The Statesman.
London, England, 1819-12-21 00:00:00

ty. trot an for
Bud iffe
revelliehittepe.s:tnt peen *hick was so de-
puded by , she vehicle of docSresee which alll
good e understanding is Abhorrent, but
he rein/ended tEit 1M rrenod;es of the 'tithing lairs *ere
selficient •for all the poipuses requifid. He concluded
by rubel-08g MI Members wlio loved their country to
guard its great henefoetor, the pietaa prom. iritb scru-
pulous ono religious care.--(Herr!)
. Mr. DICKINSON argued in favour of the Bill. Ile•
amended, that the penalty of hanishenment was not un-
kneena to the history of English law, and that the pro-
posed Delis were highly expedient for the repo* of
putting down dangerous pnoeiples. lie said that Sir
Matthew Hale had defined English law as a history of
rrstraiots and liberations, aceurding to times and cir•
culostances.

--Mr. Serjeant ONSLOW followed in favour lathe Bill:
and contended that it did not go to the suppression of
nth works as those of which al r. bl• Donald bad spokes,
but nnly restricted printers and publishers, and authors
of the most obscure kind, who were employed upon
works of an improper and infamous character.
Mr. IiIAtIDONALD explained.
Mr. GRAHAM oppooal the Bill.
Mr. MARRYATT thought the previsions of the Bill
inconsistent with the nniform practice which had hoes
pursued for several Tian. Ile expressed his detonates-
nue to vote against It.
Mr. DENMAN opposed the Bill. ft introduced it I
most dangerous innovation into the whole system of the
law which regulated the press of England. If sash
doctrines as Grose were to be established, the gegetat
branch of the Howse might as well at ones abdicate Its
functions, and leave the whole to be managed as his Msfro
piety's Ministersnsight wish. He would confine his atter
than exclusively to the Newspaper Stamp Daty Bill, wield
was one of the most important of all the measures, as it
ietrodueed a principle new to the law, a principle which
in his view amounted to an igtpriatilmr. It indicted
I punishment, and imposed shackles which no respectable
bookseller imagined, when entering on his profession,
he should ever have to encounter. After making a few
further observations on the Bill, the Learned Gentleman
called the attention of the Wage particularly to one
Clause, which he thought omit material. He meant that
clause which empowered a Justice of Peace to
excrete souse of its provisions. The duties of Magis-
trates were already sufficiently arduous, but they now
were to be called on to search for arms, to attend public
meetings; army! themselves, and with as armed levy,
they wore to search houses where they suspected libels
to be concealed ; in abort, they were called upon to un-
dertake such various and important duties as no Gestic-
man would make himself responsible for without
paid a salary. And then what was to bei.vine of all those
eulogies which had been passed upon the un-
paid Magistracy of England?—(Near, hear, hear')—
home imputation was thrown out upon the difference of
the verdicts in the cases of Hoar and Carllie; but no man
who bad any feeling, anal any regard for totlit mvpW
say, that because Hone was acquitted by use
JJoy. Car-
' tile should hams been acquitted by. aeother, nos Juries
I hail dose ~80 to show that, in their ofierioo, blas-
phemy was as olleoco ageism' the Laws of haffillrfi. and
that they we determined to pmt it down by their sir-
dicta. As to the Bill before the Busse, he
.protterrl
against the principle of securities. It we:equivalent to
an imprimatur, fur it was as much as to call cm a man
to say, and that too where the offence was sedett.sel.
" If I do violate the law, here is my friend, who will trayl
for me whatever fines I may incur. ' But if the object
of Government were to let by these means a press sub-
servient to their views, it was one of the *West wishes
that ever entered the human breast. They might. with
their majorities, indeed, succeed in carrying their mea-
sures, but they might also one day be brought to feel
that they had gone too far. Both the Acts went on with
the same preamble—namely. that the prnmst laws were
ininafficient. This he denied to be true—they were so&
Admit fur all the purposes of justice, unless, indeed. it
was thought justice to apply the dagger at once to the
seek of ths.offenaler. la every point of view, he thought
that all that had been already done, was all that ought
to be dr minded. Ile implore-1 the House to stop where
they were, and not to push themselves farther into a le-
parat:on train the mass of that people. whom it was the
duty of the House to protect.—hear, hear !)
Mr. Dicasaium explained.
Mr. B.LNKS denied that enough was done, ucti' t' use
Bills should be passed, fur restoring the tranqui'li!-, of
the country. The measures already agreed to. he tbonght
essential to the preservation of the Conslitutien. I;o1
the House had nowt° do with the most Imporoint of ad.
'Phu press had sow gone so far in its power of producing
evil, that iraat necessary to prevent it from csereisiag
that power; should inch circamstauces again occur, at
those which they bad already to complain of. In hie
view, the evil tole remedied was so great, that eves W
a new principle of legislation were to be introduced,. he
had no abjection I. establish a new precedent. Much
las said about the Star Chamber. At the doe of the
Revolution,* grievance with respect to the press existed.
There was then a censorship upon the press of a most
extraordinary. .nature ; act it was not complained of.
The restraints, to which be alluded, went to prehibit
the p• hu,stio., of any thing heretical, or which opposed
the re:ig;on of the country, and also every thing which'
la.inF scandal upon the establishments of Church
or State. Ellis was certainly going much farther thaw
the Bill now before the House. The Bill referred to all
printed since 166-. Now there was nothing in
the pre. mit Bin at all approaching this in severity.—
(Ileac Hut whether the measures, of former
Ome
were good or bad, it was nut muds to the present quer
Lion. Was it possible that the House would .permit that
such volumes of blasphemy sad immorality should lel
diffused among the people as bad been for the last Gm;
years in circulation? No property was safe, no (ha-1
yernissist could be secure, so loug as they were stablest;
to the attacks of every despicable writer who
scitter his poison abroad. This state of society was Dew.
aril required new measures to regulate It. If, Indeed,
lie had any doubt of this measure at all, it was. that It
di.l not go far enough.—(Hear. bear! from the Oppo-
sition.—For his part, lie was disposed to go hither and
he believed it would be found necessary still to adopt,
stronger measures with regard to the press, than any
which they had ).!t considered.
A BERL:ROUST expressed his regret that the
lion. Gentleman had addressed such a speech as that jest
uow delivered to mach an assembly as the present. IC
would have been better suited to a Meeting of Radials;
--so extravagant was it in its doctrines, so violent itt Mel
preceilents.--f.ticar, hear!)—'fhb Hot. Geotlensan was
pleaded to inform tie Ilyttr of-what passiot at fcri-.;:.
• •- .

regard to the prem. His arguments, if
thing, proved too math ; fur by similar
old deprive us of the Habeas Corpus
allay of the • most impovant rights
enjeyed. If his doctrine were true,
was igniihnt from Whom be (34r..A.)
_ leprised h.. lessons on the Cosisitution. Ile re-
gretted extremely to hear the lion -
Bosse lewd-not-yet gone far erdstr
,prebooded only that Ihev bad air
tiro far, and h; aprehended is the u.
bad board tlii bon. lientlemais l 7 son,
11Nwiroale as espression of the:Nooe LOW .
he ass asl isdissed battik to attach mach imps.,
—The Noble Lord had said, indeed, that lip did s.
intend to takolowayerisallrial by Jury?' "Seas words,
he feared. weer lot .Italiessidtwoarli
not without their mneilhisig.--ciftliss• Mat; bear 0—
Ile sever could be brought to boleuvolbatiories would
sot do tbeir duty when cattail spout or that they would
Won to =evict the libeller and the blasphemer; awl if
this could not be shown, a singly step ought oft to hat
taken on iamb a principle of legislation oartre pKesetit.
WO of the infamous publications, to which be alluded,
were of modem, date, and the impunity with Wilica they
were setlered to go on gave them encouragesteni Der.
414tta.. the parties sending them forth, made • money by-,
[We 1.41201*5t was a sufficient inducemeit, when pu-
itialsusibti appeared to be reinote and itticerlaln, •
Kt. I!ENNETT said, be felt it necessary to make a
lber observations. thirty or/ account of what had Islieu
from the Heft. Member for Corfe Castle (Mr. Manias.)
tbe Hon. Gentleman might have gone back to other
periods. of our h•story, and found still worse laws than
those to o Lich be O.:tided. He would have found utilise-
roes examples of tyranny in the time of the Tudors;
and by referring ttr the history of !ivory the Eighth, be
would find that the King-ordered his over edicts to have
the force of laws without the authority of Parliament.
But none of those cases could he quoted as precedents
to pitar such as were now hronght forward
by Ministers.. It was impossible for him to hear doc-
trines Al fatal to the lierpiness of the poor, as those
promulgated by the Ilnuourable Gentleman, without
risiag to resist and express his abhorrence of then..
The great question now lwfore the House was, what was
the extent of the evil they were providing against ? Ile
did not deny that mans- blasphomous end seditious pub-
lications Lad been seal forth to the public ; but be must
deilare that these publicatioas were not of great extent
in their circalstion. Ile beets of one publication (ti.e
Repvblican) of oliii.b 1500 numbers were circulated at
one time in a certain number of towns; and hr could
lissom the House, that the moment the people saw that
the paper contained blasphemous waver, the circulation
was immediately chei Led ; not sot. of those 1;i00 were
any more allowed to he circulated in that district.—
(Hear. bear!)—He should now come to the clause in the
Bit! for lack; a stamp duty no certain publications. To
this lie objected, because it would go to deprive the poor
of moral, historical, and

jpolle a great deal

done great forme _
instruct:on, whirls was generally conveyed to them in
p-.bli,atioits thl Pat it would not prevent the
sale of the most ohjeetionahle publications ; it would nut
Mop Cobbotra Ittsfatcr, whirii sold more when it had a
amp than it 'lid ssithout one. The best principle of
wee Uftnstitution consisted in the right of all men to
spidlet puldisb what they t!iought ; but this test that
Ito to he coahlished, formed a new era in the COD.
0, awl was hostile toed' How principles that had
wMr n held dear in the country.
BC WILMOT declared his op:niois thnt the cheerers
existing in the ronntry were a sefficient warrant fur the
loatnres doer before the Howe; and RI to what the
lm
Hon. tient:mien said abaut education, he must say that
the liter knowledge acquire? be the pone was a kind of
ditastroas twiligh: which led them into error, instead of
doing them a benefit. In the best period of our history,
the severities exercised veins; the press were severer than
they were at present. He maintained the front the present
state' of the euclety, the existing laws were not ra6::ent
Is repress the abuses of the press. lie era, cunhilent that
the liberty of the pre would he improved, and that the
happiness of the people would be promoted by the men-
sal* then before the House.
Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN began by alluding to
what had been said against these who countenanced Mr.
Hone, and supported him after his acquittal. The abi-
lity and fortitude displayed by Mr. Hone during his
&a', entitled him to the attention be afterwards received.
The Worthy Alderman nest adverted to the Seditious
Meetings MI. It wee nonsense to say a man should have
the Hem of petitioning, if he could not exercise it—but
saw the people won't' not be able to do so. He was
Pee that the moo respertehle booksellers end publish-
, eel in the kingdom would be grievously ati,ctetl by this
Rill, which was ti-e of the greatest viola:ions on the
Constitnticn that *Tee took place. At a time when the
enentry lahonred nodal. -uch distresses, and when Mini-
errs refused to enter into any inquiry into them, it would
be impoesible fur inch !awe r thew to be endured, and
he would oppose them in every cce.r.
Br. PIIILLIMORF. contended, that all the messriers
brought before Parliament, at this crisis, were absolute-
ly necessary fur the preservation of the rights of the
people, the preservation of the liberty, the morality, and
the rli ;ion of the country. In amarer to what had
fallen from the Hon. Member for Shrewsbury, he main-
tained, that there was a studied circulation of blaeplie-
11110EIS pamphlets at this time; and the fact came within
the observation of every body. In pi4a of this he read
an Arial letter, declaring that seditious and Marptic
mous publications were industriously eirenlated ill vari-
ous parts of the country, among the servants of respret-
aisle and wealthy families. The lion. Member roiniu,l-
ed, by expressing it as his opinion, that the Bill was cal-
culated to securethe foundations upon wlikh the Institu-
tions of the country rested, and to uphold the people in
the enjoyment of the blessings of our Constitution.—
(Hear, liver!)
Mr. R. WHARTON wished to hoe, an answer from
the Noble Lord upinisite to this question : Suppose six
persons engaged in partnership as hoolpellers, and by
some unfortunate means the firm became liable to the
punishment of transportation 1s awardbil by the Biil, lie
wished to know In that case whether the whole outnlier
of partners were to be transported, or the senior member
°sly ?—(llear! and a tangly). .• -
No answer was given to this grimier).
The gallery was then cleared for a division. OR the
gnertion fur the House to resolve
_itself on the Bill, the
numbers were—
Ayes . .
Noes .

222
" 70,

Majority
On oar re-admission hoe the tailery, we found the
ir. Co wunittee.
On thi chase requiring' the furnishing of sureties to
the amount of 300.'. -
Mr. lIARKTAT said, :hot manyjaenons heron busi-
ness with no weans ut fornivi.iug such srcuriiiqyt and
who, without this clause, toight arrive gradually at very
eernfortable iodepeodeiriss. This clause auuld throw
, trade of boltsellet into the hand. of a few opu:ent

LONDON:
TUMID Vrt DrerNP E 21, 1' 19.

We yesterday announced the arerval of Preach
papers to the lkttb inst.—The ;eases:sof the hot r
at v. hich they r.rrired prev:r.!ed tis from naline
e' pions extracts ; their conteab however wt+e
not important.
On Thursday the ceremony of the Baptism tf
MademoisAle, daughter of the Duke arid Velure
of Berry took place. A family dinner was to bare
I been given on the occasion, but it ut.s rostponee.
in consequence of the Duchess of Orleaus not kireg
able to b., present:
The number of The Cenati:ationnel, pethslietl
on the 13th of this month, has beta seized by tear
of the public :•linister.
It is reported that the D:et of Germany will be
eonvokt d early ne:.t year. '
Thu hates: account. from Cediz auntstince the ex-
termination nearly of the yellow fever in tbat city,
za well as in all .0n tie 7:.1.11 of Ne-
ll vembur three perens only died of the itpidt rex.
and the sick did ribt exc:cd 150. At Seville the
fever had entirely ditlippear..J.
Tea Hsocr, In.—He-eat iatethgeece fres Am-
,!ertiam e i ye, some rxpl.tojit ion re zin ding the arrest of
; f.,e two pirmrc of .011.itu se hate Alreaay wide wea-
llion. The One wile vets urea* Saks the same of
V. 1?-4,, .eutl ehs • wai rooksr-lin.fise

Itif .S . TES
and rotate*" of teals .of *abstained petted% midi refin
flint thew sitssib a tiny whets few ellaliplllehmild they preyed any thi
not crash the spirit of blasphemous libel, between while!' references he would
and wharf pit eidisd•;soilitionus libal, s Aisesbeeld be AA.antripileed
drama. Joryeset were wryer forted iodilleteet to tbrir Irmeinicre now Pc
Issios, If lAretts lawyers 4411 not exceed tbs. owasure of then every writer w.
a j!steeverity. -.lle.wes eat re advocate foe that low had jsrsed his le

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