The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-02-08 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY -EVENING, FEBRUARY 8, 1820.

" The COVINC for which lIAMPUEN felt id the Add. •ad SYDNEY died on the Scaffold!"

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PRiCF •

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STATESMAN.

LIBER7'Y OF THE PREY, IN ENULA.YD.

how few criminal codes any approximation has hithert.)
been made towards satisfying this proposition: !Mt re
define a libel against th.e hate, correctly and legally,
or, in other words, to draw &clear line et dettarcatiOn
between the innocent use and the abuse of die press
with respect to public affairs, is what really appears to
as impossibly. If it could be done by three or fro tr set
phrases—were it sufficient, for example, to declam
whoever shill insnit the person of the sovereign with
unbecoming expressions—whoever shall openly and
expressly instigate to insurrection against the sovereign
or his representative—whoever shall for himself. or
others, disclaim obedience to the existing laws—and se
forth, shall he liable to punishment, the difficulty would
be easily overcome. At the same time it may be oh-
ssestrair:abat tbs. steak of tateetim, eseb teratt-snifiram
I.erbern be very well spared for the coati in which
tbey wield be trangressel could not At numerous, and'
the offender, would he Etter fora mad-hosse then a prison.
Bat when we descend from this extreme, sad enter the

Su—Not doubting bat the followiag letter, as a cu-
riosity in itself, anti as proceeding from the pen of so
justly-celebrated a genius as the late Dr. Benjamin
Fratiklin.and addressed to the distinguished Methodist,
George Whitfield, would be highly areeptable to the
readers of the most liberal of oar daily prints, I have
copied it from one of the few transcripts existent, for
the purpose of Its reaching the Jiablie. filmset your
utetlinnt.

Every thing in England having reference to the use,
And abuse of the press was formerly regulated by the
Court of Star-t ham ber, and remained under its exclusive
jurisdiction until the middle of the seventeenth century.
rhe Star-Chandlier. which was an ancient tribunal re-
vived by Henry VII., was appointed, by authority of the
prerogative, to take cognizance of ail offences against
public enter and all transgressions of the police laws of
tbe, kingdom, and pronounced judgment without the
istervention of a Jury, and without respect to the ordi-
nary forms of procesi. This tribunal, which might he
imnstiletad a sort of superior Court of Police, fixed the
ocher of printers and presses, anal appointed an in-
oiseiseetwo seder the title of birettas!, without
*hose consent nothing could be publisherln the year'
1641, not long before the breaking out of the civil war,
a time when all the old royal prerogatives were over-
thrown, the Star-t limber was abolished. The Parlia-
ment then assumed that police authority over the press
which had hither' been possessed by the Stu-Chamber,
and continued during die Protectorate to exercise it,
through the medium of Conindissionees. Two years
alter the Restoration, the regulations of Cromwell's Par-
liament were again put in force, and were repeatedly re-
viewed under Charles 11. and James 11. The last of
these measures expired in the year 169°, three years
after the revolution which placed William 111. on the
throne. It was, however, determined that It should be
prolonged for two years more; the King himself re-
garded its existence as a matter of importance. At last,
in the year 11194, Parliament declared against the far-
ther dlintinnatiee of the act. Thus, through the mere
extinguishing of the old law, which took place almost
in silence, and certainly without the importance of this
negative decision to posterity being foreseen by any
who participated in it, was the existing system introduced.
We now proceed to the examination of this system,
according to the preceding arrangement of its parts.
I. STILTS OF VIC t. INr AGAINST OFFENCES or ens CRISP.
The only hind of offences of the press, recognised in
Englaavt, is that which comes under the description of
rehininiors prid!i,wrion, or lad. Libels against private
persons, and libels against the State, are, in there of
tke English law, of one and the same nature, and are
proceeded against on the same ground • nanwly, thst of
&myrrh If Me pence. The punishments which
have usually been applied to these offenees are fine, im-
prisonment, and pillory. The amount of the tine is left
to the discretion of the Judge; there are recent rases of
males to the extent of MN)!. and fowl. sterling, and
the tentence, besides, often ludo • es bail for good be-
hsvinttr, during a certain time. Formerlv, the punish-
ment of imprisonment sometimes extended to ten years;
hot modern practice has confined it to a year, eighteen
naming, and, at the most, two years. Since the Rill of
Ate. Taylor, which passed • few years ago, the indg-
see of' Me pillory is only promote-ea in cases of per-
6tanintenk writers are tiae tics better liable to that

The generous and philosophic "frit brerthodlineslo
line of thn composition, and the *obit and eulighleitte

contrast it presentato thogdomo of fanatiellin. ;ma the
fal4e glare of religions and moral hypocrisy, give it, Is
thy estimation, a high value: and a, it hath never, I
believe, appeared its print, will, with every candid and
ingenuous mind, be viewed a 4 diffusing a new ray of
glory round the head of the most philanthropic and il-
lustrious benefactors of mankind.

reginn of practical ;possibilities. or praetical probabilitlew,*
the proposition assumes qnite another form. It is indeed
instructive and likewise amusing, to observe the levity
and temerity with which 'nosy persons who pretend to
be the gn►d►s of their fel!o►vcititennl, in questions of this
kind, call for " a good law on the liberty of the preset"
with what coutidence they elate their eipectation, that
this urgent want of the times will. fro. one quartet or
another, from above or from below, h some certain leav
be supplied ; and bow incapable thew seem of putScieurry
manifestitif their surpris.•, that, whither through the In
ability of the advisers, or the obstinacy of the holders of
power. so salutary a work should be so long Marti. It
is still more instructive, and not less amusing, to see
legislators, statesmen, and well-meaning authors, *truss
Kling and straining, and after a hundred abortive triak
still renewint their attempts to conquer this rebeill
problem. They would not spend their time and their'
efforts more fruitlessly, were they to employ themselves
in endeavouring to square the circle.
Clo be coatinved

retuaiii, Sir, pours, &c.
Cousc roa.

TO THE REV. GEORGE VVHITRIILD.

SIR-11 received your kind letter of the !d inst. and
are glad to hear that you increase in strength; I hope
ysa will enntinne mending, till you reemet your former
health and liminess. Let me know whether you Mill use
the cold bath, and what elfect it has.
As to the kindness you mention, I wish it could have
been of uwre service to you, but if it had, the only
thanks I should desire would he, that you might always
be equally ready to serve any other person who should
need your assistance ; and so let good offices go round ;
for mankind are all of a family.
For my own part, when I am employed in serviag,
others, I do nut look upon myself as conferring favors,
but as paying old debts.—ln my travels, and rime my
settlement here, I have received much kindness from
MOO, l 0 Whalli I shall never have any opportunity of
making the least direct return ; and natuberless mercies
from thud, also is infinitely above being benefited by
our services.—Those kindnesses from area, I can only
return to their fellow-men ; and I ran only show my
gratitude for these mercies from God, by a readiness to
help his other children and my brethren; for I do not
think that despite and compliments, though repeated'
weekly, eau ilialAargeoor real obligations to each other,
and Emit lens to oar Cemstoe. Ton will ere this my notion

CAN A D. 4.
KtKorron, U. C. Dec. 21.—His Excetency the
Lieut. Governor in .Council, desirous of viatintr
the sitoation of the4ssaaase class of settlers, has
been pleased to order that they receive* gratuitous
grant of 30 aerei..: land, with liberty to lease the re-
serves; to meet the &hove gratuity the following num
will be exacted upo.i all grant. dor WO acres and up-
wards, which way be made subsequent to the l.t of Js-
'miry 1.20:
On grants of 50 acres. Sterling.
Do. do 300 do. ell U 0
Do. do. 200 do. 30 0 0
Do. do. 31/0 do 60 o Il
Do. do. 4110 do. 73 0 0
Ito. do. 31111 tjq, 0 0
- - -td. lOW Q
Ito. do. 700 Jo. 175 0 0
c Ito. do. 5110 do. 200 0 0
Do. do. 9110 do. 225 It 0
Do. do. 1000 do. 290 0 0
Ito. do. 1100 do. 275 0 0
thi. do. 1200 do. 300 U
Payable in three equal instalments.
The l'pper Canada Gazette contains an adverting
offering fur sale, at public unction, in the town of York,
on the 4th, 15th, and 24th Mar, meg 16,1. June, ',wards
..of thirty thousand acres of latia, situated in various parts
of the province, being' the property of certain traitors
aliens, vested in his Majesty by an Act of the Pro-
Parliatewnt.

stole of happineis infinite in degree, and eternal in du-
ration ; I can du nothing to deserve such rewards. Ile
who, for giving a draught of water to a thirsty person,
should expert to he paid with a good plantation, would
be modest in his demands, compared with those who
think Auxerre Fiesta* fie the little pool they do
es earth ---liven the mow imperfect pleasures we enjoy
in this world are rather frosts God's goodness, than oar
own merit : how much more the happiness of Heaven?
For my part, I have not the vanity to think I deserve it
—the fully to expeit it—or the ambition to desire it ;
bet content flirter with submitting to the will and ilia-
posal of that tiod who me, who ha/hitherto pre-
served and blessed use, and in Otiose fatherly goodness
oaf well ronede, that be will Rover mate use miser-
able, and that even the affliction that I may at any time
snide, iriU torsi os my benefit.

In a country where no la* or police regulations ape.
rate toprevent the abuse of the press, and where so wide
a Kelt% open to the activity, the restlessness, and the
passions of all turn, libels of every kind cannot he un-
common. At the saute time, it cannot he denied that
writings of this description are not only inimical to the
and boner of individnals, but that they may vie.
ate the severity anti dignity of the State; and, as we
have shown, they are, according to the principles of
British jurisprudence, necessarily treated with severit#.-1
Under these circumstances, would not any one expert
to filed the distinguishing marks, the legal character 01,
a libel, precisely determined by established nitre, or et
leant defined with cinch a degree of correctness as to leave
no uscertainty in ordinary calm, and to afford, even in
;Isaias might be doubtful, a certain guide to the inter.
,p/etation of the Judge? —Such is, however, by so lIISSaII
all ease.
The definitions given by the highest legal authori-
ties of the abuse of the press, or of what constitutes a
libel. all bear, without exception, the stamp of the un-
certaiety of the law. We shall mow cite a few of the ,
most remarkable. Chief Jastice Coots's' says, in his i
• Digest of the Laws of England," a:hool which is consi-
dered classical :—" A libel (libellee Asmara) is a con- i
futilely or reproach, published to the defamation of the
government. a inagiihmte, or a private person."
The celebrated BlintbMose expresses himself thus :•••-
0 Every freeman has' air4ollldoebted right to lay what
sentiments lie pleases iseltullinhe public : to turista this
is to destroy the freedom Ile* press ; but if he pub.
dishes what its improper, iim~llibes, or illegal, he most
sake the essectesmences of WAWA temerity."
herd Ellenbormieli, Chiefiffilitee of die Court of
King's Bench, in the year I VW. every publica-
tion punishable, " whlrls tends t4tirielt'e the discontent
of the people, or, either by ceiumet#lll.sierisisin, to bring
the established tilthorities of the gollienment into din
esteem." One AM* latest-writers NOLA& %abject, whir
is a dbopiy leareAlidlid practical laviltelgif dr6l'irolt •
libel. saw with itot-lideli more prerisissilKllllllo his pro-
tiecespera. " 11,e I Aiwa. eineists in paldishirtrill %brines.
or poifetell, or paintell4on, rendinsriblibpasit
the mobile peace, by vilify gnvvrnmenr,
,risereciting the selijetili." • so i
it wield be a waste oftieVello dwell en the deflentiby,
utwertainty, and worthlesseess of this, and all 'ohm-de-
finitions of the same demetption, or to enter into any
detailed proof rat the very unfair anal severe treatment
which authors must snfrer, or the serious dangers to
which the State must he exposed, limier suds a complete
enema. of the law, aceoriling as caprice or power may
incline the balance to one side or the other. 'floe Gon-
station of the whole edifice, namely, the ambiguous
formal,. " a breach of the King's peace," which is a
mere legal fiction, is millheimst to (duce a cow Hien
that kilowatt answer its object. Indeed the freedom of
the pesos in England, under whatever point of view it
might he contemplated, would appear most anfavaer-
ably situated, were it not, es will hereafter be shown,
thattbe imperfection of the law is more or Ins compen-
sated by certain remedies.
A error
would be committed, were it sop..
that defects we have teethed belong exclusively tit
the fish legislation on the press, or that they ha
their origin in some peculiar property of the British
l'on Anatol), and conseirsently, that under a
evsteuistif government they could be easily
These defects are attached to the nature of the allings
and are its unavoidable and immediate results. It fog,
perhaps. be reganied merely as a proof of the jest Awl-
flip sad lucky instinct of British Statesmen, that on
this subject they have never attempted to struggle for
the as nsesplishusent of impracticabilities. Every lawyer
iraows beet Micah it is to_ specify with logical and

•
Wednesday being the day appointed to
Earl Fitawilhana with the Address oat
• Meeting at Wakefield, on the 13th November lad, op-
wards of lOU Noblemen and Gentlemen assembiad its
the 'morning at Wealwerth-ilane. to *Geed the ►
ration. The company were received into the pitlastld
ball, and from thenve proreedird to the saloon. Irian
Earl Fitzwilliam was waiting to reeeive the Adtiter;
supported on his right by Lord Milton, and nn his lett
by his Lordship's Chaplain, the Reverend J. Lowe.
L .rd Althorp addressed his Lordship in an impressive
s N ech, and then read the Resolutions and Addrao, sari
concluded by ()horning, that the best testimony of the
approval of his lone and faithful *niers leas evinced
by the unsolicited sigoatares stagaranis of six shosaos4l
of his frirnds and neighbours., ,
Lord returned an appropriate IMAM.

The faith yos mention has certainly its use in the
world. Ido nut desire to see It diminished, nor would
I maiisooni to Imes it in any man. Bet I wish it were
store prase/ire of good work, than 1 hare generally
eon it. I sm. real good works—works of kindness.

charity, mercy, and public spirit; net holiday-keeping,
seemosi-reading, or hearing, and perfuctuing church ce-
remonies, or makiag long prayers idled wit► lottery,
ever despised by wise men, and still much less capable of
pleasing the Deity. The worship of vial is a rimy; the
reading or hearing of sermons may be useful; but if
men rest at hearing anti praying, es too wimpy do, it is
as if a tree should rains itself on being watered, and
putting forth leaves, thosigh it never produced any
fruit. Your great Master thinight watch km of these
outward appearances sail profussioas than wiany of his
modern disciples. lie preferred the doers of the word
to the mere Ammer*; the son who seemingly refused
to obey his father, mill yet performed his cosoniatitis,
to him Who professed his seediness, bat neglected his
wont ; the lirretiesl but charitable Soesseitas, to the art-'
oh.tritithltt though orthodox priest and isuierified Levity ;
and those who gave food to the bongs, drink to tho
thirsty, r.iiiiient to the asked, entertainment to the
stranger, and 'dirt to the sick, dimwit they rover heard
of his name, he declares shall, in the lust slay, he ar- 1
cepted ; while those who cried Lord ! Lord who valise
dissieelves upon their faith, though great enough to
perform miracles, bat have rieglected good mocks, shall
be rejected.
He professed that he came sot to eall the righteous.
hut simmers, to repentance; which implied his molest 1
opiolua, that there were some, in hie time, who thought
themselves so pa, that they reed not eves hear him
for luiproireummat l hat tiour•••iisy., we hove scene a
tittle pagoda that done mu think it the duty of every
was, within Ms rese►, tosit under his petty imititatinns,
and that wharves omits theta Wands t7ed. 1 wish to
such more lkstillitp, and to you health and happiness,
being your friend sad seesaw, B. lhatiaLtst.
Philadelphia, June Sib, 1733.

The ronspany then retired from the saloon, sad more
for refreshment were thrown .epea, where upwards ol
1311 Gentlemen partook of an elegant cold collation.
By an arrival from Trinidad, at Cork letters were
yasterdav received from the Island of Margaritts,
*I *hid; the followirq are exUncts:-
1114WiliAltirrb. uer. 6.—Tbe am-mats from the British
legion at Abiturin are tntly gratifying. They get the
belt of rations, said their pay regahirly from itegosears,
and dedare themselves perfectly wirisewil and well pro-
vialeil for. They hare lost hat six toes dew lilif task
np their position on the Mai., and not am oilier. be,
neral Marino is waiting at Oahu. fur than ter join his.
When they do, General Bernindes will have sh ds WI
3,11410 men, ready for service. Admiral Brine seems-
nies the troop' going from this place to the bilahL •
argil simply of all kinds of provisioas has arrived Lett
from the United States, and snore were expected. Ad'
mire! *non had purehased them on his own credit. The
Helium*, with 2041 men, is off Parnpatar. The Twatlik is
now cooler, and the disorder has nearly ceased.
Sw eau Ltsc.—A letter received from an Mar
lit Cork, dated tiElth January, save—" The &nag-
gliug Preventive Service is at sat arranged to go on
herr. James lionbniia, Esq. Is Inspector lieeeral, and
Lieutenants de Illuntmoreney, Thomas Usher, W. H.
Meggisson, tad T. C. Sherwin, Inspecting Commanders.
Sauengliag is carried on most extensively: on the 10151,
a ratter run a cargo near liallicotton; and ratters mid
!riggers, from venous parts of Holland, Flushing, U.ere-
sey, Jersey. and America, carry on the illicit trade. In
fart, no one in England can have an idea of the retest
to which smuggling is carried on in Ireland. Regular
agents are appointed all over the coast ; and when
cargo is landed, the smugglers can command freesia
to 11100 men, to carry it at once of. The boats of the
Richmond revenue, cruiser, the other day, IpArded a
cutter with 32 armed men, who had, au doubt, put a
cargo. A smuggler has bees just taken by the Pan-
dora. These vessels sail so well, it is lenity possible
for the cruisers to catch them. We have had motional
Crest rod snow here the lad theee weeks, man thee
have been remembered for 33 years : the roads am id.

Rosebonii strawbopnies.
Inn alretaltr prothseedat tit!
of tie Nail tisk fruit is force
aim dim a kotirge,lt airs

Tag qmalityi
"IWO!" ti r-

af ion

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