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

lOU this, even in crimes when good sense alone. necessary to de cide on the existence or non-existence of the fact charged. In (d -ances of the press a more complex operation is required. and jury erten are not always fitted for judging of such matters. Why should there be any fear of the ordinary tribunal ? Justice had ever been tarcisett in France in a manner extremely honourable. 'file exam - 414 of the English has been cited, but improperly. It is not long since she functions of an English jury were, in regard to the matter, very illusory. The only qu-scion proposed to them was, whether such di man was or was not the author of such a writing, And whether ouch a sentence was in the work. The judge then determined the sigence. In 1791, a dispute arose on this point between Pitt and ;Vox. The latter succeeded, and juries were empowered to decide on *he offences of the press. This, however, was not considered us an *innovation ; for among that wise people every idea of innovation is constantly rejected. It was merely considered as an acknowledgement of a right. Perhaps, gentlemen, I might ask if it be true, that this change in the laws of England was attended with such great and happy results as were anticipated. I would ask, whether, since that period, the law of Ilabe.a. Corps' has been less frequently Mi.. Iptllded ;" In the sitting of the 12th the Marquis de Chauvelin oppo -40 the project. One passage to his speech excited an twi g/et sal lattgli of sympathy. Alluding to writers whose pens, Ve said, were restricted at home, and who were forced to nblish their spreelaiians in foreign jonrnals, lie spoke with contempillulls pity of tlicir hard ease in being forced to "sorrow a foreign lanDiagc, and to take two voyages across she sea for the piartm 4.! of giving currency to a few paltry please otries or predictions sure to be falsified. He paid, "%owes -us, some high compliments to the courage and inde pendence of those of the French journalists who had the nobleness of mind to break through the general servility of the press, oven at the hazard 'of their personal property and liberty. Coma Bonnet considered the project of law before the fit Igniter as one step more towards the liberty of the press, and lie would thvrvlbre support it in most of its parts. The rroject moth es, with respect to the point of responsi ility—lst, that a declaration shall he made previous so the printing of ally wet k being undertaken, and, 2d, That in cert lin ea•-s, the printers and booksellers shall share the re soonsibilt! with the author. The speaker endeavoured to show that iteither of these regitiagtions was necessary, and that they %could only serve unnecessarily to shackle liberty nut impede hie progress of literary and typographical in clostt v. The liberty of printing and publishing opinions, *would, he ssiii, hu u tg since have produced immense advan tages, it in place of attempting to prevent the sibnies width are inseparable from it, care hal been taken to repress, that is to say, mutini.h regularl;.• and constitutionally, the freqnsta misdrimmonirs and but rare crimes which may have resulted from it. Let its never forg et that power puts itself in peril whenever it se to willidraw rights which it lets once ace tori:ed ! It inherits nothing from the sureties which it takes assay. and weakens itself in proportion to the distrust which At inspires. 'lite smetker closed by voting for all the articles af the project, except the Gth, 7th, Otis, and loth, to which respectively lie proposed amendments calculated to give a snore liberal operation of the law, and excepting also the 27th, relative to the deliberations of the jury, which he moved should be, solely TL 1). Villein followed in a speech more tingnalifiedly against the project, to most of the articles of which he cu_ tered into specific objections. The w bolo matter lie con ceived to he comprised in a few words;—that Ministers stronld submit thentseives to the charter, and that the law should he executed. " Never," said lac, " was the ne tessity of recurring to this mean of safety more pressing. sae it 1;•otu flue bottom of my !matt that I believe the legit'. imat;y- and France will be compromised if the present political a_y:tem is persisted in. Never had the Chamber a more eon tikitiatiettal means of inflcencing It incurably the fate of our 'Country." lie concluded with voting for the rejection of the project ; bat moved that the last law of restriction, which expires in 20 days, should he proltmged till the lot of March, in order that Ili oventment might have time to in chore some other law repressive of the real abuses of the press. [Sup "suited, supported from many voices.] M. Raver, spoke in favour of the projcet. The press had been said to resemble she lance of Achilles ; and it certainly dill so, inasintich as it wounded, but slid out cute. The se ditious writing addresses itself to the passions ; it flatters in or dot to enchain them. It triumphs in theirexcess ; reason is often of no avail in stemming lite corruption. Its victories, teei is of reflection and of time, are always slow. l'ite mutest brine, therefore, incapable in rcnteclying in doe season the ttvoiiiithi it snakes, it is necessary that it should be guarded • •hy proper restiettona from committing thvin. 11, l'on.artt exerted Isimsetf at consinerable length to Show that the project of law, as it was conceived, wotill have Via effect of i•t•Fessin4 the liberty, and nut the obtuse of lite rress. ill the silting of the Citb, M. Bonniest! observed, that they 'sere net now to determine whether the liberty oh toe press sires an advantage or an evil "Itis us (said lic) of a right. By the side of this right the charter • %a placed that of reptessing by laws the abuses that may arise Amu it, Although it would be very caul to explain how, bethre the revo lution, the enslaved press inundated the I art century with bad books. adiecting religion, morals, and Immarchy, it might appear very ex- Irsonlinary that the liberty of publishing one's sentiments diolhot then Tana in rig/ti. but yet was enjoyed in tact. While under due demo cratic, revotntionary, and despotic Governments, that successively arose in F r anc.; the liberty of writing existed in taw, but was nut enjoyed its tact. This contrast of epochs, of right and of eta, might s er ve to prove ihat a people had never less liberty than when it most tatters itsdf with a belief of' it, and that the assurance of this liberty reposes more in opinion than tun the laws. The Deputyy. then *Lammed the several articles of the proposed law, and inquiring of !be proper tribunal to judge the abusea of' the press, continued. But, Geutlemen, it is not the choice of a tribunal that is of. it is impunity that is desired. • What !' said one of the previous weaker. (M. du Gray) • would you judge of opinion, the Queen of the wield, as you would judge of mender:sow and vagabonds ?' Certainly they simild b:•• ju Iged alike, and with welt propriety, for arc the vaga:nnUa of liberty, and the mendicant distur. loos of merat order. (A laugh). Tne example of England has been dted ; but that which • suit the Eagli-h wo:ild he improper in France. The English L ave by iasenat'ele gaulations, obtained a constitution and liberty. We en the contrary, have obtained flout the King, not bit by bit, and at innate', but all at one, as inac:t, or, p:rhaps, mare situ sty are able to endure. Sia:c it is the fashion, then, in spite of the dif &mace of m.nners, habit, and character, to cite and imitate the Ifinglish, let us wait use then a c•necy of stablity and prove. j i g , to wh o& to a ~soy onence of the pr: 3. We require a -. 17 Ir expeielic, to exttcwat: il , amies derived from the v o f t he 1,,,av1e, aid all that are to remottet to it. to add, by way in too.ndluent to audit! ls, " rimy o the Royal As J ital ill i cy soul andronsci.ace teat re.n panty td the would lie nothing bat licenti cAl a. I i.i.trust thews pretended organs of moiblic opinion, n.ve. be any eling else than the organs of velum and yplC fat 1.4 faloptsri ?TM 1. - M. Casimir Perrier. In seeking to peril:et their eat, Ministers have fallen into an incoasistenev almost uncauipled. They have deviated from the rout: traced b theins,:lvia--they hare lost sight of the principal object ofthe law. They seek to repress abuses, but they have wished to prevent than ; and in this desire they have gone so far, that if the law pus in its present shepe, neither abuse nor re rression is possible; for even the use itself would be destroyed.— Applause anti disapprobstion.l If the liberty Of the press be sincere y (trailed, juries are the best calculated for repressing its abuses. — .'!'hey offer, at the sem: time, protection to individieds, and security to the. Government. I trout call your attention to the last and most rigeeirous fetter impoied ou the liberty of the press. I speak of the absolute depaidenee in which the journals are placed by the tempo rary law, inserted in the definitive law almost like an erratum.—L A laugh.l This state of things places the press in the universal severity —inspires terror in the minds of the writers--enchains their courage .—and imposes the mostdreadful barriers to the energy of generous pens. I am not aware of any empire overthrown by the liberty of the press. l)o they , cite France? France has never enjoyed the liberty or the press. 'rho t 3 years that have rolled over us. attests only its oppression and nut its intependenee. I vote against the project of the law." --- - M. Simeon, the King's Commissioner, supported the law project, and Mr. Hernunx opposed it. M. Camille Jourdan spoke in favatir of the project of the law, with some amendments, substituting trial by jury fotig i te Correctional Tribunals, and one year's previous censui - s'iip the journals instead of three. lie said,of all the laws i espeo.t- Ma the press which had yet been brought into operation iu Ensure, ihe low it iw proposed, notwithstanding the numerous objections made to it, came the nearest to a true liberal sys tem. It exhibited traces of a progressive improvement which was honourable to the present legislation. In alluding to the practice of England, he I regret, Genticreni, that I should have to contradict every thing that has been said by M. the Keeper of the Seals on the English legislation. There is hardly one observation which might not be con tradicted by the monuments of the History of England. " It hits been told you, that the Star Chamber had been instituted to repress the licentiousness tit' the press, occasioned by juries. The Star Chamber, which existed in the mast ancient periods of the mo narchy, and renewed by a statute of Henry VII. ascends almost to the period of the discovery of printing, when there hardly existed a priss in England. " It has been told you that this Star Chamber had been consi dered by gout ;Mills as a salutary remedy.: but, according to the testimony of authors, and of the illustrious Clarendon, woo cannot be saspected of democracy, it but.: been so decried, thou its name has become the must cruel reproach to all arbitrary and cor rupt criminals." - • Alluding then to Mr. Fox's Bill for allowing the jury the milimin.d right of deriding on libels, he said,— " You have been told, that these powers of the English jury have been a frequent Mite of the suspension of the hubris Corpus. But you know well the motives to it—that it. was the fear of the contagi ous principles of the French revolution. The suspension of the Ha beas Corpus is, on the contrary, that which has redoubled in England the enthusiasm for the institution of juries, and which has been in - some degree elevated to the dignity of aptaiti4saisayattuat. It is since that period that a celebrated Advocate (Lord F,rskine), • whose eloquence had been signalized in several memorable trials, covered with tile favours of the people and of the Court, has arrived at the most eminent dignities. Justly penetrated by the benefits of the jury, and willing to recall the noblest titles of his own glory, and that of hit country, he takes for his device these aiuiple and sublime words, • Trial ty Jury' • In the course of this speech, M. C. Jordan quoted from the works of the must enlightened English lawyers passages referring to discussions analogous to those which now occupy the Chamber of Deputies. learned recapitulation; and the piofound 'logic of the speaker, excited general approba. tion, and bravo was repeatedly cried.—Adjouruecl to Mon. day. ITALY. ROM r., Srpr.23.—(From a letter in an-Evening Paper.)—. Highway robbery is carried on systematically here, and on a ' grand ecale. At Veroli, a small town 15 miles from this, a teacher, with 1 . 2 spiritual seminarists, 'Walking in the envi rons, were taken prisoner's by the robbers, and hugged the mountains. The robbers were polite enough to s send to Veroli, and to offer to give tip the pupils for 12,000 crowns,,. and rho teacher into the bargain. A negotiation was entered into, and 3000 crowns were taken. Several days afterwards . a young titan, of a thick and heavy make, belonging to Angou,/ was walking with seven male and female relations, and the, whole patty were taken 200 steps from the gate and carried off. The alarm-belt of the town, which coutaios "wally 12,000 inhabitants, was rung; the robbers !dew with their pri sutlers to the mountains ; the young man not being able to keep up with them, they cut his throat, and escaped with the other seven persons. These unfortunate prisoners were at terwards ransomed by their relatives for 5.000 scudi. There arc litany hundreds of these robbers, and their numbers are daily niece:l,4lg. They have their male and female leaders, mid receive only people of irreproachable character: the Atm veAtigation into morals, and the proof as to ancestry, is very strict on their reception, as permits of considetatiou take au interest is it. griy lung c •Aere.gnti Ipr.opi.e to be ilirea to sortmed, matat33 ; w 'bid/ an way, t vah UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The Nen. York paper of the. 15th ult. states very positively the apponitment of commisioners, Messrs. Roduey,Gruham, ' and Bland, haviiigfor their secretary Mr. Brackentirige, who were forthwith me to proceed to South America in the Con gress frigate, on business relative to the indeperitinee ut that country." Judging from the language of the Nalioral •o the same subject, and from that collateriat ciremnstanre% cot necessary at the time to enlarge upon, we should not be surmised to hear that the Executive Gosern uncut of the United States had resolved on ackauwirilging some, at least, of the South Americen provinces as indepen dent of the Crown of Spain. 'lite National Intelligencer first recommends a system of natitrality on the part of the North American Govern:milt ; and titan endeavours to prove, that the neutral character of the republican policy would remain oveltdoitill by a recognition of the independents. We may teeter limn this mode of reasoning what result is likely to flow tram the mission. The fallowing is an eittriet of a letter from the Agent to Llopl•s at hitt nth, dated Dectiober 8 :—" It is with regret 1 11411 i to infirm yon, that the M.trtin sloop of w..r was last night tirivt non shore, in a desperate gale, in Mall Ray. The ship is totally lost; but I am happy to add, that the greater p.:rt of the mew and all the (Miters ate safe. The inizen. 'mist b:•ing cot away, lotkily kit wtlb the mast brad on a rock, which 'et '.rd as a cr.:tot:way fot them, and euabltd them to reach the shore. I tainolia telj tau teeming intent. geese„ I dhpatched cale sink rt,fr.chlitoctit:i for the erf s%, •who, ;Mt informed, are in a mast Itepme.tlile stale." 'lime Mai tin was commanded by Capt. A. lime total aitimattt of the hop duty Mr the current yeer is 118,1911.:1,. Cl.;. 68,0761. 4s. fml. the lapin:trawl at the oltl, Riad 50,311 i. IN. of at mc du V• REIIEIV OF LITER4TURE. e. eg. SeY-Cultivation recommended; or, Hints to a Yoarth leaving School. By ISAAC TAYLOR, Minister of the Gospel, at Oo gar. ••••••••• • Tins is a little volume which we strongly receipt. mend to parents to put into the hands of their sons; when about to quit school. As Mr. Taylor very justly observes in his preface, it is a mistaken opinion to* prevalent, that when a child leaves school, his educatiara . is finished ; a notion destructive of all real improve. meat : which filches from the mind almost all it has ; and as it prevails totally or partially, prevent* so liir, all future improvement, all actual excellence,' There are few parents, we believe3who are not enabled to afford their children a university education, who will not acknowledge the truth of this :—and who'd* not often regret that, in their riper years, they bill too often foro - et every thing which they had been taught n - in their school-days, except what their immediate oe. cupations or pursuits in life, tender it abst.lutely tie. cessary to remember. It is Mr. Taylor's object' to prove to the young, that instead of having finished their education wile.: they quit school, it is but begun; and that all their hopes fbr honourable excellence must rest on their own exertions. We shall present our readers with a few extracts from the book, while we again recommend its entire perusal to every parent, and every youth who is on the point of entering into the career of life. " Education is not the end, but only the means. Let ns then see what is the object it has in view. A person growing . .11 a certain age must appear in the world; he can no longer hide himself at st hoot, not withdraw behind the routine of the trammels appointed fur his minority. tie must start for ward, 311L1 become something. What that something is to be, education only can surmise; even talent, genius, fortnoe, can give little guess. The It:Oiling tortes even all these, if judiciously conducted ; mid it otherwise, an these 'e ill tail, in most CARI-P, of attaining the wished-for object. A titan must act : whether he Is tiecessitated to labour for his main. teuauce ; or is freed by fortune from all apprehension and from all constrained exertion, yet lie must art. it Is the ins tent of education to enable him to act tightly, honourably. successfully. Wiihout retention to prophetic powers, one may safely say, a man, coming iuto life, will, au some way or other, perhaps in various shapes of sorrow, lie will lie must suffer. Youth may fancy life one scene of gaiety ; lint reality and fancy differ widely. if edneation has been rightly con ducted, it wilt teach the man how to suffer with diguity, with. tumour, —nay with profit. "The man launches into life, and will he exactly, or very nearly, what lies actual education purposed. "lis well, wheu guided, stored, and stimulated, the youth starts forward, and iu manhood prospers ; answers his own wishes, his parents expectatioes, his tutors' labours, by actual success in his sta tion, whatever it may be. The dreary hours of learning will then be recollected with pleasure, and the labour will be abundantly repaid. The cud which education bad in view will be attained, and its importance fully acknowledged.— The alternatives will show this importance in a *till clearee light. The man, forced tutu action, obliged to take per. haps souse prominent station, may fail to fill it properly ; may fail, notwithstaisdiug the best endeavours, and become unsuccessful in all his pursuits. Tu fail for waut of leariima what edubation would have taught him, would be great dis. grace; but to fail when conscious of talents exerted, und care. fulness ever active, will take away hum the maws on is nano, mid front the opiMon of by.stauders, rill that is disgraceful : lie may even gain honour, though lie fails, by the exertion* made to prevent, or by the disposition show ti during the deep adversity. The lessons of education may be as useful to hits hi this case its iu the other. All that he has learned will help him iu some shape, and the laboUr once etidured will, even Us his sorrowing moments, yield him assistance, satisfactionc* perhaps tranquillizing peace and joy." In speaking of example, the author says, "It ninst.not to be forgotten, that strong as is the efficacy of example, it is nut always good example which catches the attention, and influences the mind, and feelings, and habits of the young. To the ruin of many a fair prospect in life, of many a lovely character, ati.ihe first blossoms seemed to pro. wise, pestiferous example, like a bligkir or mildew, has in ono monteirt come aerots and dist reyed all the fond hopes, of the broken-hearted parents. It is baleful to a yeung mind to perceive that certain hateful crimes are possible; that person, use in criminal iiidulgeuces, who nevertheless, maintain s fair character, and are received into what are called good company. All familiarity with sock innutoralitice, tends to lake oft that horror at sin, which unpractised mind- find to be a considerable preservative against it. Silent compliances. will now and then be yielded to ; and when Olive this awful lesson is learned, who can say how deep a proucteni in vice the tyro miry become? fly shnv deciec. pet hay., but in manner dreadfully certain, the best feelings are blunted, the better habits are broken in upon, the chef acre; soon bee cotne deteriorated. Principles are forgotten, cheeks of con science uo longer rise, or u s e ineffectually. Insidious vice, winch here and there penetrated and inidermined principle, comes on some occassion as an ifitnida , ion, anti sweeps the whole dam away, or wears such it tire deli, at IcaNt, as permits continual el:allow.. From Leung suth red. sive, tinder the fostering indaenee of example, becomes adopted ; is heartily cultivated. 'l' he allurements which ones. fill. el with disgust, attract tee now corrupted taste. Continued esamples leads to emulative viciousness, and with heroical boldness are the most desperate schema el atrotit blooded over, hatched, and brought into Open day. How is the di eadful hist' union imbibed? tl h.O Ilt) prcei pt moult bar e t rico t - i f, is gradually produced by insintiatio; exanopie : and abt re the tailrace does not take effect to stick alarming tlegite,y rt flit evil pros domed is always soinethrug st,inetiiing to 'to dreaded and guarded against with ihe utmost care, by such as %saki' w Uh :tumefy the ,povvois wiech most effectually combine , to form and to fix the groi‘mig eh.rcactt r." In the chapter on the importance of self-cultivation, Mr, 'r has bruug4t. thrward the following apposite and encouraging examples. rill whit, 1,,,%,.1.,v1ca5 e d our know ledge In science, nature, or art, oust uccissity be self-tamibt. Newton did not learn