62] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



the practice were not sufficient to 

 establish this point, there could be 

 no safe tfuicie for any man in the ex- 

 ercise of his judicial or legal duties. 



Lord Erskine assui"ed the House, 

 that during the whole time that 

 he practised at the bar, he never 

 had the least idea that it was com- 

 petent to a common justice of the 

 peace to arrest before indictment 

 for libel ; and he prayed them to 

 remember, that the libel act was 

 a dead letter, if this was held to 

 be law ; that any justice of peace 

 might oveihaul collections of books 

 in any shop or library throughout 

 the kingdom, and upon his own 

 authoiity pronounce the sellers or 

 possessors to be criminal, and send 

 them by his warrants to prison. 



Viscount Sidinoutli said, that 

 when he had the satisfaction of 

 hearing it proclaimed in the House 

 that the measure which he had 

 thought it his duty to adopt was 

 conformable to the opinion of the 

 highest legal authority in the 

 country ; when he found it con- 

 formable to the opinions of the 

 greatest text-writers on the law, 

 and also to the recorded practice 

 of all the most eminent law ser- 

 vants of the Clown ; he felt it 

 would be presumptuous in him to 

 attempt to add any weight to this 

 mass of li\ing and dead authority. 

 There was, however, another point 

 on which he should think it a mat- 

 ter of great self-reproach if he 

 could not vjjKlicatc himself to their 

 lordships. It, seems that he stood 

 before their.lonlships charged with 

 luiviiitr usetl his best endea\ours 

 to Stop the jjrogress of blasphemy 

 and sedition. To ihat charge he 

 pleaded guilty; and while he lived 

 should be proifd to have such a 

 charge brought against him. He 



added in fine, that he was ready 

 to avow all he had dune, and 

 would take upon himself all re- 

 sponsibility for his acts, be the 

 consequences what they might. 



Earl Grey begged leave to detain 

 the House with -a few observa- 

 tions. When he came down to 

 the House, he felt of course con- 

 sideiable distrust as to the correct- 

 ness of his opinions, knowing that 

 he was to be opposed by the high- 

 est legal authorities ; but having 

 listened to the noble lords with 

 the utmost attention, he must say 

 that all that fell from them rather 

 strengthened than weakened his 

 own opinions ; for he had never 

 in his life heard any thing more 

 jejune and unsatisfactoiy than the 

 arguments of those learned lords. 

 He called for law, and they gave 

 him authority ; he called for de- 

 liberate discussion, and they had 

 given him bare assertions. 



After some further remarks on 

 this subject, he came to the sjjcech 

 of the noble secretary of state 

 (Lord Sidmouth), who, he said, 

 Avith a tone of great self-satisfac- 

 tion had taken to himself the 

 credit of stopping the progress of 

 blasphemy and sedition. He sup- 

 posed that the noble lords on his 

 side of the House were as little 

 friendlv to blasphemy and sedition 

 as the noble viscount; but the 

 question was, whether the latter 

 had not overstepped the bounds of 

 law, and endangered the consti- 

 tution, Avhlch he boasted of saving. 



The House at length divided, 

 when the Earl's motion was re- 

 jected by Non-contents 75 ; Con- 

 tents 19 : Majority 56. 



It was not till tlie '25th of June 

 that the same subject was moved 

 in the House of Commons by Sir 



Samuel 



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