270 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



stafF to commit assault and battery 

 on every man who may excite his 

 enmity, or be the object of his 

 spleen.it is necessary that the law- 

 should interfere, not to take away 

 his privilege, but to correct the 

 abuse, and punish the offender. 

 That, gentlemen, being the true 

 liberty of the press, wJiich it is 

 the duty of us all to preserve in- 

 violate, if every ruffian in the com- 

 munity who throws off those re- 

 straints which a regard to truth 

 imposes on other men, takes upon 

 him to slander and revile, and 

 deal out his malignity upon every 

 character, however exalted, pure, 

 and honourable, which may excite 

 his envy or his malice — it then be- 

 comes necessary to apply the cor- 

 rections of the law, lest that liber- 

 ty of the press should be turned 

 into an engine of public calamity. 

 The publication, gentlemen, is in 

 a newspaper entitled " The Dublin 

 Evening Post,'' of which the tra- 

 verser, Mr. Magee, is the printer 

 and publisher— we will show you 

 that, by proving the affidavit of 

 his registry, and that is the only 

 fact we have to prove. I do not 

 know whether it is intended on 

 the part of the traverser to deny 

 the fact — he is at liberty to dis- 

 prove it. The fact of publication 

 being once established, the ques- 

 tion for you will then be on the 

 libel itself, which must speak for 

 itself. I call your attention to this 

 matter principally, because an at- 

 tempt was made to postpone this 

 trial, on allegations which this un- 

 fortunate young man has been im- 

 posed upon to make the subject of 

 affidavits — namely, that he was 

 advised and believed that the evi- 

 dence of Mr. Pole, Mr. Peel, Mr. 



Fitzgerald, and sir Charles Saxtoti, 

 was material and necessary to his 

 cause. Could I suspect for a mi- 

 nute, that their testimony was ad- 

 missible on the trial pf this libel, I 

 should not have resisted the post- 

 ponement of the trial to a future 

 day ; but, being satisfied he has 

 been advised to make the assertion, 

 I could not consent to the delay of 

 public justice. Gentlemen, it would 

 be a melancholy thing that a man 

 should be put upon his trial every 

 day of his life, if some libeller 

 should choose to assail him, and 

 that such libeller should be admit- 

 ted to prove the truth of it, even 

 if he could, or that the govern- 

 ment of the country should submit 

 to a form or course of examina- 

 tion, for the purpose of furnishing 

 fresh libels for the Dublin Evening 

 Post. I will now proceed to call 

 your attention to the publication 

 in question. It is intituled, " A 

 Review of the Duke of Richmond's 

 Administration.'' Here the attor- 

 ney-general read the publication, 

 as it appeared in the Evening Post 

 of the 5lh of January ; and on 

 coming to the passage, " They in- 

 suited, they oppressed, they mur- 

 dered, and they deceived," he said. 

 Thus does the author accuse the 

 viceroys of Ireland. But, gentle- 

 men, this is not the first time that 

 the imputation of murder has been 

 made against the duke of Rich- 

 mond, in his public and official ca- 

 pacity. That was the very libel 

 that now stands convicted in the 

 " Statement of the Penal Code." 

 The char«e was there explained 

 and elucidated : you will find the 

 charge butreiterated in the present 

 libel. The charge there was, that 

 in consequence of the penal laws, . 



