The Sun.
London, England, 1835-08-26 00:00:00

M. CHATEAUBRIAND AND THE LI-

BERTY OF THE PRESS IN FRANCE.

In the course of the discussion on the character of the new
laws aga'nst the Press, allusion hav'ng been made to an opi-
nion expressed by M. Chatcaubriand, in his work entitled
" Monarchy, according to the Charter," he has addressed the
following letter to the Quotidienne :
" Paris, August 23, 1835.

if Sir,—The literary occupation necessary to my existence,
the lassitude of politics, the inutility of speaking a'. a moment
when society is influenced by important facts, have determined
me to preserve silence on the pr(g.ets de loi at present under
discussion. My peculiar position isolates me from all parties
—I belong to none—l have taken no oath. Of what use is
it,' said I, to mix myself with the combatants? My voice will
not be attended to ; I shall only increase the confusion of the
moment without advantage either for the public good or my
own opinion. Who is ;Isere moreover who has not exposed
the vices of the prqjets de foil and what have I still to say on
the liberty of the Press ? Have .
not exhausted the subject?'
whei: I last descended from the the Chamber
:Pribune of
of Peers, I predicted to the existing Gov....'orneat that it could
not exist compatibly with the liberty of the ...1;='" at a later
period I predicted that it would be led to destroy. st,,at liberty.
s.s
My task was therefore accomplished ; I had resolved i .adhent
re
to my sad and accustomed part of an unregarded prophet.
see, Sir, lam appealed to ; I am accused, and compelled io
speak. If I have the misfortnne to utter remarks of a pecu-
liar nature, it must be remembered that I have not sought the
combat ; it has been offered to me; as a man of honour could
I refuse?
" Permit me, Sir, to borrow a column of your journal. I
have neither the time nor the inclination to write a pamphlet.
I will confine the question to a personal one.
"In order to sustain his opinion favourable to the new Minis-
terial Bill against the Press, one of the Deputies has done me
the honour to quote from a chapter of the Monarchie, selon
la Charte: In this chapter I call for the exercise of repres-
sive laws, it is true, and I am only surprised at being required
to make so simple an explanation.
" The Monarchy according to the Charter,' was written in
1%916. The abolition of the censure was then under discussion.
I was then, as I have always been, placed in the ranks of the
Royalists, who by their manners and their habits adhered to
the forms of the old Monarchy, and considered the liberty of
the Press a scourge. I was desirous of 'raking them adopt
the form of the new Monarchy. Now, with t;-.43 liberty of the
Press, without the abolition of the censure; this form of Mo-
narchy was impossible.
"In order to attain my object—in order. to give confis!eness
to those minds, fearful and opposed to my plan, I called for
threatening laws in lieu of the censure, certain that when I
should have obtained the abolition of the latter, I should have,
in fact, obtained all. Did I deceive myself, Sir ? By means
of this concession naturally indicated in the circumstances, I
caused those to appreciate the benefits of a Constitutional
Monarchy, who without that would never have heard it spoken
of, and the censure was abolished. This was the great victory
of my life ; it is to me, I dare affirm, to whom France is in a
great degree indebted for the liberty of the Press—and facts
support my assertion.
" When once the censure was abolished, what was my con-
duct ? I have employed 20 years of my political career since
1816 in defending that liberty, the principle of which I, Sir,
vanquished. I had contested all the laws with which others
wished to fetter. it ; I sacrificed every thing for that liberty—
place, fortune, honours.
" The Monarchy according to the Charter,' the work
itself in which I called for the abolition of the censure, by
means of strong laws, was seized, and I was deprived of a place
in the Ministry, which, until then, had been thought inalien-
able. On the death of the Duke de Berry I discontinued
writing, because the censure was re-established ; I voted
against the law of exception with which they branded the tomb
of that generous Prince. It is certainly curious to see me
pointed out at the present moment as an enemy to the liberty of
the Press
" But let us confine the argument ; bad I been the enemy of
this liberty, what was to have been expected from me? I be-
longed to an order of things little favourable to new ideas.
Well, far from having been swayed by recollections, I became
the man of the present day. Supposing even that at another
period I entertained political sentiments somewhat different
from those which I now profess, what is the conclusion? That
years of experience have been useful to me, that I have ad-
vanced with society with the present century, while you—you
have retrograded. Yes, you :—you have sought to discover
who I am ; let us see who you are !
" When our institutions were in their infancy, when the
power and the principles of these institutions were not yet well
known, I proposed strong laws in exchange for the censure.
You, when the censure no longer exists—when our institutions
arc full grown—you propose terrible laws in exchange for
liberty ! The issue of an insurrection effected under the name
of the liberty of the Press, you destroy the mother who gave
you birth. Sprung from the Sovereignty of the people, you
condemn to banishment the free examination of the principles
of Government. Why, then, did you overthrow that of Charles
X. ? And who are you to throw yourselves thus on all liberty ;
for all kinds are assailed by your laws on the right of asso-
ciation, and on the Press. Have your glorious hands gained
100 battles against the enemies of your country, or have they
not exercised them in destroying your cradle—the barricades?
It is in my power to crush you under the weight of your
origin ;to shew you unfaithful to yourselves—to your con-
duct—to
your language !
" What ! is it you, the offspring of July, who change the
jurisdiction of the tribunals, who transform offences into crimes,
who introduce into the jury the ignominy of the secret vote,
who brings forward a serie, of articles of laws, each more op-
pressive than the other, and in which the imagination is lost?
" I spare you the reproaches which the whole earth makes
you ; Ido not ask from you an explanation of your oaths I '
am content to tell you that you have not arrived at the end of
your task—that in the perilous course you have adopted in the
wake of all the Governments who have destroyed themselves,
nothing remains for you but to follow this track to the abyss.
You have done nothing unless you restore the censure ; nothing
but the censure is efficacious against the liberty of the Press;
a violent lasv may kill the man; the censure kills the idea; and
it is the idea which ruins your system. Prepare yourselves,
therefore, to establish the censure, and the day on which you
establish it you die. Besides, it must be agreed, your laws
are a forced consequence of your position—without the prin-
ciple of legitimacy, or the Republican principle, the liberty
of the Press is wholly impossible. The further you advance,
the more evident this truth will be. I had hoped to have been
near enough to my grave to have avoided the revolutions which
threaten the future ; but the spirit of vertigo, which has seized
upon power, makes me fear that revolutions are quicker in
their progress than my life.
" I shall not seek to disturb temporary triumphs ; I shall
not rashly throw myself into danger; but if ever a condition of
honour obliges me to speak, as it compels me now, nothing
shall prevent me—l will loudly repeat my known profession
lof faith, because there is no power, no law, no danger on
earth that can hinder me from freely expressing my opinion.
I repel, with all the power of my soul, the moral crime which
they have been pleased to make me share in. I hold the pro-
posed laws in detestation. Let those who make them, and
vote for them, keep the honour to themselvesto every one
his own works.
" I have the honour to be, Sir, with the most distinguished
consideration, your very humble and veTEAUry obedienßßlAND.t servant.
CHA"

A box of game was to be sent on Wednesday even-
ing to his Majesty—the first fruits of season 1835, in our •
Highland moors.—lnverness Courier.
EXECUTION AT LIVERPOOL.—Ort Monday last
the awful sentence of the law was carried ino execution at
the north west angle of Kirkdale House of Correction, near
Liverpool, on the body of James Barlow, the unfortunate man
convicted on Friday last of the Assizes, fur the wilful murcicr
of his wife Priscilla, on the 31st of March last. This being
the first execution which has taken place in Liverpool within
the recollection of the present generation, the novelty of the
circumstance of course drew together a very large concourse
of persons—not less than twenty thousand people were congre-
gated at Kirkdale. Since the prisoner's condemnation he had
conducted himself with the greatest propriety, appearing quite
sensible of the situation in which he was placed. He acknow-
ledged the justice of his sentence to the Rev. Mr. Kennedy,
ster of the Independent denomination, and said that he
wished to
in peace with all men. At twelve o'clock pre-
door, he was lea the press-room to the gallows, having
his brother and friends. During
previously ttilen leave 0:
prarationb for his execution the prisoner
the whole of the
evinced the utmost coolnesg, tl-nd in b:opPino' to the platform,
he turned to the Governor of the gaol, Yr. Amos, and re-
quested that his brother should have Ma clothes, The Rey.
Mr. Horner read the funeral service, and when stating "in
the midst of life we arc in death" the fatal bolt was with-
drawn, and the wretched man was launched into eternity.
MELANCHOLY COACII ACClDENT.—Yesterday
Morning, between the hours of two and three o'clock, as the
Emerald coach, from London to Birmingham, was proceeding-
to the latter place, it suddenly broke down a short distance on
the London side of Fenny Stratford, in consequence of the
axletree of the near fore wheel having broken short off, close
to the nave pr box of the wheel. The coach rolled a few
yards, and fell on its side, pitching five outside passen-
gers into the hedge. 1;„: coachman, with whom was sitting
at the time the guard, was at„- thrown ; the guard escaped
with some severe bruises, but the ceachman having got
entangled with the apron (frequently ~:ed in bad weather
on the north road), fell short, was drawn oder the body
of the coach, and was crushed to death in an ins.;:mt. The
leaders plunged, got disentangled from the traces, and rtin
away. The passengers and guard employed themselves
in looking after the coachman, who was missing, and was
supposed to have been pulled along by the leaders while hold-
ing the reins. In a few minutes they got a lamp off the
coach, and found the driver, John Webb, jammed fast under
the coach, which had been drawn on its side some 30 or 40
yards. With some difficulty the coach was raised, and the
body of poor Webb lifted up quite dead, and sadly mutilated.
He was then carried, in the dark and rain, to the Peacock and
Sandhill Tavern, when two surgeons were sent for, who soon
after arrived. Surgical aid was, however, of no use, as death
must have ensued at the instant of the coach falling on him.
It is due to the proprietors and the relatives of the deceased,
to say that no blame can attach to either of them. Great
neglect, however, belcngs to those who put such an axle-tree
to the coach. It was observed with surprise by all who saw
it that it. Should have carried the coach safe out of London.
It is only justice to poor Webb and his family to say, that he
was considered by all who knew him and travelled by the coach
one of the most skilful and careful drivers on that road. The
passiengers were delayed three hours, when post-chaises were
proe used, and the guard, though injured, proceeded 9 with
them, to Birmingham.