The Sun.
London, England, 1830-01-09 00:00:00

silent veto on the liberty de .1r 'iy the Ch 01(1,
and by the whole of the thc pei iu
dical Press.
Four of the provincial judicatories, those of
Moit, Bernay, Moulins, and Chartres, have
been called upon to decide between parties who
proposed to establish provincial Newspapers,
and the licensed printers of the neighbourhood,
•• who refused to allow'the use of their presses for
• the purpose of publishing the journals in con-
templation. These four tribunals have been
unanimous on the general principle, that the
printer, hi consideration of the monopoly en-
joyed under his license, is bound to print any
journal proposed to him, without entering into
an examination of the views or principles on
which it is to be conducted. These decisions,
although not perhaps warranted by the letter of
the law, appear to be perfectly in accordance
with a wide, and liberal, and conscientious view
of its spirit and intention. The Judges seem to
have felt that an important article of the Charter,
and one which was in fact a guarantee for all the
other articles, was brought in question before
them, and that on their sentence its existence
and efficacy depended. Such of their judg-
ments as we have seen, that of Moulins for in-
starce, appear to have been dictated by sound
as well as liberal views. The Judges of Mou-
lins appear to have held that by conferring on
certain individuals the privilege of exercising
a particular profession, and interdicting all
others from its exercise, the Government has
necessarily imposed on the privileged indi-
viduals the condition of employing their exclu-
sive right for the benefit of those who are ex-
cluded from its exercise, and that by granting to
Frenchmen to cause print their opinions, and
to publish periodical Papers, the law did not
commit the practical absurdity of taking away
the means of doing so, which would, in fact,
have been the case by denying to the author him-
self the right of printing his own opinions, and,
at the same time, granting that right exclusive

to the favoured few who act, or refuse to act,
according to their own discretion. If such
were to be held to be a fair interpretation of the
present law of France on this important subject,
the Legislature might justly be accused of with-
drawing with the one hand the benefit it had
professed to grant with the other.

In the meantime, however, the Royal Court
of Poitiers, before whom the judgment of one of
the four provincial judicatories to which we
have alluded_ had been brought by appeal, has
adopted an opposite view of the subject, and
disregarding the four consecutive decisions
by which it was understood that the law

on the subject had been settled, has
thought fit to reverse the judgment of

the inferior tribunal, and to relieve the printer
from the necessity which the previous decision
had imposed on him, of furnishing his presses
and printing materials to the publishers of the
new journal. This new decision of the Royal
Court of Poitiers has left the law of the Press
in such an unsatisfactory condition, that we
should imagine some considerable change will

be thought necessary in the course of the ap-
proaching Session, either by opening the
business of the printer to the public at large,
which would certainly be the more natural

course, or at least, if the monopoly trust st

be maintained, by declaring it compulsory on
the individuals enjoying the license to furnish
the use of their :presses to all the world, and
perhaps at the same time relieving them from
the penal consequences of a publication over
which they would thus have no controul. We

are not sufficiently read in the antiquities of
French jurisprudence to say at what period the
licenser's privilege, which is in effect a right of

exclusion, may have taken its origin ; but

would be rather a curious subject of inquiry to

trace this assumed right to its origin, and at the
same time, by way of parallel, to take a view

during the same period of thecilaw of England

on the subject ; which, according to a statemei

of the ATTORNEY-GENERAL in the late trials
here, at one time conferred on the executive
branch of the Government the monopoly of the

art of printing, under pretence of its having
been originally imported under Royal auspices.
The present French license might probably be
traced to a similar origin, and it is only wonder-
ful that it should have survived the sweeping

system of reform introduced by the revolution.

LITERATURE.

TOPOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY. LONDON, 1830.
So far as we can at present judge of this pub-
lication—for the first number only has yet made
its appearance—it bids fair to answer its pro-
fessed object, namely, that of imparting the most
useful topographical intelligence at the cheapest
rate, and in the most compendious and accessible
form. We augur thus favourably of the work,
first, from the very excellent specimen now
lying before us; secondly, from the known ability
of its Editor and (as we are given to under-
stand) its proprietor, Mr. Gorton, viho in his
former publication, " The General Biographical
Dictionary," abundantly satisfied his readers that
he possessed those essential characteristics of an
Editor, judgment, good sense, and a compre-
hensive acquaintance with general literature.
The d'

..e darner given by the Duke of WELLING-
TON to his colleagues, at Apsley-house, on Thursday even-
ing, was a Cabinet dinner, and was the first given this
season.

CATHOLIC BISHOP OF WATERFORD.—
His Holiness the POPE has been pleased to appoint the
Very Rev. Dr. FoaaN, P. P. of Dungarvan, to the Epis-
copal Chair of Waterford, vacant by the death of the late
Right Rev. Dr. Kitt.Li,..-Dublin Morning Register.