Star. — 1819-12-01 (London, England)

THE FUNDS. FRICK OF STOCKS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK : 3 per Cent. Reduced 67.1 661 3 per Cent. Consols 68 671 68 6711 Sit per Cent. 75-11 4 per Cent. 84+1,4 5 per Cent. Navy 104-1 103 k 104 Bank Long Annuities 17 9-16 f India-Stock 208*—India Bonds ss. 4s. pre. Exchequer Bills (2d.) 2s. 4s. dis. Ornnium 2l—Consols for Acct. 68t 67f 68.  •••••••  Never were more important subjects brought into discussion than those embraced by the gagging—the Revolutionary Bills .now before Parliament. That to prevent unauthorised drilling, is just in principle, none will dispute. But why irthis salutary measure to be accompanied with the subversion of all the venerablo; institutions of our. forefathers? How often have we heard of the dangers of innovation from the mouths the very men who now innovate by wholesale. Should the Seditious Meeting Bill pass into a law in its present 'form, an end will at once be put to all expression public opinion, Our counties and cities are .to be broken down to their constituent atoms, in every attempt to express their desires to the Legislature or • the Sovereign. Every thing, as in. France during the worst times of the Revolution, is to be done b;• divisions of Lilliputian slenderness-..-parishes and half parishes—if the Magistrates contrive not  prevent even this. This is precisely what was done by the French Tyrants, when they divided Paris into Sections, and the Country into Communes, which they directed at their pleasure. To restrain, in this manner, the right of Petitioning to Sections, is to destroy it effectually ; for before -the tedious de. tail can be gone through on any objectionable mea, sure, the whole Session will have passed over, and the matter in question have become law. And what shall we say to the increased creation of artificial felonies by the operation of this Bill—that is, acts legally constituted so, though not morally criminal' Should a person, in the exercise of the right pretended to be reserved to him, mistake the bounds of! his own District and shew his face in Another, he no longer walks with the firm step of a free-born Englishman, but in the slippery path of a felon, As to the Bill which is intended (under the pretext of restraining the circulation of Seditious and Blasphemous Publications), to destroy the Freedom of the English Press, it is impossible to speak of in terms of sufficient reprobation, But The Courier tells us, that it is not intended " to interfere with the vital principle ! of the Liberty of the Press--there is to be no previous Censorship." Insulting sycophant. The Bill is infinitely worse. Yes, infinitely worse ! Where there •is a Censorship, the man who publishes that on which the Censors have put their Veto, does it with his eyes. open. But this Bali neither more nor less than a snare to entrap men who have never contemplated the perpetration of a crime, A publisher isnot to be allowed the benefit of knowing, officially, what may be construed a libel, by receiving the opinion of tht Censors on the article, before publication. He Must act on his own judgment—his revisers are a Jury (perhaps a very ignorant one) after he has fully committed himself (owing to the want of Guardian Censors); and, on a- second gems, he is to be transported as a felon among thieves and murderers I—Are Englishmen at last to be brought to this pass ?—ls this the preservation of the vital principle" of the Liberty of the Press?—And all this' is to be thrustdovm our throats, with the levity maw nifested by a Mountebank, when he makes his petite, swallow such a potion as he is sure, from its fikhines4, must produce wry faces, to muse the surnpunding multitude. What must he the result of this system ? Wdl"