The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-02-16 00:00:00

REMARKS ON THE VAGRANT ACT.

[Continued from our Paper of Thursday.]
The passion for regulating the whole order of society by
penal laws, has of late years been carried to a moat unwise
and mischievous excew. We seem to be introducing, by
degrees, the punctilious strictness of the German discipline
into our " highways am! bye-ways ;" trained bands of re-
formers multiply everywhere, and arc beyond measure pro-
lific ; legion. of saints hover over us with pious anxiety;
guardian angels watch us in our utmost privacy, " two at
head and two at feet ;" the kingdom is pregnant with con-
stables, and it overspread with Justices of the Peace;'
every second man has a sceptre of authority in his baud.'
And in addition to all this, we have a Bridge-street Asao-
elation hi rapport the Garernment, as if the civil Mower
were, after all, inefficient to maintain the laws; and a So-:
cid!, fur the Suppression of Mire, in itself a standing libel
on the law of tithes and the utility of a church t stablish-
molt.

Unhappily our public laws, like our private affections,
weaken us they spread. It is enough, and more than
enough, that statutory regulations should govern the
whole of our commerce—that they should extend over the
whole range of our manufactures —that they should twist
themselves, more or less, with every branch of human in-
tercourse: but that Mr. Chetwynd should add his Vagrant'
Art to the number—that whether the poor sit still or stir
abroad, brings them equally within its reach—that if they
are idle punishes them as rogues, and if they •• keep mov-
ing," as raga/teeth ;—truly, all this fostering care of the
public peace, all this restless anxiety for the preservation
of " morality and swat order," savours very much of ty-
ranny. We must be upon our guard, lest the Temple of
our freedom be destroyed by all this strengthening of its
foundations. " The Kings of the earth, and all the inha-
bitants of the worlds would not have believed that the ad-
versary and the enemy would have entered into the gates
of Jerusalem." And yet they did enter, and did not " leave
.sen• stone upon another."
Continuing our remarks upon the Vagrant Act, we come
now to the third clause; and, to be wire, a uuwe hetero-
geneous jumble of offences and offenders were never before
clamed together. As this clause runs to some length, to
avoid confusion we will travel through it in parts; taking
care, however, to omit nothing, that the lawgiver may not
complain of misstatement or mutilation.
I. And be it further enacted, that all persons going about as
gatherers of alms, under lithe pretence of lons by fire or by other
eastuelty, or as collectors under any false pretence, all bear-wards, all
common stage.playeri, and all persons who shall, for hire, gain, or
/sward, act, represent, or perform, rr cause to be performed, any
interlude or entertainment of the stage, or any part or parts therein,
such persons not being authorized by law"—
All such persons, together with the long addition to the
list, which wr shall presently proceed to enumerate, are to
be "deemed rogues and raga/Node within the true intent
and meaning of this Act." But what an unmatched group
is here ! Why, in the name of absurdity, should lie
thrust the " hear-ward- into the throng ! Where, we
would fain learn, is the crime of keeping a hear 11 If the
worthy n.arden, whoever he may be, keeps it to himsel/;
what flax Mr. Chetwynd, or any lardy else, to do with it
The keeper of the wild beasts at the Tower, the successor
theretiownal Mr. Pidcock, of the Royal Menagerie, are
both of them hear-wards, and consequently come within
the express designation of metres and raga/weds, and are
liable as such to be apprehended, and made to euttlr the
punishment pre ecribal by this Act. For it is not the in-
troduring Me hear to the public, or the exhibiting his pro-
ficiency in dancing, that is made necessary to constitute the
offence, but the wimple keeping is bear—" all bear-wards .1"
—and why any man should be condemned to arisen and
hard &buss, fur keeping a bear, any more than for keeping
a buffalo, or any other animal, we are utterly at a loss to
discern. With this precedent before us, malefactors 'nay
be multiplit ii without end, and the tread-mill go round
with the celerity of a rolling-cage.
As to the stage-players, who may entertain the rustics
withosit a licence, we would commend the sage advice of
II AM LLT to the ear of the Visiting Magistrate, whether of
Staff .rd gad or of any other—
.- Do you hear, let theni be well used ; for they are the abstract,
and brief chronichs of the time ; after your death you were better
have& bad Epitaph than their ill report while you live."
Indeed one might almost suppose that the player in
Hamlet was speaking in mystical allusion to some such
instrument as the tread-mill in the following invocation :
" All you gods !
In general synod, take away its power ;
Break all the spokes and tellies of its wheel.
And WIWI the round naive down the hills of heaven
As los as to the fiends !"
iirc trust, in spite of the Magistrates who tnay come
forward in its praise, that the " spokes and readies of
its wheels" will be broken, or, if it should remain, that all
such Magistrates as are well satisfied of the healthfulness
of its rotatory motion, should enjoy exclusively the benefit
of improving their constitution, by exercising their lungs
and their legs daily, till they shall be pronounced con-
valescent.
It is of the unmet importance that we should be able,
at all times, to distinguish the boundary line between
legitimate and arhilinry power. The two simple and in-
telligible maxims which we laid down at the outset of our
remarks, afford a sure criterion by which this distinction
may be drawn. First, that punishment can only he in-
flicted white some .emcee is committed; and, secondly,
that to constitute an ngence, the act committed must be in-
jurious, directly or indirectly, either to the cnnimunity at
large, or to some indiridual member of it. Let us now
ask, what injuty does the community, or any individual
metnber of it, sustain by the performance of any interlude
or entertainment of the stage? Clearly none; and for
the clearest of alt reasons,—that it is only when the persons
perform for hire, gain, or reward," that they are made
the object of punishment. But an the public require
to be itrotected by the penalties of the law, against
being erkelqined by persons whose skill and labour
they reward? Such a principle of public punishment
is absurd, and is inanifeetly an exercise of arGitrary
power. As applied to the individuals' it is au act
of oppression : and that man must be ill studied
in the fir principles of the British Constitution, who can
introduce such enactments into its criminal code. In a
great and opulent kingdom like our own, the qualities and
occupations by which men procure a subsistence is infinite.
It has pleased Providence., in its bounty, to distribute ta-
lents of endless variety among mankind. Each individual,
metalling to his capacity, whether for insbuction or amuse-
ment, seeks his subsistence in the faculties he has culti-
vated. The exercise of their attainments is, in the far
,greater part, imposed upon them by their neceseities and
occasions. For Hu taw to interfere amid to prohibit such
paeans, under severe ',eremitic*, to resort to the only MMUS
they poetess of supporting their families, or getting bread
for themselves, is the rankest injestice.. Every man has a
right to employ his talents, whatever they may be, for his
own support, and it is the dotty of the Government under
which he lives, to protect him in the honest and profitable
employment of them. But it Ilex here on the reverse
We received, by a Dutch Mail, accounts from the Hague principles, and punishes where it ouritt to protect !
of the Sth February. His Royal Highness the Prince of We are fully reeved to hear sonic one assert, and all
Orange arrived there on that day from St. Petersburgh. our attention to the fact, that the punishment awarded
.by
A Flanders mail arrived yesterday ; but the papers the Aet applies only to "all persons who shall for hire, gain.
brought by it are wholly destitute of interest. or reward, act, Rte., such persons net being authorised by lair: '
'There are private filers from Madrid of the 7th in- Not being authorized by law ! what just grounds
,tent, which communicate some particulars of interest. can the late interfere, where its prerentire and penisAing
The discussions in the Cablect relative to the demands of power is not only uncalled for, hut where it has manifestly
Fiance continued ; but as the French party was the no right whatever to enforce it ? Suppose a statute were
strongest, it was fully expected that they would be coin- to be passed restricting the perodasion to brew beer to the
plied with. A note had been despatched to the French proprietors of sir licensed breweries only, and that another
Government, stating that the chief difficulty in the way was Act were then passed, declaring that " all persons who for
the dread of violent opposition in the Ultra Royalist party, hire, gain, ut reward, shall brew, or cause to be brewed,
and that an increased military force was requisite to pre- any beer, ale, or porter, such persons Pl,,i bring an-
vent COMIIIOI ion. For this purpose it was resolved to create ! therierd by law, shall be deemed rogues and vaga-
as strong an army as possible, and to re-organise sonic of bonds, aid on conviction be committed to hard labour
those who served under the Constitutionalists. I for any term not exceeding two years, and for the se-
Mr. Elliott. the Missionary, arrived at Portsmouth on , coed to be deemed incorrigible rogues, within the trite in-
Thursday, in the Oscar, front Ihmerara ; hut we are re-: tent anti meaning of the Act, and it aiuparted accordingly ;"
quested to state, that his return to England is not compel_ I would it be any defence of such an iniquitous act, that its
story, but perfectly voluntary : his stay here is merely tem- prohibition and its punishment applied only to such per-
pinery ; lie boa left his family in the colony. Isola as should brew ale or beer, net beisg. uslhuriz:d
Gy
The Queensberry packet arrived on Friday morning at hem y- Vous not every titan capable.of reflection perceive
Falmouth, iu thirty-four days from Jamaica. Mr. Ilur. that, in this case, it is the low that is rteuetherieed, and not
tado, the Colombian Minister, is not on board ; but Mr. the act which it proscribes ? It is vexatious to attempt to
Amble., one of the Colombian Commissioners, has reached regulate the whole of human life and manners in that in-
England by this conveyance. The express by which this tolerant spirit in which it has of late been attempted. It is
intelligenee has been received from Falmouth brings no an atrocities usurpation on the common rights of the sub-
Jamaica Papers, nor does the latter mention the state of jest. Such legislators as Mr. Chetwynd, who come to
that island when the packet sailed, from which it may be their task with no other or better preparations than a foolish
concluded that no further attempts at insubordination had vanity and a feet:lists real, would do well to study the first
taken place among the black pepulatiou. principles of moral and political justice, before they make

l Front the C
u
rt
i
/ if,. awned.
I
0 artier:, JAW. 3.
The siege of 31 issolonghi, and of the tale of Anattilicon, by :VI us-
taphs, Pacha of Scodra lasted foe fifty-nine days. It is against
that island they have almost exclusively directed their operations.
According to the most correct estimate that could be niatle, the army
lof the besiegers amounted to more than itOo6 nien. Their anti-
! levy was considerable, and they fired upwards of 34101.0 shots upon
the island, and exhattsted their last resources without obtaining
any advantage. (tor Garrison dill not amount to tinO men, most of
whom were inhabitants of the island. They all distinguished them-
selves by the limiest resistance.
By a very singular accident, the first bullet fired by the enemy
I was in the direction nil the chinch # the Archangels, and in falling
upon the ground plot belonging to the church, a great quantity of
water spouted forth, which led to the discovery of an old well, 0)-
1 tirely.unknown to the inhabhashi. .
Tots circumstance happened 'told opportunely, for we were be-
ginning to he in want of water, the Island having till lately sup-
plied itself from a fountain situated on the Want coast, which was
already occupied by the Turks. The people did not fail to attri.
bute this accident to the favour of thi Archangels, protectors of
the isle, and to the justice of tour cause, and it less redoubled their
contillence and courage.
Seven thousand feet of olive timber, and a great number of
houses on the island, have been destroyed by the enemy's artillery.
I But the establislunent of our independence will amply indemnity'
us, not only fur our past losses, but mall those which we have yet',
ito sustain. _ .... ...

The Pitch* of Smart effected his retreat very precipitately. lie
left behind him a considerable part of his baggage and ammu-
nition. line of his corps, engaged in the dithcult ',minor* of
Valtos, almost entirely purishetl. The other troops which arrived
at Epirus, were attacked by some Albanian corps who have de-
clared tor the Greeks, and occasioned* cutisid,rable loss to the
enemy. Those who escaped tile sword of the Greeks, are direct-
Mg themselves through Middle Albany, towards Seudra.

[From the ludicaterr of Bordeaux.l
MADRID, Fors. 3.

We are still deprived of news from the provinces, froM which the
correspondence iv very limited.
It had been agreed between France mid the Spanish Government,
that the French Royal Guards should remain at Madrid. They
received orders to hold themselves in readiness to return to France,
and were to set out on the Bth of this month t but we are assured
that King Ferdinand has requested that this corps might remain at
Madrid, and extraordinary courier,' have been forwarded to Paris,
to obtain a prolongation of its stay in Spain. An answer, it is
hoped, will be received ky the 7.11 or ilth, and the Guards will re.
main till that time to know their destination.

.....
It is currently reported bete that there hag been an insurreetion
in fisetesuadura, at the head of which was General ; in many
parts of Andalusia also, symptutis of agitation hare appeared,
which leads us to fear similar results.

I Froth the Cour, ier Fraxceie.l
LEIMIIIe JAN. 29.