619 
which that event had been alluded to 
in many authors, who were never 
suspected of a wish to excite the 
commission of assassination. Nor 
could itbé more safely inferred from 
the allusion ta the apotheosis in use 
among the Romans. It might be 
that a man, disgusted with the nu- 
merous addresses which had been 
poured from all quarters, might 
fairly say, 1 even wish him the apo- 
theosis as soon as he can have it. 
Many of the Roman emperors re- 
ceived the honours of a divinity, and 
yet lived; their apotheosis did not 
always imply their death. He next 
adverted to the imputation of free 
discussion, and elucidated this part 
of his argument, by precedents 
drawn from our own history. At 
the time when queen Elizabeth, that 
wise and patriotic princess, was be- 
set with formidable enemies, a 
powerful faction in the heart of her 
Kingdom, and no resources but in 
her own mind, she, and it was a 
‘curious piece of history, published 
the first newspaper. ‘Her gazettes 
were still preserved, and, by means 
of that dissemination of public opi- 
nion, she roused the feelings of her 
subjects to a pitch equal to withstand 
any attempts that could be made 
upon them. Since that period, 
newspapers had multiplied, and dis- 
cussion had become more extended. 
During the reign of Louis XLV. who 
had formed the most gigantic plans 
of guilty ambition, he w ho attacked 
a free nation merely for his glory ; 
he who had made subservient to his 
interests, the guilty and infamous 
prince who then governed England; 
even his conduct was most freely 
canvassed. Nor did a venal court 
dare to stop the inquiry and investi- 
gation of free minds, even when 
Jefferies disgraced the bench which 
Ay 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 
1803. 
his lordship adorned: not even then 
did a venal judge and corrupt court 
dare to attack the freedom of the 
press. In latter times, to come to 
the partition of Poland; did that 
infamous transaction and public rob- 
bery pass without examination and 
censure? We loudly spoke our in- 
dignation, though the-robbers were 
our. great allies ; but our free presses 
spoke of them, not as according to 
their greatness, but as to their crimes. 
I will putit to the attorney general to 
say, whatwould have been hisconduct, 
if we had been at peace with France, 
during part of the awful crisis which 
had convulsed her. When Robes- 
pierre presided over the committee 
of public safety, was not an Eng- 
lishman to canvass his measures ? 
Supposing we had then been at peace 
with France, would the attorney 
general have filed an information 
against any one who had expressed 
due abhorrence of the furies of that 
sanguinary.monster ? When Marat 
demanded 250,000 heads in the 
Convention, must we have contem- 
plated that request without speaking 
of it in the terms it provoked? 
When Carriere placed five hundred 
children in a square at Lyons, to 
fall by the musquetry of the soldiery, 
and from their size the balls passed 
over them, the little innocents flew 
to the knees of the soldiery for pro- 
tection, when they were butchered 
by the bayonet! In relating this 
event, must man restrain his just 
indignation, and stifle the expression 
of indignant horror such a dreadful 
massacre must excite? Would the 
attorney general in his information 
state, that when Maximilian Robes- 
_pierre was firstmagistrate of france, 
as president of the committee of 
safety, that those who spoke of him 
as his crimes deseryed, did it with a 
wicked 
