Star.
London, England, 1822-06-26 00:00:00

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trues .that. • Paper had contained Attacks upon p: I.
vate chstracter; and he. did not wish to.he considered
as standing there to palliate or defend those attack .;
(thlfeeatou
risltease mplimen
bear).—Theyhatsd heard on the other side Of
paid to the condu- etars of
Newspapers. If ne (Mr. Peel) had an-aigned the eulo-
gist el:extravagance, .because he could adduce para.:
graphs hurting the feelings of females.hecause a
a
rragraph bad crept in,-which s the coadOctor
perhaps
iaaseif would wish to Detract, .he should have been
taken •to have sliewn little fairness. The charge of
the ficasaurahle and Learned Member against hii
Learned Priend was one of commission. It was—
'f thai 110)0 lent his money, and the influenceof is
'office, to support private slander and ca1m..,'...
(Cheers).—Now, he would meet this with a c 0...-"
denial,-(Cheering).—The Right Hon.SecrerarY then
read a document received by the Government from
the
.Earl of Glasgow, Lord Lieutenant of Renfrew.
shire, to shew the state of the Press in the West
Scotland, at the time preceding the establishment g
the Beacon. It described the organization carried on
amongst he Reformers, and their secret meetings to
read seditious publications. It stated, that every means
were taken in these works to destroy Religion, and to
inculcate the worst principles in the minds of yoUth.
The House Must bear in mind Mat it was ander such
circumstances as these that the Lord Advocate had
given his support to a Paper whose avowed object
was to oppose the doctrines of sedition. Perhaps his
Learned Friend was only anxious .to follow the re-
commendations so often laid down on the other side
of the House, to avoid strong measures against these
misled people, and to meet.argument by argument,
so as to. convince them of their error. Supposing,
then, he had wished to prepare an antidote for the
poison which was thus insidiously distilled ; and sup-
posing the Paper had contained no private slander.
would any man have said that his conduct was such
as to criminate him?—(Hear).—Was this the free
discussion of which they sometimes heard so much ?
Was this to'be the state of a free Press:-.- that talent
should only be arrayed against the Constitution, and
Viat it should be criminal to employ it for its ptotet-
tion?, (Cheers).—The bond itself stated that the Paper
was to be established upon loyal and constitutional
-principles. This proved that his Hon. and Learned
Friend had no intention of supporting private slander.
EMI*. ABERCROMBY—" Certainly not.-3
—Mr. PEEL
proceeded.—Certainly not! Then if the Honourable
Member admitted that there was no intention, titer,
could be no charge—(Cheers).—lt was impossible to
expect that he could be answerable for every para-
graph that appeared in the Paper, after he became
security for it: his intention was only to support it in
maintaining constitutional doctrines and principles.
With regard to the treatment of Borthwick, he did
not see how that could come under a motion upon
the conduct of the Lord Advocate and the Scotch
Press. That was a matter for a distinct and separate
motion ; and he implored the House, in justice to his
Hon. Friend, not to allow this to influence their
judgment upon his personal conduct. He-had now
.adverted to the leading charges contained against
him in the Hon. and Learned Gentleman's speech,
and he thought he had shewn his intention to be a
good one, and that he had no idea of the course
which the Paper afterwards pursued. For these rea-
sons he should oppose the motion—(flear, hear).
Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH said it was always
painful to him to appear as an accuser, or to come
forward in support of an accusation, nor should he
do so on the present occasion, did he not feel him-
self impelled by a sense of duty which he owed to
the administration of justice to the Press of his coun-
try, and to prevent our political discussions from
being converted.into objects of private malice, and
scenes of barbarity and blood—(Cheers).—lt appeared
from the statement of his Hon. and Learned Friend
that a public officer of Scotland had for a long time
encouraged secretly a paper which dealt out the most
odious calumnies, until he was at length detected
and dragged into light; and if the House of Com-
mons had any regard for their own character, or a
wish to see justice done to the people of Scotland,
they could not refuse to institute an inquiry.—
The Right Hon. Secretary had alluded to a commen-
dation which had formeily been bestowed by him
(Sir James Mackintosh)'on the conductor of a News-
paper (Mr. Perry) for having in a lohg career avoided
encroachments on decency, am abstained from pri-
vate calumny and slander. Fint.yias there a man
so dull or uncandid as to suppose that he had meant
to assert that in forty years of zeal and hurry, the in-
dividual might not have once trangressed the bounds
which he had commonly prescribed. to himself
He could not undertake to say that there might not
be improprieties, and very gross improprieties in the
Paper in question, but he had known of none such,
and the ground of his panegyric was the general ab-
sence of the vices of slander ancintlecency—(Hear).
The Right Hon. Gentleman had argued, from the
Prospectus of the Beacon, and the principles which it
contained, that the Lord Advocate aas actuated by
good motives. That Right Hon.. Geutleman. should
rather have said the professions which it contained ;
but, unfortunately, experience had proved, both in
that House and out of it, how-frequently professions
were at variance with pi-acike —(Dear, hear).:—Tne
Learned Lord had stated that it
.was after consider-
able hesitation he was induced to give his countenance
to that Paper ;. that he had rejected numerous over-
tures, and made repeated struggles ;• but at length,
like many who went before him, surrendered his
virtue, and on the unlucky 21st of November, 1821,
he fell a victim to the allurements of the seducer, and
did the unhappy deed which formed the subject of
the p went accusation ! Ile would sk the House if
this was not a subject for inquiry ? was the
cause of the death of Sir A. Boswell ? it was libels
Genotugoeht.-ivecarAGinnrdowoilusinlrilroiltilehtfiel,"
contained in the Glasgow Sentinel, circulated under
the sanction of the Lord Advocate !—Wear, hear).—
Of all attacks, the most base was that .of the anony-
mous slanderer; awl ir by .chance the namelesssruf-
,fian should lle.s4ag
tion for his crimei,', hisjtery.preseace might be pots
ged to the field to give sati..fae-
wJuld be bjanded aids
perhaps the moment that the matk was
takenklti('n itArhis -cnuntenisnz.v.
)--Thew publi-
cations cigconfititagiUter osnecuariznnineteyrerrupefftceeeed7suYrszeanchea-deticada,ttaanekd
;respect for the .fesaags. of the were let sat
"sorra- :Lica atatithonesLa4rtgpther-
r).l H e con-
-+ the adthess the Right Hon. Gentleman

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