The Sun.
London, England, 1833-10-24 00:00:00

party bays been, though less frequently. What, then, is
the remedy? Why the adoption by the public of the
same views and feelings in matter of libel, which corrects
the operation of laws for the protection of property. Let
it be once deemed as disgraceful to bring a spiteful or mer-
cenary action for libel, as it is to bring a spiteful or mer-
cenary action of ejectment—let the prosecutor in a libel
case be as fairly judged of by his motives as the prosecutor
under any penal statute, and men will be as much ashamed
to pillory themselves in a court of justice, as libel prose-
cutor or plaintiff, as they now are to move disgraceful
actions or indictments of any other kind."
A great deal more is wanted to perfect the
law of libel, than what is here stated by our
contemporary. What security is it to a man
that he will not be spitefully prosecuted, that
it is generally deemed disgraceful to bring a
spiteful prosecution ? Why the people who
most frequently prosecute for libel have no cha-
racter to lose, and therefore disgrace or credit is
the same thing to them. As long as a Jury
find a verdict for a coin, howeversmall, and a Judge
has the power of throwing the costs on the party
against whom the verdict is given, prosecutions
will be brought. We have uniformly observed
in Judges a disposition to favour prosecutions
for libel ; and so long as attorneys believe that
there is a bias in favour of prosecution, they
will willingly take up any cause, in the hope of
gaining their costs from the opposite party. It
seldom happens that all the Courts have the
same way of thinking with regard to libel; but,
however this may be, we are sure that
into that Court in which the Judge is most
favourable to plaintiffs, will causes be brought by
attorneys. Without laying claim to the gift of
prophecy, we could tell, we think, with unerring
accuracy, the Court into which libel prosecutions
will be brought for some time, if means be not taken
to defeat the design lurking in the mind of some one
to destroy the Press by encouraging prosecution.
It must always be borne in mind that a Judge is
generally a man who has outlived his feelings ;
and that the ruin of one, two, or twenty indivi-
duals by an unjust system is no more in his eyes
than the trampling of so many insects on his
path. Mr. Foster, of Leeds, for instance, was
dragged to trial for having asked a person who
had attacked him in his paper, whether he was
the individual who had stated at a public meet-
ing that "sheep's heads were good enough for
the working classes ?" and having brought proof
to prove the truth of what he had said, on the
recommendation of the Judge the action was
withdrawn, and the payment of his own unavoid-
able costs, amounting to 3001., drove him into
the Gazette. The Judge wished to save the
time of the Court ; the ruin of the party was the
last thing that would have entered his head.
Judges look down on suitors as the gods of the
heathen looked down from Olympus on mortals,
without being moved either by their joys or
their sufferings. It is the disproportion be-
tween the offence and the costs which makes the
law of libel such a scourge to all who are
connected with the Press. And the parties who
are most disposed to protect their characters by
law are precisely those who have least character
to lose. A striking illustration of this assertion
has lately been afforded, to which we need not
to allude very particularly. An amiable and
most accomplished gentleman and scholar was
pointed at in a particular Journal in connection
with some idle rumour (at least we sincerely
believe it utterly unfounded) of guilt, of a
nature which we need not to name, as in a
short time it will be the only crime deemed
unpardonable in England. Shrinking from the
notoriety which prosecution would obtain for
him, and trusting too much to his high esta-
blished character, and too much also to the charity
of his countrymen and the generosity of his
friends, he adopted the unwise resolution of
taking no notice of the imputation. He ought
at once to have prosecuted the Journal, and to
have trusted his honour neither to the charity of
his countrymen nor to the generosity of his
friends. These very friends were the first to
turn his forbearance towards his enemies against
him. We saw this individual thirteen or fourteen
years ago in full health and strength, a portly,
handsome man ; we saw him by accident two or
three months ago—but so changed, so emaciated
from inward anguish, that if we had not heard
him named, we should not have known him.
This man fell a victim to a truculent press.
There are advantages and disadvantages in a
public education. One of the advantages is,
that a boy soon discovers that this world is
given as a prize to the energetic and determined,
and that physical force and mental resolution
(they are generally united) carry everything
before them. One of the disadvantages is, that
a boy perceives that daring and audacity carry
the day, and that out of 200 there are not
perhaps 10 who have courage to stand on their
own bottom, because imbued at too early a
period with a contempt for mankind. One
lesson is early implanted in his mind—that
the bulk of mankind are cowards, and to be
moved by their fears rather than their affec-
tions. The fighting Fitzgerald was aware
of this truth, when he bullied more than one
respectable club. What a man seasoned in
a public school would have done, had he
perceived any coolness in any of his former
friends, would have been at once to strike him to
the earth, and trust to the effect of such decisive
and peremptory conduct on others. We will
answer for it the individual so handled would
not have had many desirous of being in his po-
sition. In fact in this world, a man must, in
certain conjunctures, break through all ordinary
rules, if he do not wish to be crushed. Unfor-
tunately, however, many of the most amiable of
our species, who are deserving of the best treat•
ment, do not possess the energy to command a
better treatment ; while some impudent Irish-
man, or arrogant Scotchman, whose nerves are
hardened by the half-savage education he has
received, too often succeeds in escaping the pu-
nishment he deserves, by acting on the prudence
of those who should inflict it. Every one who
has been upwards of twenty years in London,
must remember an Irishman of Herculean frame,
Felix M'Carthy, the intimate of Lord Moira,
Sheridan, and others. A newspaper was set
up in London for the express purpose of li-
belling, and Felix was hired by the real
editors, for about three guineas and a half a
week, to assume the responsibility. He sat
behind the counter, and when any one of the
hundred offended individuals entered the office,
and with much bluster, exhibiting a horsewhip,
demanded the editor—on Felix rising up, and
exhibiting his seven feet stature and broad
shoulders, and coolly observing, " I am the
editor," the party with the horsewhip usually
decamped without beat of drum. The moral is
not very honourable to poor human nature. The
requisites to success in life are, a good deal of
sensibility.
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the hard ae,vavenrd
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p'roposed for
men smarting under libels. If they patiently
submit to them, they are cut by theirfriends
who very charitably assume that the charges'
must be true, or they would not be patiently