The Sun.
London, England, 1834-06-20 00:00:00

SPAIN.

" MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR
" ROYAL ORDER.

" Her Majesty, the Queen Regent being desirous to
avoid the pernicious consequences resulting from the
license of those journals, the publication of which has
been permitted, or may hereafter be permitted, for the
purpose of promoting the, benefits arising from the dif-
fusion of knowledge, and of preparing the way for the
improvements about to be introduced in the various
branches of the public administration, and being con-
vinced that the true interests of the enlightened men
who devote themselves to the noble profession of writ-
ing for the pqblic consists in not being confounded
with those who profane it by their malice or their
ignorance, and who endeavour with culpable obsti-
nacy to make it.odious, has thought fit to approve of
the following

REGULATIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN THE CENSORSHIP

OF THE JOURNALS ESTABLISHED BY THE ROYAL

DECREE OF TR'F. 4TH OF JANUARY, 1834.

" Art. 1. Publications not technical, or which do
not treat exclusively of the arts, of the natural sci-
ences, or of literature, are not to be published without
an express royal license through the Ministry of the
Interior, as provided for by the 22d article of the royal
decree above quoted.
" ' Art. 2. The applications to this effect are to be
addressed to the Home Department through the civil
governors of provinces, who will report on the pro-
priety of the concession, and on the situation of those
who propose to act as editors of each journal.
" Art. 3. This situation should be the same as
that required by the 10th article of the royal decree of
the 20th May last, with regard to the qualification of
electors for Procuradores to the Cortes.

" Art. 4. In the event of her Majesty thinking fit
to grant a Royal permission for the publication of a
journal, the applicant is to deposit the sum of 20,000
reals, 200/1, for Madrid, and 10,000 reals (1001.) for
the provinces, in money, in the hands of the civil go-
vernor'; or the sum of 40,000 or 20,000 reals respec-
tively in capital stock, which deposit is to be liable for
the fines that may be incurred.
" Art. 5. The journals are to remain subject, in
all their articles; to a previous censorship, except such
as are referred to in article I.

"' Aft- 6. h o consorship is to be exercised in
Madrid by four Royal censors, and by one in each of
the cities of Barcelona, Cadiz, Corunna, Santiago,
Pamplona, Granada, Malaga, Seville, Palma de Mal-
lorca, and Valencia, without prejudice to the establish-
ment of -others in places where they may be considered
necessary, and where funds are provided for their en-
dowment. In Madrid there shall likewise be named
four supernumeraries, and two in each of the other
cities above mentioned.

" ' Art. 7. The civil governors will propose three
persons to her Majesty through the Minister of the
Interior, such as they think fitted for this duty by their
intelligence and impartiality and whose political opi-
nions are in harmony with the conservative principles
which are sanctioned in the Estatuto Real.

" Arta 8. The Royal Censors of Madrid will en-
joy a salary of 2001. sterling per annum ; those of the
other•cities above specified, 120/. ; and those of the
remaining places where they may be required, such a
salary as may be consistent with the amount of the
duties required of them.
" Art. 9. The duties of the censors are—

" 1. To review the journals on the day on which
they are presented by the editors, and other writings
as soon as possible after being transmitted to them by
the -civil governors.
,
2. To report to the civil governor respectively
the fact that an article has been disapproved of or al-
tered on the very day of the publication of the jour-
nal subject to revision.
" 3. To prepare and transmit every four months to
the civil governor, a succinct memorial on the state of
the press, and especially of the journals, pointing out
the means which experience has suggested as best
fitted to promote the real diffusion of knowledge,
and at the same time to avoid the abuses to which
printing is liable.
" 4. And lastly, to discharge the other duties im-
posed on them by the decree of the 4th of January last.
" 4 Art. 10. The supernumerary censors will revise
the works transmitted to them for this purpose by the
civil governors, and in the absence of the principal
censors will supply their place ; but for this duty they
are to receive no salary nor any advantage, but that of
being preferred on a vacancy, if by their conduct they
have not proved themselves unworthy of it.
"',Art. 11. The Royal censors will not only allow
the publication in the journals of writings on the
matters referred to in the Ist, 2d, 3d, and 4th articles
Of the above Royal decree, but also on morals, admi-'
nistration, and politics.
" Art 12.—The censors will not permit the in-
sertion in the journals—
" First, of articles which teach doctrines or maxims
having a tendency to alter or destroy religion, the re-
spect for the rights and prerogatives of the Crown, the
Estatuto Real, and the other fundamental laws of the
monarchy.
" Second, of such as are calculated to excite re-
bellion or to disturb the public tranquillity.
" Third, of such as excite, directly or indirectly,
to the infringement of any law or to the disobedience
of any legitimate authority by means of satires or in-
vectives, even when the authority attacked or the place
of his residence is pointed out by allusion or allegory
only, whenever the censors are of opinion that certain
determinate persons or constituted authorities or cor-
porations are referred to.
" Fourth, of licentious compositions and such as
are inconsistent with the public morals.
" Fifth, of injurious and defamatory libels, which
stain or wound the private reputation and conduct of
individuals, whether private or in the service 'of the
public; and, although not pointed out by name, if
suggested by anagrams, allegories, or in any other way
whatever, as often as the censors are convinced that
determinate persons are alluded to.
4" And sixth, of such as are injurious to foreign
sovereigns or governments, or excite their subjects to
rebellion.
6" Art. 13. The articles communicated to the
editors of journals by the authorities whose conduct
are to be censured therein, are to be inserted entire on
the day succeeding that of their communication at the
latest, the editors not having the power to alter or
suppress a single word of their contents.
4" Art. 14. The articles which treat of adminis-
trative or political matters are to be presented for con-
suf c without addition or amendment. The censor will
make in them such alterations as he thinks fit, will
preserve the whole of them, and, after signing all the
sheets, he will return them to the editor.
Art. 15. These very sheets are to be used in the
printing-office, and the editors are to be bound to pre-
serve them, and to present them as often as required
for the purpose of comparison.
" Art. 16. Prospectuses are also to be subject to
censorship, and journalists are not to publish any part
Hof their columns in blank. Editors, who in this man-
ner, or by means -of points, lines, 'or asterisks, or any
other similar contrivance, shall indicate the suppres-
sion of articles submitted to the censorship, shall pay
a fine of 201. for the first offence, 401. for the second,
and for the third the journal shall be suppressed.
" Art. 17. When the acts of disapproval of the
same censor are repeated to the number of six, the
editor may apply to the civil governor, who will ap-
point another censor in chief, or a supernumerary.
" ' Art. 18. Each editor will transmit to his censor
respectively, a copy of his journal on the very day of
ifs publication, and another to the civil governor, or to
the other chief authority of the town where he resides.
" Art. 19. The printer who prints an article which
5s not entirely comformable with the manuscript ap-
proved of by the censor in terms of the 14th article,
As to pay a fine of from 5/. to 301., at the discretion of
the civil governor, who will graduate it in concert
wi-h his colleagues according to the extent of the al-
teration ; in the event of a second offence; the fine is
to be doubled ; and for a third, he is to be exiled for
a year to a distance of at least 20 leagues from the
town where he resides. The censor will incur a fine
of 10/. if he does not on the very day of publication
communicate the act of fraud to the civil governor of
the locality.
" Art. 20. The printer who prints an article not
approved of by the censor is to pay a fine of 20/. for
the first offence, 401. for the second, and for the third
is to be exiled for two years to a distance of at least
twenty leagues from the town where the offence was
committed. The censor will incur a fine of 20/. if he
does not communicate the fraudulent article to the
civil governor or other gubernatorial authority on the
very day of publication.
" Art. 21. The fines declared in the previous arti-
cles are to be without prejudice to the rights of private
individuals, and to their right of legal indemnification
before the competent tribunals.
Art. 22. Articles published in other journals,
whether in Spain or elsewhere, are to be again subject
censorship before being reprinted in any town dis-