The Sun.
London, England, 1819-12-28 00:00:00

I-. A Li AAIEN 'F

_
NOUSE OF LORDS, Du; 27.

Oo the motion of the Earl of Shaftesbury, it
IVMS ordered that no Petitions for ptivate Bills
he received after Tiiiirsday, the 24th of Feb-
-; oat y, nor any Beport of the 3 ndgeson a Petition
t +r'private Bill after Wednesday, the 29. h of
Man h.

B.,kers' Revd ttinn Bill was read a second
time at, d ird 101 to • ilsorroW.

ELASPIIEMOUS AND 5.1.,;,D1T!0'2; LIBELS BILL.
The Zi=tt 1 of D.NnuGtimuag presented a
trnin the thinkseller.s, 'Pnbliabers, And Prin.
4ets-or Edinburgh, ag4inst. the punishment of
hat.isi,mcnt in the Blasphemous And SedijOtic
Libels Bill, which was read, and ordered to lie
upon the Table. - His LoitiShiP*ailf, the Petition
luen handed to,..lpint by his Noble Friend
(bud Holland), who taut to have . presented it,
teas sort ytio say; unable to attend, in
cOnsttpient'e of the illness of hit danghtvi.
• Ou Isle Mtn ion of Lord
the annnntinenis made by the Coaunous in the
Bid wrie'faken biro consideration, after a Motion
made by the Ef, I 01 Don'ot,glircore,.for postpon-
ing the consideration of them for three months,
had hecn negatived.
On the amendment striking out the punishment.
of transportation,
Lurd ELLR NW/R(1OG H raid, be not Con-
sent to this Amendment, no reason having been
assigned for sit Acing out the punishment of trans-
pot tatitm, for which he bad toted He the more
objected to the Amendment, becan3e he consider-
ed that the best answer to the objections urged
by a Noble Lord againsLbanishment ryas, that the
Judges bad the option of inflicting the punish-
ment of transportation. Now, I.oweeer, the oh-.
jections remained with regard to banishment with-
• out any counteraction ; and although the persons
most likely ro be. gpilty of publishing
mous or seditious • libels were thos'e of a lower
class, to whom the punishment of transportation
was peculiarly applicable, that had been struck
out, and the punishment of banishment only re-
tained, which applied to a higher,.class.
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, he did not vote.
for the• amendment because he thought it an in)..
prot.ement of the Bill, but because he thought. it
better to pass the Bill as it was, than to throw it,
*' out.

On the amendment, excepting Scotland from
the operation of. the Bill with regard to banish-

Went,

• Lord Viscount MELVILLa observed, with refe--
renceto the Petition just presented, that the Bill
did not affect Scotland.; Whether the booksellers,
publishers, and printers of Edinburgh thought it
better to remain subject to their old law, under
which the punishment was transportation for the
first offence of blasphemous or seditious libel, he
col,ld not say, but the Itcr wAs, the punishment
of banishment exacted 'by this Bill did not extend

to them.
All" the amendments were agree' d to, and a
Message-ordered to the Commons to inform them
• • that the Lords had agreed to their amendments.
THE STAMP DUTIES' BILL.
Viscount Il.)l4(tUTtl,. in risio to the Order of
the Day. (thief ved, that this Bill, the second read-
log of which it • became his duty to propose to
their Lordships, seas the last of those measures.
which his Alaiesty's Ministers had deemed it in-
_ dispensable to submit to the Consideration of Par-
lialoent, by calling and coot inning them together
•at , this period of the year. Ile be,ge„ed leave,
• therefore, to congratulate their Lordships,and
the other House, on bQving met the'dangeee of
the country with an energy not unproportioned to
, the milk, and that they had already the saris-
. faction of knowing that those measures were
attended with salutary effect's. He 'was not„,ig-
- norant, in stating this,. that those measures we: e
'viewed in a different light by persons who took
• an opposite view of the state' of affairs, but, on
the other baud, however
,stigruaiiSej by "certain
characters, it was evident and undeniable that
they were teceived with feellogs of warm appro.
b wino by a large and preponderating portion of
his Majesty's loyal and tt ied subjects. The. ef-
fects at the present Bill, together with the pie-
ceding, were, to revive the spirit, of peaceful- in-
, dustrv, restore good order, and bring about that
system most necessary to the well bring of States.
It was painful to that these restrictions had
been occasioned by the abuse of an important pi ivi7
lege,bY a pervet sion and prOstitution of the benefit,
• nay the right, of the people 'of this kingdom to
assemble for the discussion of their grievances.
. Another source of abuse had arisen .in the free-
door of the press, a priVilege,lie would say, most
essential to the country, and which had so much
conduced to the true dignity and
:glory of the peo-
ple. With respect to the Bill for preventing all
seditious meetiogs, their Lordsh-ip3 would observe
that %Odle it checked theahuse of them, it afforded
new facilities to the legitimate exercise of an int-
ilertAnt rigtet. :With respect to the optrations of
the 'press, it could not be denied that the regula-
- units now proposed were of a, severer kind than
hitherto knokVil, rxceptin'g That of regOlation, but
they were indispensahly necessary to the safety of
the country. It was stated, in the preamble of the
Bill, and most Indy stator, that publications bad •
been issued in a cheap form, and to a great
wimber, 'which it. was neeessat yto commit i
but the provisions, diet not touch respectable
monthly works.• Many of those publications were
the depositories of osettil knowledge, of scientific
hints, antlthat nobler kind of ioformation which
raised 'the minds and bettered the dispositions of
It was therefore one' ohject:of the pre-
sent Bill to' subject ptiblicat ions neri
two sheets, with' the exception ut works'of 'piety
renal religion, and treatises on education. Anwisee
point was the securing of fines, by a dePniit,
which was no other than following op the 38th
of the King, brought in by hii Noble and Learned
Friend (tortlfEldon) while At.nrney-GeneraL It
had been started in reproach of the Gate Officers of
the Crown, that they had negkead Us prose-
cute the' authors and publishers of .blasphethous
811:1 seditious works. Those who made this
objection were little, aware of the difficulty, as
the law formerly stood, .of getting it the Ori-
ginals in such cases. 'the discovery of the author