The Statesman.
London, England, 1821-07-04 00:00:00

las i aparti aft:intuit Sttri'or Petl3
for triumph betimes' Appals
strong that the my fountain of

luted. Is this poiat of view be
to the Society eery Merit, and he thought it was
better to discourage a system which fostered Alio dt
testable herd of spies mad informers ; for sure he wool
' that while they were encouraged they would sever fail
Se excite offences in order that they might be paid tar
detecting them.—Hear.)
Kr. ATTORNEY-MINERAL said the motion might
=
an end to all the prosecutions compleined of
t inquiring whether they were properly hied.
'Mud or mot. His Hos. and Learned Friend bad ant
ventured to say that the Society in question was ills-
; eat in its Constitution. If it was the Courts of Low
mould have been applied to for the purrs., of pee.,
iMsencing its illegality ; but no proceeding bad ben
taken in either of those courts for the purpose of raln
ing the questioi. He could see no distinction betimes
this Society and the others which have been alluded to
in the way otcomparison. For the first time, however,
in that House he had heard himself called the public
prosecutor, and he had heard it said that be was the
constitutional officer, whose duty elope it was to pro-
secute for political libels. Why it was a fact, that
whenever he exercised this painful part of his office, he
was universally assailed by the defendant as having
taken onconstitutional proceedings, and be was salted
why he had not left the case to the ordinary proceed-
ing by indictment. There was, he begged to observe,
no such an office in the English law as that of pulls
prosecutor. All criminal proceedings were in the
name of the King ; and in the year 1792 it was stated
by Lord Loughborough, the highest legal authority
of the day, that Associations like that which was
then in question, so far from being illegal, wets in
fact highly meritorious, for it was the duty of every in-
dividual to enforce the law. That Society was not the
first of its nature, as a Society for enforcing the King'sl
Proclamation against Vice had been formed so far
back as the year 1757. The Attorney-General was
armed with extraordinary power for the punishment of
libellers, and it had generally been said by those who
had suffered from it, that that power, was unconstitu-
tional. Now, however, it was convenient for the ar-
gument to put the case the other way, and to talk of
the responsibility of the Attorney-General as the pro-
per Officer to prosecute. Undoubtedly, great respon-
sibility attached to the Attornev-General as a Public
Officer, but no individual whom he prosecuted assoc.
cessfully could maintain any action against him with•
out proving express personal malice--a case sever yet
known in the law. The persons responsible under this
Society were those who were responsible in ordinary
cases. Any individual who lied been injured by an
unsuccessful prosecution could maintain his action
against Mr. Murray, Mr. Sharp, and the Committee
who had directed the prosecution, if malice, or the
want of a probable cause, could be shewa. This gave
the individual a better chance of redress than he had
as against the Attorney-General. His Hoe. and
Learned Friend had, to be sere, offered one of the
most extraordinary arguments be bad ever heard; be
had said that the Society would encourage spies tad
informers, because they must trod persons to purchase
the works intended for prosecution. And what was

the Attorney-Oeneral ithimself colopelkd to (ha ile
also sent to purchase the work objected to, or he
coo' not prove the publication. Would it, foe in.
stance, be said that be (the Attorney-Grew/al) hod is.
cited Mr. Carlile, because be felt it necessary. to is.
sore public justice to send sod purchase his works ?
.

(Hear, hear.)—The Hon. and Learned Member here
exaniin.•d the case of King, his affidavit, and that
of Orton in contradiction, and observed that althosgh
he did not stand up to defend the proceedings of the
Society, be thought it too much to say that the troth
was entirely on one side of the questioe, sod false•
hood entirely on the other. He ►egged to remark
upon an observation of the Hon. Member for
Bramber (Mr. Wilberforce.) who bad asked, was

it to he endured that such a man as Mr. Carlile
should he suffered to continue his dangerous pub-
lications while he was in prison suffering the sea-
tepee of the law? To what had be (the Attorney.Oene
vat) been driven? He was compelled to prosecute
Carlile's wife. He had done so and convicted her.
He had also prosecuted the sister and the shopman, and
he believed the two latter individuals had given up the
shop. What more could be possibly do? It had been
his misfortune to be compelled to institute more of
these prosecutions than bad been instituted by any of
his predecessors in the same length of time. And if
his exertions failed in putting down these publications,
he could not blame a Society of individuals who mere-
ly assisted the execution of the laws against the 'ices-
tiousuess of the press. Of the prosecutions themselves
he knew nothing bat what appeared in public ; though
as far as his observation went, there was nothing
al in their course. With respect to the Society itself
he had seen nothing upon which he could pronounce
it to be illegal; but that was a question which could.
if necessary, be readily decided by a Court of Law.—
Neither could he we that any of the Members of the
Association were incapacitated from serving on juries,
because he observed. it was the duty of all persons to
assist in the prosecution for public offences; and io
principle he could see no distinction between Societies
instituted to prosecute for felonies, and those raised to
prosecute for libels, although it bad been thought
proper to apply the epithet '•political" to the latter
species of offence.
Mr. BROUUHAM said, that in his opinion, a man
night with petlect consistency approve of the other
societies alluded to incidentally. and yet disapprove
.f that under the notice of the House; as the siistinc-
.ion between them was as clear as possible. Some de
•uses were, and ought to be, nameless. an OttSht to
be prosecuted, though many a man would feel a re-
p tgnance at having his pause mentioned in the tame
li to with such an offence, even as its prosecutor. Time'
.a gnment draw■ from the societies to prosecute for
t lefts could not apply to the present Association. How
ens it possible that a man's feelings could be so inte-
•.ated in the ease of a Heft as they would ise upon a
;oration purely political. Party feeling would inter-
ere. sod even the Jury become contaminated with it
.y the encouragement of lush a Society as this. That
.weedy proposed woad be in aggravation of the ruin-1
Mei; tur. is bad been well-observed by bid lion. and
.earned Eiriend, It would lead to die pollotion of tilt
cry foe oial aof juistiott. The Atloniesetseteral
• ai 1, heed not seo•abst 111estibeis of fbtir
err disyu filled to sit as JuPporet bploikkiitiolis