The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-07-24 00:00:00

f7U.:rtcs.

llJuelaor Tetenr. Wr. tlan:erl Colonel 1 elfruut, Mr. Power: ClD-
te'r. :,rancour, Mr. Pearumn; name. Kr. Wreneh. Julie. Mu
P. 03).

ArFir SURIIkY THEATRE._

Thlt Evening. SATIAIDAV. July 21. will be presented a new Melo.
Urania, called
BLANCA RUBE.. TIIE HEROINE OF PADAU.
After which s new Ourtetra. exited
N %TUBB WILL PaiFVAIL
•
To eonelaide with a Slelo-Drayna. ealled

THE 01P112114,10i1i7r; or. TN6 CAYF.H V 5 -4-HriHi. CLYDE.

ROYAL GARDENS, VAUXHALL.
On BOND %V EVENING. July WI, will be
A API-PATIO GALS FETE
inkier the espeelal Patronage of his MI 1.
With a constant succession of Amusements from Eight till Twelve
0•Clork
Losviating of a grand Concert of Vocal and !instrumental Wade, lu
which mill be introdueed a Grand Battle Sluhmks• composed by Mr.
Itookiis the surprising Perfonnaswes of the French Juggler.
have toast the apmstrttlon of nrarly all Europe the grand new lis-
t-oulmes new ftr. formasiee of the admired Fantoccini; Tight and
`:act Rope; DOW Castoonunas; Fire-work,; terrine .tecent of the
young Aawrkwase ism be.
Daum epee at Seven. Concert commences at Eight.
Adoilesion M. lid.
e.• em, of repented solicitations to resume the favourke
Baikt of The C nese Bedding. the Proprietors respectfully announce
too k will be formed on Monday evening se X, and Mr a lew
t.:tetmattly with the grand new Pantomime.

The 51111T1In Purse commenced publishing yesterday morning
. at five o'clock.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 21, 1824.

Ire yesterday gave insertion to a letter of a cones-1
pandent on the subject of die press of India, not, as he
story justly supposes, because we coincide with him in
opinion, but because we look upon it as but fair to hear
what those who are opposed to us have to say upon any
question, more especially when we feel quite convinced
that we can refute their arguments; and this, in the pre-
sent instance, we have no doubt we can easily effect.
But.before we commence, we have to complain of the
unfair mode in Which our correspondent has stated his
care. He has with some art and management mixed up
t we questions, which are of themselves perfectly distinct'
and different, and which, far the sake of being correctly
viewed, must be separated: the first of these cases is--1
%holier Mr. Adam was justified in sending Mr. Buck-
ingham out of the country ? and to this we might reply,
that as Governor-General, Mr. Adam has the undoubted
right peremptorily to dismiss any British subject from the
presidency, whom be and his Council may deem dan-
gorous to the Government, without assigning any reason
for so doing, and that this bas been done in many in-
stances, and the right neither doubted nor questio-wd.
But we do not require to take this view of the subject to
vindicate the conduct of the Governor-General In this:
country sedition is comparatively harmless, both because 11
the mat :ratjority of the population are attached to the
laws and government of the kingdom, and because, should
t!:ere exist for a time a mental fever in the public mind,
which threatens to subvert the Constitution, the Executive
hive.a strong force in their own hands, and a strong party
the nation, to prevent matters going to extreinities, and
to g;ve the public mind time to cool. In India it is widely
diflirent ;-Ltiitre a population, amounting by our corms-
pordent's own caicidation to one hundred millions, is kept
in subjection by as European force, not exceeding
(civilians included) thirty thonsaud men ; so that a ge-
neral and simultaneous discontent, with or without reason,
excited in their minds, would deprive us of India in
the course of half an hour. Is not, then, the Go-
vernment of India justified in using the most prompt and
viksourous onsifterev to guard against the bare possibility of
ouch a eataie, in the same manner as the master of a
merchant ship at sea is justified in severely punishing, (w-
-oven putting to death, a mutineer, who, if lie succeeded in
his plans, would endanger the lives of every soul on board?
Or are we to judge of his conduct, under such circum-
stances, on the same principles which would guide us

were the punishmentinfiicted in harbour, where an'app4al
could be made to a competent tribunal. -
But we have spin to complain of the unfair way in
which our correspondent has stated his case; and yet
even from his statement we gather that Mr. Buckinghtnn
was repeatedly warned; and knowing, as every man in
India must have done, the power of the Government to
send him out of the settlement, he still persisted in the
same line of conduct, as if he actually dared the Govern-
ment to the proof. IVlrat opinion would the natives and
native pitwers have formed of a government who tamely
submitted to have their power questioned, and their orders
set at defiance? they must have been convinced that it
was weakness, and not forbearance, that was the cause of
sucli conduct ; and that is the last sin which such a Govern-
ment as that of India can with safety plead guilty to.
On the question that the press is the best mode of im-
proving the morels, and with them the knowledge of the
people of India, we are by no means at issue with the,
author of the pamplet, or his commentator ; but it is a new
mode of improving morals and the understanding, to make
men discontented with those under whose sway they live;
and we would thank him to prove, that in this country
those are the most moral who arc continually finding fault
with the measures of Government. That the press may
be, and is highly useful in civilizing nations no one can
deny; and were such books as the Mechanic's Magazine,
or The Friend qf Isulia (stripped a good deal of its cant,
and other matters offensive to the prejudices of the natives,
and tending to no good) translated, and widely circulated
throughout Hindoostan, no doubt can exist, but that they
would create a spirit of inquiry, and give rise to new
energies among the natives; but political bickerings, and
frivolous complaints against their rulers, can only call forth
the 'cr wont passions of their nature, and retard every
possible kind of improvement.
That our Government in India, with all its faults, is
better than any native Government, no one can doubt.
That the natives are decidedly of this opinion is evident
from the very simple fact, that whenever a province is
ceded to us, an immediate emigration flour the neighbour-
ing provinces, which remain under the rule of their native
Newsubs or Rajahs, uniformly takes place; while no class
of natives quit our provinces but decoits and lout wallahs
(robbers aud thieves), who are driven away by the terror
of the vigilance of the police in the protection of property,
and the incorruptibility of the Judges in the execution of
justice. For an instance of the first of these cues, witness
thi provinces ceded to us after the conclusion of the last
Alarrliatta war: and of the second, the speedy retreat of
the numerous decoits from the provinceof Buudwau, under
the magistracy of the late John Elliot. Admitting these
facts, and not denying that it is of vital importance to this
country to retain possession of India, can he be called the
friend of the millions of Hindoos and Mussulmans of Hine
dosten, who would by any means detach them from the
Government of Great Britain, such as it may be, and place
them again under the tyrannical and capricious sway if
their own native Princes, where neither life nor property
would be for a moment safe ?

An able political writer • has long since proved, that a
free press and an arbitrary Government are quite incompa-
tible with each other. If it can be proved that the inha-
bitants of Ilindostan have attained a state of moral or
intellectual power sufficient to govern themselves by a
free representative Government, in God's name let us
sacrifice every advantage which we may derive from the
possession of India, and leave them to the blessings of
reread:lt and independence. But till that can be proved,
every argument that has been advanced in favour of a free
press in India would apply with equal propriety to esta-
blishing a free press on board every man of war in his Ma
jesty's fleet.

• Junius.

A considerable sensation has been excited by the trial
and conviction of Mr. Robinson, and his case has been
taken up with more seal than judgment, by some of the
Morning Papers. Among other means used to induce the
world to believe that he was innocent of the crimes of which
he was accused, was rather a bandy gratuitous assertion,
that the Jury had repented them of the verdict they bad
given on their oaths, and that they had misconceived the
evidence laid before them. The conclusion that is drawn
from this assumed fact, too, is not quite what we should
have.expected, from men advocating the cause of one of
whose innocence they were fully couvireed. " Because."
say
.they, " the Jury were misled, therefore Mr. Robin-
son ought to have a free pardon." Now we cannot see the
force of this at all—a pardon presupposes guilt—the royal
mercy-is extended to one whose life or liberty has become
forfeit to the laws of his country. Should Nfr. Robinson
escape in this way, the question of his guilt remains just
where it was—tilt is, the guilt is admitted. We should
rather, therefore, expect to see the friends of Mr. Robinson
demanding for him a new trial, that his innocence may be
established, beyond doubt or cavil, in the face of his
country, and the perjured witnesses brought to justice.
But, as will be seen in our Paper of yesterday, the Jury
have cut this argument short, by indignantly repelling the
allegation, that they either regretted the verdict they had
given, or thought that they had been misled by the. wit-
nesses • so that the justification of Mr. Robinson rests
now, first, on the improbability of a young gentleman in his
circumstances committing a theft; aild second, on the pos-
sibility of his personal identity being mistaken ; and these
two points we shall consider in their order.
When evidence against a prisoner is presumptie e, when cit.
curnstances seem topoint him out as thepersou who has com-
mitted a crime—when he has not, from various casualties,
tl‘e means of proving an alibi—then it becomes the Court
to inquire into his motives, the temptations which may be
supposed to have induced him to the commission of the de-
linquency with which he is charged, and then, and then
only, evidence of character becomes of the very last import-
ance ; because, as the evidence only amounts to e pre-
sumption against him, former irreproachable character con-
stitutes a much stronger presumption in his favour.
But when direct testimony is brought against a man,
character can go for nothing. Thus suppose any man, Sir
James Mackintosh for instance, were accused of a fraud,'
and the testimony a-ainst him only circumstantial, the
known integrity and uprightness of his character would
render him, what lawyers call suvieitme Ingit:r, and any
Jury would throw out the bill with indignation ; but on
the other hand, suppose that eight or ten honest men,
without malice or prejudice, positively swear that they saw
him commit the alleged crime, all evidence as to character
must be totally useless, as it stands to reason, that it is
much more probable temptations, to the Jury unknown, may '
have induced him to the commission of the alleged crime,
than that the senses of so many witnesses should have de-
ceived the in.

As to the second part of the defenco, viz. that Mr. Ito-
billion is not the real Simon Purei that requires a little more
consideration, as no doubt can exist that mistakes of rr-
+tonal identity as extraordinary have freqzently occurred,
though to us it seems somewhat strange, that so vigilant a
body as the police of London should let a Mall slip so easily
through their fingers, whose crimes were committed so
boldly, and with so little apparent precaution.
To exemplify this, we shall quote some cays from an
excellent work recently published by Dr. ck, in Ame-
rica, on medical jurisprudence, and which, we learn, is now
in the press for republication in this country.
" Martin tint-ere hut been absent from his home for the space of
eight years. An adventurer named Arnsuld Luting, who reseal-1
bled him, finned the design or taking his place, and actually sue.
ceeded so far as to be reamed by the wife of Alartin as her how
band, and to take possession of his pniperty. Children were born
to this union, and he lived three years in the family; with four sk-
i tees and two brothers-in-law of Martin, without their suspecting
his identity. It became, bowerer, a subj:et of tlivute.