The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-04 00:00:00

street Association Was founded in party feeling
alone; Even their enthusiasm; however honest,
was dangerous:; they attacked only those
who -13-iffered from Ahern in politics; :and:.not
the least objectionable part of the case was the
circumstance, that if the matter Were carried by
writ of error to the House of Lords, the last legal
resort, there . were some dozen of Bridge,Street-
Associators to give check-Mate to' the proceed-
ings.—(A laugh, and
.cries of .Heart hear!)—
Would any man of common understanding say
that this was consistent with common justice
The influence of the Members.of this Association
was not confined to London: How COtild an im-
partial Jury be found in the-country, half a dozen
Jurors being tenants of, the Duke of this, that,
or the other, a Member of the ,Society ?• How
could the unfortunate defendant have a fair
chance ?; A Counte'r-Association, he repeated,
would be worse than the present evil ; for it
would cause the whole country to be split into
_
parties, and would destroy the hitherto prOud
character of English. Justice. The strict legality
of the Association, on its professed principles, he
did not deny ; but the legality was no .objection
to the interference of the House. The abuse,
even of a legal right, might be a fair Subject for
interference. He did not ask whether what Mr.
King had said, or' what Mr. Orton had said,
was true ; but he was satisfied that Mr. Murray
and Mr. Sharp had bragged of the commission
of acts which were illegal. lie thought it was
not legal to go to a man's shop and. say to him,
-" If you don't agree to- certain terms I pro-

pose, I will indict you. If you do not admit
your guilt, give up four property to us, vho
have no right to ask it, and who cannot take it
without violating the law. If you do not, be-
sides all this, take an oath never to repeat that
which we pronounce to be a legal offence, we
will inflict legal -vengeance upon you, and you
must endure the consequence."—To do this, he
thought was to act more like a robber than any
thing else, more like a violator than a protector
of the law. This he held to be illegal. If this
was the law, he had not studied it ; if it was a
part of the Constitution, he did not understand
it. If ' these proceedings were to be supported
by Peers, who might ,ultiinately have to pro-

nounce upon them judicially ; then, all he could
say was, that there never was an Association put
down as illegal half so much to_be reprobated as
this Society, this terror to all good men, com-
monly known by the name of the " Bridge-street
Gang." There were, however, many persons
belonging to the Society for whom individually
he entertained a very high respect. To those he
should prefer using the language of expostulation
rather than that of reproach. He believed they
had been drawn into the Society by designing
persons; that they were the tools of others for
whom no one could possibly feel any respect.

" Church and State, a Social Order," and' Sa-
cred Institutions," were fine phrases ; but, in the
present instance, they meant that it was necessary
that a parcel of individuals should swell their
own purses by using those of other people.
Something, however, had dropped from the Hon.
Member for Bramber (Mr. Wilberforce,) about

the propriety of putting down libels on both
sides ; but what was the fact ? Why that all on
one side were mown down, and all on the other

left untouched. Benbow, he believed, had been
prosecuted for publishing a caricature upon his
Majesty ; but this caricature was actually a
parody on another quite as gross, which had been
published against the Queen.—(Hear, hear, hear!)
—One was a libel on a woman, the other on a
man, and this excellent Society had taken no
notice of the first.—(Cheers !)—The Press. had
teemed with the most disgusting libels ; yet had
this same, this immaculate Association, emptied
all the phials of their wrath on the other side, and
on that only.—(Hear, hear !)—The Society was,
in fact, evidently erected for party purposes, to
punish libels on one side, and if not to encourage,
at least to leave untouched all those on the other.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL thoughtthat,in order
to form a correct opinion on the present question,
it would be proper to inquire what was the state

. .
of the proceedings, referred to by the motion
Bills had been found by Grand Jurors against
individuals for various libels ; the Judges o'
the- Courts of Law had held these- defend.

ants to bail; and now the House of Commons
was called upon to' address the Crown to stop
these prosecutions, without any inquiry into their
merits. The Hon. and Learned Member here

entered into a review of the proceedings against'
Dolby, and contended that the Society had, in
the course of the proceedings, done •nothirht that
was not justified 'by law. The stock of Dolby
was not demanded, he was only • desired to give
up the remaining copies of the libel referred to ,
in the indictment. His Honourable: and Learned
Friend (Mr. Brougham) had not denied the
lepality-of the Society. Another Honourable
and' Learned Member denied its legality, •on
the ground that no individuals had a right to
subscribe for the purpose of prosecuting public
libels, That was an argument Which it appeared
had now been given up. Indeed no attempt
had been, made in the superior Courts to question
the legality of the Society ; and an attempt
made before another tribunal had completely.
failed. The Hon: and Learned Gentleman then
referred to the Society. of 1792, which he said
had been ably and eloquently defended by Lord
Erskine himself, on the trial of Williams for pub-
lishing'Paine's " Age of Reason." What, indeed,
Could be a more proper object than the prosecut-
ing of • seditious libels ? And what sound objec-
tion could be raised against a Society who could
not take a single step without the previous. Opi,
nion Of a Grand Jtir'y ? That such a Society was.
capable of abuse he did not deny, but no
ground had been shown to induce a belief that
any abuse whatever existed in the conduct of
these 'proseCutions. He begged to correct his
Hon. and Learned Friend as to. a remark he
had made on the proceedings in the Court of
King's Bench on the motion respecting the Mein-
, bers of the Association qualified to serve on the
Special Jury. The order of the Court relied on
by hiS-Hon: and Learned Friend had been made
with the consent of the prosecutors themselves.—
(Hear!)—No person, unless called on by a sense
of duty, could consistently make charges of this