The Sun. — London, England, 1819-11-30 00:00:00

tia tC' 5 ( Sly "Rd at last hail the grind sense to place h-1111''elnielt he doubted (nor woiild prove the source of t"it'nerous benefits to her,whil e it e ntitl e d h er t o the confileece of the Sister Country. In Great e !hank lie was happy to say 'best important CX -1,,e!"i°118 were t o b e ma de. Th e agr i cu l tu r a l in , "est of thi s country neve r en j o y e d a season o f I t eatee eepese, an d h e hop e d it was rapidly re e" snug from the depression which had been ex. etieneed in former years.---(Cries of " No, ! ")----Nl'lten he said this, he was not insensible the dißeuhies wt ith which the landed interest Still to contend ; but comparieg its present i: t uation with that in which,,at no distant period, had been seen, be thought he was warranted h ri expressing himself in the language which e h a d used, Considering nothing so iniport a4t as that •the su bj ect s h ou ld b e str i pp ed Fa ll exaggeration, he was bound to stare, that Chen in the menufacturing districts, he believed b -e loyal were sufficiently strong to put down), tY themsel ves , th e di sa ff ecte d ; b ut t hi s cou ld be effected without risk of great devastation, i i tia ?Ind Wisely. It was not for the State that but it was for the inhabitants of cer tain distri c t s , who hail claims on the Government 91* Protection, and for the deluded Reformers t } !art ; and on these grounds he called for 4 Y lfl-aw to support the law and to guard against (he o ' of it threatened rebellion. 'phis being the • • tisit!on, it would be hereafter for the House to 'e t uss what were our future prospects, and what causes of the present situation of the country, Rd on these Copies i,e ..hould then have it difficulty si t s tating what were his opionions. At the pre y moment he thought it right to say that he t 1 -911 lii not discover that the m a rket fo r o ur itolus 14' li;td been narrowed either at home or abroad. home it had certainly increased, and abroad er e was 110 defalcation but in one instance, ‘,„ ' l ch was well calculared• to teach the deluded trim wh o were ever complaining of the system of v ernment established in this country, a setlu ,,n•arY leesOu. The American market was the only e . that had failed us. It was there—in a cowl. t ' t t Y govereed under a system which meny in 4n r:lend b e li eve d i t was on ly necessary to 111( 'Pr here to relieve us from all our bur. ; 111 --it w as i n A m e r i ca that the greatest ' B 'tes s Was found 10 exist, and there our 14)14tnerce had experienced failures which were I t t/li konwo in Europe. There had cer:ainly t • t eo a d e p re s s i on f e l t i n var i ous "branches of our `"le from the termination of the war, I).t these . I. e no m o re th a n w e r e t o b e expected in the :"Ponem course of thines, and ro these time alone Pild riling all effected remedy. He was confi 'ent that no sober-minded rational man could for 1 1-. l f tiotne n t believe that they were to be removed th 7 'HIV Parliament. lie would now proceed to ten - ust important object of the night, to the re -411 edies which' his M a j es ty's Ministers propo se d e Pply to the evils complained of. In stating 11:i le 't he would name them in the order in which I ,, e .stfr'e tine country seemed no call for them. "'eY divided themselves iota five heads. He begin with that which was roost pressing 4L -ti h uanti Poi nt o n te', name Oust last whi c h Was t important with a view to tranquilliz lng th e emelt ry. Tbe first snbject was the 40-tuitin's met:title's. which load become com- Iv il `"l e which were marked with a character °ll 3t different from that of peaceful delibera t eod with peculiatities never kn o wn in this "ntry till very l a tely, b u t w hi c h had been, but n " well 'town to a neighbouring kingdom. The 0 1 ennd su bj ect was that pert of the systemof the 43 lfeCted, which, if not checked, would lead to 4 "1 , s the most eaten eively mischievous ;—he tee t aot tine training to iniitary exercises, which i!'"ltr have no obj'et in view but rebellious u l 'o, if they were nut restrained in time. The rtrd was a pical character, d went to iti mare a an ‘e Nl eg i stranes t h e ext reordinar y powers eon i(leql rhein by. an Act passed in the year ISI2, c 44 eornbled them to search for and seize arms, htt e t h ey h a d a right to b el i eve they were se a e 'ed for 'improper pot pos t s. Th e f ourt h noon- Fe woald go to ensure the more speedy admini. r 'rlroit of juetice in certain) cases, and parnieu billilY o expedite the trials of those charged with 4 4 denteronours. The tvetat to affect that great tliJ Most important engine, the Press, but only ' a t part of it, whi ch , in contradicti o n t o tine ei t ieral Peas of the country, he might be allow to cell the treasonable, blasphemous, and o “ li tious branch of tine Press. I n the fi rst in aoce, h e roust ce ll on the. [louse to form an id ea of the abstract li.ne which ought to he drawn. No qa ted• . • ' v enial could have a greater r e spe ct th an Inc ti d for the tight of English subjects to cauy Petitions t o Parliament, or to the foot of th ere Throne : but it now became nec essar y to l oo k Iva i s he mode . which this shoult i , he done, a n d it .thlieCessarV that c ommon l aw an d cormob ose (which did not often run v e ry w id e asun d er ) rld i nter f ere to prevent that abuse of the right i,e4fi_Petitioning which n-nuld lead to a sanguinary !lee ftrst instance, and ultimately end' t „ a ' military tyranny. He lamented th a t suc h Tecauti ons should be necessary as were now to Proposed, b u t necessar y t h ey h a d b ecome. • "is would he seen from the incautious way in Ith; ' c the right of petitioning had been laid down, what might be caked an official document, fled by Thistlewoott, which in all probability * to " not issued but on the best rtvical proles- advice. In that it was 'stated (het he (4-histlewood) knew. of no law that could prevent e_ ooo-- -10,000-100.000—or 1,000,000 of per. 1 \ 1 43 . fro nt assem bli ng arme d or unarmed, and no 14glStrate; it went ten to s l y, could touch them e lf n they struck sonic blow. Now, lie would ask, l o s L i l is Ought common law or inn common sense Yelled permiried ? It such a meeting could he or• If: til led in tine presence of the Magistrates, while eY Ii ad not the power of interfering with the • '" multitude, tine laws, on the very face them would be an absurdity. Ought the ( "my uo be conv u ls e d, an d tine loyal and • „•eac e able thrown into alarm whenever these .11, i ll tleMe n thought proper to call a meeting ? ' a larm lie - did not mean an i:rational terror, e h t that reasonable apprehension which imposed 14 ), 'them th e necess ity o f s h ir ti ng up t h e i r and suspending tine exercise of their' ito -It.'airY to guard their property from outrage. I tt t'his to be eudured, and ought it to be suf that multitudes should be carried such a dis ? ranee to attend meetings, as some had recently been ritarched ? The minds of the louver orders in this country, were inflamed by artful tales about sinecures and p-nsions, and told that if , these were dOne away, all their grievances would he at an eed. He would take upon himself to say; that if the sinecures which have not yet been aloilished were done away—if the whole pensiOe list were surrendered to their wishes, that the be nefit derived would not in ten years give the Manchester cotton spinner who can earn 30s. a week, the ss. which he wastes in one day of idleness to attend a Reform Meeting. This he could prove to demonstration, and with equal case could he 'show, that if the Reformers could succeed in their dishonest and destructive scheme of annihilating the National Debt, that the with drawing of the interest of 29,000,0001. of money from general circulation, though it might relieve some who •eow contribute largely to the taxes, Would depress the maikets of the country, ang• melt the general distress, and carry ruin to the humble cott age a s well as to the Mansion of the great. Was it, he worth', ask, consistent with good sense that the Magistrates should witress the as-, semblieg of a'n immetese armed force without the power of checking it ? If this were so, whet be came of that principle of law, "Bellum leviatim Benton percussion." lie considered that in such circionstanCes the Magistrates were hound to iii. tertere. If the House had done no other good, the debates which had taken place had rendered an important service to the country, by dissipat ing the motions that had grow abroad on the soltjsct of the legality of surds meetings. Di eply indebted were the Ministers and the Country to one Right lion. Gentleman who sat on the op posite side of the House, for carrying to their aid not only his high legal authority (and higher there was none), but also his eloquence and his great powers of reasoning, which on this import ant subject had not failed to early conviction to the hearts of all whoeheard him. The silence of other ornaments of the Profession oui the other side of the House was not less eloquienr iu favour of that decision which :slinisters had come to on this branch of the question. Beyond this nothing teas wanting to give weight to their opinion. lie hiiefly noticed the language of some of the speakers on the Address, with respect to public meetings, and on this subject they haul now only to learn the sentiments of one great law autho tity,-and these he understood they might hope to he favoured with to-morrow. He Would how ever say, that if any mail could doubt whether or not meet ings such as he haul described were legal or illegal, it was high time for Parlia ment to take care that this embartassment should he felt no more. In framiog the re medies, the first object was to get such a descrip tion of enactment as should suit the characteris tics of the meetioto a t tainst which their mea sures were directed. The »umbers in which the dis-itietted met—the system acted upon—the cir cumstence of their sending persons from one dis trict to another to wake disconteut, where no grieyances'had previously been felt, and the prac tice of meeting simultaneously, were all to he borne in mind. It was well • known. that it hail been the el au of the Radicals to meet simultane ously (and they had been very near effecting this) and then 'meeting armed in so many places that the military could not watch them all at once, it was their Object not to separate till by physical force their purpose should be accomplished. The sacred right of the subject to petition he would preserve, but this right he world have exercised in the way in which it had always been exercised till very lately. He would call on the lioese to do nothing that would operate against the ancient right of the people to petition, under the protec tion, and with th e sancti o n of the Magistrates, or the other Conatititted Authorities of the land. He on the contrary, give increased facilities to this 'node of petitioning. For other Meetings, if called, it . was but reasonable that they should meet under circumstances that gave a sort of prima facie security against outrage; for the House might rely on it, that unless the liberty of the country conk be peaceably upheld, those li berties must perish. Two modes sue gest ed them selves of correcting inmulttetry meetings—a local, aud.a numerical regulation. *it did mot enter in any degree into the views of Government to re• thece meetings to a number that might have the effect of chilling discussion. l'he object was to take •a criterion which would not infringe on the right of assembling-, and at thee same time would prevent the possibility of its abuse. The tneasure world pro vide in the first piece ; that, with the exception of County meetings, of those of Corporations or call vd by certain Magistrates,all other meetings should assemble on the notice of a certain number of (keys being given to the Magistrate, and within their own parishes. That was the natural place where meetings should be held, and where all the purposes of discussion might most effectually be carried into effect. With respect to the impro priety of allowing large Numbers to ;assemble, he appealed to the sentiments of a Noble ',old, whose authority would not be suspected in that House (Lord Erskine), and who, in a late work, had publicly declared, that, holding the right of m ee ti ng sacred as lie did, be telt no difficulty in stating that nothing could be more obviously use less and dangerous to the country than the ast.em bling of large multitudes. In confining; meetings to their respective parishes, it became necessary to make it a misdemeanour for nonresidents to he present at such meetings. There were in all England about 30 very populous parishes ; When he said popelons parishes, he meant that they contained 20,000 inhabitants, or perhaps more.. In such cases, he would propose that they should be divided, into distticts, embracing a population of not less than 10,000. This, he trusted, would show that Government did not iutend to seduce meetings in such a manner as to destroy their po pular character. They would, on the contrary, become better fitted for the purposes of discus sion, at the same time that they would cease to be attended with danger. ().rie hundred thousand peusou s would no longer assemble, and those in dividuals who reduced grievance -making into a trade, would no longer have it in their power to travel about the land, arid poison the minds of men who did not feel diet they live under a mild system of Government.—(Hear, hear, hear!) —lt would also be necessary to prevent the attention of Maejstrates from being distracted by simultaneous toeeti'n'gs on the same day. For that purpose, it would be required of the persons calling meetings to giVe notice of their intention six days beforchwid to the Magistrate, in order that he should have time to consider. Ile shoold alSo be invested with the pOwer, within four deys of that fixed for assembling, to change both the time and place, if he 'should find it proper, so as to defeat any plan which might have been formed to create confusion. The tumultuary character of meetings would thus be removed, and the system of itinerant orators destroyed. - There was ano ther object, one of first-rate importance, which it Was also necessary di attain. Meetiogs Must he sit ipped of that character, which till now had never been a British character, and which present ed an armed assemblage, demanding rather that, petitioning for redress. It was necessary that no individual 'gain;; co petition should giVe his vote io arms, or butler threateniug symbols, but wit h that respect thre to the pea'ce of the country, the dignity of I 4 alliathent, and the integrity of the Constitution.- There would be a distinct clause on that sobjsct, to prevent people from going with any description of arms to Meetings, to alarm he loyal subjects of his Majesty.. Such a clause might he a new one in this country, because such X Character had never before applied to au En glish Meeting. It. would be made general to all assemblies of that nature, because even a County Meeting hail lately been disgraced by all the wea pons and signals of Radicalism.—(Hear, hear, hear !)—There was one point on which e he should propose no law ; it was the part which wo men had borne in the late transactions, for he trusted that it would he sufficient to restrain diem from similar conduct in future, to let them know, that when the French Republicans were carrying on their bloody orgies, they could find no female to join them except by ransacking the bagnios and public brothels. No mrtal, in the British Metropolis had appeared among the ranks of the Radicals, and he trusted that the native modesty and mental purity of our countrywomen would keep them pore from inch deep pollution.—(Heat, hear 1)---The Bill which lie should propose would therefore require six days' notice to be given to the Magistrate before a meeting; wmild invest the Magistrate with the power of changing the day and place within four days of its being held; would compel the assembly to take place- within the patish, and would make it an illegal offence for non•residents to attend ; or for persons to come with arms or revolutionary symbols, giving a French character to British transactions. The Magistrates veotild of course be empowered to seize such persons, and take them away from the meeting; for, to render the measure effective, it was necessary to strengthen tire hands of the Ma gistracy, that they might resist the inroads of people not belonging to their parish. He did net mean that they should turn out any individual whom curiosity might have led to the spot ; but if the influx of strangers had a tendency to en danger the peace, or change the nature of the meeting, they should real a proclamation, order ing all strangers to withdraw. If this proclama tion was not obeyed, they might then pronounce the meeting to be illegal, arid dissolve it. A quarter of an hour would be allowed for the strangers to re tire, and half an hour for the meeting to disperse. It after that date more Ow twelve individuals were found assembled, he should not propose to make it felony with death (Hear, hear, hear !), but a'clergyable felony----(llear, hear, hear !).—lf the gallant General (we suppose Sir lohert Wil son) hail read tire Acts of Parliament attentively, he would find that the principle of the Riot Act had been followed.—He now should come to the second measme which .it was intended. to propose. Its object was to prevent the training and drilling of the people. Meetings for that purpose were abhor rent to our Constitution, and required to be put down. The Bill would treat them as illegal, and liable to be dispersed, and would hesides attach crime to the parties. There would be. however, a distinction between the drilling. and the drilled, for the drillers must he considered as the more intelligent and climinal of the two. He rejoiced, on this occasion, to he able to state, that although in one or two in stances old soldiers had been found acting, their Offence had not been imitated, and nothing could be more exemplary than the conduct of those who having first taken up arias in the service of their country, had been the first at the return of peace to lay them down,—(Hear, hear, hc'ar !)—The punishment for this offence wet& not be confined to fine and imprisonment, but transportation would not be too severe a visitation for those who could so far forget their duty. The state of the country also demanded that Magistrates should immediately be entrusted with great power for the detection of arms, and a measure should be pro posed to accomplish that object. No principle could be more congenial to the spirit of the laws, and no measure more called for by the sit miatirsit of the country, than one which would render the administration of justice more prompt. Pint in dividual charged with a crime which affected his life, was immediately put upon his trial 5 but in cases of mistlemeanoors,abe accused had it in his power to postpone his trial, so as to defeat, the ends of justice, perhaps for a year and a half. It would be the object of the new measure intended to be proposed, to make regulations teuding to place trials for misdemeanours more nearly on the same footing as those for capi tal offences. lie said more nearly because there were rights belonging to individuals on which be was desirous not to infringe. The object of •the new law would be to reduce th e t i me as muc h as possible, without reducing those rights. On this point it was unnecessary for him to enter into any farther explanations ; but he should add, that the measure would be connected with another, which the state of the country, he trusted, justified his Majesty's Ministers in bringing forward, and which should 'consist iii an attempt at realizing the intention which they had long entertained, of facilitlying the Administration of Justice in the country—(gear, hear, hear !)—by - some regulation respecting the going Judges. The long interval bet weer) Autumn and Spring ocea shined a suspension of justice, and they had in contemplation to create a system by which an .Assize might be given.—(Lieur, beet, hear !)-11 siould be seen, that with respect to the iialivi- duals charged with a misdemeanor in the (h o rrify of Lancaster, Government had ate ed with I onl able lenity in not sunning dow n a Zpecial Com misSion, which would hate preteored them trona potting off their trial as they had done. He now came to the r»eaure which he had Lept for the last, because he considered it, in every constitu tional point of view, the most important. Gre.rt danger arose to the country from the seditio as and. treasonable Press, at which hr intended to point the present measure. As the law now stood, it was incredible what a mass of crime, politi ca l a nd r was committed. It was impossible to arrest the torrent of perverse reasoning ad dressed- to the lower orders unless a system of counteraction was speedily adopi e d. Wi t h aut that, not only would the other lota,ures proposed prove inadequate, b ut t h e mind of the coanti y wool ! ! !lever settle down in contetement and peace. On tire othe'r hand, he could not con ceive that the country could he great, happy, and flourishing, uuless it possessed a free press,— (Hear, hear, hear !)—But it it could not !coder a tree press compatible with peace, morality, and religion, it would be swept away by a atOrntanost terrible and destructive. He would a4t.nothing that could shake the two great of a tree press.—(Hear, heat, hear l)----No man sioauld be prevented from publishing his own sentiments to theovorld, on his own responsibility:lly a pre vious censorship,—(blear, hear, frosU the Oppo !)—and nothing should he done to affect the trial by Jury, or the law of the 1111(1,—(l-Icor, hear, he,ir ! front the Opposition)—as applied to libel. Juries should contoole to decide what was libel. —(lleac, hear, hear !) —The resolutions would only apply a salutary remedy to the abases of the Press. They would render it a real ser vice, for nothing tended more to degrade its dig nity thou the use to which it bad lately been pot. Neither did he expect any serious opposition to Iris measure, for Ire should not open a new principle to Patliatneot. He (ily proposed to sustain the existing lass of the land, and to punish and re press a frond, which had been long in operation, though he knew trot how it was introduced, and which had injured the respectable and regular newspapers, and thrown the circulation into the hands of those who had nu character, and no re spectability, but whose aim was to diffin , e poison among the people —(Hear, hear, hear !)—He alluded to the law which imposed a st , mp ott newspapers, and to its evasion by the minor pub lications. By the stamp Laws advettiserneots paid a certain and separate duty. The vamp oil the paper itself applied to the rest of its contents. Some pamphlets of a smaller kind were also sub ject to a 'trifling (boy, and were rioted on stamped paper. Thus Cobbett had for many years used stamp paper, and sold his Register at 10d. or Is. ; but he afterwards gave tip stamps, and reduced the price of his paper to 2d, He should propose to follow the legitimate con clusion of the law as it now stood, and to counteract the traud committed on the Re venue, and towards other Newspapers, by coo sidtriug all publications and foonphlets trot exceedwg ttvo sheets, and containing news, intel ligence, or political strictures, in the light of newspapers, and coming within the meaning of the &amp Act, which they had hitherto evaded. This, he conceived, would restore the public cis ciliation to rise respectable newspapers, or force the minor publications to pay what was due to the country. The second regidation which lie should propose, would be also on a principle al ready established anti recognised by the late of the bud, which declared that every publication must cuntjn the name of its printer or poidisher, itt order that be may be amenable to justice. He wished for nothing more titan tosprevent that disposition of the law from proving nugatory,. "The mischief was, that as matters now stood, the real author sheltered himself by putting; forward some wretched vagabond, who for a miserable hire, took upon himself ail the re sponsibility and the chances of prosecu:ion. He bail thus beard of art individual, who, whilst under the sentence of the law, laughed at the idea of its being an impediment to tire con tinuance of his improper avocations, and said, how can it prevent me when I can find an indivi dual for half-a-crown-a-day, who will put his name to my publication ?—(Hear, hear, bear !) It was therefore necessary to make the registered poblisher really responsible to the country. Newspapers were its themselves from the extent and ',attire of their establishments, sufficient evi dence of the responsibility of alteir owners trod publishers. But the Act would requ:re all per sons setting up minor publications, to deposit a previous pecuniary security, and equal sums from those who should go securities for them, to abide the result of any judgment which the late !night ant-swards pass upon them, either for libel or hlasphemy. This would bring out the real per son. 'file faggot would cease to be, and the res ponsibility would lie where it ought, The third regulation was one which he conceited necessary to give effect to the others. It tended to impose a moderate penalty on all persons selling or hawking about those publications which were not duly stamped, or the publishers of which had not fulfilled the cooditiotts required. The penalty, it was intended, should be recover able before a Magistrate. He knew that Iris Ma jesty's Ministers would be reproached witis not h av i ng i n sti tu t e d more prosecutions against sedi tious publications, but that would come with a very bad grace fronts tire other side of the House, who could not foreet the notions they bad made against ex-officio informations. They would con tend-that any alteration in the laws was unneces sary ; but it was tinder the laws as they now stood that the mischief had aris e n and exte n d e d beyond the leach of contronl. The whole Cou ntry felt that it had an imerest, and a deep one, in seeing the evil effectually counteracted. Besides the dispositions which he had already explained its Ilse crew law, witieh it was hoped worthd coun teract those evils, a clause would be introduced to inflict is more ssvere punishment on the repetitiou of en °those:v. lie meant its repetition after a first codvioion. By a former Bill, the puoishment ailixed to this particular kind of offence was trans portation for seven years.. This he should not now propose to make compulsory, but he shoeld leave it at the optioo of the Judges, in cases of libel, sedition, ucazon, and blasphemy, to d of all cool bef ore duty t 0 isidera" for th e w hich , ufuh►otl of the bat i t ertion' disse - D pie:yp isSes Of :ultiva" 1 a just we Call Inc fd• nen sa to the rent c 9 01 " of h ig ler cif' , PAin" fee iwoc n estric•. ccouo cos I Per . iii o e . ,untrf'' urea 84 ir Pr° . isks e °tile ( at ( 1 it sne: