The Sun.
London, England, 1809-04-18 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sra,—l have for many years been a constant
reader of your paper,' and my opiniOn' of its
excOelic; !mil) every day been more and more
coutilmed,
,in proportion to the length of lime that
has elapsed from my tit-sr-acquaintance with, it. But
what. Lp*icularly admire in it, is its sound attach-
ment to.the Vrinciples of the British Cons.itution, a
true and. tuiwavering Patriotism, united, as true Pa-
triotism et'er mu he, with an unshaken loyalty to
the best of Sovereigns. Yi6ting it, Sir, in this
light, and professing myself to be actuated by con.
gepial principles, I trust you, will have the goodness
to iusert, in some number of your valuable publica-
tion, the Letter which r now address to you, as it
may be a likely mean 'to draw the attention of a
,numerous Public' to a subjeet well deserving of their
notice,. I•inean At 'licentiousness of the Press; or,
rather,. art abusecti us liberty to licentious purposes.
The true liberty of the Press, 1 venerate as much as
-airy roan; and would stand fent) as its Chairioun, if
aitenipted to be invided,'at tirinly as any of thoic
who are for currying their idea of this liberty to es,*
cess;.,pretesshig , myself to.
,be no friend to men or
measures, but in proportion as they jointly Co-upe..
*ate in promoting the public interest, and wit:id .of
)arciety. Stetesthan should
,upeid), orcovertly
:peke an attack upon the liberties of the people; if
a Military Commander should bc found incompetent
to the duties,,ot bi. funcitioni:ll, Svnator should be
found in .the habit of givitsg. his vote contrary to his
conscience, and to the interets'of his constituents ;
if a Jodge should warp the laws,to the perver,ion of
justice, itv,tavoor Qt a corrupt Administration ; it a
subordinate Magistrate 'should wilfully exceed the
01' hit einutuission, by maid lig it the engine of
oppression ; or if an Eccle.siaStic , should so iar de-
grade the sacred clAratte.r' of his' profession; 33 to
,aii6tiort by his exaftsperhe Corrupt manners of the
age,. winch he pretends In enO3VOLIF to reform by
his doctrines ; in a word, if public justice, religion,
-propriety,atiddeeencybe them* byany limit:lir means,
wautti.tly insulted and violated; I wish to throw no
veil of concealment 'over the guilty, to screen him
from eublic revroacb, the just, recoinpence of his
crimes. Satire has here sit open field; and if duly
eiercised, by pearintying lice in its proper colours,
may be of great. public Wilda, in rendering it dlt-
testablei it may do more than this,. it may a‘some
the stern authority of a Censor, it it' 'pleases-, and
point him owes a fit objetit of public animadversion,
and of viudittive justice to an insulted people, and
be thus a 11144311 01 bringing down upon him the
deserved punishment oh his crimes; and the man,
who should make this use of the Liberty of the
:Press, with upright intentions, aid with a view to
the public good, manining himself within the limits
of truth aria moderatiOn, to far from meeting with
my cuti,ure, should have my cordial approbation and
suvport. 1 say to him, •

" utere vet ii

Toto) pacua sinus."

But, Sir, favourable as I ant to the Liberty of the
Press, in all else* where virtue ie,d national good is
its ultimate ouitatt, I confess I feel my
iindignatiou
rise, whenever it is so far prostituted a* to be the
pander of vice, by hell% the e. Mete of Atheism, the
patron of itninotlatity, and the friend ul discoid. 1
um led iota these ii4lettlatis by the perusal of a re-
cent publication, " The dangers sot the
Edinburgh Review, by Mentor," Which, though a
very small pamphlet, contains in it Much serious
matter,. well deserving the munition of the peblie. in:
these eventful times, and which I 'most sincerely
wish may be read, and carefully considered, by every
true friend to' social order, tied good go-.
vernment. The dangers apprehended by lileutor,
.from .this Itc ti i,sw, are specified in three .distinct
charges. " I accuse it," says he, "of iorelehly in
liceetiousness in morals, and of seditious
one revolutionary principles in politics.
Now,-Sir, that theles'are serious charges indeed,.
and that the person who it rakes them must deserve
well, or ill of'the public, tteeording as they are sub-
stautiated by proper evidence, or rest wholly unsup-
ported.bneupuil the mere ipso dixit of the author
'filmset', readily be admitted. Let strict and
impartialiustice thee be donee-to the accuser and the
accused;;' let the blame (for certainly blame, and that
of no witting mngnitutle, is due Ott one side or the
other) attach to. its proper (Ned. If the accuser in
the ;present case, 'upon impartial examination, shall
be found to have broeght forward -hi* amuse-
tions before the bar of the public, , unsupported by
proper' evidence, he shall find no advocate in me.
No, Sir, every species of calumny I detest at my
heart, and the author of such a. calumny as is con-
tained in the preceding charges, supposing them to
be unsupported by facts—a calumny that would fix
upon any innocent man, or set of men, Oh; guilt of
favouring irreligion, licentiousness, sedition, and re-
volutionaryprinciples, would in my opinion be de-
serving ot public- ekeeration, a monster to be avoid-
ed by every one-whit:valued his reputation ; and no
one would be More ready' to join in the,geecral cry
against him than u4self.-1 'tsiould say ,ot.ltint to
every ousel met,
fusers baba M coma lopo
•

But, Sir, en the otherhaud, ahnuld truth, after a due
investigation, be found to be tlic basis of these
charges, an equal share of 'public indignation would
justly attach to him whose
,criminality provoked the
attack, ,and instead 'of. viewing his accuser in. the
odious light above-tneutioned, [should consider him
es the friend of human nature, the watchful guar.
din of our religion and morali, au intelligent appre-
claw*r of tnebletaiings of our its valuable Censt it ut iou,
and an enemy to none but the bad. difwhiCh ever
side the truth roily rest, the chdrges have been
bronAlit forward with confidence, and the. Editors of
the ;Review inculpated, aritimperiously called upon,
in vindication of their honour to repel the attack,
'0 patiently await the verdiO, of the public, Which, in
the eVent of. their will be unanimously
awarded .against therri for whether the aceusatious
true-or false, in ,the manner 'they are brought,lor-.
ward, and with the teams by
,which they are sop,
Petted, they are calculated to make a strong
pression upon:the putilic mind—and • as; tar as the,
'patuphlet; Which co4ltljlll 'them, has' been already
.citculuted, J. e they have begin to produce their
tried one ..lact I can with confidence state, viz. that
-the Metiibets of respeZaable Book- Societia to

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