The Sun.
London, England, 1833-11-27 00:00:00

LAW OF LIBEL

(From the Newcriele Chronicle.)
The attention of the public has been 14tely much
directed to the conduct of the public press, by occurrences
connected with this neiehtionihnod. The announcement

of the intention of the Earl of Durham to institute pro.
ceeging+ against «me of the j ,urnals in the Tory or Con-
servative interest (or whatever they may chr'wse to cal/
themselves), for calumnies upon his private chararrer and
conduct, was a few weeks ago with them a ttb:st prorrHeent
topic Of discussion, and a source of much apparegt li1)""1
Profession. Much of this discussion and profession: has
been renewed Isy the motion of the Solicitor-General II:
the Court of King's Bench, for criminal informations
ie4inst tip's,. papers which have offended. To do them
justice, it must certainly be admitted that they have talked
the matter well, but our surprise and amaterneot are,
,vhere, in the name of lib sty, all these fine aigutnents
and feelings have slept so long, and why they were' not
,dvaneed and avowed whilst the late prosecutions
E o-1 of Lansdale against th« Carlisle Journal and oth'er.
papers were in progress. Nut a word was then heard'
from them in advocacy of unrestrained discussion, and of
reliance on the efficacy of public opinion.
What they were whilst in power many journalists know
to their cost ; statements the least calornni,,us, and asset,
•ions barely off-naive, w re then prosecuted, as the phrase
gees, " with the utmost severity of the law;" they couldi
in fact, scarcely bear to be touched, and it requited the
utmost care, in all journalists opposed to them, to .14e*
clear of that extreme readiness of prosecution to which
they were so prone.
Such is and ever has been the conduct of the Tories as-
regard+ attacks upon themselves. In their dealings, how-
ever, with their political opponents they have observed a
very different course. Whilst in power, and secure horn
the danger of official provocation or judicial enmity, they
set the example of the most scandalous and abusive per-
sonal detraction of their opponents that the public press
of this country was ever before disgraced with. Bur,
gross as their abuse of the press then was, it hag been
thrown into insignificance by the calumny, abuse, false-
hood, insult, and every abomination in which they have
since indulged. No calumny that malignity could invent,
no falsehood however gross and however fleeting, has been
beneath the depth of infamy, we will not say to which

they have stooped, but in which they have actually revelled
and gloried. Honour, morality, and decency may, in
fact, be said to have stood appalled at the baseness of their
conduct. And yet, after such tran.eressions and such
exhibitions of feeling—after thy hive organised and esta-
blished through the country a system of detraction, which,
without exaggeration, may he stigmatised as a coni..ina-
lion for scandal, and a conspiracy to deter by abuse and

insult every modest and sensitive person from taking a
part in politics or declaring his opinions,—after we h4cie
seen nerdy, unworthy, and foul-mouthed individuals
connected with the press, sought, bribed, and hired to
engage in the dirty work,—and after we have seen those
who call themselves leaders of the Tory party, who lay
claim to all the high feelings which ought to characterise
gentlemen, and who proclaim thems-lees the guardians of
order and decorum, subscribing to set up journals which
have never ceased to traduce and calumniate their oppo.
runts, it does really " out-Herod, Herod," it is
sufficient to put even impudence to the blush, to
see them now turning round, when there is a pros-
pect that the penalty of their transgressions may he exact, d
nom them, affecting the advocacy of high principles, and
appealing for protection to public opinion. 0 sweet
tempered j Purnalists! 0 much injured innocents ! What
a shame that any one should attempt to check you in your
career of scandal ! What a crying sin that any one should
presume to curb you in the exercise of that fine "eaten,"
for calumny of which your friends so often boast! B, •
away with such pretension.; in the name of all that is
decent, in behalf of the c +use of free discussi,,n, in the
name of the press which they abuse and degrade, we ro-
t, st against the assumption of impunity fur the traduction

of private character and for the indulgence of private
sc,ndai. 'lhe press hos no mere right to indulge in these
than a private individual ; in either case it is a gross
outrage, and though it may he proof of a bad cause, it
can never be necessary in support of a good one; and it
is a violation of common sense, justice, and feeling to
endeavour to visit the injured party with that ()Wilily and
disgrace which should ,all only upon the transgressor.
A system like this, it is evident, could not be for ever
subtnittsd to; personal character and feeling c• irld no' for
ever be allowed to be the wort of every unprincipled or
malignant wiiter ; an end must be put to it, and if no
other means can be found, thus- who have sn transgtegted
can have little reason to c mplain it recourse be at length
had to legal prosecution. But we must admit, that e•en
in the case of private libel (and we would not wish any
of our remark•+ to be understood as applying to animad-
versions on public conduct), prosecution is will a It ,rsh
measure, and it would be well if it could be avoided. If
it is to he avoided, however, it rests with the ply lir,

and the public alone, to Pup pl y t►.e remedy. Let

them cease to countenance such calumnies,—let them
mark with their severest reprehensi in and discouragement
all transgressions of decency and fair tieslinv,—and let
them retake it he felt that it is as disgraceful to print as it is
to speak or write any thing slanderous or abusive, and
individuals may then find that it is unnecessary for them
to resort to legal measures for the defence of their private
character. Let them do this decidedly and perseveringly,
and such prosecutions may cease; but, until it be done,
they most assuredly have no right to censure the sufferer
for seeking that protection from the law which they have
not afforded him.

The occurrences, however, which have lately taken
place in this town, show that legal prosecutions are nut
the only measures of redress to which outraged feelings
may urge the injured patties. In a preceding column
will be found a report of the magisterial inquiry conse-
quent upon the assault committed last week upon the
publisher of the Journal and his clerk. It may be all
very well for the adherents of that p arty to stigm atilt- that
assault as gross, outrageous, or whatever other epithets
they may choose to attach to it. Granted that it was so
__grantee that it was all they state, or more—what, we
should like to know, must have been the character of that
outrage upon their feelings, and of that course of calumny
pursued towards them, that could prompt a set of gentle-
twit, moving in a respectable sphere of lite, and whose
character and station are as dear to them as can be those
of any of the proprietors of the journal to Unmet Ives, to
make it ? The grosser the assault, the grosser, most
surely, must have been the provocation which excited it.
So fully, indeed, are the public impressed with the truth
of this, and such has been their experience of the calum-
nious career pursued by the complainants in this inquiry,
that but very little sympathy is felt for their sufferings.

The Journal des Debats announces the death
of Marshal Jourdan on Saturday last. The Marshal was
upwards of 71 years of age, and was considered the last
representative of the military glories of the republic. He
entered the military career in 1778, and was a General of
Division in 1792, before the wars of the revolution 'wean.
His chief laurels were gathered on the plains of Fleurus,
and on the banks of the Rhine. He was not considered a
gene,al of the first clits; but ee was a man of %shaken
untviodniidoof, 1081.3t0he hceheblas:abHeeonvGit.ailvoerfn;rranocfe.the Hotel des
consistency and unimpeachable honour. Since the Revo-
The funeral cavalcade of the late Jeremiah
Murphy, Esq., of Hyde Park, Coik, extended beyond the
distance of two miles, and 276 vehicles of all kinds at-
tended the procession. —D ablin Evening Pack, t.
An ingenious disciple of Buffo') has been
mak,ng observations respecting the migrations ot hints ;
and after various lemarks about swans, ducks, swallows,
and so forth, adds, pertinently enough, " about Michael-
mas, geese disappear."