682 



PRESS OF SAIL PRESTON-PANS. 



lative bodies, by a free press. Without this, pub- 

 licity of discussion in legislative assemblies would 

 be of little avail. In fact, representative govern- 

 ments, without the liberty of the press, are a mock- 

 ery. This liberty is, indeed, the great safeguard 

 of all others; and a whole dynasty was lately pros- 

 trated in a struggle with this formidable power. 

 Polignac's Report, which caused the revolution of 

 1830, will ever be memorable in the history of the 

 liberty of the press, as proving the difficulty or im- 

 possibility of a minister's ruling in opposition to 

 public opinion in a country where the press is free. 

 (For the history of the press, see Censorship.} 



In England, the liberty of the press, soon after 

 printing was introduced, was regulated by the king's 

 proclamations, prohibitions, charters of license, &c., 

 and, finally, by the court of star-chamber. The 

 Jong parliament, after their rupture with Charles I., 

 assumed the same power. The government of 

 Charles II. imitated their ordinances, and the press 

 did not really become free till the expiration of the 

 statutes restricting it in 1694, after which it was 

 found impossible to pass new laws in restraint of it, 

 and it has remained free ever since. In the article 

 Books, Censorship of, an account is given of the 

 regulations of various countries for restricting print- 

 ing, and the sale of printed matter. Where the 

 government has the complete control of either, no 

 liberty of the press exists. In other countries, the 

 principal rules for the regulation of the press are, 

 1. that all presses must have a license; the printers 

 must often give high security for their loyal beha- 

 viour, and sometimes even take an oath. A license 

 is required both in France and Great Britain (in the 

 latter country it is easily obtained; but a late law 

 in France, since the revolution of July, J830, has 

 required very high security). 2. the name and place 

 of residence of the printer must be mentioned on 

 the title-page. This is the case in Great Britain, 

 and on the continent of Europe. The printer must 

 keep a list of all that he prints, and some copies 

 must be sent to the government before publication. 

 In France, if a work is found illegal, a criminal 

 process is instituted, and the books are not allowed 

 to be sold until the decision is given. Government 

 need not prosecute immediately, but can at any 

 time. In 1817, there was much debate, whether 

 offences of the press should be judged by the assizes 

 (with a jury), or by the tribunaux de police correc- 

 tionnelle (without a jury). The latter opinion pre- 

 vailed, but the "special provisions," added in 1830 

 to the charter, provide for a trial by jury for offences 

 of the press, and political offences. The work Code 

 des Imprimeurs, Libraires, Ecrivains et Artistes, 

 par F. A, Pie (Paris, 1816, 2 vols.), contains all 

 the French laws of the press, to the date of its 

 publication. In the United States, there is no 

 restraint upon the liberty of printing. Any man 

 can print and circulate whatever he chooses, and is 

 only answerable if the matter itself is illegal. What 

 publications are punishable in the United States 

 will depend, in some measure, upon the circum- 

 stances of the particular state in which they appear. 

 In the slave-holding states, publications of a ten- 

 dency to excite commotions among the blacks are 

 liable to punishment. 



PRESS OF SAIL signifies as much sail as the 

 then state of the wind, &c., will permit a ship to 

 carry. See Navigation, and Ship. 



PRESS-GANG; the name given in England to a 

 detachment of seamen, who (under the command of 

 a lieutenant) are empowered, in time of war, to take 

 any seafaring men, and oblige them to serve on 

 board the king's ships. 



PRESS, PRINTING. See Printing. 



PRESTER JOHN. In the middle ages, it was 

 reported by travellers, that there was a Christian 

 prince who reigned in the interior of Asia, under 

 this name, and the same story was also known to 

 the crusaders. Albert of Aix, and Otho of Freisin- 

 gen, speak of him in the twelfth century ; Rubru- 

 quis, in the thirteenth century, attributes the name 

 of Prester John to a Nestorian prince, Ungklian, 

 who had reigned in Caracorum, over two Mongol 

 tribes, and perished in a war against Gengis Khan, 

 above half a century before the time of his journey. 

 (See Nestorians.) Other travellers of the thirteenth 

 century also mention this personage, and Giovanni 

 di Montecorvino, bishop of Cambalu, is said to 

 have converted (1305) a prince of his house to 

 Christianity. Who this Prester John was, it is not 

 easy to decide ; the supposition that he was the 

 Dalai Lama, or one of the chief priests of the La- 

 maites, does not agree with the position assigned to 

 his residence by the travellers, nor does any of the 

 etymological explanations, which have been pro- 

 posed, seem satisfactory. The most ludicrous mis- 

 take on this subject was that made by the Portu- 

 guese in the fifteenth century, who picked up a 

 story of a Christian prince in the interior of Africa, 

 whose name was Ogan, and who was in fact the 

 negus (king) of Abyssinia. In consequence of the 

 resemblance of the names Ogan and Ungk/ian, they 

 transferred the throne of Prester John from Asia to 

 Africa, and gave the name to the Abyssinian prince. 



PRESTO (Italian); quick, used in music to de- 

 signate the fifth chief degree of musical motion, 

 quicker than allegro. Presto assai denotes very 

 quick, and prestissimo the highest degree of quick- 

 ness. 



PRESTON; a borough town in Lancashire, Eng- 

 land, on the Ribble, thirty-one miles from Liver- 

 pool. The population, in 1790, was 6000, and had 

 been nearly stationary f r a century; but, in 1791, 

 a small muslin manufacture was established there 

 by u Mr Horrocks, which, with some other cotton 

 works, formed by the same individual, soon ren- 

 dered it one of the most flourishing places in the 

 kingdom. In 1801, the population was 11,887, in 

 1821, 24,575, and in 1841, 50,332. The streets are 

 broad and well paved, and there are churches for 

 almost all denominations of Christians. Before the 

 Reform Bill, the town sent two representatives to 

 parliament, who were elected by every male inha- 

 bitant, whether house-keeper or lodger, who had 

 resided six months in the town, and had not been 

 chargeable to any township as a pauper for twelve 

 months.* 



PRESTON, THOMAS, an English dramatic writer, 

 who flourished in the earlier part of the reign of 

 Elizabeth. He was educated at Cambridge, where 

 he succeeded to a fellowship. He was afterwards 

 created a doctor of civil law, and appointed master 

 of Trinity-hall, over which he presided fourteen 

 years. He wrote one dramatic piece, entitled a 

 Lamentable Tragedy, full of pleasant Mirth, con- 

 teyning the Life of Cambises, King of Percia, &c. 

 a sad tissue of fustian, which escaped not the satire of 

 Shakespeare, who, in Henry IV., makes Falstaff talk 

 of speaking in Cambyses' vein. Preston died in 1598. 



PRESTON-PANS ; a village eight miles east of 

 Edinburgh, where the royal troops under the com- 

 mand of Sir John Cope were defeated, in 1745, by 

 the Highlanders, who fought for the Pretender, 

 Charles Edward. Population in 1841 2234. 





* Voters of this kind were called potwallnpert, or potwaUert 

 (from wallop, to boil), a term which includes all persons who 

 boil their own jiot, or cook their own victuals. Taunton, a 

 borough in Somersetshire, with a population of 8. r ;00, likewise 

 returned two members, chosen by the potwallopert of the 

 borough. 





