The Sun.
London, England, 1834-02-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

We find by accounts from Dublin that the law has laid
a barbarous and oppressive hand on the Pilot newspaper,
of which the ostensible proprietor is Mr. Barrett, now in
prison for publishing some months ago that notorioua
epistle, which bore the signature of Daniel O'Connell, but
for which Mr. Daniel O'Connell was content that Mr.
Barrett should pay the same penalty, if required, as Mr.
Harding Tracey had paid before bim. The Commission-
ers of Stamps in Dublin have refused to supply Mr. Barrett
with any more stamped paper, and have warned him that
be has no right to continue the publication of the Pilot
newspaper,-5 fact which would naturally impress most
people with the suspicion that the Irish Government had
itself interposed and inflicted on Mr. Barrett that heavy pu-
nishment, in aggravation of the fine and imprisonment to
which the Court had already adjudged him. This conjecture,
we see, from an inspection of the Act of Parliament, is un-
founded. The 20th section of 55 George 111., c. SO,
prohibits the Commissioners from selling or delivering
stamps to any person under sentence for a seditious libel ;
nor is such person (under the 21st section of the same sta-
tute) any longer "entitled to print or publish such news-
paper." The words of the Act being positive, and no dis-
cretion left with either the Commissioners of Stamps or
the executive power, it appears that the reproach of so
iniquitous a proceeding rests exclusively with the Le-
gislature, by which it was authorized and enjoined.
But as to the nature of the Act itself, can there be a
second opinion ? Was there ever a more shameful
piece of heartless cruelty thought of? In the present
instance the publisher of a libel, Mr. Barrett, has suf-
tered from the sentence of the Court an amount of pe-
nalty fully equal to the magnitude of the offence of
which he was found guilty. He has been fined, impri-
soned, and forced to give bail. But this, it seems, is not
sufficient : the framers of this atrocious law were afraid,
where libels might be concerned, to leave the administra-
tion of justice in the hands of the Court of King's Bench.
Judges had hitherto shown themselves so merciful and
tender, so weak and milky-hearted, towards seditious
libellers, beyond every other class of culprits, that the
manufacturers of Stamp Acts in the year 1815 were re-
solved to tie up the discretion of these high Magistrates,
or indeed to render it a matter of no importance whether
the Lord Chief Justice and his brethren should be
men furnished with the ordinary share of bowels, or
wholly destitute of them. It was therefore settled that
no sentence for libel should be capable of excess or dimi-
nution ; that—no matter how light the fine demanded
by the Court, or how heavy—no matter how lenient the
intentions of the Judge, or bow severe—one measure of
punishment, and one alone, should be substantially in-
flicted, vie.—utter and irretrievable ruin. Did the Court
_

award a fine of 1,0001., it was of little consequence,
because if the ostensible amount was only 51., down
would come the Stamp Commissioners with their Act of
Parliament (Act 55 Geo. 111., c. SO, section 20 and 21)
refusing stamps to the unfortunate offender, or, in other
words, confiscating his entire property We repeat that
there is no enduring such a law as this. Why (as said,
we know not how truly) it has hitherto not been enforced,
becomes a minor and comparatively uninteresting ques-
tion. There stands the law, a disgrace to the statute
book, and a gag in the mouth of every Irish subject : it
must be repealed before the end of the present session, and
ought to be so, if practicable, before eight-and forty hours
have expired.— Times.

The following notice was served upon Mr. Barrett, ti.e
proprietor and editor of the Pilot newspaper. Mr. Bar-
rett, it will be remembered, is at present undergoing his
sentence of imprisonment in Kilmainham gaol, for the
publication of Mr. O'Connell's letter. This notice was,
we presume, an unexpected, and certainly a very unne-
cessary aggravation of his punishment :
" Stamp-office, Dublin, Feb. 18, 1834.
" Sir,—ln consequence of your having received judgment
for printing and publishing a seditious libel, the Commissioners
of Stamps have ordered that, in pursuance of the '2oth section
of the Act 55 Geo. 111., chap. 80, you shall not from hence..
forth be supplied with stamped paper for printing any news.
paper upon.
" I have also to acquaint you, that you are no longer entitled
to print or publish the Pilot newspaper.
" I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
" J. S. COOPER,
" Comptroller and Accountant-General of Irish Stamps.
" To Richard Barrett, Esq., &c., Suffolk-street."
The following is the clause in the Act of Parliament,
an Act passed in 1815, upon which the above proceeding
is founded
And be it further enacted, that if any printer, or publisher,
or proprietor, of any newspaper in Ireland, shall be by due
course of law outlawed for any criminal offence, or receive
judgment for printing or publishing a traitorous or seditious
libel, the said Commissioners of Stamps in Ireland, and their
officers for distributing stamped vellum, parchment, or paper
respectively, are hereby prohibited to sell or delver to or for
the use of any such printer, publisher, or proprietor, so out-
lawed, or who shall have so received judgment for such libel,
any stamped paper for printing any newspaper."
If we take this as a specimen of the sort of law by which
Ireland is governed, can we wonder at the discontent
which manifests itself in every part of that miserable
country ? Can we wonder at the cry for repeal ? The
libel law is bad enough in England ; but Ireland is the
land of exaggeration, and in Ireland the libel law
is ten times worse than here. The general impres-
sion in both countries was, that Mr. Barrett's punish-
ment, looking merely at the sentence of the Court
of King's Bench, was, at least, sufficiently severe.
But next comes an afterclap by which his newspaper is
to be sacrificed, and the whole of his property swept
away. And all this according to law—that is, according
to such law as we make for Ireland. We do not accuse
those who passed the law in the first instance, nor even
those who have revived it at this moment, of secretly
favouring the project for the repeal of the union, but
if they were actuated by such a feeling they could not
have taken a more effectual step towards promoting
its adoption and success. There seems to be a
fatality banging over every movement of the Irish Go-
vernment. But let us not call it fatality ; it is the
natural consequence of a bad system to work badly.
Ireland has been misgoverned fur ages—it is misgo-
verned in our own day. Witness the Act of 1815—
a itness the demolition of Mr. Barrett's property by
the Stamp_office in 1834. Ireland is still misgoverned;
and so long as that continues to be the case, it is quite
idle, though perfectly natural, to throw the blame upon
the people, or the stars, when so many of the causes
may be traced to the door of those who pretend to legis
late for their advantage. We see now what the liberty
of the Press is in Ireland. We see also of what instru-
ments the rulers of that country (for it is hardly to be
supposed that the Stamp-office would take such a step,
without instruction) are willing to avail themselves.
Public indignation will not be diminished by the conside-
ration that such is the law—for bad laws are the worst
of all oppressors. Many will wonder at the perverse in-
dustry by which this enactment was discovered at such a
time, and the bad taste of those who, instead of straining
a point to get themselves out of the difficulty, appear to
hare stretched the law to its utmost, and even beyond its
proper force, as if en purpose to hamper themselves with
the °dints of an unpopular, unconstitutional, and inhu-
man act of power. But whatever may be thought of the
motive the proceeding will be universally condemned as
unworthy of a free country, a liberal age, and a reforming
Administration.—Morning Herald.
Mr. Littleton brought forward last night in the House
of Commons his panacea for restoring tranquillity to Ire-
land, in the form of a plan for the commutation of tithe.
This plan comprehends three leading provisions :-
Ist. What is now annually due, on every estate in Ireland,
under the name of tithe, shall henceforth be due annually, un-
til redeemed, under the name of land tax.
1. A bounty of twenty per cent. shall be given, at the ex-
pense of the clergy, to such landlords in Ireland as may consent
to redeem this tithe under its new name of land tax, within
live years, upon an estimate of value which assumes that tithe
is worth only twenty years' purchase, whenever land is worth
twenty-five.
3. The sums so realized by the redemption of tithe shall
be invested in land for the future maintenance of the parochial
clergymen of the parishes in which they have boon severally
paid.
It is scarcely necessary to add that the whole process is
to be wrought by well paid Commissioners, to be ap-
pointed by Government ; or that the clergy, already de-
spoiled of a fifth of their property, are to be further
despoiled by a per centage to pay the expenses of the
Government Commission. Of justice in this measure there
is obviously none. Nor can much be said in its favour on
the ground of expediency, when it is perceived that all
those whom it is intended to pacify declare against it
the most determined and inveterate hostility.—Morning
Post.

What is our contemporary the Globe about ? It
assumes to itself the character of a Ministerial paper. It
has the run of the Foreign-office, and peeps in at other
offices on the road. Are we then to consider the tone
which it has of late adopted as sanctioned by the Mini-
sters? Are the praises of Sir R. Peel—the abuse of the
10/. constituency—and the recommendations of a Union
between the moderate Whigs and moderate Tories' to be
taken as indications of Ministerial wishes and Ministerial
intrigues? If so, the sooner the mask is torn off the
Letter. The power of the great liberal majority which
supports the Government in the House of Commons, must