The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-30 00:00:00

could Indy 'siy Alit "be had known nn 6te
man who through life had so
intrepidly, *and With Snell powertul eloquence,
fought the battles of the People in the House
of Commons. He was delighted •to find that
-the enthusiasin of tlibse he addressed corresi
-ponded. With liis own. Met as they were on
this oceasioo, to defend ali that eras most deal• to
the Peonle,l6 tire Liberty of the Press, for with-
out that Man might live as a savage, but could not
us a freeman, sinte that furnished to the mind,
-what light at d air was to the hotly, and without
which the freeman must expire—met as they were
friy such a purpose, be could not tell what was the
-•-eXact amount of the debt of gratitude cvhich they
owed to the Hon. Bart. who had so long been
the champion of that, without which no food could
be prorared for the humati mind. The Hon. Bart.
had said that so ill defined was the law of libel,
that it was not easy for.htten to know when they
did, and when they did not write a libel) and that
a man with the best intentions might write one.
This would not have been uneers•ood by the
multitude, if their eyes had not been opened
by the conduct of Judges and Jurors in the
interest of the Government, who had pro-
nounced- truth to be a libel. He knew. of but
one intelligible definition of libel ; monely, that
it was any thing of which anybody chose to
complain. lie, tt, a Jouroalist, who had kuown
persecution in his titut, should, however, for his
part, be ever ready to publish, the truth, hOwever
it might provoke the Government to attack him.
In his mind it was no libel to tell the truth, or to.
defend those liberties to which every Englishuoin
Was horn. He must disagree with the Honourable
taronet in one point ; lie had said he hadoever
known a single lawyer who had formed a . right
opinion of the law of libel. It would be ungrate-
ful in him (Mr. Perry) if •he did not point out one
lawyer as an exception, who had defended him,
when lie 'laboured tinder persechtion, alit! who
was, in fact, the father of the Libel Bill ; he
Meant Lord Erskine, Who in his presence had
grappled with greater judges than any that were
now to be found, and that too at the very com-
mencement of his career, Wilco he had every
thing to dread fruits their frowns, and every
thing to hope from subserviency. Before lie
proceeded to read the Resolution, to move
Which" was the object of his rising, he begged
leave to suggest the expediency of some steps he-
log taken to have anothes• meeting. He'coneeived
it was of the highest importance that they should
have an opportunity to express their feelings on
the great cause of all those persecutions. That
•sehieh he %visited was, that an expression of pub-
lie feeling should go forth, and that a meeting
of the Freeholders of the County of Nliddlesex •
should be for the purpose of making a de-
claration upon the suspension of the• Habeas Cdr-
pus Act, and (you that ahominahle,Circuhar which
Kati been issued by the-INlintster of tile Home Dc-
Inirtmeur , by which he had prohibite:l the circu-
lation of what he was pleased to call blasphe-
mous libels, and .empotvertal the' magistracy to
:send to pri•on those by whom they were sold.
These publications had now, by the acquittal of
111 r. Hone on three successive trials, and on three
isoccessive days, during whkli he had been toe-
•mented physically, as well as mentally, heentro.
nouneed no hhels. The whole foundation of the

suspension of their liberties Wai it were fallacy ;
end under such circumstances, were they,- with
-their eves open, to suffer the Act by which those
:liberties were susi'ended, to expire of itself Would
they not, by an expression of public leveling, call
for its instant repeal, and not by acquiescence,
as With the Mutiny Bill, or a common Shipping
. Bill, have it hereafter renewed as a matter of course
once a year. Let a requisition be sent to the
Sheriff of MiddleseZ, and let it be known that it
Caine from that loom, terptiring him to call a
meeting for this purpose; and let the Committee
. appointed on the nresent occasion bring the mat-
. ter forward in such shape as to them might seem
proper. He trusted their c,xample would he fol-
lowed by others, and that the feeling would- go
round the country.—He concluded by moving,
that the Thanks of the Meeting should be given
to Sir F. Burdett, for the spontaneous manner in
tvltich he had come forward on the present oc-

easinn.
Mr. WALKER seconded this Resolution, in
short speech, in which, however, he was inter-
rupted by repeated hisses, and cries of "Off, ofit'
It wait then put by the Chairman, and carried
• unanimously.
•• Sir F. BUEDETT again got on the table. He
said he ro,e to express his acknowledgments for
the honour he had received. It was the best and
only reward which he ever wished to receive, how-
, ever long his life might be preserved. No man
was better able to address the Meeting on the sub-
ject they wet e then discussing than his friend Mr.
Pony. lie and his h ienth wt re now on an equa-
lity in regard to iiheit, fur they were 1,40 couriet•.
ed {inciter. (Mr. Perry suggested, to the Hon. B
that he was in an err4,r in this particular.) Sir
Francis Burdett then observed that he com-
mitted a mistake ; he certainly recollected very
well that his friend was indebted to a very able
defence which he made in person for his acquittal
on a groundless charge of libel ; but he thought
that he had been convicted ou. a former occasion;
am! on that account he thou lit he might have
considered him as his fellow collcague, He hoped,
however, that he would always meet with the
' same good fortune; but as to.hiniself, he was in-
different whether he met with the same or not.—.
• lie had himself bev.n bnprisoned for what was
called a libel, and he might be so•again ; but no
fear of that kind would ever deter_ hint Isom
• cx.,osin.y: a crirrupt assembly that atctO in 'the
name of the people, just as • the Ministers were
• acting in the name and on the-behalf of his Ma
jesty.„ No penalties that assembly could
should ever deter hitti from speaking the troll in
defence of the' liberties of the people. With e-
• spect to the remark of his friend, respecting the
Opinion of acertain great
_lawyer on the subject
of libel, he did not think there was any disagree-
ment between them on this point. Lord Erskine,
s, •
when at the bar, did certainly bear up' most nobly
against the, oppressive doctrines of Judges, but
he never did define what a libel was ; and; a, Gen:.
tletnan who was in the' habit of writing like his
friend, did not know any lawyer whom he could
go and consult as to what was libel or what was