The Rutland weekly globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-08-15

case at q public meeting No printer dared
publish these speeches without guarantee |
against loss from governmental prosecution
and no one could be found TO distribute !
them, after being printed, for fear of pros
ecutlon for libel, although every word,
therein uttered, was strictly true. Mr.
Whallcy declares, as reported in the Tri-
Junc, "that the course of Sir Alexander
Cockburn in adjudgng all words which
might influence jurymcn to be in contempt
of court, was even worse than that of the
notorious Jcffrics, who relied upon pleas
of contempt of court for his most danger
Gus onslaughts upon liberty and Protest
antism. Sir Alexander COckburn pracu-
cally proclaims that he will allow no free
discussion in England, and there was moth
ing in the annals of james ii. more out
rageous or tyrannical than this
We arc not compelled to rely upon Mr..
Whalley's statement alone, for these arc
matters of general and common noioricty,
| and are exciting an intense feeling through
out England Whether this attempt to
'muzzlc the press" has its origin from one
source or another, is not matter Of much
importance. 50 long as the attempt is made
We trust that these efforts which, so far at
least have been successful in England may
yet be stayed if not, however, we can
console ourselves with the sure belief that
this last dcspotic effort of monarchy
| whether of church or state Ia abridge and
limit the freedom Of speech and of the
press will but hasten the day when Great
Britain shall be governed by the people
alone, and the divine right of kings TO rule
become tradition of the past. We don't
naturally expect much Of France. for her
whole history. under all rules. il bristling
with assaults on the freedom of speech and
of the press. Whoever has had the pleas
ure of reading VI. Hatin's Manual Of the
Liberty of the Press in France has had
an opportunity of seeing, at glance. one
of the most frghtful accumulations, posi-
BILE to be conceived Of ofoppressions and re-
strctions piled up, for three centuries, for
the avowed purpose of crushing the free
dom Of the press. Cotemporaneous, if not
actually simultaneous, with the movements
in the United States and Great Britain, al
ready referred to. President MacMal0h L.
sued his orders to buy bride or silence tho
press of France, while even the radical re.
publican leaders called upon tho govern
ment to prosecute, criminalIy, all n0ws-
papers that unfavorably criticised Theirs
Not content with this, the courts of Franco
have actually fined James Gordon Bennett
some six or seven thousand francs for
criticism called libel
which was published in the HerqH in New
York city. These may be, and perhaps
are. all mere condolences, hut they tend
all the same, to show the temper of tho
times. The press is power in the worl(
and is terror to evil doors and despOtisms
and no stone will he left untlrned to muz
zle it or cripple its power. Fraud and dis
honesty appear to lead IN the work here,
hate of republican principles is,apparenty
the lever in France, while, in England, still
other influences afford the motive power
The whole movement may be urged OF
from one or several main-springs, but Their
, is danger in the air, and il now looks as i
the old battle for liberty of speech and o
l the press must he fought over again.