The Sun.
London, England, 1819-01-23 00:00:00

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT, JAN. 22.

• .
His HONOUR was employeddHring the day ia
hearing a number of short causes, and a few pa.
tions in bankrupt cases, of little interest.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 22.
No cause of any interest occurred in this Court,
save to the parties concerned.

CITY BUSINESS.

Yesterday the LORD MAYOR held an Especitt
Court of Aldermen, for the purpose of disFteh-
ing such business as had been adjourned at the
la•t Court.

Twelve bars of gold, weighing upvtrards of 218 E
minces, and thirty-five bars of silver, weiging:
24,222 ounces, were sworn to aF. foreign, previ-
ous to exportation.

A Memotial from sundry Brokers of the City,
in relation to the present Regulations of Brokers,
was presented and read, and referred to a Coin•
mittre to consider` and report.

Mr. 'Andes was admitted and sworn into the
office of one of the Ft nit Meters of the City.
Precepts were directed to be issued for Licens-
ing Victuallers on the second day of March next.
Sundry persons were allowed, and sworn
Brokers, and the Court directed the payment of
the several salaties and hills due at Christmas la,t.;
The presentments made by the several Inquests
on Plough-Monday last of non-freemen and
ruinous houses, were referred as usual to be acted,
upon.

The Court were occupied a con'iderable time in
!Icahn:: e several appeal.; against serving the
offices of Constable and Inquest.

The Archduke MAX M LIAN still continues to re-
side at the Clarendon Hotel. His Imperial High-
ness enjoys the exercise of riding, every day
the weather permits, and is generally accompss.
nied by part of his suite. The excellent state
of health his Highness enjoys gives a zest
to his natural How of spirits. He has dined daily
at die Hotel since his -arrival from his late tour"
He occasionally visits the -Theatres., incognito;
otherwise, he spends I►is evenings with his
sit the Ilottl, ond entertains himself with a game
of chess, or piquet. his highness intends re-
maining two months longer in this country.

SACIITLECE.-At an early hour on Thursday
morning some villdins broke into the parish
church of St. Margaret, Barking, Essex, suet_
stole two surplices, one gown, two scarfs, and
two tokrels. They also forced open several locks,
onder which were secured the deeds and lenses
belonging to the palish. Fortunately the Conn.
plate had been previously rtruoveci
der to be cleaned.

mEETING OF THE 40.okSELLERS, 3Lt

PUBLICATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Yesterday evening a most respectable Meeting
of the Publishers, Booksellers, Stationers, and
other's interested io the sale of the Holy Scriptures,
t,-siding in the metropolis, "teas held at the Gl►ihe
Tavern, Fleet-Street; for"the purpose of taking
into their emisideration the recent attack made
upon the tr.de, relative to the sale of Bibles and
Prayer-Books. •

The-CoatasaAN (Air. "AMR, Bookseller,) re-
commended to the Gentlemen present, however
moch they felt the pressure of •their grievances,
to treat the subject in a firm, candid, and gentle-
manly manner. He begged leave to call the at-
teioion of the Meeting to the Report of a Com-
mittee of their own body, who had investigated
their grievances, and whose knowledge of the facts
about to be'thentioned was only equalled by the
-patience with, which they bad laboured to bring
them to light. -
The Report was accordingly read. It express-
ed the opinion' of the Committee relative to the
injunctions issued against persons who sold a few
copies of the Sacred Scriptures. During the last
year no less titan one hundred; and in the present
'rerm no less than eighty had 'been obtained.
They were principally levelled against the retail
dealers. The practice of detection was usually
carried on by the Clerk of the Solicitor, or some
friend of the clerk's• The Bibles printed in Edin-
burgh were one great source of profit to those per-
sons, as well as Bibles with Notes. This mode
of proceeding was a disgraceful and vindiCtive tor-
ture. When a Bookseller Was served with an In-
junction he was alarMed ; he felt as a husband
and a father ; and, influenced by the desire of
avoiding the expense which might be incurred on
such a suit, applied to the solicitor, who first
coused the party to admit the fact, and then, un-
der promise of .prirdori, induaed thern'to make
an affidavit, not_noly to avoid such sales in fu-
tUre,..but also promising' not to apply to the
Court of Chancery to procure a dissolution of the
Injunction.
The form of an affidavit was' then read, pnr-
pnrting to_ be swnrn• by James Biggs, of Parlia-
ment-Street. and written by-Foss and Son, Solici-
ttirS to the' Universities, &c.
The reading of the Report was then continued.
"The' Booksellers were aggrieved by a Patent,
the, limits of which not- even legal knowledge
could define. Lord Clare (the Lord Chancellor
of Ireland), on the application of the King's,
Printer for an injunction, expressed himself in
words which ought' to be hung up in every Book-
s,eller's shop —snm The. King, as Head of the Church,
spay allow ,any man to print the Sacred Scrip-
tures, but I cannot conceive that he would pre-
vent any from selling them." To what state were
the Booksellers new reduced ? Some time since,
a man was, until lately, in Fleet-street, allowed to
print a work of Diderot, and to sell it for four-
pence ; and also to print 'Paine's Age of Realm,
yet he was not persecuted ; whilst enlightened and
iipdustrinus Publishers were forced to incur severe'
penalties for selling those books from which the,
blessings at religion were drawn.
The CHAIRMAN then requested the attention of
the Assembly 'to a swement of facts, on which
the opinions mentiotted in the Report were
founded, before the first Resolution, which Was
for, receiving the Report, was adopted.
Mr. CiFsea then gave to the Meeting a eircwn-
stantial detail of the injunctions issued 'in the
Cify.' The sufferers Were chiefly from among the
retail class, who were all aggrieved seriously,
from being obliged to pay penalties frequently
ending in !heir ruin. Mr. Taylor, an eminent
wholesale bookseller, told him, that be paid 5001.
for different customers in the country, who were
obliged by these cruel injunctions to pay money
for performing what they almost considered a duty.
Among the many instances, Mr. Walker, of the
Strand, was cited, who having received an order
tpr one of the Bibles edited by Ir. Gurney, which
not suiting the purchaser, he, placed it in hisishop
window out of respect to the Rector of the parish
in which. be resided, tine Learned Editor ; some
time after, the jammer came round, and purchased
it, and an injunction 'was the consequence.—
The practice of fining the country booksellers
was carried on systematically. A man dressed
like a Gentleman entered their shops, and asked
for a Bible of a particular descriptioq. The reply
was, " We have it not now, but we will send to
London for it." "Do so," said the fellow,

_
" and have it on such a day." Thus were the
unfortunate n►en the dupes of . consu►nrnate
knavery. if application was made to the solici-
tor, the horrid oath was tendered, and the costs

were sometimes remitted when it was found im-

Possible to obtain thew. No man would be sur-
prised at his feelings. Ms aged father was nearly
deprived of life; as a husband, he had to tear the
eloss of a beloved companion : and whence arose
those evils ? From an injunction with which he
was served foT having suld an old Bible.

Mr. INIAwmAN recomtnended unanimity.
Mr. SPOTTESWOOD respected the trade, and did
not come this night as an agent for the Universi-
ties. He was well acqnainted with the business,
and thought that the good lunderstauding of the
matter would basic; prevented the present meeting.
He could not authorize the selling of any parti-
cular description of Bibles, for the law alone
Could authorize such sale. The King's Printer
and the Universities were liberal and lenient, and
by no ineans'desirous of injuring any. individuals.
Mr. HONE considered the Meeting' under obli-
gations to the last speaker, as he attended to ex-
plain-the circumstances of the prosecutions. Some
Gentlemen who might be desirous'of knowing the
origin of the prosectitions, and whether they were
lawful, would ask whether any of thenatifose from
the King's printers. ?,

Mr. SPOTTESWOOD could not answer decidedly ;
Le, referred tp
_the proceedings, as giving the mime
of the perspns. He was•not sufficiently a lawyer
to answer.

Mr. MAIVM A INT did not think the Meeting
assembled tot ,the purpose of critninating any
gentleman. Ft was assembled for the purpose of
appointing a Committee, whose ldbours would

soon rernove,the evils c.toplained ot.
A person, whose nave tve could not learn, ex-
pressed the grievances of :he pawnbrokers, on in-

Oividusis of which 'body,not less than 60 injunc-
tions had been served, and hoped that success
would attend the'tinanitnous efforts of the Meeting.
Mr. livlAwm,vg stated, thht he had particilarly
requested the Syndicate of die University of Cain-
bridge to withdraw all proceedings, and he hoped
that his application would be effectual.
The first 'Resolution was then unanimously
carried.

A second Resolution was then proposed..
Mr. HONE did not think that the Gentlemen
who proposed these Resolutihns wisi►ed to take
the• Meeting by surprise.' It 1114ottiswood had
answered the tiestiou he prppifsed, he was de-
sirous of making some observations on the diffe-
rence between the King's Printers and the Uni-
versities. He wished Mr. Mawman to explain,
whether any ,prosecution originated with the
Universities-.
Mr. MAxweLL stated,-that there was a Gentle-
man in the room, Mr. Darton, who could answer
that question, for 4, when under a prosecution,
went immediately to Conbridge, where he, met
the Vice-Chancellor, whotadenied all knowledge of
.such proceedings. •
Mr. MilwruN explained the difference befqeen
the rights of the ,Universities and the King's
Printers. He wished that the •Gentlemen who
were desirous of speaking would endeavour to
understand the question.

Mr. J. WILKES thought a remedy for their
grievances should alone be considered, and not an
application to any body of men. The rashness,
the rapacity of the representations of the Univer-
sities and
.King's Printers had brought the case
before the Public. The Universities -did encou-
rage these proceedings ; they knew then], for how
otherwise could the Solicitor-General be employ-
ed to bring one or tw•o hundred applications to the
Court of Chancery He recommended to the
Meeting to npph7 to the Legislature, who alone
would afford efficient relief. The Resolutions to
he passed ought to be two ; the applipment of
a Committee, auda Subscription for the promo-
tion of the wished-for-object. -
The Resolution was then withdrawn.

Mr. WIJ.KES then proposed a Resolution, that
twelve London Booksellers should be appointed,
with power of regulating their proceedings for
the general utility.
NT. TAYLOR Seconded the motion. Patent
rights. were established in the reign of Henry
VIII. when Bibles, Alinanacks, and small-beer,
were amoqg the principal. If a Resolution simi-
lar to that which was now proposed were not
adopted, England would soon resemble Spain.
Mr. ALLEN, a Solicitor, attended for Mr. Blan-
chard, of the City-road, who was served with an
injunction to prevent him from selling certain
Bibles. He thought the appointment ot a Comte.
rnittee the best mode of obtaining redress. He
could not think the IJui-versities culpable, for they
.could sanction such-proceedings. He recommend-
ed an appliCation to rhe Universities, at least for
the purpose of procuring relief for the untortti-
'nate persons at present aggrieved by injunctions.
An investigation ot, the patents would be requi-
it was not probable that
site ; it it were good,
the Legislature would abolish them.
The Resolutions were agreed to, and a Com-
mittee being chosen, a. Subscription was hams.
diately entered into.—(New Times )