The Sun.
London, England, 1821-12-08 00:00:00

STATE OF THE COUNTRY.

(FROM A SUNDAY PAPER.)
The effects of the war are now passing away,
and time is acting upon the springs of our national
resources. Our exports and imports are new
nearly as high as they were during .the war. The
average yearly tonnage of British ships, durin4
the war, was about two millions and a half. la
1812, one of the best years, it did not exceed
two millions:six hundred thousand. Now in 1821,
when the'accounts were laid before Parliament
(at the beginning of the current year), the actual
yearly tonnage exceeded two millions six hun-
dred and fifty thousand,,---an increase of fifty-
thousand tons upon the greatest year of the war.
In the best year of the war, about the year 1S P. 2,
the average amount of the imports did not ex-
ceed thirty-five millions; whereas in 1819 they
exceeded 37 millions ; and for the present
year are estimated to exceed that sum -by (our
or five millions. With respect to our exports,
the same favourable state of things will be found
to exist under every branch of them. The inter-
nal trade of the country is also in the same flou-
rishing condition. From the lists returned to
the Quarter Sessions in Yorkshire, it appears
that during the quarter ending at Michaelmas,
more yards of woollen cloth have been manufac-
tured, than have ever been known to be produced
in the like period during the memory of man.
With respect to the cotten manufactures,.every
machine has been in full employ, and every
weaver at work.. Wages have risen, and hands
have been in constant demand. It is quite im-
possible to estimate the quantity of cotton goods
manufactured ; but if we may credit the Ameri-
can accounts, which, speaking on these subjects,
have no interest to deceive us, that the cotton
trade of England has exceeded, within the pre-
sent year, any period of our trade. It appears
that about five hundred thousand bales have been
grown in America during the last year, of which
upwards of three hundred thousand have been
exported to England, and principally to Liver-
pool and Glasgow. It appears, likewise, that
there has been exported to England more than
double the amount which had been sent to all
the rest of the world ; and four times the quan-
tity which has been shipped to France ; bilst
the proportion which America retains for her
own use is scarcely more than one fifteenth part
of what she exports to Great Britain. The work-
men's wages are, indeed, lower than they were
during the war ; but the necessaries of life are
more abundant in the weaver's dwelling. We
cannot spea4 so favourably of our trade in hard-
ware and manufactured iron and steel-, but an en-
ormous increase has taken place in our export
of unwrodghl iron. Twenty-five years age we
imported iron from Sweden and Russia, and we
are now the laro-nest exporters of iron in the world.
By the report of the House of Lords on the silk
trade it appears that there has been manufactur-
ed in Great Britain, during the last year, twelve
million pounds of silk, which is an excess of two
millions upon the quantity consumed in France.

A black man, by the name of CR.EIGIITCW,
who has accumulated considerable property as a
barber in tharlestpn, South Carolina, sailed from
that port on the I7th instant, in his own
schooner, the calypso, for Sierra Leone, where
he and his family and severalpther free .persons of
colour have gone for the purpose of settling and
spending the remainder of tiwir days. CREIGIP.
Tp)t was ,tbe owner
.of seyer4 slaves, to all of
whom he offered the choice ,either. to accompany
Mon in his
,exped.ition, and, have their freedom,
or -to be„sold and remain in.this country ; yet only
one could be_ prev4ed upon to proceed with
.Korfr i!ver.)

FOREIGN INTELLIG ENCE.

PARIS, DEC. 4.—The King yesterday heard

Mass in his apartments.

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, SITTING OF DEC. 3.
The Sitting opened at half-past one o'clock.
The Keeper of the Seals, the Ministers of Fi-
nance and Marine, MeSsrs. Cuvier and Jacquinot
Pampelune, King's Commissioners, occupied the
bench of Ministers.
The Keeper-of the Seals, De Serre, mounted
the-tribune, to make a Royal communication.
The King, said the Minister, has commanded us
to offer you two projects of law. The first.con-
tains additional dispositions to the laws for the
suppression and prosecution of offences com-
mitted by the press, or any other way of publi-
cation. W lieu the laws of the 17th and 26th of
May, 1819, were carried, it was foreseen that
experience alone, that touchstone of laws, would
point out of what modification that system was
susceptible, which was intended to regulate a
matter so new and delicate. In truth, three
years have scarcely elapsed since their promul-
gation ; but, in the course of that short time, a
sufficient number of judicial and political facts
have presented themselves, to enable us to ap-
preciate their results, and the utility of new pro-
-visions. These new provisions.svill divide them-
selves, like the laws to which they relate, into
penal enactments, and such as regulate the mode
of prosecution. Before entering upon the deve-
lopment of these provisions, the Minister sub-
mitted to the Chamber some general reflections.
The Charter, he said, in recognizing in French-
men the right of forming their own opinions, an-
nounces the laws destined to repress the abuse
of this liberty. If it is, easy to enumerate, if it
is possible to define, the interests which suffer
from these abuses, it is impossible to enumerate
or define precisely the abuses themselves. Their
forms are as numerous and as varied as the ex-
pression of thought. Such abuses are felt—they
cannot be defined. Now, if it is of the essence!
of a good penal law to define exactly the acts
which it criminates, it is evident that in a matter
like the abuses of the press, which evades all
exact definition, a good law is strictly impossible.
And- this difficulty, be pleased to remark, is not
the difficulty of the law alone—it is the diffi-
culty of repression. In this state of embarrass-
ment, no other basis of repression has been
found—no other means of defending society—
than to impose on abuses of publication, de-
nominations extensive enough to embrace all.
Thus when the English law declares every
libel punishable, it remains to determine what
is and is not a libel—that is a law still
remaining to be made. It has been made
in .the public mind by the jurisprudence of
more than a century—the only means of pro-
ducing such a law. Every nation which claims
the liberty of the press will encounter similar
difficulties. The laws which must circumscribe
this liberty, imperfect in their nature, will be
more so in proportion that they are new, and
consequently less understood. The legislator is
he-re constrained to acknowledge the limits of
hi 9 power, and that he cannot anticipate the
work of time. Particular circumstances aggravate
in France these inevitable inconveniences. For
thirty years we have renounced that generality
and ancient simplicity of penal laws w hich our
neighbours have preserved. We have sought to
define every case with mathematical rigour. The
,judicial spirit has been formed with this strictness,
and it would be difficult to bring it back to con-
trary habits. Such habits, however, are those
which alone can give reality and force to a legis-
lation necessarily vague in its object. These re-
flections explain,. in a certain degree, the imper-
fections of the law of 1819 ; they point out how
far that law can be remedied, and they shrew to
what extent we can carry the efficacy of repres-
sion. [Here the Minister characterised the law
of 1819, as it defined the different kinds of of-
fences, and contended that it had properly left
undefined some abuses, the repression of which
required greater proMptitude.] The present law,
he said, had two Objects : on the one hand, to define
better some of the sacred views or grand interests
which we wish to protect from the abuses of
publications ; and, on the other hand, to point
out in what manner the abu'ses may be committed.
The new law will, fulfil its object, as far as this
object can be fulfilled, if its provisions, and the
discussions to which they will lead, impress the
organs of the law with this conviction,—that their
power is given them to distinguish liberty from
license, to punish the one, and to protect the
other. The Minister then adverted to the article
of the law of ,1819, which was intended to pro-
tect religion and public morals, allowing that it
was indefinite, and stating the manner in which
that imperfection is removed by the present pro-
ject. As the Charter declares the Catholic
religion to be that of the State, he contended
that it ought to be protected as a part of the;
State ; for in making; the new law, no invasion was
intended on the liberty of conscience, or the free
discussion of religious opinions. Royalty was a
• second religion in a monarchy ; therefore every
attack against the. Royal dignity, the authority of
the King, the inviolability of his person, and the
order of succession to the Throne, was punish-
able. The Minister then proceeded to discuss
the mode of proceeding against offences of the
press, and stated the argument in favour of re-
ferring them to a jury. A jury was to be ad-
mitted in every case that involved freedom of
opinion ; - but terms of reproach or abusive ex-
pressions, he contended, properly belonged to
correctional police. The Keeper of the Seals,
after stating the modifications of the law of 1819,
intended by the present project, proceeded to the
consideration of the liberty of the Journals. .Ile
contended that the liberty of publishing and
printing our opinions nomore implied the right of
establishing a Journal, than the liberty of speech
implied the right of erecting a Tribunal in the
public streets; and it was remarkable, that this
latter right existed in England .along with the
liberty of the Journals. He distinguished the
Journals from other works published by the
Press, and argued that a more prompt repression
should be applied to them. The periodic Press,

he saki, was eminently: dernocr4c ; because, it
was eminently calculated to exci(e the multitude,
and to give it an- influence on "he affairs of the
State. Free Journals were thus good.or bad, ac-
cording to times and places; they suited certain
' Governments?'and certain circumstances, but not
other Governments and "other circumstances. A
great part of the Minister's speech was an ela-
borate defence of the proviiion imposing restraints
on the periodical Press.
IWe sorry'that we cannot give more points of the Mi-
nister's. Speech ; but must content ourselves with a Copy of the
Project of Law.]

FIRST LAW PROJECT.

" Louis, &c.—We have ordered, and do
order, that the Law Project, the tenor of which
follows, shall be presented to , the Chamber of
Deputies by our Keeper of the Seals, Minister
Secretary of State for the Department of Justice,
and by the Sieurs.Baron Cuvier and Jacquinot
Pampelune, Councillors of State, whom we charge
with the exposition of its grounds, and the sup-
porting it in the discussion."

TITLE L-OP REPRESSION.
Art. 1. Whoever, by any one of the means pointed out in
Art. I. of the law of the 17th May, 1019, shall have outraged
or turned into derision the religion of the state, shall be punish-
ed by an imprisonment of from three months to five years, and

a fine of from 300 to 6,000 francs.

The. same penalties shall be pronounced against whoever
shall have outraged or turned into derision any other religion,
the establishment of which is legally recognized in France.
2. Every attack, by any one of the samemeans, on the Royal
dignity, the rights or authority of the King, the inviolability
of his person the order of the succession to the Throne, the
rights or authority of the Chambers, shall be punished by an
imprisonment of from three months to five years, and a fine of
from 300 to 0,000 francs.
3. The attack, by any of these means, of the rights guaran-
teed
by Articles 5 and J of the. Constitutional Chaster, shall be
punished by an imprisonment of from one month to three years,
and a fine of from 100 to 4,000 francs.
4. Whoever; by any of the'said-means, shall have excited to
hatred or contempt of the Government of the King, shall be
punished by an imprisonment of from one month to four years,
and a fine of from 150 to 5,000 francs.
5. Defamation Cr abuse, by any'of the said means, directed
against the Courts, Tribunals, constituted Bodies, Authorities,
or public Administrations, shall be punish2ll by an imprison-
ment of from 15 days to two years, and a, fine of from 100 to

4,000 francs.
6. Insult
`publicly given, in any manner whatever, on ac-
count of their functions or their quality, either to one or several
Members of either,of the two Chambers, or to a public Func-
tionary, or finally to a :Minister of the Religion of the State,
or of one of the Religions'the establishment of which is legally
recognized in France, shall be punished by an imprisonment
of from 15 days to two years, and a tine of from 100 to 4,000

francs.
The same offence committed against a juror on account of his
functions, or a witness on account of his deposition, shall be pu-
nished by an imprisonment of -fioni ten days to one year, and 1
a fine of front 50 to 2,000 francs.
Insult given to a minister of. the religion of the state, or of
one of the religions legally recognized in France, in the exercise
of his functions, shall be punished by the penalties enacted by
article Ist of the present law.
If the outrage in the different cases contemplated by the 'pre-
sent article have been accompanied by abuse or violence towards
the persons, the culprit shall be punished conformably to articles,
228, 229, 231, 232, and 233 of the Penal Code.
,7. Infidelity and bad faith in the accounts which the Journals
and periodical writingSgive of the sittings of the Chambers,and
the proceedings of Courts and tribunals, shall be punished by a -
fine of from 1,000 to 6,000 francs.
In case of repetition, or where the account given shall be of-
fensive to either of the Chambers, or to one of the Peers or
Deputies, or injurious to the court, tribunal, or magistrate, or
to jurors or witnesses, the Editor of the Journal shall be farther
condemned to an imprisonment of from one to three years.
In the same cases, the proprietors and Editors of the Journal,
or periodical writing which has been condemned, may be pro-
hibited from giving in future any account of legislative or judi-
cial discussions.
- 8. Shall be punished by imprisonment from 15 days to two
years, and a fine of from 100 f. to 400f.:-
1. All seditious cries publicly uttered.
2. The removal or degradation of the public signs of royal
authority, committed in hatred or contempt of that authority.
3. The wearing of external rallying signs, not authorised by
the King or by police regulations.
4. The exposition in public places or assemblages, the distri-
bution or sale, of any sign or symbol destined to propagate the
spirit of rebellion, or to trouble the public peace.
V. Whoever, by any one of the means pointed out in article
Ist of the law of the 17th of May, 1819, shall have endeavour-
ed to trouble the public peace, -by exciting the contempt or
hatred of citizens against one or several classes of persons, shall
be punished by the penalties enacted in the preceding article.
10. Every publication, sale, or offering to sale, exposition, or
distribution, without the previous authority of the Government,
of engraved or lithographed drawings, shall, for that offence
• alone, be punished by imprisonment from three days to six
months, and a fine of from 10 to 500 francs, without prejudice to
the criminal prosecutions to which the subject of the design may
give occasion.
• 11. Article 10 of the litw of the 9th of June is common to all
the provisions of the present title, in so far as they apply to the
proprietors or editors of a journal or periodical writing.