The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-06-16 00:00:00

111 t. aiTON.—PAINE'S. AGE Gr' REAsON.

(From CoWeer Register of Stshirflitylott.ll
4‘ One of the greatest privileges eujayefl is this country, is the f
froetliim of expres,ing our opinienv on on subjects;
such horrid acts are in -he perpetrated, this country tan he
considered as little twitter than those were despotism prev!ti
Whatever differences of opinion may exist on any one /object,
every man has a right to entertain lii4 own apish eaker
what he feria. nod to art aceortlin4lv,' —Mr: Pewewaray
Speech in the House of commons, leach May, 18L3.
On the 6th of March last, Mr. D tette NAM;
• EATON, of Ave-Maria-lane, was tried In the Court
of King's Bench, Guildhall, London, for peeslishe
iii the Tlll an AND LAST PART or Paine's Age of
Reason. Mr. Eaton defended hinisel f, and, as appear
from au accomit of the Titter., since publiehect, that!
he did it by reaping a written paper, and a most ex.; I
ceTlent paper it is in defence of the Liberty of the i
I'ress. He was, however, by .a Special Jury, fouled!
guilty.-lle was prosecuted by the Attorney-Gene-
ral (Gibbs), who, before Me verdict was given,
moved the Jadge (Lord Ellenborougli) not to suffer
Mr. Eaton to leave the Court; and, as soon as the
verdict had been given, he Moved the Judge, that Mi.
Eaton might be committed; and, the Judge not only
committed him, but committed him from the Court
lo Areregate. Here he had to remain till the next 1
Terri, that is to say, till the 15th of May, before
he was brought up to receive jedgment, when he was
Si.n!etiCed t* he further imprisoned in Neweate for
Eteirreee Mourns, and to stand in the Pillory once;
vathia a month. Thus is the whole of his imprison-'
tnont to be upwards of twenty months. On the 26th
of .N1;13-, the latter part of his sentence was executed,
is the broad part of the Old Bailey, in the presence
cf from twelve to tweuty thousand people. The
day was very fine • and, perhaps, a more interesting
• scene has seldom been beheld. The Attorney-Gene-
ral and the special Jury and the Judges had pro-
nounced their opinion upon the conduct of the aged
man (for he was about three-score years old); and
the people had now to pronounce their opinion
upon his conduct, which they did in a most un-
ocal and audible manner. The moment
he appeared from the prison door, there was
a general shout. Upon his being put into the
pillory, the exclamation of " brave old wan ."' was
followed by an universal mark of applause after the
manner of the Theatre ; that is to say, by clapping
of the hands, and by cries of bravo, bravo!—The
Pillory is erected upon a Scaffold, and is so con.
structed as to turn round and present the face of the
person in different directions. Mr. Eaton frequently
turned himself; and, at every turn, he received fresh
applauses.—Some of the people wished to convey
him refreshments, which could not, I suppose, be al-
lowed, consistently with the rules; but, one person
got to him with a pocket handkerchief, to wipe the
sweat from his face, the day being very hot.—Thus I
he passed the hour surrounded, I should suppose, by
fifteen thousand people, at least, from whom he re-
, ceived every possible mark of compassion and of ap-
plause; and at the end of the hour, he, bowing to
the people, retired, under a huzza that made the air
ring. To crown the whole, no sooner had he de-
scended from the scaffold, than a GAME COCK
• was, by some one, pet on it, typical, I suppose, of
the courage he had dis?laycd, as complimentary of
the commencement of his career in politics, whims,
under the sign of the Cocx, he published, at the out-
set of the Ant ijacole n war, many things which attract-
ed the attention of Pitt and his Attorney-General.—
Such is the true history of the pillorying of Mr.
Eaton; such was the way in which the people ex-
-pressed :bar opinion of his conduct. The punish-
ment of pillory is intended to expose the party to
the scorn, the scoffs, and the peltiugs of the people.
But, Mr. Eaton met with none of these. He had the
satisfaction to hear himself applauded; he received,
as the voluntary offering of the people, more ap-
plause than could be bought upon any grand day for
two or three thousand pounds, even with the aid of
all the trained huzzaers of the General Post-Office.—
Upon similar occasions the venal press has generally bc-
sto wed the name of otob, or that of rabble, upon the
people assembled. Ido not, however, pecceive, that
they have done this upon the present occasion. They
have held their twelves upon the subject ; and, in
• this they have been very prudent ; for, to have come
out With the charge of snobbism again, so soon- after
having abused the people on account of their feelings
in favourof Mr. Bellingham, would have been to de-
• clare open war upon the whole of the public. As to the
capacity of the people for judgingin a case like this,we
will take the opinion of MR. PEEL (stow Sir Robert)
• as given irkthe House of Comment), at the time of the
riots at Manchester, in 1792 : —TUE COM-
' MON PEOPLE,", said 'he, " ARE' BETTER
JUDGES OF THINGS THAN THEY ARE
• SUYVOSED TO BE. French • writings, and
12AINIt* WHATISGRoied all thirAssritiegs - and-
doctrines of Paine's. Moeda, have had no effect on
them. There is but one sentimieut automat them,
' and that is, loyally ; attachment "for their, lawful
governors, and veneration for the Constitution."—
This was Mr. Peel's (L.seription of the character and
politics of the people. Note, if it was false, the
• Reader must settle tile matter with Mr. Peel ; but,
if -it was true, I can really see no reason to con-
elude, the: the people are not morel(' capable of judge
ing on public mutters as they .were in 1792 espe-1
cially as they have now had more time to read
Paine's writings and observe the- effect of his princie
.pies in other countries. Tarry have, since the year
t 792, had twenty,years of most interesting experi-
ence; Pelee has, since that time, ptiblished several
works ; and, as there have been published a thousand
works againa Lim, the people may, surely, now
ho thought as good judger, at least, as they. were in
• 1792.—With all these advantages, natural' and as
then, they came to pronounce-their opinion
upon the conduct of Mr. ,Eaton iu publishing the
Third and Last Part of Paine's 4ge Rctsfon'..;
and, what that opinion was the would will easily
judge from the above statement.—Thie is, 114— told,
the first instance, -within the memory' of •peraoss 50
years of age, of any one being applaisded in the Pil-
lory in Ettglittid. If, indeed, it were the coot-
mon practice to applaud persons to exhibited, uo
aigument could be drawn favourable to Mr: Baton
from the applause bestowed upon this occasion.—
Ism, it is notorious, that this is not the case. When,
last year, some-9f the 'wretches guilty of unnatural
olflisces stood in the pillory, on the same spot where
Mr. Eaton was exhibited, their features were almost
instantly rendered indistinguishable by the peltiugs in