The National Register.
London, England, 1808-04-25 00:00:00

*5B ri,fz- rr "-‘ tHliitATTOigAt ROM'

tercel, and may proceed to trial thereon, as if the defendant had
appeared awl pleaded Not Guilty. There is a clause
au-
thorize Cie execulion in Scotland of warrants issued in England :
and there is a clan-e enabling the prosecutor to cause the bail-
bond to be assi:;o:%l to the Ring so as to give a foundation for
the same process that is usual ou bonds originally made to his
Majesty."
Is it not obvious that this statute must open the door for
endless hostilities, and immeasurable oppressions? A quar-
rel takes place between two neighbours : they wait an
opportunity, and as soon as either commits any petty
olleuce, (and who is there that does not perpetually offend
against some little peaal statute ?) the other hastens to ob-
tain a w arrant , and thrusts his adversary into gaol,—Oh no,
it is answered, the adversary may give bail.—But suppose,
as it perpetually happens, the offending party be poor and
friendless, and the offended party rich and powerful : shat
shall we find to be the consequence thee' ? why then we
shall find that for no greater fault than a nuisance in a
foot-path, an abusive expression in a wrangle, or some
other sin of the same importance, a poor man who has no
connexion capable of bailiug him, a steamer perhaps to
most of the neighbourhood, perhaps a working man on
whom the maintenance of a whole family uls, must be
dragged from his home, and of course from his employ-
ment, plunged into a gaol, and left there till he can pro-
cure bail forsooth, or till his cause shall be decided. And
all this, not only upon an indictment filed, an indictment
necessarily found true and presented by at least twelve
grand jurymen of the county—not only upon the less con-
stitutional process of an information, which may be filed
by any prosecutor on direction from the Court of King's
stench—but upon a mere affidavit, sworn before a single
Judge ! Yes ! upon a mere affidavit, sworn before a single
Judge, an Englishman may be carried from his home, per-
haps twenty or thirty miles, and immured iu " The con- ,
" mnn gaol of the courtly 1" •
Perhaps it may be thought that any man, if he be re-'
spectable, will almost always he able to find hail, notwith-
standing the lowness of his circumstances. If there should
be but one case in a hundred years of a respectable man
confined for want of bail, that one case would be suffi-
cient to prove this Bill unconstitutional : but we .contend
that such examples must necessarily be of frequent occur-
rence. The men of any consequence in every county al-
ready exercise, as it is well known, a most heavy tyranny
upon the poorer people : the elections give occasion to
perpetual demands on the services of tenants, and those te-
nants who refuse their services so demanded, arc too often
snarked men, the destined objects of the first convenient
vengeance. Rights of common, and the game laws, are
also constant soureestf animosity ; and in all sech animo-
sities the poor are the most likely to setter. Here then is
an act facilitating the infliction of suffering upon the poor.
It continually happens, that a poor man, however honest
and industrious, if once he offends the principal person of
the place, finds his means of livelihood in that part of the
country destroyed. No one dares oppose the leading man.
The poor fellow is apprehended under a warrant for some
crime not heavier than knocking down a hare in his own
le most charitable
is helpless family,
act to bail him :
business of ours,
the enmity of our

APRIL o•
-.

" landlord, at whose suit the man is going to gaol !
"we are sorry, but go he must." Shall the Attorney to:-
neral say that this is not nature 1• Shall the Attorney (ie.
neral then say that his proposition is justice?
But this Bill not only facilitates the revenge that is de-
cided: it promotes the resolves of undetermined vengeance.
For many a spiteful villain who is desirous of harassiry:
his enemy, is at present unwilling to employ the means
which the existing laws afford, because j►e considers that
he has no immediate mode of revenge: that if ho indict; tilt:
obnoxious person, revenge cannot come till the time of eel:•
viction, and the conviction itself is not certain but by the
aid of this Bill the re, enge may be gratified in a moment ; the
warrant is issued, and the offender is a prisoner for month:,
—let the poor Mlow be found guilty or acquitted at last : but
in the mean-time the foe has made sure of his revenge, and
his object is gained. Sometimes even motives more dread-
ful than revenge itself have urged a wretch to the imagine
of his fellow-creature's liberty : perhaps the husband is
imprisoned o:•ly that the wife may be violated—perhaps
the father is sent away from home only that the daughter
►nay be seduced—perhaps—hut why should we cite so
many possibilities on so evident an ? Every man must
feel at once that there is no (►orror to which individuals
may not be exposed, no mischiefs which the State may not
suffer, when the persons of Englishmen are no longer se-
cure, and imprisonment is the predecessor of offence.
Will any one tell us that when the facilitation of revenge
produces the frequency of punishment for small offence,;
the real interests of justice, and the true advantage of
society are promoted ? If there be any one who thinks
that incessant prose‘litions for petty faults contribute to
the good order of a county, and who believes that it is
desirable to make the English people *a nation of spiteful
informers, let such a reasoner make use of this argu-
ment. For ourselves we confess that it is revoking to all
our feelings. We are surprised • when we find that the
pending Bill'has passed the !louse of Commons ; we know
not how it has happened that among so many watchful
guardians of popuiar privilege, among so many declaimers
anxious to disiday their ae•zutc;iess, no sing:e person should
have stepped forth to ward this dreadful blow from the
, liberties of his country : that no one should yet have
perceived the mod:210:1s dan:rer and paradoxical purport
of a Bill, which renders an I,:ttgliF.hinan liable to be im-
prisoned before tr;al, for those faults, which, even rtflr
convictiem, subject him to no greaser penalty than imps:.
sonmcnt !

REVIEW OF POLITICAL DECLAIMERS•

No..X‘ 11.

CORBETT'S wtrh I POLITICAL REGISTER.

After three or four weeks intermission, we recommenco out
war with Mr. Cobbett—iserimps we ought rather to my, u ith
Mr. Cobbett's principles: for Mr. Cobbett himself gives 00
tokens of hostility to us; but Mr. Cobbeqes principles arc hos-
tile to us, and to Lug-laud, and to all mankind. They are p. oi-
eiples as variable a the E cal; , and as paradoxical as a riddle;
they affect moderation and they propagate iutemperatica : they,
demand unvarying consistency mid give a perpetual example of
mutability : they insist upon the blessings of war, and seek the
wens of procuring, peace : they preach the necessity
of 'tarsi-
moray, and undervalue economical reform.
Lu bis Paper or the Mb; Mr. commie dilemma Ow Itel

•
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