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able, but would have entitled his Lordship to the esteem and gratitude of the whole body of protestant dissenters." Who were those temperate and judicious friends of the bill we are not informed. Indeed every body but its noble author, and his reverend panegyrist, the minister of Essex Street chapel, seem to have been ashamed of it; even the latter does not seem to half like it, and he cannot help at times, damning it with his faint praise! But where is the consistent friend to religious liberty who would think it a "desirable object," that Lord Sidmouth, or indeed any other statesman, or any legislative body, should possess the power of determining on the abilities or other qualifications of a christian teacher? Mr. B. cannot help perpetually sneering at and shewing his contempt for the methodists, which he might surely have refrained from doing, had he recollected the well known encomium passed on them by his friend Dr. Priestley, who considered their la bours in reforming and civilizing the lower classes, as having been more effectual than the united labours of the whole body of the established clergy but Mr. B. could not so exclude his usual good sense, as to prevent his answering one part of his pamphlet in another part. He himself has briefly, but forcibly overturned every thing that can be urged in favour of the "desirable object," of allowing the legislature to exclude even ignorant or vicious

men from the ministry. "There is only one way" (he observes)" in which the intrusion of sectaries can be successfully opposed. Let not the priest call in the unhallowed aid of the secular arm. Let him employ less offensive but more effectual means to expel the officious in truders. Let him fight them with their own weapons. Let zeal be opposed to zeal, instruction to instruction, visiting to visiting, cate

chising to catechising, the consolations and admonitions of the regular priesthood, to the consolations and admonitions of the unlearned sec tary. This is the only allowable, and the only effectual mode of conducting the contest; and where it is adopted by the regular clergy, they have little cause to complain of the success of the dissenters."-But we are sorry to perceive how soon the author relapses. In the very next page to that we last quoted he declares--" I am bold to assert," (and a very bold assertion it is)" that your lordship's bill might with great ease have been so modified, as to have answered every practicable purpose of its advocates, and at the same time to have merited the warmest gratitude of the dissenters, and to have entailed blessings on your lordship's name!!!!"

Mr. Belsham, if we may judge from this pamphlet in connection with his Jubilee sermon, of which we took due notice ;* has so thoroughly imbibed the spirit of a cour tier, that he compliments statesmen of totally opposite characters and opinions in the same adulatory strain. Thus Lords Sidmouth, Holland, Stanhope, Grey, Ellenborough &c. &c. are equally the objects of his panegyric, although it is impossible for any persons to have more severely reprobated Lord Sidmouth's bill, or to have expressed greater contempt for it, than two of the noble Lords above named.

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Whether "the noble and learned lord who," as he expresses it, "worthily and ably presides in the high and honourable Court of

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King's Bench, whose character "and known liberality" are so highly panegyrised, has drawn forth these encomiums by certain recent proceedings in that court; by the revival of the doctrine, "the greater "the truth, the greater the libel;"

Pol. Rev. Vol. VI. p. 375,

be brought about at any time with as much advantage as at the present?"-Without encountering these approved excuses of indolence and inactivity by other topics as general in their nature, but of an opposite tendency, and without citing or even insinuating the instructive proof which recent circumstances have afforded, of the immense danger of unnecessary postponements, we shall merely observe that at the present epoch the public mind does happen to be peculiarly alive to the doctrines of criminal jurisprudence, and the defects in our own penal system. Undismayed by the various objections and imputations which are calculated to deter them from the inquiry, several of the most distinguished members of our legislature have presumed to question the policy, the justice, and the humanity of our existing laws, and have most certainly been seconded by a very strong opinion out of dours. The opportunity, therefore, appears to be favourable for giving circulation to a rather ample exposition of the course pursued on the same subject by a great and enlightened people; and we design to state fully the contents of the work before us, for the information of our own countrymen,-without instituting any parallel, or obtruding many remarks, except for the purpose of rendering more intelligible, by the contrast, that which, standing alone, it might be difficult to explain.

"The penal code of France begins with certain preliminary disposi tions, comprising little more than a definition of the legal terms most constantly employed; and the first book opens with a table of punishments, which are divided into, 1, the afflictive and infamous; 2, the infamous; 3, the correctional. Those of the first description are, death, compulsory labour for life or for a certain time, deportation, and im

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prisonment. Under the second head are the pillory, banishment, and civil degradation. The correctional punishments are temporary imprisonment in a place of correction, temporary interdiction from certain rights, either of a civic or a domestic nature, and fines.—In the details which regulate the mode of inflicting these punishments, it is enacted that a parricide shall be taken in his shirt to the place of execution, barefooted, and his head covered with a black veil; that he shall be exposed on the scaffold while his sentence is read aloud; that his right hand shall be cut off, and he shall then be instantly executed. Decapitation is the only mode in which capital punishment can be administered.

[The Reviewer then proceeds more particularly to examine the various branches of this code, but our limits prevent us from extracting any other part than that relative to the LAW OF LIBELS.]

In the seventh section, directed against false testimony, calumny, insult, and the revelation of secrets professionally intrusted, we discover a principle of some importance, as to the law of libel affecting the character and feelings of individuals, which is not quite inapplicable to the question so often agitated among us,

"how far that which is true can justly be styled libellous."Every imputation,' says this Penal Code, is reputed false, which is not supported by legal proof. lu consequence, the author of the imputation shall not be allowed to demand, in his defence, that the proof be entered into: neither shall he be able to allege as an excuse that the documents or the facts are notori ous; or that the imputations which give rise to the prosecutions are copied or extracted from foreign papers, or other printed writings.'

When the fact imputed shall be legally proved true, the author of

the imputation shall be exempted from all penalty: but nothing shall be considered as a legal proof, but that which results from a judgment, or some other authentic act.'-In short, as we understand the provision, the defendant who is accused of calumny shall not be allowed to repel that accusation, by proving his charge to be true: but he may institute another proceeeding for the purpose of doing this, and, if he be successful, he shall escape punishment. We think that this is a wise and simple expedient, in a case naturally involved in great difficulty, for reconciling the interests of truth with the public tranquillity and the protection of private character.

[The Reviewer concludes with the following general remarks.]

"We have judged it sufficient to call the attention of the public to the more material parts of the code, and have laboured to compress them, as well as our opinions on them, into the smallest space; for we are persuaded that those who are in trusted with the reform and the preservation of the English system will profit by studying that of France. Not that we recommend it for indiscriminate imitation, or are blind to its numerous defects of arrangement, precision, and subject: but since nothing can keep the foundations of society clear of corruption and decay, except a frequent recurrence to first principles, we think, that much benefit may be derived from attending to the practical discussion of them, by some of the first men in a neighbouring nation, in many instances closely resembling our own: happy, we repeat, that, on this as on every other subject, the very nature of our constitution provides the means of peaceably introducing those remedies of what is wrong, and those improvements of what is incomplete ly right, which countries less favoured have been compelled to pur

chase at the dreadful price of subversion, massacre, and desolation!"

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN

THE EDITOR OF THE EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE, AND THE EDITOR OF THE PO

LITICAL REVIEW.

[The following correspondence was printed on the cover of the Political Review, for Jan. 1809, but at the request of several of our readers, we here insert it, that it may be the better preserved, as a memorial of the regard shewn to moral character, and to the interests of practical piety by an Evangelical Editor.]

To the Rev. George Burder, Hatton
Garden, London.

Harlow, Dec. 6, 1808.
REV. SIR,

Understanding that you are the Editor of the Evangelical Magazine, I beg leave to trouble you with a few lines on a subject of no inconsiderable importance to your own character, as well as to mine.

On the 21st of last month, I sent to the publishers of the Magazine an advertisement, a copy of which I enclose; and which I naturally expected to see on the cover of the ensuing number. On the 30th. I, however, to my surprise, received a letter from the publisher, of which the following is a copy :"Mr. B. Flower, Harlow." " SIR,

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I think it necessary to inform you that the Editors of the Evan"gelical Magazine have rejected

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your advertisement against Clay"ton as inadmissible, consequently "it was not in our power to insert "it. Yours respectfully,

(Signed) T. WILLIAMS." "Stationers Court, Nov. 29, 1808." It appears, Sir, by this letter, that the publisher has no choice respecting the insertion of advertisements; that the Editors have the

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or by the declaration "that truths are not to be published which may "hurt the feelings of men in office," we must leave to Mr. B. to determine: but we cannot but remark in general, that there is no levelling principle more hurtful to the interests of virtue and patriotism, than that which places the characters of men of opposite opinions in the same light, and which impels a writer to mingle together, and equally to praise the precious and the vile!

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After spending much useless labour in suggesting modifications of what Lord Stanhope justly termed, a most wretched bill, now de funct," and in covering the deformities, and preparing a shroud for the hideous corpse, Mr. B. at length, weary we hope, of such degrading employment, turns to what is of the last importance, and suggests the only effectual measure to put an end to all discontents on this sub ject. "This most desirable mea"sure" he adds, "the repeal of the penal statutes relating to religion, "will sooner or later be brought "forward by the enlightened friends to religious liberty;" but the language in which he addresses Lord Sidmouth is so unworthy of the subject, so mean, obsequious, and pitiful, as must excite the indignation and contempt of every one who possesses the feelings of manly and virtuous independence. Mr. B." hopes his lordship, when the day for the proposed application shall arrive, will have too much magnanimity and real goodness of heart to retaliate the errors, which the Dissenters have committed in opposing his late bill on themselves!" "We," adds the author, daring to use such language in the name of the body of the dissenters-"We have placed ourselves in your lordship's power." A ridiculous falsehood; for we have by our united exertions completely res cued ourselves from his lordship's power. Mr. B. reminds his lord

ship" how easy retaliation is in his power, and of the ample vengeance which his lordship and his friends may take on the friends of religious liberty by raising a clamour against them which shall spread like wild fire through the country, and shall effectually check any beneficent intentions of the legislature in their favour!"-With no common share of effrontery in a dissenting teacher, the late just complaint-" Toleration is in danger"—is ridiculed in the same terms as the unprincipled and senseless howls-Great is Diana-No Popery-the church is in danger!-The pamphlet concludes with expressions of the most humble permission" to hope that his lordship, forgetting the feeling excited by the misconstruction of his designs and motives, will demonstrate the excellence of his principles, and his disinterested attachment to justice, liberty, and the rights of conscience, by giving them his support even in behalf of those of whom his lordship may conceive he has just reason to complain!-Virtue is never more illustrious, or more dignified, than when it is practised for its own sake!” Had Mr. B. meant to have severely satyrised the noble lord, for whom "he has the honour to be with the "truest respect his lordship's most "obedient servant," he could not have used language more suitable for the purpose. Such language if serious, addressed to the opposer of the catholic claims, and to the friend of negro slavery, &c. &c. is fit only for some creeping and cringing animal who is anxiously watching for a smile or something a little more substanial, for himself or his connections. Shades of the mighty dead!-Ye christian heroes, the firm and consistent friends of liberty, civil and religious

the intrepid PRIESTLEY and the venerable LINDSEY-were it possible for you to re-visit our earth, what must be your feelings on pe

rusing the sentiments and language of your apostate brother!-Whatever may be the contempt expressed by the author of this worse than useless performance, for "the igno"rant boobies amongst the metho"dists," we deem it scarcely possible for the most "ignorant" of those "boobies" to have blundered, more egregiously on the subject of Tole ration and religious liberty, than the learned, the polite, the liberal, the philosophical, the enlightened Unitarian minister of Essex-Street Chapel!

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Since writing the preceding remarks, we are informed that doubts have lately arisen respecting the description of persons mentioned in the Act of the 19th. of his present Majesty "being preachers or teacher of congregations of dissenting protes"tants;" and that an instance or two have recently occurred, in which magistrates have presumed to refuse a licence to persons applying, because they were not settled ministers of regular congregations. That magistrates are to be found ignorant of the real meaning of the laws, and prone to put their own arbitrary and intolerant sense upon them, is too evident from the case of Mr. Kent, a farmer in Berkshire, who, for the crime of holding a prayer meeting in his house, was, by certain wiseacres in the commission of the peace with Lord Radnor at their head, fined twenty pounds. The Court of King's Bench quashed the proceedings, and ordered the fine to be returned.—. Common sense, and common liberality are surely sufficient to interpret the clause in the act alluded to. No one will deny that its design was, not to narrow but to enlarge the boundaries of Toleration. If the description does not comprise all preachers or teachers of congregations, occasional as well as stated, it places such persons in a worse state

than before the passing of the act It is absolutely impossible for this to have been the design of the framers, or of the legislature which passed it. What a pity that the very few persons amongst the Dissenters, who instead of openly joining in the general opposition to the late bill, should have been wasting their time in suggesting modifications of a bill odious in its principle; and in suggesting doubts respecting the interpretation of the act of the 19th of George III. which for a course of upwards of thirty years, appears to have been understood according to the manifest design of the legislature. This circumstance, however, tends further to enforce the necessity of the proposed society for protecting the Rights of Protestant Dissenters, and which we hope will consider as one of its most important objects-The promoting of petitions to the legislature in sup port of Lord Stanhope's motion for the repeal of all the remaining penal statutes in matters of religion, which are now the PECULIAR disgrace of this country. Such a society must not, however, expect the assistance, or encouragement of those persons who are of opinion that the late bill "would have been upon the balance, a very considerable extension of religious liberty," (that is to themselves) and who have "the boldness to assert, that it might with great case, have been so modified, as to answer every practicable purpose "of its advocates," (one of which was professedly, to diminish the number of dissenters) "and at the same "time to have merited the warmest

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