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Mr. Raine. I do not know that any action of the kind has ever been brought.

Mr. Baron Wood.-It appears to me that an action cannot be maintained for words spoken in judicial proceedings. If a counsel misbehaves, or goes too far, the judge who presides corrects his misconduct; but if an action is once maintained, there is no end of it. Actions of this kind would perpetually occupy the court. If a counsel were to pause in his pleading, and to say such a man is a great rogue, that would be actionable.

Mr. Raine. That is precisely our case. We say the libellous expressions were voluntarily and gratuitously used.

Mr. Baron Wood.-No; whether a note was fraudulent or not, as I understand the record, for I know nothing of the nature of the first action.

Mr. Richardson.-The privileges of Parliament have been alluded to. I don't apprehend that the question here has any resemblance to them.-(Mr. B. Wood. Why not?)-Well, be it that the utmost freedom of speech is allow ed; but to go out of the way to attack character-(Mr. B. Wood. No, it was not out of the way; the words might be too severe, but they were connected with the note. It would be a dangerous precedent to receive an action on such a ground.)—If a man's character is injured, if, for instance, a surgeon is injured and obstructed in his career, there must surely be some remedy. The presiding wisdom in our courts is no protection, when the injury is sustained, when the shaft strikes, and cannot VOL. LIX.

be extracted by such protection.
I, like all my brothers, am in-
terested in the full freedom of the
bar, but there must be a limit.
The privilege of parliament is a
peculiar species of right that can-
not in its very nature be made
actionable in courts of law. The
plain question here is, if the coun-
sel could with impunity go out of
his way, and say, Mr. Hodgson "is
a fraudulent and wicked attorney.",

Mr. Topping. Does your Lordship wish us to say any thing on the question?

Mr. B. Wood.-Yes.

Mr. Topping.- did expect to hear some observations by your Lordship on the novelty of this action. Its tendency and nature are important, not only to the bar but to the client. If such an action can be maintained, very different will be the situation of every client in a court of justice, when deprived of the free and vigorous exercise of his counsel, at full liberty to apply his talents, learning and industry to the cause in which he is engaged. The words in the record are only the opinion, the inference, the comment, which my honourable and learned friend felt at the time to be merited. The facts of the case warranted the comment. Mr. Raine very judiciously and very ably-I observe he shakes his head, but I will say (Mr. Raine, I read every word,) -if Mr. Raine had not interrupted me, he would have heard me say, in terms no ways disrespectful to him, that he showed great prudence and discretion in not communicating the facts and circumstances of the case. The words were severe, because my hon. and learned friend felt severity N

to

the Litany. He was now brought up, on the motion of the Attorney general, to receive judgment. The officer of the Court was about to read the information and the libel, when the defendant interposed, and said, that he did not wish the Court to be troubled by the repetition of the offensive matter. He then put in two affidavits by himself, in which he deposed, that he had been fifteen years in business, and had not, until now, been accused of the slightest infringe ment of the law that he was entirely unconnected with and unknown to the original publisher of the libel in question, which he had reprinted at the request of a travelling dealer, without being at all aware of their dangerous tendency; for him he had struck off 250 copies, besides some that he had reserved for himself, the sale of which he stopped immediately when he learnt their profane and illegal nature, at the same time ordering the types to be dispersed. He had a wife and five children depending upon him for support.

Other affidavits from persons resident at Portsea were put in; they gave the defendant an excellent character for general loyalty and propriety of demeanour.

The Attorney-general then addressed their Lordships for the prosecution. He was willing to give the defendant credit for that feeling of regret which induced him to save the Court the pain of hearing once more a libel which had too often already fallen under its observation: every man who professed the slightest regard for the religion established in this country, must be shocked both at the form and tendency of the

publication; the defendant might have printed comparatively few copies, but the Attorney-general feared that the poison had been widely disseminated among those whose education and habits enabled them but ill to resist its baneful effects. The defendant united in himself the double capacity of printer and distributer; and what number of copies he had reserved for himself, after delivering the 250 to his itinerant employer, he had not ventured to state. The information justly charged it to be a scandalous, infamous, and impious libel, tending to bring into contempt and disgrace one of the noblest, most beautiful, and most affecting parts of the administration of divine service in this country. It was generally known that the ceremony, according to the church of England, usually terined the Liturgy, had been settled by the legislature in the reign of Charles II.: from Parliament it derived its legal character, but for its sacred character it was indebted to a higher source, the principles of Christianity; which indeed might be said to be the very foundation of the law of the land How important, then, was it that it should be protected from profanation by the punishment of those who were hardy enough to lay unhallowed hands upon it? The defendant had stated, that he was ignorant of the tendency of the libel, and of its injurious consequences; but the law presumed that a man who was guilty of the publication was guilty also of the purpose: that the libel was meant by him to produce that effect: it was impossible to imagine any thing more calculated to diminish,

if not to destroy, that reverential awe with which the less-informed ranks ought to approach their Creator than this blasphemous parody of the general supplication: to comment upon it further was wholly unnecessary; the mere perusal of the libel sufficiently stamped its character, and disclosed its consequences. He hoped that the defendant had not been aware of its dangerous tendency, yet it was scarcely possible to conceive that any man should be so blind and thoughtless. He admitted, that circumstances were mentioned in the affidavits which deserved attention, but the libel spoke for itself, and the printer and publisher being before the Court, their Lordships would award a punishment adequate to the high offence

Mr. Robinson, on behalf of the defendant, trusted, that their Lordships would discover that there were not here aggravations beyond what the offence itself supplied. There was one circumstance conected with the libel, though foreign to the particular case, that especially forced itself upon his attention, and which he hoped would establish for the defendant some claim to merciful consideration: it was, that the defendant was not the first offender, either in the order of time or in the order of criminality, though unfortunately the first to receive the punishment of the law. He did not urge this circumstance in the way of complaint. He was certain that it was undesigned on the part of the Attorney-general, and owing to circumstances over which he had no control. It was, never

theless, most important to the individual on the floor, for the first blow always fell with the greatest weight. In the administration of penal justice, the first object was the effect of a sentence upon the public; the next, the justice and mercy due to the offender-for mercy and justice in the latter case were convertible terms. The principal offenders were always earliest made the subjects of prosecution: they were first sought out, and upon their heads the vengeance of the law first fell: when they were duly punished, the mild and genial feeling, so grateful to the Court, succeeded, and sentences were sometimes passed even more merciful than the degree of delinquency, most severely considered, might appear to warrant. An honourable and a memorable instance of the kind had but recently occurred. If then it should be obvious, that there were behind, other offenders more deserving the indignant infliction of the law (though the defendant should unhappily, even by the effect of his own contrition, appear earlier before the Court), it would not think it necessary to make his punishment the precise standard to what was due to such crimes he had admitted judgment to go by default; he had done his utmost to acknowledge his offence, and to show his contrition, and his situation might well be contrasted with those who had added to their guilt by a daring and contumacious resistance to the forms of the law. He had not bid an audacious defiance to the Attorney-general, or thrown the gauntlet in the face of the

Court.

Court. A topic of mitigation might also be derived from the fact, that the defendant was merely a country printer. Those of that trade in London knew well that it was their duty to watch most carefully all the productions of their press; it was a part of the economy of their establishments; but country printers, whose types were engaged in catalogues, in cheap re-publications of popular works; or at most in a provincial newspaper, were not sufficiently upon their guard in this respect; and designing individuals might take advantage of their ignorance, and employ them to give to the world the most baneful libels: it was admitted that the parody in question had first appeared from a London press, and a man like the defendant might deem that circumstance alone some warrant for his conduct. It was sworn also that the defendant had not the remotest connexion with any of those who in the metropolis had spread these baneful productions. It was true that, in the eye of the law, a man who was guilty of the publication was presumed to be guilty of the knowledge of its effects; but although this might warrant a judge in directing a verdict, it was a legal construction which would not be observed in all its strictness when the defendant was upon the floor to receive judgment: if, too, on the face of the libel, another object and purpose were more prominent than that charged, their lordships, in a case like the present, would be inclined to put the most lenient construction on the conduct of the defendant. The

learned counsel concluded by a few brief observations upon the contents of the affidavits.

The Attorney-general informed the Court, that there was a second information againt the defendant for a blasphemous parody upon the Creed of St. Athanasius. The officer was about to read it, when the defendant again interposed, observing that it was unnecessary.

The Attorney-general described this publication as quite as injurious as the preceding: although a fair and discreet discussion of the mysterious parts of the Liturgy might be warranted, irreverence and blasphemous ridicule of them could not be en dured.

Mr. Topping, on the same side, felt called upon by what had fallen from Mr. Robinson, to say that it was impossible the defendant should not have known the wicked nature of these publications; he could not have derived his first information of it from the newspapers.

Mr. Robinson regretted that any thing that had fallen from him should have raised any feeling of asperity: it was far from his intention to excite it: he only felt, in common with his client, sincere regret that he had been made the instrument of the wider circulation of these productions. He allowed that to parody the Creed of St. Athanasius was an offence meriting punishment, but he hoped the Court would not attribute to the defendant a criminality not charged, although it should appear on the face of the libel. Alt persons acquainted with the his

tory

tory of the Christian Church knew that some illustrious members of the Church of England, and some high ornaments of the Bench, tad expressed their wish that the Creed of St. Athanasius had been ched in a form less peculiar. Mr. Justice Bayley, in passing sentence, observed, that the libels in question well merited the epithets bestowed upon them in the nformation: they were calculated to undermine the foundation of all moral and religious duties, and to bring into ridicule and contempt the sacred ordinances of the Church; to fill the minds, more especially of the lower orders, with light and trivial matters, at a time when they ought to be devoted to the service and adoration of God. The case befre the Court was certainly not one of the most aggravated deseription; but if the defendant had unpremeditatedly been the means of circulating these blasphemous productions, the evil w respect to others was the sure a slight perusal of them was sufficient to convince any man who reverenced the sacred instituty ns of his country, that they were protine and scandalous. It was ward, that the Creed of St. Athanasius had been objected to be some of the holiest and ablest men it might be so; but their ram and learned discussion could be no warrant for an intemperate and

trous attack like the preWith regard to others who hai first been guilty of this offence they might or might not be

reserving of punishment, Court always measured its neres by the circumstances briure it, at aggravating the

punishment in the case earliest brought before it, because it is the first, nor diminishing it in the latest, because it is the last. The sentence was-that the defendant, for the first libel, should be imprisoned in Winchester gaol for eight calendar months, pay a fine of 100l. and give security for five years, himself in 300l. and two sureties in 1501. each. For the second libel it was ordered, that he should be imprisoned four calendar months.

Sittings after Term, before Mr. Justice Abbot and a Special Jury. December 18.

The King v. William Hone.After Mr. Shepherd had stated, that this was an information filed by the Attorney-General against the defendant for printing and publishing a seditious and profane libel on those parts of our church service called the Catechism, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer, to which the defendant had pleaded Not Guilty; the AttorneyGeneral rose, and spoke to the following effect.

After having remarked, from Sir Matthew Hale, that "Christianity is part and parcel of the common law of England," he said, that if it were not an offence to revile the solemn service of our church, and to bring it into ridicule, Christianity was no longer parcel of the common law of the land. He then entered more particularly into the object of the prosecution s'anding for the present day, which was that of a protection to the Church Catechism, with its appendages, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. He dwelt with becoming gravity upon these articles; and pointed out the

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