GENERAL HISTORY. 



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prised ** a vivacity, a mobility of 

 imagination, which required re- 

 straint;" and he concluded with 

 saying, that the king proposed 

 nothing to them which did not 

 appear to him absolutely neces- 

 sary to the safety of the national 

 institutions, and the administration 

 of government. The following 

 were the most important provi- 

 sions of the law. Every work of 

 more than thirty sheets to be pub- 

 lished freely, and without censorial 

 revision ; and the same latitude to 

 be given toworksin the dead and the 

 foreign languages,prayer-books, ca- 

 techisms, episcopal charges, law re- 

 ports, and works of scientific socie- 

 ties, established by royal autho- 

 rity. With regard to writings of 

 less bulk, the director-general of 

 the press, or prefects in the depart- 

 ments, may require their previous 

 communication. Such works to 

 be examined by censors named by 

 the king, and if thought by thera 

 defamatory, dangerous to the 

 public peace, or immoral, their 

 printing may be forbid by the di- 

 rector-general. A committee of 

 three members of each house, with 

 three commissioners appointed by 

 the king, to be formed in each 

 session, to whom such suppres- 

 sions shall be communicated, with 

 the opinions of the censors ; and 

 if their reasons shall appear insuffi- 

 cient, the committee may order 

 the printing. Journals and pe- 

 riodical writings not to appear 

 without the king's authority. The 

 author and printer of a work may, 

 if they choose, require its previous 

 examination, and if it be approved, 

 they are discharged from all re- 

 sponsibility, except with respect 

 to injuries of individuals. No 

 person to be a printer or bookseller 



without the king's licence, and tak- 

 ing the proper oaths; and the licence 

 may be withdrawn on violation or 

 the regulations. Clandestine print- 

 ing establishments to be dastroyed, 

 and the proprietors to be subject 

 to fine and imprisonment. No 

 work to be published without 

 notice to the director-general or 

 the prefect of the department, 

 under a fine for neglect. The 

 omission of the printer's name, or 

 substitution of a false name, to be 

 punished by fine. This law to be 

 revised after three years. 



It was not to be expected, that 

 a plan so restrictive of the effectual 

 liberty of the press should be re- 

 ceived with general concurrence ; 

 accordingly we find, from the re- 

 port of a committee of the cham- 

 ber of deputies appointed to exa- 

 mine it, delivered on August 1st, 

 b}' M. Raynouard, that it incurred 

 very serious opposition in tnat 

 house. The committee was una- 

 nimous in declaring, that the plan 

 of the law as proposed could not 

 be adopted without some modi- 

 fications ; and it was resolved by 

 a majority, that previous censor- 

 ship ought not to serve as the basis 

 of the law. The speech of that 

 member on the occasion was long, 

 and though calm, strongly rea- 

 soned ; and arguments were par- 

 ticularly adduced to prove, that 

 such censorship was incompatible 

 with the freedom of the press, 

 and a violation of the constitution. 

 The report was ordered to be 

 printed. Such was the public 

 curiosity respecting the debate on 

 the subject which was to take 

 place in the chamber of deputies 

 on August 5th, that it gave rise 

 to a scene highly characteristic of 

 the nation. A vast crowd, in 



