The Sun.
London, England, 1829-07-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The French Government seems to be visited
by a futile apprehension of the public press. The
Keeper of the Seals has transmitted a circular to
the Departments, reciting what he conceives to
be the offences of the press, and calling upon the
Prefects to watch, and, where the law permits, to
prosecute it with unrelenting rigour. Undoubt-
edly there may be publications addressed to the
passions of ignorant men, and consisting not of
reasoning or instruction, but of direct incentives
to violence and rebellion, which must be put
down by law, unless we are satisfied that the law
should be put down by them : at the same time
such instances are rare, and are rather exceptions
to the safe and wise rule of Government, than
examples of it. In most cases the feeling of
society preponderates so powerfully on the side
of public order, that libellous fury is suffered to
burn itself out without endangering any valu
able portion of the political edifice. If the
rabble be told that the existing laws are only
made for the rich,—that the legislature and
monarchy deserve to be overturned,—that King
George is a tyrant, his people slaves,—the taxes
so iniquitous and so misapplied, that the nation,
instead of paying, ought to rise one and all and
abolish them,—there is no question whatever
that the authors of such execrable propositions
might be brought to condign punishment under
the penal code of any civilized state in the world.
But there is an equal certainty that nothing,
could be more absurd in any decently well-go-
verned state, than an attempt, except at some
great crisis, to inflict such punishment. There
is something in extreme violence which tends to
defeat itself. It is obvious that in England
an appeal to the country to make war upon
the King's Government and destroy it, would
have no effect but that of deciding nine-
tenths of the nation to rally round the King's
throne, and to defend their Sovereign at the risk of
life and fortune. But it is not much less Mani-
fest, that a worrying persecution and chastise-
ment of libellous extravagance, however mis-
chievously designed, produces a qualified re-
action in favour of the culprit, and weakens that
sentiment of proud and confiding loyalty which
would eagerly sympathize with an official con-
tempt for libels. General abuse of public men,
or assaults upon the reputation of a Govern-
ment, are unworthy of notice by the Crown, be-
cause they make no impression on society. The
'ease with which loose and vague charges can be
brought is so notorious, and a broad contradic-
tion is so easily resorted to, that they fall quite
innoxious to the earth. If there be no previous
disposition on the part of public opinion to ac-
quiesce in strong but unspecified inculpations of
the Government, a political incendiary may as
well hope to pluck the moon from heaven as to
affect the State by his calumnies. It may be
otherwise if the executive power be already
odious, or suspected by the people ; but in a
free country there is always among the middle
classes, as well as the upper, a dread of the evils
originating from an abuse of freedom ; and pro-
secutions, though it be for open sedition, will no
more secure a Government from the conse-
quences of its own wrongs, than libels, unre-
buked by law, will deprive it of the estimation
which has been justly earned by its virtues. The
French Keeper of the Seals has got some wrong
notions upon this point. He will not tolerate in
his circular, as it appears, a literary abuse of the
taxes, which his Excellency construes into au
incitement of the people " not to pay the taxes."
This is surely an unfortunate mistake. When
the Times newspaper, after the close of the last
war, expressed a little of that " ignorant impa-
tience,' —not of taxes generally, but of a certain
income tax, which was not peculiar to us of this
office, but shared with us by the whole people out
of doors, and, as was proved shortly after-
wards, by the legislative itself,—it never entered
our thoughts, we are sure, to advise our country-
men against " paying" the said tax to the col-
lectors, nor did it occur to the " English Keeper
of the Seals," that he ought to direct the At-
torney-General to prosecute us for an assault
upon the taxes. If the policy or equity of an
impost be not amenable to free discussion, then
is there no political discussion which deserves to
be called free. If the principle of a tax is not to
be questioned, then can we not question any
branch of that policy which rendered taxation in
the abstract necessary, or induced the choice of
this or that particular impost. The French
Keeper of the Seals forgets the great charac-
teristic of that species of government which the
charter conferred upon France—a Government
representing not property only, but the opinions
of proprietors, and resting for its only sure sup-
port on the correspondence between its acts and
the feelings of the French constituency, If that
public sentiment be with the Administration, it
follows inevitably that the laugh will be against
the libeller; and if the spirit of the community
be averse to Ministers, libels will be called for,
and can never be repressed. It is different
where persons or actions are inculpated which
are withdrawn from the public eye, and which
may be misrepresented at the will of the libeller,
without the possibility of applying to his calumny
that corrective which the impartial observation
and general opinion of mankind are so well cal-
culated to administer in defence of slandered
Governments. If a private citizen be dragged
before the world, and placed in a criminal or
odious light, there is no redress for him but in
an appeal to the law of the country—that is to
say, to public opinion brought into operation in
the only way in which it can be made to take
any remedial cognizance of an individual not in
office. If A or B be reproached with an evil
deed, the stigma, so far as regards the public,
which is a stranger to the suffering party, cannot
be removed but by a public investigation of the
truth. So, if a man in office be charged with
specific acts of such a nature, that if iey had
been really perpetrated, the commission of them
must have been secret, or confined to few, there
is nothing but evidence, stronger than that
of the accuser, which can satisfy the world of
the absolute falsehood of the accusation. An ex-
eilrl dceoeupresre: baencda u
dids h
ne t might.
Ntu hreeiti:tylahl:aeeenr
itditiheas
there.
an
officio information on he part of a man in office will
never vindicate him from a charge, however ca-
lumnious ; on the contrary, it tends to fix the
astaibnolsdt
action for damages in all cases decisive as to the
tnpi
oafiructary.::
nHfae iilconsciousnesssi:dteileedcthh charge
thereby
iiss own e
disprovede sp
o
jbuys_tifiyt,isshoonullyd,
al
se
the thi k
scotchfit itot
; but
say, ,en notif
and if the thun?.trtsnot es be exemplary, the slan-
derer huts of it as a triumph. The true wisdom
is, to move for an information, and to found the
motion on qifidavits declaratory of the utter
foulness and falsehood of the libel ; since there,
even should the verdict be " not guilty," the in-
nocence of the prosecutor stands recorded upon
oath. How it can 'be honestly asserted that an
attempt at the destruction of private character

should escape, when an attempt upon the less
precious life of man brings many an assassin to
the gallows, is one of those phenomena of this
enlightened age which lie beyond the pale of our
philosophy. All rational men will, we think,
agree, that to prosecute a slanderer for a private
libel is no more an infringement of the liberty
of the press, than the prosecution of a stalker
is an infringement of the liberty of the per-
son.—Times.
Neither Catholics nor Protestants in Ireland
are yet what may be termed altogether at home
in the new state of their relations to each other.
No one who reflects at all can wonder at this ;
the wonder is not that the feelings and associa-
tions connected with the past law should in some
cases still exist to a certain extent, but that they
have in so many cases ceased to exist. The
Catholics of Ireland are the people, and though
the penal laws drew into one association Irish-
men of all classes, yet the Democracy, as was
natural, was most powerfully represented in the
Association. Hence a very natural blending in
the Association of the repeal of penal laws, and
the protection of the lower orders from oppres-
sion. Now that Catholics and Protestants are
placed on the same footing with regard to civil
rights, a Catholic as such is no longer bound to
oppose a Protestant. If, however, a Protestant
belong to a party, of which the views are hostile
to the interests of his country, a Catholic, if
himself identified with the people, will feel him-
self bound to oppose hint as an Irishman. At
an adjourned meeting of the Finance Commit-
the of the late Catholic Association, held on Sa-
turday last, to consider the claims of Mr. Eneas
Macdonnell, Mr. O'Connell observed, " that
persecution had not yet ceased in Waterford,
although Lord George Beresford was canvass•
ing the liberal interest. He (Mr. O'Connell)
had been offered a large retaining fee if he would
give his professional services to Lord George
at the next election; but he had refused the offer
because he despised it.—(Hear, hear.)—lf this
offer were left unexplained, some handle might
be made of it, to the prejudice of the indepen-
dence of Waterford ; but his letter would be pub-
lished, and it would place the matter in its
proper light." Mr. O'Connell here refuses the
retaining fee of Lord George Beresford, not
because he is a Catholic and Lord George is
Protestant, but because the liberal politician
triumphs over the lawyer. He considers Lord
George an enemy to the interests of Ireland, and
deems himself not warranted in giving his pro-
fessional services for a fee to such an individual.
Mr. Sheil, on the other hand, has it seems taken
the retaining fee, either because he deems Lord
George not an enemy to Ireland, or because he
does not consider himself, as a professional man,
justified on public grounds in refusing his ser-
vices to any individual who can afford to requite
them properly. It would appear, however, that
fault had been found by some of his old asso-
ciates with his determination. The way to ascer-
tain the extent of Mr. Sheil's obligation, under
such circumstances, is obvious enough. Is one
man professing liberal principles bound to con-
tribute not in the same proportion as others to
the furtherance of the public good, but to make
material sacrifices from which others are exempted?
Mr. Sheil is a professional man, and 3001. must
form a material item in the income of an Irish
Barrister. Why should a Barrister be called on
to make a sacrifice of such a sum any more
than a merchant be called on to subscribe 3001.
from his profits to aid in defeating the election
of Lord George Beresford ? Mr. Sheil may
pocket his 3001. and give his best professional
exertions to Lord George, and yet, with perfect
consistency, subscribe 201. or 301. out of the
wages of his labour to the fund for defeating
the election. A Lawyer is venal, according to
the understanding of modern times; it is an
insult to the first applicant for his services, if, on
the tender of the quid pro quo, he in any case
whatever hang back; he is not entitled to have
any conscience, any principles, but is bound to
exert his abilities in the way most likely to pro-
mote the object of the party who hires him ;
and though, like the venal beauty, he may not
be able altogether to suppress his feelings,
he is not justified in being guided by them.—
A Protestant Barrister would not be justi-
fied in refusing his professional services to
Mr. O'Connell, at Clare ; and Mr. Sheil
would as little be justified in refusing his
services to Lord George Beresford. Whoever
enters the London Tavern is entitled to the ser-
vices of the house, on behaving properly and
paying for them. A lawyer is equally a hire-
ling, though an exalted one, and equally at the
command of all who are first in the field, and
able to pay. So much for Mr. Sheil's retaining
fee. In his speech on Saturday, he appears to
have been under considerable excitement, and
under the mask of defending Mr. O'Connell, to
have been pleading his own cause. He seems
to have felt the hardship of the condition im-
posed on public men, that one peccadillo obli-
terates with the public an age of services. The
philosophy of this is not of difficult discovery ;
but when the present becomes past, a sounder
decision is farmed.
"It does appear to me most extraordinary
(lie says) that the labours, the indefatigable and
countless exertions of my learned friend in the
cause of the Catholic clergy, should be thus re-
quited. We are told that there was astonishment
produced by the observation of Mr. O'Connell.
Alas ! it was always thus. A single phrase—a
syllable—an atom is weighed against a man's whole
life. Such is popular favour, If an individual
shall have devoted himself with an indomitable
enerfy, and a fearless intrepidity to the public
service—if he shall have given his whole heart and
soul, and all his faculties and powers, all the emo-
tions of his heart and all the attributes of his mind
to the public—if he shall have been daring in
danger, uncorrupt in temptation, unexhausted in
labour, enthusiastic in sentiment, reckless of conse-
quences, careless of a prison, and contemptuous of
a bribe—if he shall have exposed the wrongs of his
country with equal force and determination—if he
shall have almost sweated his blood in the public
cause, and if he shall appear with his hands unsul-
lied with the public money, without a particle of
golden dust about them,poor, honest, and unrequited,
then the moment an incident arises which gives
ground for mean suspicion to build its base con-
jectures, all that he has done for his country, all that
he has suffered, all that lie has dared, is forgotten,
avid a pack of ravenous vituperatists are let loose
upon Lytt, to hunt him into ignominy and howl him
into disgrace.—(Loud and continued cheers). For
my part I hold little account favour which is to
be held at such a wor:tiless tenure. I have braved
the terrors of the prerogativo) I never will tremble
(for I am armed too strong in inntZeilre), before a
tyranny so unjust as this."
The dread of the bow-string never yet de-
terred any man from accepting the office of
Grand Vizier ; and examples of public ingrati-
tude never yet frightened away aspirants for
public favour.—Morning Chronicle.

A letter entitled a " Memorandum concern-
ing the Whigs" has been put into our hands,
which, we understand, is the production of a
dignitary of the Church of England, of long