The Statesman.
London, England, 1819-12-07 00:00:00

LONDOh, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 7, 1819

Th. Can fo► which 11.411PDLN fell In ter IWd, awl S rigor rind on lito Negroid! "

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF LORDS. Usa. 6.
Ups afar (oar .41..4, she lard Choatelist basis, rats
his sea. the Ilan. Captain INAlased Fos Filatentid tem iota-
dared to she ileate, att,aspaakd by the I.adseis Panels sad
lacy. h. 4-ierb, led bir Lod Ilan tad. sued attended by the
Oahe sf Leisaer, ware, Is pensions. el an art at law her
Ara for weenier she atsai.dae .1 she la* Lard Fatted Fits-
send, they 'soh tee Oaia d Alicossee said iispeassey at iss
bar.

theses:need. Such a coarse would not be to i ate
el the Constitution, bet to subvert it. Ever deco
the revival of letters, power had lair! siege foggiest the
TM by Jury. Bet in tire present case, eli homily j 0
. . . of • work might he seised nn the snood eel-
yet as thee, could ant be seised et first, •
might he net of print before It, mischief Wilt
illittained.—[fieve the Noble and learned Lord
'pled to the cases of the Bishop of St. Mettht
mega &easels,* in the affair Mr. Ilastings.)—But
Feo
Sher all, noshd the people of obis country long be
pities( at an universal invasion of their liberties?
IV Molt Lordships take care, lest, instead of Check.
log the mane of blasphemy and sedition, they weft
t about to afford fresh two eeeee meat to it ; and et
events men would certainly adopt some method it
*skating thought, sit boogie the press were for tee-
Circumstances now reminded Mot ores esecdoteef
1.
fasnloir Cromwell, who had stopped the alreelo-1
Herriaitiew's Octane. The daughter of Ike'
latter met Cromwell's daughter, with an infant Is
'arms, and snatched It stagy from her, soul whets issk•
oil why she acted oe, she daughter of Iferrinete• said,
ialluding Its her fother's production, that Cf 0•1111111
had taken his child. Cromwell, on learning !bbl.
relinquished hie held upon Harrington's work, see.
I log, his Government was e:.l fit to steed, if it NMI/
gee a paper foundatioe. Whet he sow comploillei
1 of was, that laws might be enforced still whisk boil
not bees enforced, and upon these grounds Ito most
contend, that their Lordships might to be salbliel
wits, the envie& laws relltive to the Press.
The Earl of HARROW uy said, be had paid BM
attention to the opinions of the Noble sod Limns/
Loyd obieh his legal knowledge end ostensive profo
tics bed entitled him to; bet he wet perfectly ate
less to know what argefewate were to be urged Is
apposition to the measure now proposed. It wee
evident, the, there were (rester shades in seditious
than in blasphemous libels; and even if the peal**,
sent was conceived to be greater es it respects the
brat, their Lordships would recollect that its seen.,
rity was left in all cases to the discretion of Ns
Court. As the law at present stood, however, the
somplaist on the score of justice was essentially, Ad ,
the Court could not inmost the penishmest to be
adjudged in the degree that might be required by the
atrocity of a repetition of the offence. With respect
to booksellers, it might appear herd to convict en
owe publications of the Noe work ; but then, arils,
they must be consecutive, and the stuck sport hand
also large. Bet the most substantial (mond for the
present Bill am the notorious fact, that libels wore
diffused in every form, and at the cheapest rate, se
that no Constitution could @seep their mimes.
taint Matters had proceeded to that rations,. as to
•
rosier It impossible for the liberty of Fmetand, end
Ai Ibis 'lois sues% of the press to 'silt together at
this moment. So far from aiming to destroy them,
ha would contend, that by checking the abuses of
I l liberty, they were providing its eternity, end pee-
viten all mankind from esrlsiming 'sweat it.
The Marquis of LANSLIOWN said. that feeling
as he did very great objections to the principle of the
,provst Bill, and bovine heard nothing to remove
them, either from the Noble Earl jest set down, or
the Noble Viscount who wrierd it, hr ass disposed
Ito offer • few obsersertens. If no infraction of the
Ceesitietio• were prop .ued by stir present Bill, if all
that was required by its author. and soi.portors was
to ackanoledge, shut the public Press of the coast',
had assumed that shape which required a more rigor.
eve administratiow of the lies. be should be pre.
pored to join wish the Noble Lards opposite. Bet
was this all that was affirmed in the preamble of the
Bill? Instead of stetiog that the rtsiatinq Isms, after
Wag duly @plowed. were found ill.eilleieut to re.
,'ruin and to popish the lecentioesness of the
Press, it was proposed by the present Rill to sppiy
the punishment of Moos to misdemeanour, and
that miss! not •ulikrly to •to• commuted
by some of the mow intelligent and independ.
eat of mankind. I heir Lordship. would surely
net be so iml away by nlensnies sod ignorance nut
of doors, as to adopt the rashness of persons, who,
at the momeet of evil and irritation, thought se
penishortat could possibly be too great, contrary to
all principles of true legislatioa, 'which looked at the
quality of punishment while apportioning it. With'
the knowledge that the existing laws against the'
I
ebullitions of sedition and blasphemy were net pre.
petty pet in force till last year, they were candid elt
sentence the former laws, contrary to the steeseee
opinios of Blackstone, who praised our @depthus el
the *littler pad of the Romeo law. Efficacy of
punishment, if that was desired by the supporters of
this Bill, depended en its amount and certainty, not
upon its quality. One siren objection to the punish-
ment of transportation in the present calf. •lIS the
inequality of the principle, and also that it applied
to all classes of men. Society was raised to its pre-
sent pitch by the interline, of mind, and was it fitting
to visit the offences of intellect with this turpitude
of felony ? While their Lordships urn(' malady!
of the stiwillingners of Jerson to eensict on the
flirting laws, tostinj to an apprehension of the
penalty, they were artually in the same bresth
called on to pass loos rendering thin unwilling.
loess on the pert of Juries more torci'do than
evar. Leek at the conduct of late Juries, in
cases of forged mites, and remembering their relev-
ance in ctsovicting in such cases, tool.' their :,IM.
ships be so enecquainted with the nature of the
human mind as not to perceive, that unni,lincisms
list more likely to be esporitsoced when the offence*
of the Press should be subject to banishment god
transportation ? They were called on In give a pa-
eighteen' that must be revolting to enlightened and
humane men sitting in jedgment,. and sill aspect •
verdict for site harsher side. Every one art-pointed
with Bonaparte, and his cl.ildi.h dread of the Press,
knew ham earnestly he wished to p.:l it sows; yet
his code bed within enslaves to the pettish's/id of
tranvortstion; ballot the iVitraty, out Matta lOW

Tire Farl of CA FIN A ItVON permuted two refill.* from
florib Reline sd lbe put. nelormw. peovime for isbdivi4o•
of 41,frics• ns reference in tie liern.sog wf publir-haerts.
offer • few evploom-ry remark. from laid KOLL& were
trod. and ordered go I,e mom Mt Ilikk
Vommws AIUNoUfII Ibld epos ibe uMe dve Refers,
moved for on • forme, night. by She Lond-00,
relative oo she Amble of Informations fil,d by the Atmeocy-
(derv& for Lobel I. the years 1111tl wool 1819.—0 :Mend Is be
;misled.

81.kSPIIENY AND ShDITtON.
Viecirerst SI IMOUTII thee moved the Order of
the Day fora second reeding of the Uhl for more ars-
Nally pretretitiog said ponivitiog of Blisplitinnos sod
*miring. Lib.ta. The object of the present Rill. the
Noble Viscount said, nes declared In the preamble of
the Dill, and she mean. by which that object was to
be accomplished were by Riving Courts of Justice the
power to incense the punishment on cnnvician of
the second offence. Theo degree of pnisishisout was
not Intended to attach to the first assoce in any case,
bet wily to the second. liming on a former occasion
felt it necessary to sots the general grounds and
reasons on which the series of measures be proposed
were (evaded, it was sot his wish to triable their
' Lordships with a recapitulation of thew symarks.—
All he wished to say at present was, that ha shnotd
be reedy to reply to such objections as the Noble
Lards opposite might think proper to make. 111),I.
over measures their Lordships might adopt for the
preservation of the State, he most declare, that un-
less some cherks were immediately imposed on the
gokraor licentiousness of the press, all other steps
would tal.ionstely be found ineffectual. The licen•
tioosne.s ul the modern press mss indeed the very
a id solute of oar moral and political ills, whore
destructive poison spread through every eels of the
public bedy, and whose frissons effects wan certain
if not Cavelied its time.
Livid ERSKINE was dosirnos of trembling thole
Lordships sigh a very few remarks, founded 11111 •
roily long estreiienro, is matters of the pewit
kind. The predicament of the counts', wee mud
Is be ergently bad by the MAD. Viscosities (nest.
bet this was not wounded is the preamble to the
present Bill. Unless he had really lost all his ow*
facilities in the wit...pilot! of fatty, their 1.-rdsbipo
woeld find that espediency ems the only ground span
whist. they were tilled to logisiato in this manner.—
It was, forsooth, now declared to be expedient to
enact oath and such laws; and would their Lordships
then, wpm ',abetter ground, give their C•1111111,•11Ke I •
loch measures as these? The present was to ba made
applicable both in blasphemy mad sedition, without
elude or distinction, as though tiers was ois degree
'of Jeremy in the comparison of blasphemous and se-
dition's libel.. Now, nes there so difference be.
limn blasphemous and seditious works! was it in
reality not the greatest of crimes, wits a we god
his chltdren we:. wsn'sog howl, hot amidst their

soffering., felt ',stained by ranee*, hopes, to
divest them of those espectations which mode them
,happier thin the happiest, and g r than the
Areatest on earth, in the anticipation of another
sod batter 'voila ? It, therefore, the impportors
of the present Bill, bad framed it t• proper
*as, by discriminating obese's, and apportiosiog
peisishment, not only might he have goes with thee,
bet even run before them. Another offence there was,
✓egoirilig all the vigilante of Police, sad embarking
all the meshy of condign penishmeot. When first
he tun 12 the Dm, there was a pimiento of those
Aroma works which circulated in schools, to the
ondernilaing of sum in booth earl of the yelling:
but in what manner was even this pestilence stayed
By the efforts of aSirClatert I.
press the torrent of trice, and who by personal con.
tributions, were found raimplent to the task. He
seed for this hotly, the Society for the So lineation of
Vire, among whose Members was 'he late Bishop
Potteries. sod whoa? object was specifically to pet
down evil by the valved( la es, and t..ey accomplish-
ed it. They, however, bed sense enoegh to pass
over some particular works, in order to get at the
secrets of trade, brought their dorumeots with
the. into Court. N hy, then, had not 'he Attorney-
General put down blasphemous publications in like
manner, es obscene pohlications sera sinipressed by I
the ieriety he alluded to? Bone's Parodies and The
Apo( Regrow were to have bean pat done by the
(misting laws. But 7lee Age of Restos was permit.
led I. flourish for tome time with lawsuit, ; and
even in the case of Hone% Parodies no j ist appeal
was made to the Jury that tried them. Even in that
instance, where Hone in effect said, " Oh, corrupt
and borouglimosigaring nom of Coetosna, torn.
(waling from, ifte. (cc. have merry apes as, your
svoold-be constitionts!"—even in this instance no
attempt was made effectually to appeal to the feet.
hags of the Jery. Her
honest men of the City of London had been reminded
that this liaise of Commons had brought about tho
Revolaiion, that they had given as the Bill of Rights,
that Habeas Corpus Act, and lastly, the Libel Bill,
Bombe wit, after a long acgasintanto with the con.
siltation of Juries, that no Jury timid Ism been in.
sensible to such a representation of fact, het would
by their vertlict hive rlonejostbro tit the character of the
Commons' Hem. Nothing like this bad been done,
and now their Lcrilskipo went called to legislate for
the removal devils which, however, ought Mar to
Irene existed. If, indeed, their Lordships were de-
termined to proceed in ibis way, he could undertake
to read their fortunes • if they passed the prevent Bill,
they would be cools's:KlM with all the catatonia% now
accemaisting on legislative rank, degraded in the es-
timation of their country, sod leave nothing to Juries
bet the otatamity et seestemtleg the law le pity to

lake !h

•as deemed gong solicimst for his purposes. This
reflection was sealer to indent !heir frordstips te
reconsider a seism, *Mich, in his opinion, *Geld,
if pound, Imes the rine( of precluding the cheers of
second consimines in most cam, if not in ill. For

inaranni, put the cm of an lion Baronet, the Mess-
bar for Westadastert and noes? sot their Lordships

41.0, that I. the ',Pea of pressing for a teein,cl can.
violet, it would make all the diferenre to the Jury
in deliberating, *bother they should send a min of
hi. character and station to Botany Bay, or subject
him merely to Ise anti imprisonment. The stresot
justice, if the present Bill passed, would, he
Bared, be weakened, anti not strengthened. On
time grouted' be should 'iv. his nortive to It.
!Ara ELLENBOROU(;II said, if the Bill before
their Lordships had not been coolined to hiesphvesous
and 'Mites,' Obeli, be woold not hate speed so its
preeishies. He understood "editions !Owls to nicie„
an endeavour t• seduce others loin an attack upon the
Constituted Authorities, end to deitroy Ibr functions
of Government ; by blasphemous libels be ender-
stood those most destreciive and pernietires attempts
to destroy that upon • bids the monde,' of the pee-
pie must be founded—the religion of the enentry.--•
Libel' of this desetiptioe liii•ervled not to the polilie
Sal or party feelings, bet meet be sederstood as re.
(erring to a proper considered's (or the lives sod
security lathe State. Th. gentles thew was, as to the
quality of punishment with which smelt e &Imes should
be visited. Assn
it was recollected what alteratiese
bad taboo place dating the last tweet, years, it was
',ideal that new regulations had become socessary.
He was 10C110441 to believe that the system of edema
ties sod lestreetien, which had been patronised by
the teal of stagy pod mew, from the best of motives,
bed ~tossed the oportembles for dlesemineting the
blasphemes' poldicadoes, which were ',actively earn
celeted. Notwithstanding the effect tbe Bill might
be calculated to produce, he still trusted enough pre.
deuce would *list to render this the most prespero
044 nation upon earth. Upon these grounds be &II
it to be be. duty to support the Bill.
Lord HOLLAND said, that the speech jolt deli-
veva by lite Noble Lord tended to show him clearly
the deformity of tbst Bill before their Lordships, sod
which ought to be considered as forming part of the
system 'bat bad bete introduced. Ile wool.!, hew.
over for the present confine himself so the Bill i.e..
, distil, under their Lordships' consideration. The
I Noble Lord who bad preceded MIS had 9441, if the
Bill bad net been confined to seditious and lilispbe-
t mess libels be could sot have it supported. But
• I. would tisk their Lordships what had ocensinoed
that greet inceeese io hlaophemy ; and if it did ealst,
why had it not been pet down ?—An increase occa-
I dosed possibly by the Neglect. ..A
t perhaps the connivance of his Mijosty's
I Bet even admitting thetsech was the case, !i• dented

that there was any additional darter. Blasphemy
had proved rather the strength bun th" weakness
Of the State; and he said this, because the peoplo
were too religious to allow th•ir morals to hai
destroyed by the dealgns of any demagogue'
who might address them. These men who had
raised sheseeelves by popular I had into.
viably protested against these principle,. To coon-
'Want their evil tendency it would he far better to
adopt the MOWN resorted to hr Oliver Cromwell,
Ilion the pr . Their Lordships would teSetUllee
IM striking proof of the went to which Christianity
had bean localcsted upon the minds of th• people,
when, about fire or ids yesra au', Oe dint and table
of that llonse were so loaded with petitions That
their Lordships vivid with difficulty pt.', to their
test. Wag it then to be sunpoied that tike blasphe.
I mous publications had romplet•ly destroyed the mo•
leant*. and religion of the country' A Nahl• Bor•
gobs bad, while he &proctod the practice of li-
belling, uttered one of the most series; rouge,
'plight Julies ; he, however, believed the, J tries did
net neglect, bat that they performed their @klieg
Bet to proceed to the Bill, it oar to prevent sad'.
dose and blasphemous libel,. A Noble Lord bad said
be could not sepport the Bill soles, it had been win.
fined to cases of blasphemy end sedition. Thal Nold•
Lard bad certainly drawn a bee of distinction, but
the great objection he bad was, that it enacted
pansislinionte for an offence sport which one men dif-
fered from another. Was it not • strange anomaly
by which • matte, was rendered criminally liable for
the actions of his servant; that he should be refeertd
to prodece in evidence that he coold not have knows
that the offence was comsaiited; that be knew not of
the publishing or of the gelling? And yet sorb *
ass, without soy ways being a party to Ile transae•
ties, according to the present Bill, was to be liable
to seven yeses transportation. list thee, it is wild,
the law is at the discretion of the Judges; bet was
this any mitigation of the posiishawnt ? said was it
out a degradation, that a ono •as In enjoy his h.
, betty, or to be esempt from punishment at the die.
. I erotism of another ? Wes this the cunilitino to ',hick
I I a man residing in a hie country weft to be reduced?
.1 There was scarcely a Wilk man dating the lest ISO
you', who bad net been snbj.ci to tech prosecutions.
In 'peeking upon this subject, he might historic* the
casts of Lord Somers, who, het seen the years 1594
and 16114, published many trans which sight bey*
boon conatromi into libels, rand that, ton, evert by
many conscientions Judges; iodised. 'hero was scarce.
IT • also who had wore.; tit public life who had not
written what, in the opinion of advrile partite, might
not have been as, conclreed, mood h..e horn mut,
j0c..1 to prone:oleos for • seditious Ibiteli and i.t
,ori, men se these, op.. • comwmictowa. of • rierooo
..I..iice, isould hare been subject to tittioporta•
non ; so would Milton and Drydoo, the latter
ot whom wrote libels for she Gneetnatent if that
day, end for which iii. 0pp...it1.0 might at.rr•
',tilde use prosecuted him. To these he tight
add the names of i'lle, Suitt, •tid Adds's,. ;
Sir Richard Steele, too, had bees convicts,' or e
libel; sag Awe would bats been se dank, Is