The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-02-09 00:00:00

pulse of Owlet' you another lestiveasy of my feirasb;lo
writing. In my letter to you, favoured by Limo. Tatman, I
mentinaed the sailing of the Chilimo moodiest from Valpa-
raiso, hayloft oa board an army of 5,000 mew, *ether mum
friend of Grillers' Sass Martin, demised against Pars.—.
The ulnae*, had arrived be safely, Memel a moulkage at a
place railed Paco, sixty or seventy miles to the soweliward
lif Lima i the army disembarked, amid have eileampod ablest
liner, league, from Pisto, or shoot thiriy.five from 'badly
of Lima. Although the enemy is is the airighlioushood, the
Limanisas appear to rest to a state of perfect seeority, or
PROW, apathy. If, however, a soperiority of sieushers can
immure a victory, the Limawisos ought to be vlcearisem, for
they can Wittig tato the thief two to .use a the Chili.... To
effect the coupes, of this cossatry, mods is expected from
the disaffectioa at the Perovisas, sod t know myself there
are not a few. The two armies are widths a few leagues of
smell soatelkisse mast lake place is • few Jays; time
will determine whether this country is to are free, or 9111110
be ander she Spaaisk yoke. The nets constitution has hero
pohl.rly proclaimed ker.; few cried " flee la Constiir-
Hon " The Inquisition has been throwts open, and tour es.
posed t 3 pubis. view—their iustrosmats of torture were,
however, previously destroyed.
We sail ete lung for Chili, from Outset to the United
States."

.THE PRESS.


• .
LONDON,.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9. wt.

Sir FRANCIS BURDETT yesterday underwent the
judgment of the Court of Ding's Bench,. when
the honourable lia.onet was sentenced to be
im-
pri•ourd in the cirttody of the Marshal of the
King's Bench Prison for the space of three months,
and to pay a flue to the KANO. of 2,0001. The
rticuciodances of this case are all too steeply, we
had almost said indelibly impressed upon the
public ruind, to requite any restatement of 11.ecn
now. The prosecution, it is well known, involved
originally a 'Hitter of coostitutional right most va-
luable to every member of the community, namely,
that of commenting upon the public acts of Magi-
wines emanating from their sole discretion, and
affecting the dearest privilege., with the lives and
limbs of the King's subjects. The conduct of the
proceedings vubstquently involved a mailer of
strict law, which has in ootritquence become as fa-
miliar to the minds of the people as were the me.

1:1::clioly facts to which the patriot Baronet's letter
atlticbd. The law respecting the necessity of prov-
ing the publication of an alleged libel within the
outlay wherein the offence is charged in the indict-
mem, has been canvassed, oot at the bur only, but
in tvery society of men throughout the empire;
and it is almost unnecessary to say, that the ;,urlg-
rornt of the three Judges of the Court of King's
Bench, who refused the motion fisr • new trial
u; on this point, does not outweigh in the public
nutid the opinion pronounced by Sir JOHN BA Y.
LEY , in affirmitnce of the arguments used by the
'lmmovable Baronet's Counsel, supported as that
opti.init is by the principles of common sense, which
it is Vie boast of our greatest Lawyers form the
basis 0r our common law. In point of law, the
circumstance of not proving publication of the
worthy Baronet's letter to the Electors of West-
minster, within the county of Leicester, where the
offence of publication was charged, bet at Westenin-
,ster, upon. which the indictment was silent, was
• scarcely s shade removed from not proving the pub-
.' lication at all ; and the a cessary obvious conse-
quence is, that any writing whatever found in a
man's desk, or obtained in any other wa♦ whatever,
may be made the subject of a criminal prosecution,
no matter whether published by the writer or nut,
or ahether it was ever intended by him for publi-
cation. The writing of a libel may be considered
as the contemplation or even the commencement
of an offerer, but it is publication that makes the
offence complete; the.portiott of the crime, there-
fore, which was presumed, according to the ex-
pression of Sir WILLIAM BEST, to have been com-
mitted in Leicestershire, was so inconsiderable, so

unknown) to our common law, and the evidence
brought in support of that presumption so unsatis-
factory to any ordinary understanding, that had the
worthy Baronet chanced in the hurry of writing to

have doted the letter as from his residence (we will
suppose) in Berkshire, the indictment might with
as much propriety have been laid in Berkshire stain
the county of Leicester, where it was actually tried.
The quantum of punishment now assigned i., in
comparison with the magnitude of the danger in-
volved in the principles established by the verdict
of the Jury and the judgment of the Court, a
matter of very inferior importance. The letter, we

admit, was written iu an angry ■nd violent toue ;
but what man of feeltog and humanity will place
it in the same scale with the conduct of the Magis-
trates of Manchester ? If Sir FRANCIS BURDETT'S
letter were harsh and impassioned, were the measurer
of Mr. HAY and his colleagues mild and merciful ?
if the letter were conceived in terms likely to ex-
cite in the public mind sentintems unfriendly to
the Government, was the act of forcibly dispersing
• peaceable and well-tempered meeting of the peo-
ple, legally, aye, legally convened, calculated to

increase the popularity of the Cabinet which
6Lould be found to sanction it with their approbs-
t!oti ? Blood was spilled at Manchester, the blood
a women dad children, and with the account of
such an event before his eyes was it surprising the.
an English Gentleman should feel indignation—
not at the Go►ernment, of whose sentiments's% the

t•ine of the writing lie ONO wholly ignorrat--but at

the Magistiates. the Clergymen too, and the
soldiery, who caused the occurreuce, awl that he
►:.uuld cry aloud fur an inuiediatt inquiry ? If