The Sun.
London, England, 1825-01-29 00:00:00

SOLEMN SITTING.-CRIMES OF THE PRESS.

Le Sieur Legracieux has been condemned on an accusation
of the bad tendency of some articles inserted in the Courier
Francaise; he being the responsible Editor, alid contumacious,
to three months imprisonment, and pay a fine of 2,000 francs.
From this sentence he now appealed, proving that he left the
Courier and had gone into the country. Without admitting
the doctrines as to tendencies laid down by his advocate, the
Court sustained the appeal. The Court then decided ,rn the
appeal of M. Barba, a bookseller, who had been sentenced to
pay a fine of 500 francs, and be imprisoned one month, for
having re-printed a romance of M. Pigault Le Brun, entitled,
M. de Robeville, 'which was held to be an outrage to public
morals. His appeal was eloquently supported by M. Dupin,
jun. who rested his claim on the fact of the work having been
long unnoticed by the Magistrates.—The Advocate-General
thought this no reason for allowing a reprint to go forth to the
world, as it was a book which mothers would carefully keep
from their daughters' hands, and husbands from their wives.—
The Court, paying due regard to the sincerity of M. Barba,
who was not aware of the immoral tendency of the work, which
has already gone through five successive editions, also sus-
tained his appeal, discharging him from his fine, but ordering
the suppresssion of the romance.

Accounts from Sweden speak of the •appear-
ance of a great number of wolves this winter, at
Ilernesund, in the province of Angermania.

FOR THE SUN.

POPERY.

11,1 a. EDITOR—Every circumstance tendir•g to
illustrate the nature and principles of Popery,
now deserves a most minute examination, since
the great question is shortly to be tried, whe-
ther these principles shall or shall not have their
influence among those experienced and approv-
ed principles of our Constitution, which are the
admiration of the world. Every man who values
the interests of his country, nay, every man who
values his own personal interests, is hound to in-
quire whether the character of Popery has.
changed with the age ; whether, as we are per-
petually told by its advocates, the burnings and
rackings of Mary had their origin in the ferocity of
a savage period, and not in the spirit of the faith
which they are called to aid, whether the roun-
ders of Latimer and Cranmer are no more to be
charged on Popery than that of Servetus on
Protestanism ; whether the advance of civiliza-
tion and learning has shewn the cruelty and ab-
surdity of religious persecution, and the profes-
sors of all religions understand this perfectly
well ; or whether, on the other hand, cruelly
and intolerance are inherent in the very nature of
Popery, exist as it may, either in sympathetic
darkness, or surrounded by tl►e light of civilizae
tion and humanity.
Popery proclaims itself unchangeable and iii•
fallible : what it has done, therefore, it will jus•
tify ; and what it justifies, it will repeat. And
in order to prove that the Papists are not aware
of a truth so generally admitted as the unreasores
ableness and unchristian nature of religious per-
secution, we have only to look at the Holy In-
quisition, existing up to our own times in almost
every Popish country ; to the cruelties inflicted
in the same countries and the same times on per-
sons who ventured to withhold their veneration
from waxen and wooden divinities; and to a
circumstance which has only just occurred,
and which has not, perhaps, been sufficiently
noticed, considering its great importance at ti►e
present time.
It seems, that a law is now agitating in France
by which it will be death with torture, the right
hand being first cut off, to insult the sacred Wafer!
-And this is the 19th century ! It matters-little
whether this law is passed or not : let us only
reflect what must be the state of men's minds iii
a country where it is possible that the expe-
diency of such a law can be a question at all ! Let
us ask, whether in this, or in any Protestant
country, an enactment of a similar nature could,
he heard of. The man who could dare to utter
such sentiments in our Parliament, would he
sent to bedlam, or expelled society. Shall sve
exchange our Constitution for this ? Shall 'We
permit principles like these to have the slightest
influence in directing i►.? Put it to your common
sense, People of England !
Let us awhile compare this law of an infallible
church with our fallible maxims derived from the
bible. Granting for awhile the atrocious blas-
phemy, that a piece of flour and water can be the
body of that adorable victim who ,was offered
once for our sins, let us see how our Lord him-
ser,f defended his person from insult. When the
Samaritans refused to admit him, and " James
and John saw this, and said, Lord,. wilt thou
that we command fire to come down frorir
Heaven and consume them, even as Elias
did ?' He turned and rebuked them, and said,
ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of
for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's
lives, but to save them.' " (Luke ix. s=l.}—And
Peter, who, by the admission of the Papists thew('
selves, was at least as great as any Pope, was
severely rebuked by his Master for drawing h 9
sword to protect him. Taking, therefore, -the
Popish belief in its fullest latitude, nothing but
the infallibility of the church can satisfactorily
explain why what gave so great offence in the
person of Peter, should, in the persons of his suc-
cessors, be an act of pious devotion. But looking
at the question as rational beings, would it not be.
much better to allow the mealy Divinity to vin-
dicate its own cause, as it has done before, than
to punish with death and torture those persons
whom the flour in its wisdom has thought fit to
spare, and who, therefore, we may presume,
ought to be spared still ?
Let this specimen of the Popery of the 19th
century be compared with that of darker ages
and thence be it determined whether Popery has
changed with the times.

BRITANNUS•

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