The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-09-26 00:00:00

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eate,—that the person at the head of the civil go-
vernment of Scotland, and whose duty it is to prosecute
the authors of libels, should himself be
.a proprietoi,
for such be really is, of the most infamously scurrilous.
and libeilous paper that ever was published in this
or any other country, is, indeed, in spite of alj that has
passed, truly astonishing. The Lord Advocate is the
great conservator of the public. peace of this portion
of
the Empire; and yet he has been, for these eight month's
past, the pledged,lbe Loynd patron and supporter of a
paper, every number of which has a manifest and certain
tendency to occasion a breach of the peace ! Is his
Lordship ignorant of the answer that was returned by
the avowed conddctors of The Beacon to Messrs. Gibson
- and•Stnart, When they applied to know who were the
*attars of the reiterated calumnies of their character ?
Does his Lordship not -know that these Gentlemen were,
with matchless effrontery, told, that if they meant to
proceed in the usval way—that if they meant to expose
themselves to be shot at by their concealed traducer, his
'ane would be given up; bat that if they meant to
take legal measures, it was against John -Nimmo, the
servant of Duncan-Stevenson, that obey mnst be direct-
ed ? Is it possible that the Lord Advocate, the Solici-
tor-General, and the Delude-Advocate, are all ignorant
of facts known to every other individual, and as noto-
rious as the sun at noon day ? leave it to the public ,
to answer this question. 'tut 'it is certain, Mit to this
Four these worthy and efficient conservators of the pub•
lie peace have taken do iteps to put down a system which
threatens the-lestruction of life a well as of character.
A regularly oranisetl manufactory of blackguardism—
.. sk college of pr4ssed libellists and duellists has been
' set up. not in Miance of the Government of the coun-
try, but by means of the -contributions, the patronage,
and the support of its highest functionaries ! Every
man who presumes to qcestion the policy of any
action of Ministers, is to be assailed with the most
rancorous personal abuse, and loaded with every vulgar
epithet that can be selected from the flowers of Billings-
gate oratory; and when he complains, he is eitlier to
seek redress from the pistols of an acknowledged slan-
derer, or from the pennyless pockets of a man of stria:
This system cannot be tolerated. But if it could, we
would-ask the Lord Advocate, with what face be could
tread the same boards, or meet either in public or pri-
vate, with Messrs. Craustoun, Clerk, Murray, Jef-
frey, Grant, Cockburn, and the other distinguished ad-
vocates who have been abused and calumniated in every
number of ti paper ultich he is pledged " to counte-
nance and support," and in the sale of which he has a
VEIT:U*ILT INTEREST ? If the Lord Presi:lent was
warranted in making a motion, that Mr. Mortbland
should be expelled from the faculty, on the ground of
his being connected with an igfansens paper, in what
situation must Sir William Rae now stand ? It is in
vain that he endeavours to excuse himself by what he
eays about not reading The Beacon, and of his not
being acquainted with its personalities. If he did
not read it, he ought to have done so. No individual
is to be allowed to become the patron of a horde of
assassins, and when discovered, to plead ignorance of
their practices, and to tell us that he took them for a
set of " honest gentlemen." This is really too pitiful a
subterfuge to be listened to for one moment. The
Lord Advocate admits, that be has seen some numbers
of the paper; and he is a much duller man than we
take him to be, if it required snore than the perusal of
the fire/ number to satisfy him that it was a scandal-
' one publication, and one with which no gentleman
could be connected.

When the infamous London Newspaper called the
John Dail was mentioned in the ❑ouse of Commons,
Lord Londonderry indignantly repelled the insinua-
tion, that it had been countenanced or supported by
Ministers. What then must his Lordship say, when
be finds that the person at the bead of his Majesty's
tiovernment in Scotland is a patron and pecuniary sup-'
Furter of a Journal which far transcends the John
Bull in the virulent abuse of private character? Lord
LONDON ue!atv was, doubtless, sincere in the sentiment
of reprobation of personal slander implied in his dis-
clamation ; and he must, therefore, view the conduct
of the Lord Advocate as having brought disgrace on
the Administration of which he is a Member. Had
the Attorncy-General of England been discovered to
have the same connection with the Jolt Bull that the
Lord Advocate admits he has with 'L/se Beacon, he
could not again hare either sbewn his face at the Bar,
or in the House of Commons.

That Sir Walter Scott—the printer of Blackwood's
Magazine—slsould be a partner and supporter of The
Beaco,:, cannot, after what has taken place within the'
laq two or three years, excite any surprise, and bas
in point of fact, been reluctantly confessed by himself.
'the Lord Advocate and Sir Walter Scott are the
only individuals of the rank of Gentlemen who we
Lave as yet ascertained to be connected with The Bea-
con. But we are informed that there are in all TIP-
TEcx signatures to the bond ; and it is impossible
that the thirteen remaining conspirators against the
public peace can long ennceal themselves. A s soon
as we have learned who•they are, we pledge ourselies
•to proclaim them to the 'ffi;orld, and to give such an
exposition of their conduct, as shall make the public
pretty well acquainted witkthis junto of secret libelers.
They are petVerful, and act in concert—

—Devil with devil damn'd,
Firm concord holds--

but we equally despise their single and their united
enrts. And nothing that either their rage or their
malice can snggest stall have the effect of deterring us
from inflicting such chastisement as the enormity of
their offences halloo well deserves.

It is truly gratifying to observe the return which
the patrons of slander make to the tools theyemployto
execute their dirty work. The hacks by whom the
libel►in The Beacon, are indited affected to consider
Dlr. Stuart degraded, because; forsooth, he refused fo
treat the printer of a series of foul ind injurious slanders
on the character of individuals as a gentleman. But
tti hat was the conduct of their patron, the Lord Advo-
cate, when Mr. Stuart applied to him to know whs.'
tber he approved of, the attacks on his character and

honour contained in The Beacox ? Instead of retain-
' ing to sanction the conduct of the writers of a Jourpal
which it is " his earnest wish to countenance and sup-
port," and instead of presuming to consider hir.-Stuart
degraded by their abuse, or as.not entitled to all the
privileges of a gentleman. bis Lordship, in: a cones-
pondence now before the public, explicitly and dis-
tinctly " disavows all approbation and sanction of the