1831.] - Affairs In General. 659 



with every reasonable indulgence. He could not help wishing that every 

 honest and industrious labourer in England could partake of the dinner 

 which he himself saw on its way to ]\Ir. Taylor a few days ago ; for it 

 consisted of prime roast beef, peas-pudding, and potatoes, with abun- 

 dance of porter. Wine and spirits only were prohibited, as contrary to 

 the regulations of the prison. Then as to books, there was no restriction 

 even to the works of Vohiey and Gibbon, only so far as the dissemina- 

 tion of the infidel doctrines for which he was imprisoned was concerned, 

 and all works of that description were strictly forbidden ; otherwise his 

 conviction and punishment would be a mischievous mockery. Having 

 made this statement," concluded the honourable member, " in justice to 

 the body (Surrey magistrates,) of which I am a member, I will add, 

 that attached as I am to the doctrines and usages of the church of Eng- 

 land, I very much doubt the expediency of prosecuting the impugners 

 of those doctrines and usages." 



Mr. Denison is a liberal, and his last assertion is contradicted by com- 

 mon sense, and the practice of all rational legislation. In the first place, 

 Christianity is by law part and parcel of the British constitution ; and to 

 insult it, is a palpable and most injurious insult to the law. In the 

 next, irreligious opinions, to the extent to which this Taylor and his 

 associates laboured to urge them, are directly connected with the over- 

 throm of the state. In the third, there can be no greater nonsense than 

 to say, that the best way of suppressing mischievous publications is to let 

 them take their way, and do all the mischief they can. We should hke to 

 know how IMr. Denison himself would be disposed to act, if he found a suc- 

 cession of pamphlets published daily, holding himself up as a pest to 

 society, and recommending the immediate burning of his barns, and the 

 pulling down of his house, with a promise to the pullers-down of a general 

 distribution of his i-ental. Now, the recommendatien and the promise are 

 preciselj' the same in this instance, as those of the new school in the 

 •instance of Christianity. " If there were no religion," is the cry "there 

 would be no church ; and if no church, no priesthood ; and if neither the 

 one nor the other, the church lands, houses, and rents, would na- 

 turally be divided among the gallant patriots of the new school." We 

 are strongly of opinion, that ]\Ir. Denison would not suffer himself and 

 his chattels to be placarded with patience, but that he would set about 

 tearing down the j)lacards, and jirosecuting the placarders with ma- 

 gisterial assiduity ; he would not leave " things to take their natural 

 course," to the hazard of a fleece of his sheep, or a button of his coat; 

 and therein we think he would do wisely. But, for the same reasons, 

 we think that insults to things which all honest men revere, and by 

 which the whole policy of the state, and the whole virtue and security 

 of private life are sustained, sliould not be left to the malignity or the 

 follies of the orators of the Rotunda, however free and philosophical 

 their scorn of a God or a king may be. The true policy in the case of 

 a malignant libeller is, to punish him for his libel, and if he repeat the 

 offence, punish him again, and so on. Experience shews, that the law is 

 more long-lived than the most heroic spirit of libel; and, in consequence, 

 every libeller within memory lias been successively lessoned into the 

 virtue of silence. The generation is prolific, 'tis true ; but the law- 

 is long handed, and as an instance of the salutary nature of the pro- 

 cess, how many of our boldest libellers are now sunk into utter ob- 



