The Sun.
London, England, 1830-07-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The news from Parie, which we announced yester-
day, was of the important character which we us-
signed to it.. The City, the Stock-Exchange,
Ministers, we believe, and the public we are sure,
were astounded at it. The situation of a Govern=
meet to which the Legisiative Body is likely to re-
fuse the necessary supplies, is no doubt critical
enough, and demands energy and decision ; but the
blow has been struck before the provocetine has
been given by the newly-elected Chamber of
Deputies. The Ordinance of the King of France,
upon the Report of his owtt Ministers, has entirely
changed the Constitution of the country into a purr
despotism.- The French have been titled to des-
potisms pure enough, uo doubt--that is, not tinc-
tured with any stain of liberty ; but then theme
was an army to enforce the system. Whether the
present reigning family possesses that physical
streegth, or any other in lieu of it, will be
proved by the result. If victorious, it may be
staid, as of old, rietrir coma diis sed
data Caroni. It is a mere sophism to say that
such a crisis was provided for by any articles
(0. the Charter. The Ordinaece by the King of
Franca of the .25th instant, is the act of a
Dictatorehip, upon the principle ere quid dvirtthetdi,
justifiable &e. fr it were in reason, sold can be up-
held by force, so much the betel. for the King of
France, and so much the wtsrse for the constitutional
Iferties of the French people llowever, if a native
tress cannot be tolerated, let us take care that a
foreign one do not inflame the quarrel, and afford
pretexts; itt least so long as our own rights are tine
assailed. That oer readers, however, may eompre-
fiend the full exzent of the revolmioe Which the
Royal decrees have effeefed, we need only enume-
rate some of their derails; but before we enter upon
them, we may be allowed to state, that the -French
Ministers justify the necessity of change on false
around.. They sense the Press of sedition, bee
cause they themselves happen to be unpopular,—
they proclaim that the electoral laws, solemnly Rance
boned by succeseice legisletures are disorgelfzing
and anti-monarchical, beesit,e, through them, they
have felled its commending a majority in the
Chamber ; vet, inetead of leaping overboard,
and leaving their Royal Master in safety from
the storm which they alone hall provoked,
they insist upon guiding the vessel among
rocks and quicksands nt the 'hazard of exciting ti
mutiny among the crew, and endangering the lives
of all. The ordinance for suspending the liberty of
the Press enacts that no journal can be published
without the authority of Government, and that such
authority may be withdrawn ‘ebenever Goverment
pleases. Thus the Journal ring DM:, or any other
popular journal, may he stopped whenever a prefect
of police, or any subaltern of the Administrntiote
considers himself aggrieved by its strictures. A
rigid censorship is to he enforced every paragraph
will be discussed by the emery., with their red-ink
or thole scissors In their bands, and the public will
know juts as much as their
,masters choose. All
the benefits to be derived from free discussion are
thus at once destroyed. No political rights can be
defserded, and no political wrongs can be denounced,
smeiithout the permission (which it will be impossible
to obtain) of those whose conduct is implicated.
Thus, in the 10th century, in n time of profound
peace, an t amid- a naCon which is allowed to
abeued in all the elements of public prosperity,
an enlightened and able Press is not to be
Unrested with the privilege of nu independent ex-
pression of praise or censure. The grounds on
which this despotic decree is justified would warrant
the continuance of the censorship for ever. The
,journals under all the different Ministers since the
restoration are described Its engines of disturbance
and disorder, and hence it is inferred that under no
circumstances eau they be left free. The most un•
founded charges are brought against them to justify
the most impelitie restrictions. Hence we are told
that they revealed to the ene-ny the preparationa
for the Algerirse expedition, and that they ealum.
:dated the army of which it was composed. At.
unitive readers, as we ere bound pro'essionally
to be, of the French newspapers, we hate seen
nothing In them to exempt this statement from
the charge of misrepresentation. The opposition
made to the measures of time present °thine has
always been ardent, and often unjust; but it ought to
be recollected, that a weak end unpopular Ministry,
which Must provoke abuse in proportion to its
errors or incompetency, can always provide for itself
herorehaed a justifieuthln of its tmeonstitutionsl vio-
lence. The demolition of the popular Chamber is
nearly as complete as that of the periodiesl. Press.
The ordinance which new models it, reilorie's:that
assembly' from the number of 430 Member to 258,
destroys the franchises of thretefour Its of the elev.;
tors,-places in' the hands of the privileged few,
who formerly composed the departmental colleges,
the power of choosing all the persons to he nick-
earned the deputies of depertments,7-narrows the
whole electoral body of France to. about 8,000 or
10,000 individuals, whom the prefects may manage
in their different districts as easily as close borough-
are managed in Englatule—gives the prefects the
power of settling even these limited lists, without
permittitag the right of challenge to third parties,-..
sweeps away time legislation of 16 years,—und
converts into an instrument of taxation an as,
earthly whose chief duty ought. to make them
a check on its expenditure. The privilege ree
served for the electors of arrondissement to return
half the candidates to be. ultimately sent to the
Chamber by the departmental colleges is of rio
value, as it can have little effect on the ultimate se-
teethe'. But the authority to which the Fretich
Ministry refer to justify the direct ititerference of
the Crown in the present instance, is probably as
objectionable as that interference itself. The Nab
artiele of the Charter is to the following effect a-s-!
" The King is the suprente chief of the settee.-
commands the forces by sea and lantl,e-deciares
war,—makes treaties of peace, of alliance and emu-
tierce,—nominates to all employments of the public
administration, and makes the regulations and ordi.
now, necessary' fur the ezeodion q/ the lows and
the, Weil/If the stole." It 'argue. no amell inge-
nuity tits perverting the pleirtest language, totted in
this passage of the Choler -(which describes and
limits thepowerintrueted to the executive) a war-
rant for assuming sll power, both legislative, and ex=
eutive. If the interpretation put upon it la the royal
oreiromea be admisaible, then time Chatter reserves
to the King the power of destroying that same
Charter whenever, and ip whatever mama, it may
shit him 1 The' quibble would be coutemptible,
even in time heeds of a special pleader. Time"
or-
dinances and regulations alluded tO, must be in
tumfertnity with existing laws, and not destruc-
tive of them,--the " safety of the state" is to be
provided for by the preservation, and not by a direct
itenthilation, of its necessary institutioes. By
the same authority, the Crown might at mire aboliblt
the three or four codes, and shot tap the courts of
justice. State neeeasity, in the bands of arbitrary
Ministers, might be pleaded for the abolition of
every popular right, and the establishment of un-
"'smiled end uncontrollable despotism. If any
thing could add to our regret at the immediate effect
these tmeoemitmitionel proceediegs it would be
the fetal uncertainty
which they throw around time
Olified destiny of our neighbours, and the
13vh.icii they occasion of
arbitrary eharigeiell c's~utletMnet: iii
itilomp'ecelrebrioretietitutisitiairt :mate ?tim. is
of
y such precipitates and
is lost—no
and we may apply to the politlel7 ,419;(1,4140011;
the language employed by the 1","
scribing the unstable anti chaotic, woretoPrrn.'" "e-
-" mine niadrum moles lists prineiplor4:""4:
Cormribus nalla ; quiet nil est /lentil-No instant'
Qua qulsi eorybore, et sides !Ili polo* postint.!!
We need settecely mid that time Count:Mori of
French Crown on this Occasion Can receive no

Rapport ()r countenance from any.pnrty—Whig or
Tory—in power, or out of power, in this country.—

The contents of the express which we gave yes-
terday from Paris are of fearful importance. In a
, moment, and by the expression of his arbitrary
• will, the King has subverted the Charter and yen-
. evlled the conditions of the Restoration) There
I have been peindar and there have been regal reeo-
lutionst this is of the latter sort: The Ordinance
of the King dissolc'ng the Chatinbers almost at the
moment appointed for them to re-assemble—sus.
pending, or who suppressing, .the liberty of the
, Prestand alt. ring tit law of electioissis dr-
eidedly a revolutionary movement, tt has changed
a limited monarchy into a pure despotism--.end con-
ferred upon Chalks X. a fame similar to that
•wh ch GnislaVus 111, obtained by an act of revo-
lutinnery violence, which in a single day erased
the name of Sweden jrom list of colt-
; stitutional monarchies% Kings are fond of talk.
ing of conservative principles, and none more
so then the Bourbons. Why should they
set an example of subversion which may recoil
upon themselves? Our Paris Correspondent, whose
! letter will be found in another part of our enlumns,
says the news carne upon the people of that city
I like a peal of thunder. Will the arm that has
launched The holt follow up this act of despotic
:illiidation i If it does, the consequences cannot be
anticipated ; and if not, Royalty in France will 14.
weaker than ever. When Louis XVI. arrested and
beeished the refractory Parliament of Paris, he only
prepared the way by this violent exercise of prero-
git ve for the organisation of the more formidable as-
sembly of the National Convention. Alternate acts
of severity and indecision farmed the flame of popular
discontent into u cotiffigration in which he perished,
and in which the dynasty of his ancient race was all
but utterly consumed! Whist is now doing in France
suggests to every rational mind the question " when
will the bourboes turn the misfortunes of their
family to good account by deriving wisdom from 'ad-
versity I' If the Liberal party entertained re-
volutionary intentions, a judicious Sovereign
would have allowed them to commit themselves
by some intemperate'demonstretion of their designs.
Ile would have then stood on high 'vantage-; routid
—he would have had the moral strength of the na-
tion at his buck in vindicating the peace of the
realm and the just dignity of the Crown—he would
not have stood In the position of: provoking a con-
flict which might be produc ice of the most dread-
ful to France and ell. Europe. Now,
by desireying the Charter, and di,soleing with a
breath the Royal oaths by which it has been conse-
crated as an inviolate possession of the people, he
has justified measures which the opponents of his
Government could not otherwise have had recourse
no without bringing en themselves universal con.
deineation. The abyss into which he would preci-
pitate the comnitutionel rights of the country has
befit opened ut the very foot of the throne--sill we
ti est that he is not yet so infatuated as not to listen
to more prildePt counsels, lest the history of the
Royal line of Bourbon, may again ',Word a mournful
illustration of the maxim Quern Jupiter cull peraere
prima dervental I—Morning Herald.
There seems to be no doubt but that some of the
most competent Members of the last Parliament,
and molly other persons who would be valuable
Members of the next, are deterred from offering
themselves solely on the score of expellee. Men
of moderate income, especially if it be derived from
bawl, must for some years !Hive found their means
diminishing in a much greater ratio than has accorre,
puttied the demands upon them. The tax-gatherer's
receipt remains much the same, while the tenant's
payment, per contra, is greatly diminished. To
expect then that a man so situated, hoWever well
qualified he may be to serve his country, will embark
in en outlay of from 10,0001. to 100,000/., thereby
entailing a perpetual rent-charge, equal to the inte-
rest, upon his estate, is to suppose one of two things
—that such a man is either an idiot, or expects to
reimburse himself by the salad his vote to those who
have the power of rewarding him. If .such a state
of things is to con'inue,, if such is to be the known
and acknowledged state of the elective franchise
throughout England, it would be boot that seats in

Parliament were put up to the highest bidder, and
ibe Legislature brought at once avowedly, instead of
covertly, to the hammer. The last Parliament, which
has distinguished itself by doing more useless and
less useful things than ever emanated from the col-
lective wisdom, among other things decreed that no
man should h 0 much as offer himself a candidate at an
election, without being Ihible and giving security for
paying a proportion of the expense of providing
hustings, Ihe. • Though we do not agree with
:those who have asserted that this is, of itself alone,
acting as a materiel obstacle to persons coming for-
ward upon the present occasion,' it is in principle
most reprehensible, because it establishes a pond
which the Legislature ought never to have itself
ssnctioned, viz., that its threshold can never be
approached but a: sr pecuniary charge to the person
who approaches ir. The contrary is the principle
which Perliatnent itself should recognize; end having
defined, as the tmisritittion has dove, the qualifies-
tion as to property which Members of Parliament:
should possess, every species of expenditure by can-
didates should be rigidly prohibited, and the un-
avoidable expenses of elections—such as those of
hustings, poll-clerks, paid by' the county,
city, or place, which is to have the benefit of the
labours of the person elected. The at once ,honest
and profligate avowal of an old Member of many
Parliaments ago—,-that, " having bought the elec.
tore, he had a right to sell them"--applies, with
more or less truth, to every case where a candidate,
hnvieg impaired his fortune by getting into Park.
meta, (nest repair ir, if Ise eras, while there. Teeny
nothing of any other species of reforin, this seems to
he both easy and indispensable, that elections should
be carried on at the expense', of the electers, and 'tint
of this candidatee. If this were the case, it is not
the strongest purse which would decide a man's fit.
IleSsi for the highest duties of a citizen—nor would
a man,. whet' placed in Parliament, find, as is now so
often the case, his free-agency shackled by the debts
incurred in placing himself there.—Morn.
The protest entered by Lord Rolland on the
journals of the Houss.of Teem against the Libel
having been published in an incorrect
itate,;• we insert un accurate copy of it to-day, which
will be found in tougher part of our columns. Our
readers will recollect that the Hill in' Oration was
introduced by the Attorney-Gcneral, to repeal that
vindictive and atrocious Statute which subjected a
person convicted of a second offence of political libel
to the penalty of banishment; it being at the same
time wholly undefined_ as to what_ constituted the

particular species of offence to which so penal a eon-
sequence was annexed. Nothing is more uncertain
hod variable than political opinfuo. What is med.
torious one day becomes criminal the next—the
sentiments which eue Administration encourages
another mny denounceyet the legislators who
passed the" itlix Acts" armed the Executive with

ihe power of tearing from hist family and friends and
ds ivnig from hii home and country, any man whose
language offended the taste, or whose opinions
inieifered with the prejudices of the Ministry of the
day It is difficult to say whether such a Stitute
was more absurd or tyrannical, fur it left the offence

against which it wfts directed only to be deAted by
the iamb process by which it was to be
.punished.
Fur preferable to this odious and iniquitous law,
would have been a Censorship of the Press,
for that would have prevented politic'sl writers
from incurring a responsibility, the extent of which
was only to be ascertained through the medium
of a Penal prosecution. This Statute, the present
Attorney-General, in conjunction with the iirhig
Members of the Houses of Parliament, opposed on

its introduction► by the late Marquis of Londonderry,
and attempted to obtain credit for it bolitary act of
cnosistcney since his accession to (Alice by bringing
in a hill fur its repeal. lie, however, contrived to
wake 4 measure, popular in itself, as unpopular as it
i wall "414 Imr bY tacking to it a clause imposing

upon publishers the necessity of entering into ad-
ditional securities not to disturb the repose or
agitate the nerves of his Majesty's Ministers by any
unpleasant exercise of the " freedom of the Press.'
It is against this Bill that Lord Holland entered Isis
protest, in e hich the law of political libel is treated
with a force and exactness of reasoning, which ex
poses In u luminous and convincing manner, its op-
pressive and anomalous character. Indeed, the law
of libel violates the first principles of criminal
justice. In all other criminal matters, the intention
and not the tendency of an act donstitntes the es-
sence of the guilty responsibility. Nor is there any
other case in which one man is criminally liable for
the He s of another. A master or employer is
not criminally, responsible for the acts of his agent
or servant, except in cases of libel, in which guilt
is ascertained, and fixed upon the guiltless, accord-
ing to a peculiar, but very convenient standard of
political merality.—Morning Herald.
The intelligence from France is ail most startling
nature. Neck or nothing seems the order of the
day. The French Government is, indeed, playing
a bold garee. Our readers will see that the Liberty
of the Press is at an end, and the Constitution de-
stroyed. This is a bold beginning. The Report
of the Ministers to the King, explanatory of their
views, is one of the most singular documents ever
published by uuy Government. The nation is treated
us a herd of cattle. The people are stripped of
their privileges with an insolent butlacity of which
we have no previous example. The Press, the
Constitution--all must yield to the wishes of the
King ! The reasoning will deceive no one, and it
deserves no answer. It amounts merely to this : the
Press is against us, therefore wo must destroy
the Constitution is against us, therefore we must de-
stroy it. The only answer the people can make is
—the King is against us, and therefore we must de-
stroy him. The King has made war on the
nation. The issue must determine whether the
French are for a time (for the people can
never be finally subjugated) to be slaves, or the
King is to atone for his temerity by the destruction
of himself tend family. There is no blinking the issue.
Under all circumstances, the course which the French
Government has adopted is perhaps the meat politic.
There cannot be two supreme powers in a State.
A Constitution necessarily supposes the supremacy
of the people as represented by their Deputies.
The King, however, had declared that he was de-
termined his power and authority should be para.
mama. From the moment he dissolved the Cham-
bers, because they tepresented too faithfully the
wishes of the nation, lie entered on a course from
which there was no retreating. It is clear that he
had made up his mind to peril his all in the attempt
to- reduce the people to subjectioe. He had gone
too far to recede, for he could never have hoped
again to possess the public confidence. The Chum.
hers lately elected must, in self-defence, have, fol-
lowed up their victory. As, therefore, the combat
was inevitable, there would have been no use in
ehrinkiug from it. That the French will submit
patiently to this revolutionary measure is not to be
supposed. The question which most people will
ask themselves is—what is the step which will be
first taken? In all conflicts like that which is about
to take piece, advantage in the outset is usually
with authority. The people are strong in their
mass; butt orgunization is with their opponents.
There is one advantage of being first in the field,
ainitimreisdoaurreasnotp,t to infer from
generally
itthatth et hpeos‘s‘esivsieurritntg if some resources,
known, which causes the confidence. Otte object
of the French Government in this coup d' dal
is, no doubt, to create it belief that other Govern-
ments will not look with indifference ou the con.
diet, and that they have made sure. of the armed
force. We, however, are strongly inclined to be-
lieve that the neighbouring Governments will take.
no pelt in the contest. We think—we are almost
certain--that our own Government will not meddle
with the French; and it etrikes us, that the
neighbouring Governments of Austria and Prussia
will be cautious how far they provoke a high-spi-
rited nation leke the Freer'', by interference. Titer
two objects of possessing the French army, and pos-
sessing the co-operation of foreign Governments,
are incompatib!e with each other; for no French
soldier will ever stiffer a foreigner to pollute the He.
err d soil of his country. The wishes of the people
of every country must be for the people of France.
Whenever a Government declares that it cannot
stand against the' Press, it • declares that it ought
not to stand. Humanity is outraged by the bold as-
sertion of the principle that there is no obligation
from which Governments may not shake themselves
free. The measure of the French Government is

not within the limits of the law. The only law it
acknowledges is the law of convenience. We gave
the Freedom of the Press; we gave the Law of
"'Actions ; we resume them as we gave them. The
people-are our chattels, and our will is our law.
The cause of the French nation is the cause of every
nation. May they prove themselves worthy of the
great cause, und, in this trying conjuncture,
vindicate their title to uphold the rights of the ha,
men race ! Hitherto the French Imre surpassed all
expectation,; They will not, surely, now fail in their
duty itt the twelfth hour. 'There are occasions when

moll fel elevated above the orditury eunsiderntiuns
of life. There are brftve and determined men in our

r.rie as well us in the times that are gone—men who
will account life as nothing when the sacred name of
?wintry calls on them to hazard it in her defence.--
Morning Chronicle.
The intelligence frotn France which we this day
lay before our readers will excite the deepest atten-
tion, and give rise to feelings of the most painful re-
gret, and the most liVely npprehension—of regret.,
that the costly lessons which the French rulers and
people have alike had an opportunity of learning in
the severe school of revolutionary misery, should
appear to have been so entirely thrown away upon
both—of npprehension, lest the disorder and anarchy
with which France is threatened anew, should once
more diffuse the pestilential contagion of their in-
fluence throughout lnrope,and compel the Govern-
ments of other nations, by the stern and inflexible
law of selfipreservation, to dissolve, so far us this
infected country is concerned, the ties, and interrupt
the intercourse, ,by which neighbouring States, in
time of petrce, jproms mutually serviceable to ettelc
other. The suppression of the liberty of the Press
ami the act or impirting a new Constitution, andj
by intended, if not necessary consequence, a new
character, to the Chamber of Deputies, by the mere
-
authority of a Royal decree, are efforts of power,
Which, if the event should prove that they Call be
made ib France with impunity arid success, will pro
claim and establish the Government of that country,
with whatever forms and disguises it may be
slit-rounded, as in truth and essence an absolute
monarchy. The Sovereign who tiros by the simple
declaration of his will can effect alterations like
these its the laws and institutions of the country he
governs, must ho regarded as the - possessor of an
omnipotent authority, if this epithet can ever, with-
out desecration, be applied to an authority merely
human. After this astounding exercise of autho-
city, it is evident that all constitufored restraints---
a qualifications of ower—mn st
bell legal limitations
futile lamiliaatbiosunrsd7 The new Constitution, what-
ever may be its comparative superiority or its ab-
stract excellence,, must be at every moment liable to
the fate of the old one. The will of the Monarch has
became the supreme arbiter in the State, and
there is henceforth no popular right, privilege, or
revolts. islellita vthtiche ire il
direct and not instantly extinguish or
a and immediate consequence.,
Decrees
crees
carried of
theoretical and practical, oft
lie ills
French Monarch, if they should
into
effect;-, ere such as we have described, there can
exist no.dOubt. It is quite certain, however, that
they will be resisted and defeatede—it is even pro-
bable in the highest degree that the penalty imposed
upon the Monarch who has ventured to promulgate
them will be no less than the forfeiture of his crown,
unless there be a considerable proportion of the
who, perceiving this assumption of
to have been forced upon their So-
dFerseinwethi
cppeoteer,

vereign by circumstances which he could not Con-
troll!, will support him in it with zeal, vigour, and
constancy, or who consider with him the establish-
ment of a monarchical authority, absolute and pure,
as the only attainable end secure refuge from
im-
pending evils of a nature still more formidable or ra-
velling. The party in France who flitter them-
selves with the appellation of Liberals, have long
beet, pursuing a course, which it must have been
evident to all but themselves, and we think to them-
selves al,o, had no tither hat Ural termination than the
utter extinction of regal power as an effective ele-
ment in the constitution of that country, and the
establishment of a Government repubFean in spirit
and heart, if not also in form. The di satisfaction
they have uniformly manifested towards the chosen
servo its of the King, the unceasing and unscru-
pulous efforts r hey have made ro discredit and over-
throvr several suceesAve Administrations, although
some of them were of .as liberal a character as the
Monarch of France could possibly have formed,
without violating every principle and every feeling
which his lineage, his past fortunes, or his actual
station combined to implant most strongly in. his
mind and heart, were so many unequivocal indica-
tions of the ineeterate and unalterable hostility of
the Liberal party towards the Bout bon Monarchy,
These fierce and unrelewing. enemies of the French
throne and of the Bourbou race, its legitimate and
legal possessors, actual and perspective, wielded al-
most exelu ively the powerful instrument of the
Press. Chiefly by its means, they bad at-
tained an ascendancy very extensive and ab,oltile
over the minds of the French people. Hence
they disposed in a great degree of the elee-
dons of Members to the Chamber of Deputies, and
governed all the important resolutions of that As-
sembly. The last use they made of their power
was an attempt to extort from their Sovereign the
surrender into their hand* of one of the most valm
able and indispensable of his constitutional preroga-
tives. The Deputies of France—of a country pre-
eminently well governed—of a country without a
single tangible awl intelligible practical grievance to
complain of, were induced to a-l; of their Sovereign,
in substance and effect, to commit to them the
choice of his Ministers, or in other words, to place
in their hands the whole powers and functions of
the Executive Govermnent. Had the King acqui-
esced in this extrava,:unt. and unconstitutional as-
sumption, the Government of monarchical France
would at once, it is plain,' have been transformed
into a republic, or an oligarchy of Liberal clubs and
coteries. A complete revolution would have been
commenced and achieved without a struggle or u
blow. The King, however, appealed from the De-
puties to the Electors of Franc. But the appeal
has been made in vain. A Chamber of Deputies of
a character still more decidedly republican than
the last. hits been returned, as the obly answer of
France to her King. The French Monarch in this
extremity-has again appealed from the electors--
numerically a small portion of the community—to
the whole body of the French people, and, taking
into view the circumstances in which it is made,
this appeal is one of tint most simple and awful
that can be conceived. It is an appeal, the answer
to .which may decide not only the immediate ques-
tion of a civil war, the duration, the extent, or the
issue of which it would be impossible for any malt
to foresee, but may determine also for years, per-
haps for ages, the future character of the Plena
Government; whether an absolute Sovereign shall
once more be firmly seated on the French throne—
whether the lea trdons experimeut shall again be
tried of erecting Republican institutions on the
ruins of an ancient Monarchy, or whether anarchy
and political confusion shall once more possess
France us the stage on which to enact a new series
of antics and atrocities, to revolt, scandalize, terrify,
and instruct, the other nations of the earth.--!Mort
ing, Post.

LORD HOLLAND'S PRO FEST AGAINST
THE LIBEL LAW BILL.

The following is Lortl.Holland's Protest against
t4llouue of Lords not agreeing to an Amendment,
proposed. by his Lo►dship, on the report of the
" Libel Law" Amendment Bill—
" DISSIINTIRNT—L Because, in the words pro-
posed to be omitted, the, amount of recognizance.,
bonds, and sureties required from publishers of news-
papers, pamphlets, and papers, by the 60th Geo.
111., to secure the payment of fines upon conviction
of ail seditious or blasphemous libel in the said
newspapers, pamphlets, or papers, is considerably
raised, and no proof has been adduced, or even of-
fered to the House, that such libels have become
more frequent or dangerous, or that the smallness of
the recognizance required ha', in any one instance,
contributed to the commission of the offence or the
impunity of the offender; we could nor, therefore,
Consent to inerras6 a restraint on the press which is
odious in itself, and only recently known to our law,
Upon the bare allegation its the preamble, utterly
unsupported by evidence or argument In debate,
that it was expedient to do so.
" 2. Because, by the words proposed to be omitted,

the conditions of the new recognizances and bonds
are extended to secure the payment of damages and
costs to be recovered in actions for libels, as well
as the payment of fines upon convictions on informa-
tions and indictments; und, although we admit such
libels a; asperse private character, and are usually
the subjects for action for the recovery of damages,
to be far more injurious to society than those of a
general and public miters (to the prevention of
which last the provisions of the Statute of George
.111,, cap. 0, were exclusively directed); yet we
question the prudence, necessity, and justice of con-
founding, even in preventing measures, offences so
distinct in their motives, malignity, and effect, as
private calumny, and political libel. We were,
therefore, more disposed to look for protection
against all inconvenience and abuse, arising from the
present state of the law of libel, to a thorough
and well.eonsidered revision of the principles of
that law. And we indulged confident hopes
that the wisdom of Parliament might, ~ere long,
televise some comprehensive improvement in that
branch of our criminal jurisprudence, which
would afford increased facility- of redress to
individuals injured by slander and defamation;
which would -exempt the proprietors of the press
and the vender; of printed works fret') all odious and
unnecessary restraints previous to publication or
conviction; which would define political libel, and
regulate the proceedings and punishments relating
thereto; which would check or suppress the prac•
tice of informations, and more particularly of ex-
Oda informations against them; and which would
correct that anomaly in law am, solecism in language,
by which it is still contended that, in matter of
1 libel, there may be guilt without intention; that
one man may be-criminally responsible for the act of
another and that a bookseller or proprietor may be
justly convicted and punished for maliciously print•
ing and publiihing words which it is proved to be
physically impossible that he could have reed, written,
seen, heard, or known of, before their publicetion.
4" And, 3. Because the above words were pro-
posed to be omitted with a view of inserting an
enactment, that all provisions in the 60th of George
HI, cap. 9, which require from persons publishing
newspapers, pamphlets, or papers, any recognizance.,
bonds, or sureties whatever, should be repealed; and
we were anxious to repeal such provisions, from a
that they are in-
efficacious in preventing libels, and from an appre-
hensionjpoerrisotusp s persuasion,
inho:t
nitifeontunihinietdtyeherodteseseortlstd concernedoetfro tPreeusrttrai truth, and ta
in tohme affixodlipayosiptyirgelmonsa:
which may may discourage and deter persons, well qua-
lified by their station, their virtues, and their ac-
quirements, to give a direction to public opinion,
from ever engaging
In such periodical publications.
(Signed) " VASSAL ROLLAND. 1
July 20." • KING.