The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-09 00:00:00

THE COUNTRY.

-As the Abettors of FACTION and Admirers 'of
:BLASPHEMY continue to support the eause of Mr.
410`a, and to promote the Subsdiptlon designed,
to reward him for the merits cif his works, the
obvious tentkney 'of which, whatever may be the,
professed intention of the Author, is to biing
tontempt upon our Government and'ridletde upon:
our Religion, it 'is gratifying to its tn'find, That
thoseAvlio are'remote from the not• bed of'Sedit
London, have not only eScapedlrom its Contagion,
but 'preserved their Minds in a state of "sound
and pristine health.'' A striking specimen of this
constitutional sanity is to be seen in Alm

ing citation :
(From The (Dublin) Correrporulent, of. the eel in.q.)

The Friends of Reform and the Liberty of the
Press, that is tasay, • all those who arc weary
national greatness, and ,for making experiments,'
by means of Libel, upon the stabili:y of the State,
have had a very pleasant day, on Monday last, at
the City of London Tavern: The oceagion which
collected so many profound and'brilliant sages in
-the system of Revolution in tiro spot, 'Was to pro,-
mote a subscription for Mr. Hone,
.'the-Gentle-
man who had the success 'to '6Caje conviction
upon three Trials for Blasphemy and Sedition,
and who had the untimely merit of expressingte-,
worse for what he had done after be had been -
acquitted. The Meeting, it Would seem, was,
-what may be well called " a very mixed com-
pany;" but the working hands. of Reform, the'
very lowest description of the populace, must
have greatly 'exceeded any respectability which
the Assembly could boast', or else such extrava-
gant nonsense as was delivered out in speeches
and harangues never could have been endured for
a moment. It is amazing to see with what in-
trepidity the most absurd and the most ignorant
of the human race will undertake the discussion
of subjects of infinite depth Had importance, case-
hardened to the contempt and scorn of the
in-
formed.and rational part of the public. The ef-
fect of all the dating trash which Was spoken at
the Meeting in contemplation was not equivocal.
it drew money from the, pockets of the auditors,
and with such success, that, in a little -time,- a
thousand pounds were subscribed for Mr. Hone,
to sweeten his escape from martyrdom in the cause
of Sedition and Blasphemy. This is good en-
couragement to all distressed Patriots, who are
willing to make one thousand pounds, only at the
expense of turning into burlesque matters of Re-
ligion and Holiness, and of making indecent Pa-
rodies the vehicles of the grossest libels.
Mr. WaithMan, Sir Francis Burdett, Lord
Cochrane, and others of the funtv held forth,
with their customary contempt fur history and its
philosophy ; but they all said a great deal about
the Trial by Jury and the Liberty of the Pr( !.s, and
such other topics as neither themselves nor their
auditors knew any thing about ; but we have not
discovered that they made any honourable men-
tion of their old coadjutor, Cobbett; though one
should suppose that the occasioa would have
brought back this troublesome disciple to their re-
membrance. Had they thought on Cobbett, and
Lis happy escape from a country where Crown
Lawyers, Ex-Oflicio Informations, and 13,,roitgh-
Mongers give such serious concern to all honest
and loyal men—by a natural succession of ideas,
they must 'nave been led to the contemplation of
American liberty, and then they would have had
an opportunity of saying any thing which they
may have thought most likely to mislead their
hearers, concerning the superiority of American
Courts of Justice in cases of libel against persons,
especially Magistrates, and those employed in
public capacities.
The American Law of Libel, however, is not
left to such interpreters. lit has been expounded,'
and expounded, too, on the trial of no less noto-
rious a personage' than Cobbett himself, and by
the American Judge Who presided. Judge M`Kean •
pronounced the following doctrine upon that oc-'
casion, which, perhaps, Sir Francis Burdett
would find it no easy matter to prefer to that of
which it is but an imitation, namely, the Libel
Law of England; that is, the Libel Law of Eng-
land as it is expounded at Westminster-Hall, not
at Old Palace-Yard, the Livery, Or the. City of
London Tavern.---LHere followed the American
Law of Libel, as stated by Judge M'KEars, and
inserted in THE Sur.? of the 30th ult.]