Star.
London, England, 1830-03-03 00:00:00

ara(ti‘ The ateOlnpllihrttest of its avowed object ; but which was ne-
vertheless arbitrary in its nature, and derived from the Star Chant.
beryonealissitutional in its operation, hostile to the rights of
• the autjeet, inconsistent with the liberty of the prem. Tne Star
tOuetrber bad been abolished on account of its oppressive and un.
censtitutional character; but if its powers were to be still exercised
front thetench with respect to the law of libel, he saw not what
the country had got by the abolition. The learned gentleman had
revived the old cry of Whig and Tory, designations which he had
hoped were buried in the veldt of all the CApulets—terms which
he had hoped were out of date—lie had hoped we should have
beard no inore of them ; bin the learned gentleman revived the
nt.rnes. and called his learned friend a Whig Attorney.
Generel. who had attacked the liberty of the
_press. He eon.
tesstd lie wished that his learned friend--who, be was sure,
wished well to the press, though. unfortunately, he thought it
woos:my to control and regulate it by ex sailicio informations, had
attarained from persecutions by which no public wrong was ever re-
ti ressed, no man's private character ever vindicated. or caused to stand
the better for it. Perhaps no individual in the country had been
mad- the subject of such strong, repeated, and malignant libels as
bi'i ell ; but he never perceived, or fancied he could perceive, that
they did him any harm, and he had only answered them by a re-
vases upon his character and conduct, which were known to the
• country this bad been his vindication. He did not appeal to
eourt of justice. Could he believe that there were persons in high
stations who wanted, a species of protection which an humble
vidual like himself did not require? Of this he was convinced,
that a public man could only stand upon his own character as a
car defence against calumny and vituperation let him be ern.
'urea as he might, if that were unimpeachable the public
would do ultimate jastice to it. Looking m all this, he hoped
his learned friend would do one great act for the liberty at the
press ; his learned friend's expressed .sentiments were in its
tmour. and he thought the old law sufficient to regulate the
prose and repress injurious libels : let him put this feather in his
'cap—let him acquire the well-earned fame and ..credit of being
the first Attorney-General to put the press upon a footing
.I,t• real public utility, abandoning harsh and oppressive nitric.
'tione: in accomplishing this .objetb, he Would do himself
great honour, and his country a great service. By the way, when
the learned gentleman taunted his lamed friend with being a Whig
A ttorney-Getteral, let him look at his Tory Atturney.Generals, and
see what they had done—let him look at their proceedings a few
•yeate back. The learned gentleman had gone into many recce.
tine matters—he came into the hoese loaded with what he had
collected in all quarters; laden, not like a bee. with honey, but
covered all over with the dust of musty shelves. (Hear.) Let him
not overlook entirely, in the midst of his 'laborious, erudite, and
remote researches, the page of modern history. Let him recollect
the libel prosecutions of Tory Attornies-General (Hear.) Let the
learned gentleman remember a prosecution instituted not many
years back, when the editor of a newspaper was convicted of a libel
for laughing at Paul, the mad Emperor of Russia, for punishing his
subjects for wearing shoe-strings, which were considered the insignia
of Jacobinion at St. Petersburgh. Let him recollect, that for this
alleged libel, ted by a tory Attorney-Generid, the defendant
was sea to one or two years' imprisonment, and a fine of
1,0001. Such were the convictions obtained from packed juries by
tory Attorneys-General. Here be must return his sincere acknow-
ledgments to the right hon. gentleman opposite, who was the first
minister that had ventured to alter the law' which enabled a govern.
ment to appoint its own jury for the trial of a libeller. Immortal
honour had the right honourable gentleman .done himself by abo-
lishing the infamoussyetem of packing juries, and io.that manna
obtain a set of jurors capable of any thing who would find Abel
guilty of the murder of Cain. Let the learned gentleman recollect
the trials for life, not libel. in 1754, when honest men's lives were
sought to be ensnared by the doctrine of accumulative treason;
when public acts and newspaper paragraphs of the openest and
simplest description were into the service for that purpose,
although the authors o them thought no mere of treason than
the tory attorney-general, now Lord Eldon, thought of it at
the time, and perhaps not so much as the learned lord mlOt
think of treason since the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill. Ut
the learned gentleman remember bow the then attorney 'general spoke
for seven hours, in order to try to make out a case of constructive
treason against his counmen, wham, fortunately, however, he
did not succeed in hangthg ; because, if he had, such was the
spirit of the times, that these would not have been the only
victims —many must have followed. It was not long since a tory
attorney-general had prosecuted Mr. Cobbett, for writing with just
indignation of the atrocious system of in the arm y our fel-
low-countrymen, by Germans and other oeeigners : for this the de.
fendant was convicted of libel, and sentenced to either one or two yeas
imprisonment, and to pay a fine of 1,0001. Let us look at the conduct
of the whig attorney-general of the present day, and at the result
of those prosecutions. But hers, with to the ant trial,
he must confess he thought, that after his .iaarasd Mad. bad got
the oath of Mr. Aka,_ declaring that he did not mean to int.
pugn the character of the Lord Chancellor, it wild have been
wise in his Learned Friend to have dropped all further proosedinp
is reference to a inneection which was almost unworth of no.
• tee ; for scandalous as the charge was, it hod been denied, and
Reba), would believe it. As to the other libels, be thought it
unworthy of the distinguished persons attacked in them that
they should be so prosecuted. It would have been much better
if his Learned Friend, trusting to the good sense and right
feeling of the country to dimmer and be gumed by the ma-
lignity of these attacks, had refrained from prosecuting them.
But to come to the result :—Hers was a man convicted by
juries fairly chosen (to the honour of government be it spoken)—a
man who, if he had any one to reproach for his conviction,
was his jurors, for they were the fair and impartial judges ofd
the ca sea man convicted of three or four libels ; and what I,
was the punishment (which rested not with the juries, but with,
the bench, on the motion- of the Attorney. General ?) Why,
the defendant was sentenced to one year's imprisonment for
three or four libels (three or four months foe nth), and he be-
lieved a fine of 1001. about SO/. a libeL Certainly this was a
lenient administration of the law, and the learned gentleman
might rummage far enough back into the acts of tory !attar.
nies-General without equalling it. It seemed, however, that
Tories, when out of office, might turn out good patriots after all :
he confessed he thought they resembled *certain quadruped ap-
parelled in the lion's hide : they could not conceal what was under
n, and gave sundry tokens by which it was easy to discover
them—

1
" Detrahere et pellem, nitidus qua quisque per ors
" Cederet, introrsum turpis."
These new-bun patriots could not impose their present conduct on
the country as patriotism. When the Learned Gentleman came
forward in his character of a patriot, the House would excuse him
(Sir F. Burdett) if he looked at his conduct with a degree of cau-
tion, particularly when he saw so great a noise followed by the pro-
duction of such a slight case, and so trifling a result. He con-
fessed he had come into the House with fear and trembling, expect-
ing a grievous and weighty charge ; and, sorry as he should have
been to vote a motion of censure against his Learned Friend, he
should have been obliged to do so ila cue had been made out. He
did therefore feel, on this occasion, great satisfaction and pleasure
is finding the Learned Gentleman's charge resolve itself into so
simple a motion, which, It was evident, was not meant for any pur•
pose, except, perhaps, to—
" Cleanse the foul bosom of that perileutstuff
Which weighs upon the hon."
Now that the learned gentleman had Waked that, he hopett.he
would be the better for It. It wad 101; pacticitevei to oppose antra.
lion for inquiry, and at the same time, it pee him pleasure to be
relieved from the necessity redividing with the learned gent. by the
circumstance of his learned friend awning to the motion. It would
seem as if the learned gentleman had not made up his mind to any
ulterior proceedlup upon the documents which he now asked
for ; the motion bad already answered his purpose, in affording
him an opportunity of making his statement, and feared it might
be inconvenient to the learned gentleman if the papas lwern
granted. It would be better for the learned gentleman that''
the motion should lie dead on the table than to have it revivified
in this manner. As to the law of libel, it was mere practice of the '
court originals& in usurpation, depending upon &dm, the curse
of the law of England ;—resting on the consdtution and caprice of
the Attorney-General, and so vague and uncertain in its nature,
that no man could tell whether he was writing a libel or not.'
Some men Of desperate fortunes, like this defendant, would proceed
reckless whether they wrote libels or not. He was sorry to bear It
said that this Individual was the organ of a perry: if so, he was
worthy of the party and the party was worthy of him : it was hardly
to he expected that a lawyer would have made such an admission.
No doubt Alexander's sufferings would recommend him to the justice
of 1 y ; he seemed to be a man who wrote, not so much to in.
i ju any body as to eat. Indeed, he believed that this gentleman
w Id be greatly benefitted in his own person by these prosecutions,
that instead of beceming an example in terrors') as the Auer-
fart
ney.Oeneral wished, be would *rather appear an object to be imitated
by others. He thought it must be admitted that the press should
Ipe left to itself as much as pole : he would certainly make a die-
ftetislo between public and private libels, but In no instance of '
personal libel would he recommend an es-qateie information, which
was (Actual for punishment, but not for the vindication of cha-
racter: this was to be effected by an action at law. How could
any min's character be vindicated when he brought his accuser 111194
co,rt, gaged, and bound hand and foot, and was not himself
allowed to deprave the accusation. He was of opinion that private
libels our to be punished; fora man should sot be allowed to
injure another with a pen any more than with a sword:. but let
goof or the injury be givelsowlet the Charge be disproved,—and
let. character be vindicated. He would sot allow* a libel to be

k SUOLbclog lOW. for ash libel.--So.