The Statesman. — London, England, 1815-03-29 00:00:00

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To THE rniioit OF THE STATESMAN. s ia ,—Coasidering your valuable publication to be solely devoted to the cause of liberty, I conceive that i n efort. however small, to promote and extend that ines timable blessing will be overlooked by you, or y the friends of freedom ; permit me, therefore, to ;der a few remarks on the restraints which are im ,osed on Freedom of Speech and the Freedom of the • ros its this twisted land of liberty. The first thing Fi ke s uggests itself to me on this subject, is that the i i s not under the regulation of any law, ;.it its freedom is neither sanctioned nor forbidden an y &sting statute, but they depend entirely ; e n the views and si isliee of the existing Govern neut. In a country which prides itself on 'its laws, aa she administration of them, this is a singular eicamstance, and ought to lessen our confidence in ) ar superiority over other nations ; for in America there is no restraint on the Liberty of the P ress , an d i ren in France it is subject only to a previous licence; o h:..h, though snore degrading to liberty, is not so i n ,.. o verrient to individuals ei the permission to print ; l ost is to be subject to' an arbitrary interpretation ! oils, reed by heavy penalties. only Statutes n hich can, by any construction I :iaterer, be converted into a definition of libel, are elite obsolete laws on spreading false news, tending to the scandals= magnalune, or defaming the great no of the realm, 3 EDW. I. c, 34, 2 Rien. IL I. c. 5, It EACH. 11. C. II ; but these Statutes re. ; anl speech more than writing, and they expressly I r equire that the tales told shall be false be roe they can be punishable. " Counterfeiters of ; lulsc ne...s and horrible lies, those who tell en false thin;s of Prelates, Lords, and others, afore ;aid," and the indictments grounded upon these sta twesrvressly state that the speeches and writings are face, scandalous, and malicious, which words wsre lel vory lately conceived to constitute the es- i sem of a libel. All the law that exists upon the :!j,ct requires that a libel should be false, but by i Jae decisions of Judges and the interpretations of Lawyers, that salutary pi ()vision is removed, and; it is now held, that a libel need not be false; but that the essence of a libel is its truth. A doctrine' rare dangerous to morality, to liberty, and even to ;or.d Government, is ould not have been devised by he most arbitrary T) rant, nor any thing more cal- misted to effect the subversion of liberty in a free • fate ; and were there not some restraints upon this latonable doe:lice in the controul of public opinion, and in an Assembly vs here Freedom of Speech is not oterly prohibited, such is its nature and tendency, eat the liberties of Englishmen would not be worth ix mouths' purchase. It is my earnest wish to- de- Imamate as clearly as I feel it myself, the great hanger and inconvenience of the present state of the law as it regards Freedom of Speech and Printing, lad to show that no harm can poisibly result either to individuals or the public from the utmost liberty bf speaking and printing—none at least in comps- eson with the evil; which at present result from the restraints to which these acts are subjected. It may Ne said, that this is chimerical and impracticable in lily regular Government ;—to this I reply by one arcing and unanswerable fact, that the liberty I con tend for exists in America. The Lawyers, whenever they are at a toes for a statute, tell us that such and such things are offences at Common Law—but what is Common Law, and whence does it arise 2—Either from tradition, or from the decisions of Judges. — That truth is a libel, is not to be found in the former, .annot be denied ; that the latter is an unjust and a .iatigerous foundation Fur law, is equally undeniable ; eel it is a maxim established by our ancestors, that tin office of a Judge is not to make but to pronounce es law. That the offence of libel, as it is at pre- di :kited, exists at Common Law, I defy any I.ia:e r to prove ; because, before the invention of fomosi librlli, or defamatory books, were not very common ; and though they are no by IlitActow, yet by their very title they ::;';use calumny and defamation, the est:!nce of 14 lich is falsehood and not truth ; for no man tin be calumniated by being told of what he has 7 -cle.C.ly done, however offensive it may be to his l"elinas ; but we are told by the lawyers, that such 1!‘ offetwe, even when caused by truth, is punish ti able as tending to a breach of the peace, by (melting ra;sions of the person offended, and stinaplliing . revenge himself by violent means.-: 4 o'. " 'cl'i l. aw of Libcl.)—Monstrous construction, pry, verb' every principle of reason and' . %%Lich considers men as easily provoked children, and lessee them unrestrained in the commissio n of vice and immorality, for what ;.r.-ter restraint can there be on these enozmi .." than the fear of public censure? what more '!cable supplement can be found to the law "'eland, than the correction of a Free Press for crimes which elude the technical accuracy of t . . 0 law, arid may dread no other punishment than public scorn and indignation ? Remove this check, ,11(1 you give to every man who can pay for the de ..Tee of his reputation, a licence to be as pro fl ig a te he pleases, without censure or controul. o lose who believe in the omnipotence of truth, few arguments will be requisite to prove that it can orer be injured by calumny, - --but that being al '"%rd to defend itself by its own natural force, will ultimately repel and confound all the of defaMation and falsehood ; and to those "" are not to be convinced by arguments it must be ••:. 1 e(1 by facts, that the Government of America, r its late and present Presidents, has been assailed of the most malicious and mischievous ten. yet it has not suffered the slightest degree omionion in the affections of the people, nor "" the two tnagnanimees individuals placed at its head, either lost their own reputation or the public confidence. That this should happen in a Republican Government, where every thing is freely discussed and examined, may perhaps not be so much a matter of surprises; but even in a despotic empire, we have seen a high-minded Prince despise the paltry efforts of calumny and falsehood, and trust his reputation to its own strength.— AUGUSTUS is said never to have punished any one for a libel, but to have dismissed him with a gentle re proof, or treated him with silent contempt.—Among the Many evils arising from the decisions of Judges constituting the law of Libel, it is not the least that such a law must be changeable or uncertain. In the early periods of our history, truth was not deemed a libel, and fAlsehnotl constituted its essence ; from the time of the Star Chamber to the present day, it has been gradually advancing, and seems now completely este- Wished ; and for a Monarchy no doctrine can be more convenient,for it shields the conduct and character ofall its agents from censure and exposure; but in a Republic where every act of the Government and the Governors is essentially submitted to examination, there is no need of any such protecting power, and it would in the end subvert the institution it was intended to shield from enquiry. Next to the power of the Judges to make the law, no powel. in a free monarchy can be more dangerous to the liberty of the subject then the power of theATTORNET•GENBRAL, to accuse whom he pleases, without being subject to any respon. sibility for the abuse of his discretion. That this power is not essentially requisite, nor even in any degree requisite to protect the servants of a Monarch, tor the Monarch himself, from public exposure, is evident from the date of its origin ; for our Mo. narcy existed in some of our best reigns without it, and even the industry of a prerogative lawyer cannot derive it higher than the Star Chamber.-- It has, however, been shown in various in stances so inconvenient and oppreisive to the sub ject, and so arbitrary on the part of the Crown, that while it exists, our liberty must be un safe and incomplete. No Government and no indi sidual that acts fairly, virtuously, and honestly, need fear being libelled or calumniated ; truth is the ene my of nothing but falsehood and vice, and whoever is afraid of having his actions examined and even re probated, has some reason for that fear. A libel can never injure a good cause, nor a good man ; it is only to protect vice and corruption that truth can be declared a libel—and he that shrinks from enquiry, virtually confesses his guilt. Let facts be opposed by facts, and calumny by truth, and there can be little doubt which will gain the victory. The Go vernment or the,individual that is defended only by proscribing truth, has a bad cause to defend, and the sooner they are exposed to the public so much ihebetter . for the public interest and public morality. The best of characters are liable to misrepresenta tion, and the best of Governments are liable to lie calumniated ; but no instance can be produced in ' which both live not gained by the fullest ex amination of their conduct. The consequence of making truth a libel, and screening delinquents ' from enquiry, is most injurious to public ntorals, in asmuch as it extends its pernicious influence to every branch of society, and introduces a studied design to gloss over the most flagrant crimes, from a fear of calling things by their proper names and applying to vice those epithets of indignation and contempt, which are the strongest means of marking a virtuous abhorrence of every deviation from moral and politi cal rectitude. It makes men as much afraid of tell ing the truth as they ought to he of falsehood, and countenances a system of disguise and hypocrisy, i • which is not only itself a vice, but a cloak for those I numerous crimes of which the law takes no cogni zance, and even those which the law recognizes. It it impossib4 to make all men honest ; but no Go vernment ought to hold out temptations to men to be otherwise, nor offer them• impunity for any species of moral turpitude. And can there be a greater temptaion to vice than to know that, it must not be censured, that it must not be re probated, that it most trot he held up to public in ' dignatiou ? No means more effectual could be devised, to give vice the confidence of virtue, or to clothe iniquity in the garb of honesty. What is it that has made tyrants in all past ages guilty of such excesses, but because they feared not the controul of 1 public opinion ; because no one dared to censure them because they silenced even the thoughts of me.i ; because there was no Free Press to chastise their iniquities ; because there were no laws but their (2e - it will. _ Liberty consists not only in thinking but in speak ing : it is of no use that we think as we please, if we (•:. 'mot speak as we think—and where there is, that liberty MPII sill be bold, honest, and upright; NqE .thing so warps and perverts the mind to the mean vst purposes, as restraint upon the liberty"of speech and writing ; nothing so breaks down the dignity of man as the constant fear of punishment, and the con. stintcompromise between fear and honesty. No -nation can be called free, where the Press is fettered chy making truth a libel ; for freedom consists not merely in that of the person, but of the mind and speech. Without freedom, riches and knnwledgeare but specious misery, and every other good of life is tame and insipid. The wandering savage of the desert, who i has freedom, is more to be envied than the most en. lightened philosopher, or the richest Nobleman, who lives under a Government where he is afraid to write, Ito think, and to speak according to the dictates of his conseience, or the suggestions of his reason. Such • a man Is a slave, and a slave must be miserable. To l make truth a libel is to protect vice by law, to pro. scribe morality, and to contradict both the practice and the precepts of Christ. And if, as the greatest of moralists has told us, that the science of Govern ment is only an enlarged morality, can any thing bo more contrary to good Government than to proscribe truth, which is the foundation of morality, the end and object of all our researches? Surely he must be a very short-sighted, narrow-minded poli tician, who can build his system of policy or govern. ment on a studied or enforced concealment of truth ; he can have penetrated a very little way into the knowledge of man, who is igmorant that nothing can tend mote to illustrate, exalt, and adorn the human character than the fearless promulgation of truth. — We are told by the law, that the Christian Religion may be libelled. If that religion Is true, it cannot be injured by falsehood ; if it is false; it cannot be libelled by truth—this dilemma is inevitable. - The liberty of our persons must always be under the re straint of the law, because some men are stronger than others, and, therefore, might exert that strength to their injury ; but as the streng+l , 2of a man's cha racter depends on himself, the law ought to have no thing more to do with it than to punish those by whom it is unjustly attacked, so as to put the person injured nn a level with the libeller. Whenever, there fore, a libel can be proved to be false, and to have injured any man in his profession or property, it should award him a compensation from the libeller equal to the extent of his loss; but if the alleged libel can be proved to be true, he who is thus at tacked can have no right to any compensation. I remain, &c. Welbeek-street, Cavendish-square, March 21 W. B. PRIVATE. CORRESPONDENCE. RAMSGATS, MAncit 27.—This morning, about 10 o'clock, a foreign packet from Ostend came into Ramsgate Pier, and landed between 40 and 50 pas sengers, among whom is Col. Trench. Two Mes sengers came in her, one, it is said, from Vienna, and the other with dispatches from King Louis, who was at Ostend yesterday at twelve o'clock, when this vessel sailed. It is reported that Bonaparte is at Lisle ; hut whether this is true or not, it is cer tain that Lisle is occupied by troops in his interest, and the King finding it unsafe to remain there, came to Ostend on Thursday or Friday last. Also at noon Oh day, the Lord Liverpool Ramsgate packet, from °fiend, arrived off this harbour, but it blowing a heavy gale at the time, and a great swell, she could not, without risk, get in here, and proceeded,' it is supposed, for Kingsgate Bay, to land her passengers, upwards of 100, and four carriages on board; like wise having dispatches from Louis XVIII. - . There area great many transports in the Downs; some will come into Ramsgate harbour most likely, when the weather moderates. Six troops of the 12th i Hussars are under orders to embark here for Ostend; ' part of them are now at our barracks. BRIGHTON, MARCH 27.—Arrived this day at New haven, the Doggerbank French packet, Captain Sal- Ivator, from Dieppe, with 40 passengers, four car ' riages, and ten horses. The above vessel left Dieppe, oil Saturday evening, and arrived off Newhaven at r . twelve last night ; but was unable to enter the har bour until four this morning. She experienced very rough weather in her passage. Several of the passengers are arrived at this place, some of whom I have seen, that quitted Paris on Friday evening, as late as ten o'clock, up to which time every thing wore the ap pearance of perfect tranquillity in the Metropolis, and it was thought that not more than 30 English were left in the capital at that time. No embargo had taken place at the time the Doggerbank sailed, nor was it even expected by the inhabitants. Among the passengers is a French merchant of great re spectability, who quitted Paris on Friday, who, on his arrival here, called on Mr. 'Wigney, banker, of this place, and informed him, that Bonaparte had . not quitted Paris, but that lie had sent an army of 27,000 men towards Lisle, not with a view of attack ing the Allies, but to wait In attack, stating,. that he would not be the first to declare wnr. The weather yesterday was too boisterous for the packets to leave the harbour, and has continued so this day, blowing strong from the south, with II !Wavy swell and much rain. Several passengers are here waiting the sailing of the first packet, and as soon as the weather moderates, three or four are ex pected to leave for the opposite coact ; so that we are still in hopes that the communication between the two countries will not be so speedily stopped as was at first anticipated. COVEN'T-GARDEN THEATRE. The Play of Henry IV. at this Theatre, last even ing, attracted an elegant auditory, to witness Mr. ATHEWS'S representation of the arduous character of Falstaff. The rich and luscious humour of Fal staff was rendered by him with a characteristic luxuriance of feeling and expression, but his physical powers, which,in respect to voice, seemed inadequate to his conceptions, appeared in the circumstance of action and gesture considerably too redundant.— M AinEws, like Falstaff himself, seemed in this in stant* to forget that he ought no longer to play the young man ; his strength and animation when detailing his free-hooting exploits, exceeding, by many degrees, the vigour or vivacity which any impetus whatever could infuse into so overgrown anstdebilitatecl a carcase.— The impetuosity with which he fairly talks himself out of breath in retorting the Prince's sarcasms on his ponderous proportions, was much better ima gined; and, indeed, bating the circumstance of in -1 appropriate action to which we have already alluded, the whole personification of the fat Knight was equal 1 to any which we expect to see of hint, who has been • pronounced the unimitated—the inimitable. CON-. wAv, in Prince Henry, looked the character, that he spoke or moved as might become a Prince, we confess, did not occur to our conception of regal dignity. YOUNG'S HOiSplir was respectable; we wish we could say more; this actor has great powers, whenever he chooses to exert them, and we recom mend him never to fall into the automaton habit of walking his characters mechanically. Several Frenchmen have arrived in this city from the Continent, within the last few days, among them are ingenious tradesmen, chiefly mechanics, wh o have brought with tbem some beautiful pieces of art and curiosity.—(Exeter Pope?). In consequence of the resurrection of the Corsican Tyrant, the wonderful success that attended his en. terprize, and the sudden departure of the unfortunate Bourbons, a most extraordinary demand for the Courier, Globe, Star, Sun, Travelkr, Pilot, and Stategmaa Evening Newspapers, • has already taken place ;and such is the important aspect of affairs, that we anticipate a very large increase ; in order, there fore, to facilitate tlte earliest information, MARTIN and Co. No. 8 Cornhill, most respectfully inform the Nobility, (;entry, Army, and Navy, and the COM mercial %%road, that they can be supplied with every sort of London Newspapers to any part of the United Kingdom, postage free, with the utmost punctuality, from their olil established Office as above ; h. re all orders are eat ucstly solicited to be add es-ed. 7b TAB EDITOR or rim ST4TESM4I. 1139 more than once fell to the lot of thd Bishops of Salisbury to perform the duty or reli gious monitor to Diglkii Princes. The present ye: nerable Bishop of that See lig now the spirituel coon. sellor of the PRINcE REGENT, as Dr. BURNET, his worthy predecessor, formerly was to CHARLES 11. It is true, the duties of the present Bishop are, front the improved Manners and morals of the Cndrt, more circumscribed and less arduous than thesit which the excellent Dr. BURNET had in his time to di.charge. how that Prelate, emi nen t alike for piety and learnirg, acquitted himself in the very dif ficult situation in which lie was placed, has long been a matter of historical record. That excellent Bishop addressed a letter to CitAltt.Es, which abouhds with topics of useful meditation to the best of Kings, and with salutary and important advice to the worst I —it would have been of great use to So LordoN the wise, as well as to REIIOBOAM the wicked. Before, however, I present your Readerb with this admirable letter, I must request 'their attention to the following concise, but candid character of CHARLES, drawn by the Bishop, which will better enable them to judge how far such a case called for the earnest expostulation and solemn remonstrance it drew forth :—" King Cusar.r.s 3 s behaviour *as di thing never enough to be commended ; he was a perfectly well-bred man—easy of access, free in his discourse, and sweet in his deportment. This was n.anaged with great art, and it covered bad designs —it was of such use to him, that it may teach all succeeding Princes of what 'adifintige ati 'althea' or access and an obliging behaviour may be : this pre• served him—it often disarmed those resentments which his ill conduct in every thing, both public and private, possessed all thinking people with very early, and nll sorts of people at last ; and yet none could go to him, but they were in a great measure softened before they left him. it looked likea charm that could hardly be resisted : yet there was no good nature under that, nor was there any truth in him." To this sort of man, and this sort •of King, did. Bishop BURNEr address the following letter, on the 29th of January, 1680; that is, on the very eve of that day set apart for the commemoration of his Royal Father's Martyrdom th I May it please your Majesty,—l have not pre. . sumed to trouble your Majesty for some months, not having any thing worth your time to offer ; an l now I chuse rather this way, since the infinite duty j I owe you puts me under restraints in eiscourse, which I cannot so easily overcome. What I shalt now suggest to your Majesty, I do it as in the pre ; sence of Almighty Gon, to whom I know I must give an account of all my actions ; I therefore beg you will be graciously pleased to accept this most faithful zeal of your poor subject, who hath tfo other design in it than your good, and the discharge of Ids own conscience. " I must first then assure your Majesty, I never discovered any thing like a design of raising rebellion among all those with whom I converse; bet I shalt add, on the other hand, that most people grow sullen, and are highly dissatisfied with you, and distrustful of you. Formerly your Ministers, or his Royal Highness (his brother, the Duke or Yoet) s bete the blame of things ungrateful ; but now itithis Oposi! (yourself, and time, which cures most other (Hs i tempers, increases this. Your last Speech makes imany think it will be easy to fetch up Petitions from all parts of England : this is now under consult*. tion, nod is not yet determined; but I find so many inclined to promote them, that as far as I can judge, it will go that way. If your Majesty calls a Row Parliament, it is believed, that those who have promoted the Petitions will be generally elected ; for the inferior sort of people are much set upon' them, and make 'their judgment of men, from their behaviour in that matter. The soberer sort of those, who are ill plensad with your conduct, reckon that either the state of your affairs beyond sea, or of your Exchequer at hone, will, ere long, necessitate your meeting your Parliament ; and that then things must be rectified : and, therefore, they use their utmost endeavours to keep all quiet. If your Ma jesty halite Session in April, for supporting your Allies, I find it is•resolved by many, that the,money necessary to maintain your alliances shall be put into the hands of Commissioners, to'issue it as they shall answer it to the two !Iowa; and these v. ill Me so chosen, that as it is likely that the persons will he very unacceptable to you, so they being trust.'d with the money, will be as a Council of State to con troul all your Councils. And as to your Exchequer, I do not find any inclination to consider your ne• cessity, unless many things be done to put them into another disposition, than I can observe in them.— The things that will be demanded, will not be of so easy a digestion, as that I can imagine you will ever be brought to them, or indeed that it will be reason• able or honourable for you to grant them. So that, in this disorder of affairs, it is easy to propose dif. ficulties, but not so easy to find out that which may remove them. " There is one thing, and indeed the only thing, in which all honest men agree, as that which can easi ly extricate you out of all your troubles: it is not the change of a Minister, or of a Council, a new Alliance, or a Session of Parliament; but it is (and suffer me, Sir, to speak it with a more than ordinary earnestness) a change in your own heart, and in your Course of life. And now, Sir, if you do not with in dignation throw this paper from you, permit me (with all the humanity of a subject prostrate at your feet) to tell you, that all the distruit your people have of you—all the necessities you are now under—all the indignation of Heaven that is now upon you, and ap pears in the defeating all your Councils, flow from this, that you have not feared or served GOD, but have given yourself up to so many sinful pleasures. Your Majesty may, perhaps, justly think, that many of those that oppose you have no regard to religion ; - but the body of your people consider it more that, you imagine. I do not desire your Majesty to put oti an hypocritical show of religion as liontx 111. of France did, hoping thereby to have weathered the storms of those times. No ! that would be soon soya through, and as it would provoke Goo,,mure, so it would increase jealousies. No, Sir; it must be real, and the evidences of it signal : all those about you who are the occasion of sin, chiefly the women, must be re moved, and yoUr Court r(formed. Sir, if you will turn you to religion sincerely, and seriously, .you I • • 4... •