendnients—i mean the mole of trial,. What! should o:rre,:tional Tribunals judge of thought, genitu, opinion, this queen in the world, as they judge of mendicants awl vagabonds? is it to the tribunk of police that you would commit she haglations of thought:4W yma *gel !WU ditia 6 • 7 4 to the human underttatollng Lion i, A an idea is in pyrfau harmony with tne system that gives to aoreu atr ruinds to the levee. tigation of the police. History presents no example of a systL tr. vo well calculated for humiliating and degrading the genius of IDOL, and of dennsing atl weakening the nation." • nice niatLift.:4 a tia a .it • uti.id tuc :Anne urivr . t int.! wnen ~ ...ngelllC4 and .4 :'?+ of Ole witn...s. of a cri7la .. ..-./. N: ulent. Vi.i.fu tug niter- • se% and in.tin•ttilt..s we* .. ,Z.4._ , r.iner tie insututhin tf ri.Wl ly citi4ingui.llctl•betweeia . 1 4* ac ..i.,..,:. auur t.te YH A. ..,.. - •