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

Majesty's present Ministers, and in the face of
the numerous laws which, under their admi-
nistration, had disgraced the Statute Book—that
a Cabinet Minister shoUld stand up in his place
and admit the necessity of such an Association
as this to carry the laws against libel and sedi-
tion into effect.
Nr.ll
-4-
---Tnuns,r—cc I did not 'Say one word as
itsto necessity.,,
Dr,
'snlNGToN—cc The Eight Hon. Gentle-
rni.a,.denied that he admitted its necessity. But
asulo( he not defend it as being constitutional, and.
,Society
whose existence was desirable ? Did
receive
not allow that Government were willing to
~,ceive the assistance of Sir John Sewell, Knight
Tr' Sharp, and Mr. Murray ?" Either the So-!,
was useful, or it was not • useful. It was
necessarYs or it was not necessary. If it was
.ecessary, then the Attorney-General had not
done his duty, and ought to be made to do it.
ut he did not mean to blame his Hon. and
Learned Friend, for he had properly done his
duty, and selected cases for prosecution wherever
Proper ones occurred, and- he was fully compe-
tent to continue the exercise of that power which-
1"s vested in his office, without the gratuitous
assistance thus pressed upon him. The Right
49e• (I:('ntlernan had said that this. Association
'was quite constitutional, and not without a pa-
rallel.
;,These parallels were to be found first in
the Association of 1797, called the Crowi and
Anchor Association, of which Mr. Reeves was
Secretary, or course he was old enough to
remember this Society, but he believed-it never
eaneneed a single prosecution. He only spoke
from recollection. The other parallel was one
almost too contemptible to mention, and upon
he was ashamed to waste his- breath.
1,%e "want the Society for the Suppression of
„lee, that Society, whose business it was. to
("ye into obscene pamphlets and prints, and to
I'reseeute the poor for what they called the pro-
fanation of the Sabbath, but which in comparison
;ith their own conduct on that clay in the Wrest
of the town was whollyblameless. They
Mere a set of cowardly puSillaninious hypocrites,
4,'to prosecuted-- the poor and helpless, but left
t?e great .and noble unmolested. At the same
tittlet lie was fully aware that many characters.of
t. 0"? highest respectability and virtue supported
}Os Society. With regard to the allusion which
id been made to the Societies established for
,"e prosecution of felons, they were established
'° Put down-moral crimes to which all the world-
.4il4'."-'d to award- punishment. But how wide was
world-
11'."-'d
difference between those crimes and what
)titian termed political offences. In the writings of
Burke, every man was aware that passages
:icluently occurred which if prosecuted by such
Society as this, would have been strained into
e-t'dition in a charge to the Jury delivered by a
;:rruPt Judge : and thus one of the greatest cha-
clers.that ever adorned it would have. been lost
i'
I° the country. The Hon. Member then corn-
etlited upon the difficulty which persons, if ma-
ously prosecuted, would have in recovering
damages from the Society. If counter AssOcia-
-
.n"s-should- be resorted to, the repose which was
3° necessary to prosperity would be disturbed,
„
-tn(l nothing but dissention and ill-will would be
:en/instead of that peace and quiet to which the
,I"trY was so- anxiously looking. For the rea-
-1:•`4 vditich he had before stated he should vote
°;:,!.he motion of his lion. -Friend.
inanir,MATIIEW CIIOLMELEY, a,, tone of voice
Ih,-"dthle in the gallery, spoke shortly against;
‘' (notion. He insisted upon the necessity' of
pie
the exposure of obscene prints in the
fr
ill pin(l°lvs of shops, and stated, that they were
peentiss placed low down, where children
ilg"t have an opportunity Of examining
e entreated-Gentlemen to consider the dread-
effects which these things must produce, and
hp \yas confident he should not hear them talk as
ey, had done in that House.
-Mr. WILBERFORCE said, that he should not
Have troubled the House if the Hon. Member
't licho spoke last but one, had not chosen to speak
t terms of the grossest abuse of another Society
° Willett he had the pleasure- to belong,. Sure he
gas that if the Hon. and Learned Gentleman
-4'elv as little of the nature of the Constitutional
°ciety,as he did,of the Society for the Suppres-
til" of Vice, never did a Member come down to
I.t [Lime more completely fortified -in igno-
P'ee• lie was quite sure that if the Hon. and
tr'ained Gentleman knew what that SOciety had
z°ne, he would be sorry that he had been led to
.11PlY such language to it: The chief object of
()tat Society was to prosecute the. publishers of
scene prints. Many of these, of the most dis-
h Listing and beastly description, were - circulated
Cl"gst .young people. They had even been
,I' 4uti in seminaries for young women, where
s'3
' bad. been introduced for the brutal
(i Lir.Pese of violating the purity of female
sThe Society had prosecuted forty-
them of these cases and in no one of
Ire c had they failed.—(Hear, hear, hear !)
"sidered the lion. and Learned Gentleman's
illusionsrpi to.,the conduct of persons in- the' first
-t,e§ of life to be nothing more than argunients
Illita"ocate. the right of the lower orders to corn-
cri` every violation of the Sabbath.—(Cheers and ;
coes 01" No, No.")-The Hon. Member then
charged
that if such practices as had been
upon them were indulged in by the
"oreatl they did not at least commit their offences
follow
and-offer a public example for others to
chlew. The. -objects of prosecution with the
society were those offences committed in the
Public streets. He then alluded to the other
Purposes of the Society, and warmly defended its
general conduct. With regard to the motion be-
fore the House, he thought there never was a
time when the licentiousness of the Press had ar-
rived at-such a pitch as at the present period. It
Was quite insufferable. No man was safe from
calumny and detraction. And so far was he
from being of opinion that no man had a right to
step in to assist in the application of the remedy
Which the law provided for offences, that he
held that right and the practice of it to be the
Very genius -and spirit of our Constitution.—
(Hear.)—How far the conduct of this Society
had been proper or improper, he did not know,
for he had not attended to it : he would frankly
confess, however, that he thought it liable to