The Sun.
London, England, 1822-01-19 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIG ENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, JAN'. 18.
This was the second Seal before Term.—The LORD CHAN-
CELLOR was occupied the whole of the day in hearing a part
heard motion, of no interest except to the parties concerned.
Ih_the course of the day the business of the Court was inter-
rtipted.hy a innn coming into Court in a hurried manner, and
exclaiming, " 1 have come all the way from Aberdeen to deliver
a letter to the Lord Chancellor relative to my rights, as the next
of kin to the late Mrs. Sarah Bond. 1 offered this etter yester-
day at the Lord Chan&llor's house, and it was refused to be
received. 'Which is the Lord Chancellor, for 1 must deliver
the letter to him ? I came all the way from Aberdeen for that
purpose." He then advanced to the body of the Court, and
threw the leiter amongst the King's Counsel. The officers of
the Court interfered, and without much difficulty persuaded
him to leave the Court.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 18.
This day their Lordships Sat in the large room adjoining the
Court. Hall, and heard arguments on some cases in the special
paper, of no public interest.

THE EARL OF DARNLEY'S RENT-DAY:On
Monday, the 14th instant, the Earl of DARNLEY
held his rent-day at Cobham Hall, which was
more numerously attended than for many years
past.—After a very sumptuous dinner, the Noble
Lord stated, that, in consequence of the existing
pressure, he had ordered a reduction to be made
in his rents ; and, although he did not find him-
self called upon to make an absolute pledge upon
this point, he felt his disposition towards his
tenantry to be such that if, unhappily (and con-
trary to his present opinion), the difficulties
should continue, he should be ready to make even
greater sacrifices, under the fullest persuasion
that the interests of landlord and tenant were in-
separable ancl so interwoven that they must and
ought "to sink or swim together." There was,
however, one event upon which he had no hesi-
tation in giving a pledge, namely, that if a fa-
vourable change should take place, he would
not, in their prosperity, seek an additional ad-
vantage to himself. He concluded by proposing
as a toast, " Success to Agriculture." The
address was received with every demonstration
of satisfaction and gratitude, and the day was
passed in perfect harmony. The reduction
already made by the
,Noble Lord is, in most it -
stances, to.the-extent of W-per cent.

I It 1 1, A N- 1).

[FROM THE CORK INTELLIGENCER OF TUESDAY.]
DESPERATE ATTACK AT BANTRY.

Further Particulars.—On Friday last, at four
a. in. a body of men, consisting of between 500
and 700, well armed, and mostly mounted, at-
tacked the house of D. Mellefont, Esq. and also
the houses of Messrs. Doyle and Patterson, from
all of which they took arms. The Earl of Ban-
try, with that promptitude and gallantry which
marks his character, hearing of the circumstance
in about three hours after, proceeded with five
or six of his friends, with a hope of cutting some
of them off before they separated, and made for
the Glen road leading to Macroom, where they
overtook them, about day-light beyond the
Chapel at Ballingearing, crossing a mountain-
road leading to Lackavana, in Kerry, about 14
miles from Bantry. The Insurgetiisliaving taken
to the heights above 'the road, gave them a full
view of his. Lordship's little band, and they
thereby were encouraged to make an attempt
to surround their pursuers, and they com-
menced a regular attack, shouting from every
hill, and firing, after quitting their horses.—
The party of his Lordship retreated back the
Glen road, finding themselves unequal to contend
with such numbers, firing slowly to cover their
retreat ; the insurgents, however, not only dis-
charged their arms, but rolled and threw down
stones into the Glen. Lord Bantry had a fortu-
nate escape, for one stone was particularly thrown
at him ; but Mr. White, his Lordship's brother,
was so successful as to shoot this man ; and two
others are supposed to have been wounded. The
party of his lordship maintained their ground as
long as possible before they returned to
Bantry, with a view to get possession of the
killed and wounded, which, we are sorry to say,
they were not able to effect. Had the account
reached his Lordship in sufficient time to have
enabled him to collect his neighbours, a good ac-
count would have been given of the depredators.
It is supposed that these fellows came from a
distant quarter, as his Lordship had the most
perfect assurance, that every thing from Drimo-
league to Sheep's llead, a distance of from 20 to
30 miles, was perfectly tranquil.
On Saturday, Mr. O'Brien, Coroner, proceed-
ed to the spot where the Rey. Mr. Lowe was
killed, for the purpose of holding an Inquest on
the body.—.--After hearing evidence, the Jury
found the following verdict :—" That the said
Rev. James Bond Lowe came by his death near
the village of Glauntane, in consequence of the
unsteadiness of some privates of the 22d regiment
of Infantry, who fired without receiving the com-
mand of either their officer, Lieutenant Stevens,
or the Magistrate, the Rev. John Chester, while
on a patrolling party on the morning of 'the 12th
inst., in consequence of information that a body of
Whiteboys intended to be out in that direction."
Since the late desperate attack on the resi-
dence of Samuel Swete, Esq. of Grenville,which
was so courageously and fortunately resisted by
that Gentleman's family, it has been ascertained,
that, in'tead of one, as at first supposed and
stated, there were four of the villains killed,
and eight others are lying wounded, without any
hope of recovery.

The following article has appeared In The
Brighton Gazette:—" On Thursday evening last,
the satellites of Cobbett, with their Sun of Radi-
calism at their head, sat down to supper at the
New Inn. Notwithstanding the assiduity with
which his partisans communicated the secret of
his coming, but few persons could be mustered
to bid this great man welcome—about thirty
persons only, we understand, were present ; (we
should have gone ourselves to have witnessed the
assemblage, had we possessed no fear of our
throats being cut ;) the very best evidence that
can be adduced of the estimation in which he is
held in this loyal but insulted town. A Mr.
Stent presided, and Mr. Slight officiated as the
Vice President ; with the exception of these two
Gentlemen, not a 'respectable person was present
but one, who, we are sorry to hear, forgot his
own dignity by accepting a place at the table ;
but curiosity might have led him into this error.
The only speaker who shone upon this occasion,
besides, was Mr. P. F., the commencement
of whose speech we publish as a curiosity :-
6C When I witness such an assemblage as this!
in the immediate precincts of the King's Palace
—when I look around me on the congregation
of persons, not less distinguished, I am sure,
for their talents and respectability, I feel
it to be one of the proudest moments of my
life : and I cannot but (lifer you my warmest
congratulations. on the progress of our cause,
which not, even the presence of Royalty can put
a check upon." We leave our readers to make
what comments they please upon this beginning.
When he called those around 'him men of re-
spectability and talent, the very tables: danced
with applause. and two half pints of mall drink,
vulgarly called gin, a pot of beer, and two jugs
of water were overturned, and several pipes
broken, in the exultation of the moment. What
the cause is whiCh Mr. F. so eloquently dwelt
upon, as attaching to the " congregation of ta-
lent," we cannot tell—it is doubtless a most
" glorious cause," and, for the benefit of man-
kind, it should be more
.widely disseminated.
The jocund and mirthful crew did not separate
before the license of the, house became in danger
by the noisy speechifying and hilarity which pre-
dominated. The impression of men was well
traced in the mud the next morning in several of
the bye streets—a proof that reason and free
_thought cannot control us, at 411 times, and that
we forgot, in the presence of greatness, the doty
due to ourselvei.

FRENCH PRESS.

[FROM THE MONITEUR OF WEDNESDAY.]
REPORT,

Made in the name of a Central Committee, by
M. Chifflet, Deputy for the Department of the
Doubs, on the Law Project relative to the
prosecution and repression of the Offences of
the Press, or of any other mode of publication,
in the Sitting of Monday, Jan. 14.:

46 GENTLEMEN=-The law which your Commit-
tee has directed me to report to you has for its
object a class of offences which has not been
foreseen by the Code.
"The laws of the 17th of May and of the 9th
of June, 1819, endeavoured to reach those crimes,
and that of the 26th of May regulated their pro-
secution.

" The object of every penal law is the preven-
tion of crimes. In striking the guilty, it has_ in
view him who would'wish to become guilty. 'When
offences 'continue, when they escape just punish-
ment, the legislation is imperfect.
" Have the laws of 1819 fulfilled their object ?
The law project answers in the negative, and
points out two of the causes.
" When it is necessary to look to numerous
offences, new in kind and in substance, several
must escape from the definitions and distinctions
of classification. Experience alone can make
known the defects of penal law, and spew in
what respect a general expression, frequently ne-
cessary, is too vague and inapplicable to a parti-
cular case. Experience may also demonstrate
the insufficiency of punishment, and the necessity
of imposing it of a special nature, analogous to a
special kind of offences. Such are the defects
of the existing laws, which this project tends to
correct.

" There is still another. It has been thought
possible to depart from the rules of competence,
of forms of law common in the prosecution of
simple offences. Experience has again caused
the inconveniences.of this attempt to be felt.
" The authors of the law project, in order to
remedy these two causes of impunity, explain,
in the first place, certain expressions, the appli-
cations of which the tribunals do not consider
themselves authorised to make in particular cases;
and they sometimes raise the maximum of penal-
ties to give greater latitude to the Judges in their
graduation. They therefore remove (coin the
Courts of Assize the cognizance of a part of these
offences.

" Your Committee, penetrated with the same
motives, convinced both of the insufficiency of the
penalties, and of the impunity resulting from the
violation of the rules of competence, adopts the
proposed measures ; but it perceives therein too
much reserve, and in order to reach with more
certainty the desired, object, proposes to you im-
portant additions.
" Permit, gentlemen, one preliminary reflec-
tion on the kind of offences now under our con-
sideration.

" The offences in question present themselves
under a variety of details and circumstances
which aggravate or mitigate the criminality. It
is impossible for the legislator to foresee and dis-
tinguish all crimes. By too strict an observance
of that general principle of criminal legislation
that crimes ought to be exactly defined, •and the
penalties graduated, would he leave them un-
punished ? Would he leave society without de-
fence ? Certainly not, gentlemen. If he cannot
precisely define them, he may at least class them,
and attach to each class a punishment, the limits
of which, in the greater or lesser degree, may be
sufficiently remote to enable the Judge, after
appreciating the criminality of the different acts,
to graduate the punishments. Necessity re-
quires that the legislator shoal! abandon this
task to the tribunals, though it be an essential
part of his duty in ordinary caseW. But here he
can only have for his object the forming a
sufficient number of classes of crimes, and the de-
fining them in terms sufficiently general, so that
all may be included in one 'of these classes, and
then graduating the penalties among the classes,
leaving such a latitude., that each offence may be
reached in just proportion. •
" Do not fear, Gentlemen, tolconcede thereby
too great a power to the'tribunals It is under
the reign of distrust, in the midst of destructions,
that that power has been restricted. It is doubt-
less allowable to regret the times when more ge-
neral lawswere sufficient forthe wants of society;
because the Magistrates whose duty it was to
apply them were invested with an ancient and
just confidence. Besides, this• proceeding, alto-
gether political, is indispensable in this matter :
the detail of the Articles will convince you.
Being obliged to state the grounds of these Ar-
ticles, and several of them presenting less inte
rest than others, I have to•claim all your-indul-
gence. _ _

" ART. 1.--Article 1 of the project relates to
insults a7ainst religion,. *You are at length called
upon, Gentlemen, to supply one of those defi-
ciencies in our laws which afflict all good French-
men. Our constitutive law, the Charter,' de-
clared the Catholic Apostolic and Rotnan Reli-
gion to be the Religion of the State. It an-
nounced advantages to different Christian. wor-
ships, and protection.to•all..
44 After a declaration
,so solemn, it could only
be under a real delirium that
.any one dared to
assert that the law of France was atheistical, and
that it ought
.to 'be so. Deplorable ,epoch of
audacious attacks ! It is not. by false itidnigen-
cies, but by rigorous penal laws, that the enemies
of the altar, of the
.throne,, and of, our. funda-
mental law, ought to be repressed.
" Fortunately we are no longer reduced to the
necessity of regarding it as an acquired'advau-

tage, to have caused the epithet religious to be
added to the words Outrage Of public morals.
This Chamber will recognize that besides mora-
lity, there exists in religion dognias and a form
of worship ; and in this Session, no fear has been
felt in proposing an article of law which textually
declares penalties against any person who may
iwsult or turn religion into ridicule.

" Your Committee could not'but receive this
proposition with favour': not, hOWever, that it
thinks it possible to establish any proportion be-
tween the offence and the punishment, when the
infinite Being, who is the objeit of the worship
of religion, is contemplated. But religion, that
only solid basis of all society, which insures to
the law for the future the most formidable sanc-
tion against all the violations -that man can. at-
tempt, also expects protection for itself from the
law. Thus religion and society receive red
procal .ndvantages, and ought to be protected
each by the other.
" Your Committee has, however, endeavoured.-
to embue itself with the spirit which guided the
Legislator, when he granted the Charter to his
people. Ife then assured religious liberty to
each, and the same protection for worship. Ifow-
ever, said he, the. Catholic religion is the religion
of the State. This express condition, given in a
particular article, and marked by the word how-
ever, after a protection promised to each, an-
nounces a special protection for- particular ad-
vantages. Besides, the religion of Clovis, of
Charlemagne, of St. Louis,-is the religion of our
Kings, and that of almost the -generality of
Frenchmen. Is not the insulting it, insulting
nearly the -whole nation and its King ? and on this
ground, ought not such insult to b-e.more severely
repressed ? Its worship is not like that of other
communions confined within its. temples. It is
external in several solemnities, and its Ministers
are constantly distinguished by a particular cos-
tume ; and' the signs of religion are on our
edifices, and in our public places. Has it, on the
sole ground of public safety, need of special
protection ? 1 must observe farther, that the
greater part of its dogmas are those of other
Christian communions. To outrage by a denial
those dogmas which are sacred for all Christians,
such as the existence of God, future rewards and
punishments, the divinity of ,Jesus Christ, is to
insult the Protestant as well as 'the Catholic, in
that which is to both the most precious of all
things--their faith. Thus, to defend more espe-
cially the religion of almost the totality of
Frenchmen, is an object of general good, which
ought to be appreciated by all. such are the
grounds on which it has been thought fit to aug-
ment the maximum of the penalty for outrage
committed against the religion of the State.

" Art. 2. Outrage towanls any other religion legally recog-
nized shall be punished by the penalty expressed in the law
project. This will be the object of our article 2.

" Art. 3. After his God, the King is every thing to a French-
man ; to be faithful to him is his happiness. France and his
King are identified in the heart of a Frenchman. They become
the sole object of his love. The repre,esion .of outrage done -to
the King, ought, then, to follow immediately in the law, the
repression of the outrage of religion. It has not been supposed
that the King's dignity, his rights, his authority, the inviola-
bility of his person, should be separated; all these rights are in-
herent in bins. Doubtless his constitutional authority will be
protected, but this epithet (constitutional) of ;the ancient law
cannot be employed for the purpose of restraining it. Was not
his authority entire in his sacred person, before the charter was
given to us ; since we hold it only from hisTeyal will?.—Are
not the dignity of his crown, the inheritability of the throne in
the order of primogenitureship, the principles of that monarchy
of fourteen centuries, rights which ought to be respected, and
rights which are not of yesterdny's date ? • It was, then, proper
that the law project should suppress this word, and thereby an-
ticipate the captious pretexts which it afibrds for protecting-the
guilty from condemnation. • •
" The project also suppresses the epithet FORMAL, which
was joined to the word ATTACK, in several articles of the
If an attack, proved against authority, were to remain unpu-
nished, under the pretext of its not being perfectly direct and
. formal, it could only do so by a scandalous abuse of these ex-
pressions. You must be sensible, gentlemen, of the necessity of
these changes ; and you will thus perceive the reason for aug-
nienting the maximum of the penalties. Among outrages on
the rights of authority either of the King or the esambers, nu-
merous shades may exist, of which it would be proper to gra.
duate the penalties.
" Art. 4. On the same grounds, the law project has increas-:
ed the extent of the fines and imprisonments, in the case of an
attack on rights guaranteed by articles 5 -and 9 of the charter.
It is thus left to the justice and the sagacity of the Judges to
appreciate those ettacks,nwhc t ler formal or not, according to the
impression they may receive from the writing or discourse.—
The Comfnittee proposes to you the adoption of this article.
" Art. s.—Article 4 of the project punishes the exciting to
hatred or contempt of tile King s Government. These expres-
sions, well considered, present no uncertainty. • They relate to
the forms of the King's Government, antlits different modes of
action. The same general expression is eniplpYOd in the char-
ter in the same sense: It would be a political blasphemy to
separate the Government from the person of King, and- to
dare to say that the Government proceeds or does not proceed in
harmony with the King ; as if the -Government Were only in the
Ministry. flowerer, to calm the most scrupulous minds, your
Committee proposes to you to add to this•article—' This provi-
sion shall not affect the right of discussion, and the censuringeif
the acts of the Ministers. It is needless to insist that the cen-
sure which has the public good for its object should be re-
spected. The law wishes to reach only the artisan of mischief,
who begins by casting odium and. contempt on the, Govern-
ment, in order that he may afterwards rise against it and attack
it openly.
" Art. 6.—The law project in its sth article has in view the
protecting not only the tribunals and constituted bodies, but
the authorities and public administrations. • This omission' in
the preceding law cannot be allowed to subsist. How can
protection be refused to those administrations which have cha-
rity for their only impulse and reward ? Itut-every other admi-
nistration, any authority; if it be held useful for the public,, is
entitled to the protection of the law. Your committee proposes
to you the same rate for the fines as in the preceding article.
" Art. 7.—The law of the 17th of, ay had foreseen this case
of oWence against one of the Chambers, It had also foreseen,
as welhas the penal code, the case of outrage on a Magistrate
or on a depositary of public authority in respect to the func-
tions.. But the law did not specially 'name the'Chambers, and
the .Tribunals considered themselves bound by the •striet letter
of the LIN. The present law relates only to outrages received
publicly, on account of fnnetions or rank. The committee,
which thought that the penalty in the preceding article fix
insults to constituted hothes. blight to be increased, allows
the slightest punishment in 'case's of outrage nn individuals to
remain.
" This article also, enacts penalties.for.outrFes on a juror in
consequence of his functiens, or on a-witfiCesp consequence of
his. deposition. Every One must be sens*e of the justice of
this pro Vision. . It is necessary for ptotecting:the independence
of persots,s and. witnesses, and it is therefore unnecessary to dwell
longer upqn it. ,
• ". The same tioct justly 'distinguishes outrage committed on
.
a minister of re .ou 4coulat Of his fupctiors from that

shiel lie roi,sht receive in the exercise of his functions. The
letter outrage histurbs the exercise of public worship and order.
It is an outrage on religion itself. It ought to be punished by
the penalties enacted in the articles 1, and 2. With respect to
tree outrage which a minister of religion might receive publicly
ac'Count of his functions or quality, that ought to be punish-
ed hi the same manner as a similar outrage on any public func-
tionary. In fact, the minister of religion exercises a real ma-
gistracy, and is entitled to the same protection as a magistrate.
" The psoject provides for the case which may be accom-
psnied by acts of violence contemplated by several articles of
tse penal code, and refers to the provisions of those articles for
increasing the punishment. '1 he Committee has remarked,
that in the case of the first paragraph of the article 223, the
punishment •is less than that of the present law ; hence the
purasnment would be diminished instead of increased. This is
the object of an amendment.
" Art. B.—Under the empire of the Charter, nothing excites
the curiosity, and even the Just interest, of the public, so much
as the reports given in the Journals of the sittings of the Cham-
bers and Tribunals; reports given correctly and in good faith
are authorized by the law ; the opposite offence is not provided
against. But when infidelity and bad faith are united in these
reports, • it is necessary that they should be punished ; it too
often happens, that when the public papers indulge ip,s;n7;:re
animadversion, they are actuated by party spirit, or by the hope
of obtaining readers.
"'The relapse will be punished by imprisonment added to
fine. These fines will be augmented in case of offence, in the
reports, against the Chambers or Tribunals, against any of
their Members, or against a juryman or a witness. These
provisions are in the spirit of the analogous articles of the law.
" In these two cases of relapse or offence, the Jcurnalist no
lor.ger deseries the confidence which he has abused. flo may
be prohibited front reporting these debates. The Committee
.considers the expression for the future, to be of too general a
nature ; these offences are not all of ie same extent ;it pro-
poses to snbstitute for this expression, the words—' prohibited
for a limited period, ar for ever.'
" But the violation of this prohibition is a new offence, aggra-
vated by the contempt of the prohibition, and by the quality of
the Judges; it-shall be visited with two2fold punishment.
" Article 9 of the project proposes to increase the punish-
tent of the following offences:—
" 1. Seditious cries, publicly uttered.
" 2. The removal or degradation of the public signs of the
Royel Authority, done in hatred or contempt of that authority.
" 3. The publicly bearing of external rallying-signs, not
authorized.
" 4. It adds to these offences ;—the exposition in- public
places, the distribution and sale of those signs destined to pro-
pateate the spirit of rebellion and to disturb the public peace.
" Your Committee have deemed it proper to distinguish se-
ditious ciirs from the other offences included in this article;
and without interfering with. the maximum of the punishment
fixed by the law of the 17th of May, it establishes, for seditious
cries, the minimum of the penal code for all offences.
" Art. 10.—This should be a particular article of the law.
" Art. 11. But the offinices provided against by Nos. 2,3,
and 4, appear to your Committee to be of a more serious na-
ture, end it has adopted the amount of the minimum of the
punishments.
" The Committee conceives it to be just to punish the distri-
bution and the exposition of the signs of rebellion, since-the
offence of publicly bearing them is punished ; the seller and
distributor of these signs is frequently more guilty than those
whom he leads astray. l'he Committee proposes that you
should adopt this addition to the law of 1819. • If the Com-
mittee has not added a particular art,ele to reach the instigator
to these offences, by one of the means explained in Art. 1 of
the law of the 17th of May, it is because his offence, though
doubtless very serious, is already. provided against by Art. 3 of
that law, even when the instigation is attended by no ill conse-
quences.
" Art. 12.—Article 9 of the project punishes him who shall
seek to disturb the public peace, by exciting contempt or hatred
against particular classes of persons.
" First, it must be remarked, that this is only.in case of the
public peace being menaced. But the term 'class gives offence
to certain individuals : class, body, order, corporation, all these
collective expressions are odious to them. Do not the minis-
ters cf religion, for whom the charter provides, and the nobility,
whom the charter recognizes, form particular classes in society'?
Necessity unites men of the same profession for their common
interests : these interests would unite them in spite of the laws.
The legislator must not be deceived on this point. It does not
depend on him to prevent the existence of what is in the nature
of things ; he may destroy, but the institution will of necessity
revive.

" Finally, these classes, when they legally exist in society,
have a right to be protected by it. Shall we then again
hear the cries of " Down with the Priests—down with the
Nobles ?"
" The destructive spirit of anarchy levels, individualizes,
and dreads the espirit de corps. Despotism divides, in order to
rule the more securely. The paternA Government of a King
sleks to protect common interests, and groups individuals
-among them. From this monarchical view, your Committee
has not hesitated to adopt the article proposed.
" Art. 13—Article 10 of the project punishes the publication
anti sale of engraved-or lithographed designs without previous
auzhoiity; Every one knows with what rapidity mischief is
propagated by these means. Nothing is sacred to the eyes of
avarice ; religion, the government, and public morals, are as-
sailed by turns. There is no other means of defence. You will
mot reject, gentlemen, this very moral and politic provision.—
The Committee is of opinion that it should not be extended to
mere designs. It is the easy and cheap mode of multiplication
which renders a greater degree of severity necessary with re-
gard to engravings. A drawing, like a picture, produces only
local mischief ; the labour necessary for its execution, and its
high price, render it scarce. The ordinary means of repression
appear to be sufficient.

Art. 14.—Article 13 of the project preserves the power es-
tabllshed by the law of the 19th of June, of doubling the fines
upon the journalists, and, in case of relapse, of renderingthose
fines fourfold.
" Art. 15•.—But the Committee has been struck with the in-
adequacy of the punishments allotted to the offences of the jour-
nalists ; experience defeats all the arguments which might be
employed against the establishment of new punishments.—
There is impunity whenever the criminal plays with his pu-
nishment ; there is scandalous impunity when that punish-
ment, instead of reaching the criminal, strikes only' an indif-
fermt individual, who, for a wretched remuneration, consents
to suffer the condemnation. It is well known that ie respon-
sible-Editor is no other thin a person who receives so much a
day for his imprisonment, and who is entirely a stranger both
to the management of the journal and to the offence. As to
finis, it is certain that to whatever amount they may be raised,.
they bear no proportion to the advantages of these enterprises.
On the contrary, the condemnation excites, if not interest, at
least curiosity, in the party whose colours the Joiirnal has
adopted, and it is frequently the means of gaining it sub-
scribers.
" In this state of the Legislation, your Committee conceived
that these enterprises were chiefly matters of speculation, and
that they ought to be attacked in the very source of their pro-
fit. A suspension for a certain time would strike them in a
sensible way. The cessation of the profits during that time—
the diminution of subscribers—the very fear of those losses,.
will compel journalists to be prudent. This is truly a preVen-
tive provision ; and the object of the Penal Law should always.
be the prevention of crimes, rather than the punishment of.
criminals. •
" The more severe this punishment may seem, the more it
is indispensable to consign to the Judge the power of applying
it aocorjing to the case, and of fixing its duration. •
" Some persons seem to be astonished at this power left to
t:e Judges of applying or not applying the punishment accord-
ing to circumstances. In the first place; this power, these ex-
Y A LIEU, POURRA, are not new. in penal le-
gislation. The necessity 'of inflicting a punishment in its full
severity will frequently produce impunity ; an extenuating cir-
cumstance may move the Judge ; he must not be exposed to
the seduction of pity ; let him pOssess the power of mitigating
or of waving the punishment altogether, • if there be room for
so doing.
" Besides,' the Legislator should never lose sight of the
spirit of his government. The republican Legislator wishes to
provide, to determine, and to regulate every tiling; in his jeal-
ous restlessness he wishes even to judge, to appoint, and to
govern all. The monarchical legiidator has more confidence in
his agents, is more liberal in. conceding a portion of his power ;
he speaks less of virtue, but lie has more reliance in its exist-
ence, which is the sure way to find it. It is, therefore, quite in
unison with the monarchical spirit not to fear a certain latitude
in the infliction of punishmentS; it is the way of securing the
justice of these punishments.
" I have observe(' that a journalist, in adopting a party •
colour, sometimes consults only his interest. But he often
speaks from conviction ; he is attached to a system ; he deve-
lopes its principleS ; he endeavours to gain partizans for it ; if
he be the supporter of pure doctrines, what has he to fear from
justice ?. But if the party which he has embraCed be subversive
of religious and monarchical- principles, •a • mere suspension
would, in that case, only retard the attack directed against. so-
ciety. The journal, in that case, ought to be suppressed.
It will be said, that by this means you are really establish-
ing a confiscation,—it is violating property. • In the first place,
the confiscation which the charter has suppressed was that of
the generality of the property of the condemned person ; the
measure at present undef consideration has reference to a par-
ticular object. Sentence of confiscation was pronounced for
the benefit of the Exchequer; but in the present case the State
takes possession of nothing. But would you not annihilate
the poison of which a criminal ma, have made an improper use,
arid which he might again improperly apply'? Would you leave in

the hands of a madman the weapon with which he has struck a
deadly blow, and which will enable him to continue his crimes?
Is the poison frequently, scattered through a journal, less sub-
tile—are its weapons less fatal ? Arc not neighbours un-
der the daily necessity of destroying infected objects ? The
proprietor must niakc the sacrifice ; and yet he is in no manner
blameable for the virus which has tainted them. Gentlemen, it
is impossible to think of the plague with which we are infected,
and which obliecs us to resort to the severest measures, with-
out, being struck; with the analogy which it presents from its
subtility, the rapidity of the disease, and the frequent impos-
sibility of its cure.
" But it is said, this would be depriving whole families of
their property. And if these families intrust their property to
those who abuse it, are they not blameable for placing their
funds in such hands ?
" It is very important to remark, gentlemen, that by the pre-
sent law, the suspension of a journal only follows a serious of-
fence, a condemnation for a particular offence.
" It is not correct to say that by this private individuals are
deprived of their property ; they are not deprived of their pro-
perty, but only of the illicit use that they would make of it ;
they preserve their Stock ; they may make a better use of their
presses ; they can only blame.theruselves for the loss of a greater
benefit.
" From whence, then, proceeds this deep interest—these cries
of violated property ?
" But is not the honour which a journal would take from a
Frenchman his property ? is it less precious than the property
of a journalist ?
" Is not the public tranquillity, which a journal would seek
to disturb, the property:of all France?
" Of whom amongst us, are not religion and royalty, which
a journal would attack, the most sacred property ?
" Let fear be abandoned. This menacing weapon in the
hands of magistrates, who are essentially protectors, will strike
only the declared and irreconcilable enemy of the principles of
religion and society.
" Some persons may think that since the law authorizes the
suspension and suppression of journals in case of offinice, it
ought also to authorize the Courts of Assize to decide_ in crimi-
nal cases. It is to be observed, in the first place, that excite-
ment to crime by a writing is not reputed a crime in itself, ex-
cept when it is followed by an effect ; then the writer, as an ac-
complice, suffers the same penalty corporal and ignominious
punishments are then considered sufficient means of repression.
The suppression could be declared by the high police, if it
should be judged necessary to public order : this would not then
be done as a penalty.
" The suppression of a journal renders necessary a measure
to prevent it from re-appearing under another title; without
this, the suppression . would be illusory. The Committe has
not thought it necessary,,to occupy itself with this subject, since
a law of police, which comprises this question, has been pre-
sented to you. •