thority of the King's-bench, of trying by information, which authority had been almost extinct, "was again revived in practice;" 4 Com. 310; and that into the last court "reverted all that was good and salutary of "the jurisdiction of the Star-Chamber." 4 Com. 266; but it has never been pretended that it succeeded to a higher jurisdiction in the trial of offences by this process of information. "This Court," says my lord Holt," hath "all the lawful power which the Star-Chamber "had," Com. 142: and again, "The court of "Star-Chamber was taken away, because the crimes were punishable here," 5 Mod. 464. What crimes?-crimes of which the punishment does not extend to life or limb, which I maintain cannot at this day, and never could at any time, be tried in England, "except "they were first found and presented by the "verdict of twelve men thereto duly sworn." I conclude, then, that the court of King'sbench could not proceed to judgment against any one convicted of such an offence, upon an information filed er officio by the king's attorney general.* to the different counts; and he would have told the jury, that if they found a verdict of Guilty upon some of the counts of the information, they would subject the defendants to perpetual imprisonment, their estates to forfeiture, and their bodies to mutilation!-a judgment, at which the humanity of a British jury would have shuddered.—Little, indeed, did this jury imagine that their verdict might revive the obsolete provisions of this savage law. It must have been pleasing, therefore, to his lordship, and to other judges who assisted him at the trial, that in such a case, and under such circumstances, it was not reserved for them to drag from its tomb the remains of this forgotten judgment. No case has ever occurred, which tends so strongly to inculcate the necessity suggested long since by the wisest of men, of a revision of our penal code, that a number of barbarous and bloody laws may be blotted from its pages;-laws which are not dead, but sleep— which may be revived from day to day, as occasion shall require, and which are ever ready to fall as a shower of snares" upon the people. I cannot conclude, without touching upon one topic connected with these proceedings, and upon which my feelings must be cold indeed, if they allowed me to be wholly silent. I have now done. It was incumbent upon me, as far as in me lay, to satisfy the public, or, rather, that small portion of the public whom any thing which regards me can interest, that I swore nothing rashly, when, under that sacred solemnity, I declared, that I was innocent of the whole and every part-I allude to the conduct of my advocate and of the charge of which I had been convicted. I leave my case, then, in the hands of those for whom these observations were intended, particularly of those whose good opinion must ever be dear to me,--the members of that profession to which the humble labours of my life are to be directed. On the questions of law, more might have been said; but I fear that I have been tedious enough on a subject which cannot interest the public, and which, even to the profession, is perhaps more an object of curiosity and speculation, than of use. It is not likely that the case will ever again occur, unless when it shall happen, that the officer of the law who prosecutes, the learned counsel who defend, and the jury of the country who try, shall know as little as the person who is tried, what the offence is, with which he stands charged. friend, MR. ERSKINE. Of his defence, let those who heard it judge. It is sufficient to say, and more cannot be said, that it equalled any of those former exertions by which he has for ever shut out all higher praise. With respect to what is personal to myself, the marks of affectionate interest which he has shown towards me through the whole of this affair, deep as they have impressed themselves upon my mind, have caused, there, no new sensations: they are such as I have often before had reason to experience-Studium suum, curaque de salute meâ, nullâ me nová voluptate affecit. I have long enjoyed a proportion, perhaps beyond my merits, of his countenance and friendship. It had ever been my study to seek the approbation of a man, whom, for the mild and amiable virtues of his private character, I esteem and love,-whom for the I shall only farther observe, that if the noble and manly features which mark his offence laid in the information under which I public conduct, I admire and venerate of a was tried, be really of that most serious kind, man, whom the force of genius and eloquence which some have supposed, I cannot do justice has raised in his profession to that height, to the noble and learned judge who presided where he excites no envy (for he can have no at the trial, without believing, that, upon that enemy when he has no rival); and whose occasion, even his knowledge, accurate and whole life-a life not untried on the slippery extensive as it is, must have been at fault. stage of politics, nor unexposed to all the Had it been otherwise, his lordship would temptations and allurements of a corrupt amhave been induced, in fairness to the defen- bition-has been a life of honour, integrity, dants as well as to the jury, to have stated, and independence. His has not been “a that were the different punishments annexed" fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised "and unbreathed, that never sallies out to "To do the late attorney-general justice," meet her adversary, but slinks out of the he has not claimed the power of filing any such information." Ferguson2, • Lord Bacon, 29vo[1 "race where the immortal garland is to be "run for, not without dust and heat."During a period of twenty years, he has fought every arduous contest, in which the rights of his countrymen, and the cause of general liberty have been involved.-So many and splendid have been the triumphs of his elo quence, that they have left to him no farther honors to attain uredies bouw van 641. The whole Proceedings in the Case of BENJAMIN FLOWER, Printer, on a Commitment by the House of Lords, for a Breach of Privilege, in publishing a Libel on the Right Reverend Father in God, Richard [Watson] Lord Bishop of Llandaff: 39 GEORGE III. A. D. 1799.* in cases of libel, their verdict would have been-Not Guilty. Had I been favoured with such a trial, my defence would, I own, have been somewhat different from my address at the bar of the House of Lords: but the situation in which I stood, must be acknowledged, by every man of reflexion, to have been peculiarly delicate. Hurried from my place of residence, and so far from having any opportunity of preparing for trial, or summoning witnesses, although lord Kenyon was pleased to suggest to the contrary, I had only two or three hours allowed me to arrange my affairs. When in London, I had as little time allowed me, previous to my appearance at the bar of the House. In this situation, whatever doubts I might have entertained respecting the legality of the proceedings against me, all I could do was, to procure the advice of two or three friends, whom I thought best able to assist me. The learned gentleman whom I then consulted, observed he could be of no service to me, and advised me, on the present occasion to be particularly cautious. Had I attended to my own immediate feelings, I should have defended the paragraph, so obnoxious, to the best of my ability but the friends here alluded to, informed me that such a mode of conduct would be considered by the Lords as an aggravation of my offence: that they had already THE principal part of the following proceedings of the House of Lords, has already appeared in the Cambridge Intelligencer; and although I, with many others, was anxious that the argument which shortly followed in the court of King's-bench, should be laid before the public, it was neither my wish nor intention again to have intruded myself on their notice; but it being the opinion of my counsel, and of those persons whom I had the opportunityof consultinginmy late situation,-men whose characters stand high in the estimation of the independent part of the community, that I ought to re-publish my part, and having neither said nor done any thing throughout the whole of the late proceedings, of which I have reason to be ashamed, I have thought proper to comply with their request. The observations I have now to offer to the public, are not so much by way of apology, as by way of explanation. Whatever may have been my remarks or strictures on the conduct of public men, either in the Cambridge Intelligencer, or any other publication, I have always endeavoured, from a principle of duty, to obey the laws of my country; and notwithstanding the numerous rigid prosecutions against printers, and authors, "Had he not an opportunity of calling which have rendered our present minis-"witnesses-had he not the same means of ters more famous than any of their pre-"defending himself as in a court of justice?' decessors, for centuries past, yea, which" [See lord Kenyon's Address infrà.] the lanwith their general conduct, will most as- guage of the deputy Sergeant at Arms, when suredly "damn them to everlasting "he first showed me the resolutions of the fame," I am persuaded, that had I, on a "House, sufficiently answers these questions: late occasion, been brought before an im- "Sir, you will excuse me, but you must partial and independent jury of my coun-" consider yourself as a prisoner, and in my Astrymen, and have had the usual fair trial" custody, till you are at the bar of the House "of Lords. Counsel, it will likewise be re• From the report originally published by" collected, is not on such an occasion alFlower. بير بسباعه "allowed."-Orig. Ed. declared me guilty of having published a gross and scandalous libel," any attempt to justify which, even if I could prove its truth, would provoke a sentence the more severe; agreeably to the favourite sentiment of some legal characters-" the greater the truth, the greater the libel." Now, although I believe few people evince more firmness than myself, in maintaining their opinions, when conscious they are founded upon solid evidence, there is no one, I hope, who would be more willing to pause, when in doubt, or even to yield those opinions to the judgment of persons, who may be, from various circumstances, better able to determine. In my late situation, I was advised to address the Lords merely by way of mitigation of punishment. I consulted my friends on the principal points of my proposed address, and what I concluded upon, met their entire approbation. It could not be supposed that any thing I might offer, would have much weight with such an assembly as the House of Lords; but it was my wish, I confess, to make use of the opportunity which presented itself of professing those principles I had on all other occasions maintained; thus answering, before those who probably misconceived my sentiments and character, the calumnies of those prostituted hirelings who can only breath in the elements of calumny and falsehood, and who are sure to represent every friend to peace and reform, as an enemy to religion and social order; who yelp out the now ridiculous, and unmeaning word Jacobin, against every man who believes legitimate government to be somewhat different from despotism, or who maintains that the massacre of millions of the human race is not the best mode of defending the religion of Jesus. Conscious that my principles would bear the light, I had no scruple in professing them anew, and confirming them in the most public manner possible. There have been instances, in which a man's known and acknowledged principles, have proved the means of mitigating punishment, and of drawing down a very slight sentence, even when a jury have, after a fair trial, pronounced the verdict Guilty; but in these cases the parties were avowed friends to the general measures of our present ministers. I had no merit of this kind to plead, and thankful am I to heaven, that I had not. My case, therefore, is an instance, that no principles, however constitutional, no regard to Christianity, however pure, can in the least benefit a man, who will not "This was lately the case in the Court of "King's Bench. The King versus the printer "of the Oracle."-Orig. Ed. go all lengths in the support of what he deems a system of corruption and wickedness-the system which has so long disgraced this country, and which is hurrying it to ruin. Compelled to be my own counsel, I considered myself as having a right to make use of those pleas best suited to my purpose, without however yielding any prin ciple, I had publicly professed. Had I vented opposite or different sentiments, from those I had inculcated from the press, I should indeed deem myself bound to lay before the public my reasons for so doing. A man who presumes to instruct the community, either by preaching or writing, ought to be particularly careful in preserving his consistency, that being the best proof of his integrity. Let his situation be what it may, let him be of any clerical order in the establishment, from an archbishop to a curate, or of any profession or calling among the different sects of Christians, a dissenting minister, or a printer:-if he stand pledged to the public for the truth and importance of his sentiments, should he afterwards pledge himself for the truth and importance of opposite sentiments; and neg lect, or with pride and obstinacy, refuse, to lay before the public the evidence which has produced such a change, he must not be greatly surprised if those persons who judge, that amidst the various professions or opinions of the Christian world, an honest and good heart is the grand essential of Christianityif such persons should suspect the inte grity of the changeling, or if they warmly feeling in this degenerate age, for the best interests of mankind, apply to him the term-time-server, or apostate. This part of the subject appears to me of such peculiar importance, that I find myself impelled-To speak that I do know, and testify that I have seen. I have known men, who with me, have been enraptured with those sacred principles of civil and religious liberty, which, during an early period of the French revo lution, shone so resplendently, and who even in the midst of its subsequent horrors, when contemplating the annihi lation of a long established system of despotism, civil and ecclesiastical, pronounced that revolution "the most splendid event recorded in the annals of history:"-who, exulting on the downfal of "Mystic Babylon," with just severity reproved those ecclesiastics wholamented that downfal:-I have seen these very men apostatizing from those exalted sen timents which once appeared to fill their souls, and exerting the full force of their talents and eloquence in condemning, in * Luke viii. 15. that confidence in my principles which appear throughout the address, do not demonstrate that I felt nothing even bordering on contrition. With respect to my language concerning the bishop of Llandaff, I was anxious, I confess, to show, that so far from having been actuated by any party motives, I was not insensible to the lustre of his lordship's talents, or to the worth of his general writings; but will any one venture to say, I retracted my charge of inconsistency? On the contrary, what I said evidently tended to confirm that charge. "My panegyrics on the bishop were accompanied with that satisfaction, which it was impossible for me to feel, when any thing dropped from me of a contrary tendency." It was perfectly natural for me to conclude, that his lordship considered the insinuations I had thrown out against his character as injurious and as we both of us professed sincerity in our belief of Christianity, I had a right to appeal to those common principles, held sacred by all its genuine followers. toto, all revolutionary principles, holding up the Popish clergy as "the Christian priesthood," and their idolatrous temples and worship, as the "temples and worship of God:"-who once reprobating all civil establishments of religion, as the "natural and never failing means of promoting infidelity," and looking forward with exultation" to the ruin of all such establishments," are now earnestly recommending an union between those who (in the midst of this "crooked and perverse nation,") hold firm and steadfast the pure principles of Christianity, and the corrupt majorities of established churches, notwithstanding their "different principles, ceremonies, and practices." With such awful ensamples before me, although I would not be highminded, but fear, I cannot but declare, with heart-felt satisfaction, that the grand soul-ennobling sentiments of civil and religious liberty, which have been held sacred by the greatest and best of men in all ages, have long been, and still are, most dear to my heart; and that however revolutionary those sentiments may be deemed, as they have never ceased, so I trust they never will cease to be my glory. So far from having yielded any one of my principles, every reader, who exercises common attention, must perceive, that in my late conduct, I have borne a fresh testimony to their truth and importance.† If I expressed concern at having published the paragraph deemed by the Lords a libel, it requires but a small degree of penetration, or candour, to perceive, that this concern alluded to the circumstances in which I stood. I indeed was concerned, when reflecting on the state of the press, and that such a paragraph should have been made use of to subject me, without a trial, to arbitrary punishment; but I appeal to every one, whether that consciousness of innocence, In a long note, occupying fifty pages, the original publisher of this case, here animadverted upon the writings and conduct of a gentleman to whom he alludes in the text; Such disquisitions not being suited to this work, that note and several others are omitted. I am sensible of the misrepresentation "and abuse to which every man is liable who "perseveres in maintaining the original prin"ciples of the French revolution; but having, "on another occasion (in the preface to "Na❝tional Sins Considered "), so amply explained "my sentiments, that they cannot be mis"understood by any honest man; while I am "willing, on the one hand, to listen to any " evidence that may tend to prove those sentiments erroneous, so on the other hand, "I shall totally disregard every effusion of malignity or falsehood."-Orig. Ed. What I said respecting political societies, has been thought, by some, to be a reflexion on such societies. Nothing could be farther from my intention. Mr. Gilbert Wakefield, of whose courage, and of whose approach to the utmost point which true fortitude will allow, no one can doubt, made use of the very same argument in his address to the court of King's-bench, and for the same purpose as myself--to prove his love of peace and retirement, I was indeed more cautious on this subject than might have been expected, from a person who had so little time for preparation, in using the word imputed, when applied to the designs of some societies which had fallen under the peculiar displeasure of the legisla ture. The general respect I professed for the Lords has been thought somewhat inconsistent with the opinion I am well known to entertain, of the general measures sanctioned by that House, and of some individual members; but is there not an evident difference between the Lords, considered as a part of the legislature, and their conduct in their individual and collective capacities? As an essential branch of our excellent constitutional form of government, it was impossible for me not to entertain for the Lords a very high respect; and every man who sincerely believes Christianity, or venerates the precepts and the example of one of its most illustrious champions, the Apostle Paul, must evidently perceive the distinction which that great man observed be * See his trial, antè, p. 679, tween the individual in his private capacity, and on the seat of judgment; and the perfect respect he professed for the magistrate, of whose general character for injustice he was fully convinced, and whose decisions and personal conduct he must have reprobated. Whatever may be my opinion of men and measures, my respect for every branch of the legislature continues undiminished. Although I declined entering on any defence of the paragraph, reserving to myself the legal right of appeal to some other tribunal, respecting the proceedings against me (of the legality of which, unprepared as I was to controvert, I had strong doubts), I was somewhat desirous to escape with a slight punishment:this was not from the fear of suffering. No. I had long suspected myself as being obnoxious to the present administration. Many an hour had I employed in seriously examining my principles, and whether they would support me under, not . only the persecution of enemies, but what is much more afflictive to a feeling mind, the reproaches of those prudent friends who seldom fail to measure a man's duty by his interest.+ Conscious that my principles and motives would fully support me, I could view, unappalled, not only imprisonment, and the loss of property, but at times, banishment from my dear native country, or the loss of life on a scaffold: but the reason I particularly wished for a mild sentence arose from that love of independence which I feel to be a portion of my soul. I was somewhat anxious to avoid the least pecuniary obligation to any one, more especially as I set out in public life, and have ever since continued therein, with the firm resolution, of not being dictated to in the discharge of my duty by any one. The public have, however, without any solicitation of mine, directly or indirectly, paid the expenses of my prosecution, and the loss I sustained by temporary, but unavoidable derangements in business. It would be pride, not independence, were I to omit on this occasion my most grateful acknowledgments for the obligation, which indeed more sensibly affects me, deriving it, as I principally did, from See Acts, xxiii. 1—6; xxvi. 24—30. Rom. xiii. 1-8. +"The language of such persons frequently "reminds me of an expression of that labo"rious and useful minister of the established "church, the late Mr. Berridge, who ob"served that although prudence was often "a Christian virtue, yet, whenever it turned "a man aside from the path of duty, or made "him sacrifice his God and his conscience, "such prudence is at best but a rascally vir"tue."-Orig. Ed. persons with whom I had no previous acquaintance, and from distant places, where I had not the least expectation of support. Such patriotic conduct proves an attachment to principles, which demands esteem much higher than any personal compliment. Gratitude to those persons, and to a few old, tried, muchvalued friends, whose attachment in this age of whim, self-interest, timidity, and dereliction of principle, has induced me to persevere in an employment, not, in such times as the present, the most safe, pleasant, or profitable, and which I had otherwise resolved to relinquish. As to the sentiments expressed respecting the French Revolution, they are such as I have always inculcated, and of which, the longer I live in the world, the more I am convinced of their truth and importance. Some of the mistaken, but well-meaning friends to liberty, once much disapproved of those sentiments; and I have not, from the inconsiderate and the violent, escaped abuse. So far, however, from, in the least degree, apologizing for those sentiments-I glory in them. It affords me peculiar pleasure, when I reflect, that as I, on the one hand, uniformly maintained the original principles of the French Revolution, so, on the other hand, I have as uniformly protested against their abuses. The unprincipled insurrection of the Brissotines, the bloody horrors of Robespierre, and the more mild, but not less unprincipled, military usurpation and despotism of Buonaparte, have always been, and still are, though in different degrees, objects of my reprobation. On most of these events, many who once widely differed from me, are now of my opinion; but let parties or opinions fluctuate as they may, let the friends to mankind continually diminish, and if it were possible that, in defending the principles of eternal truth and justice, I thould be leftalone, may my language be, to the last. minute of my life-Let God be true though every man should prove a liar.. To close this part of the subject, I endeavoured, in my late address, to unite, to the best of my ability, the suaviter in modo with the fortiter in re. I have, perhaps, dwelt fonger in the explanation of some passages in that address than necessary; but as it has led to the discussion of topics of no inconsiderable importance, I hope that discussion has not been altogether useless. The candid reader, even though he should, in some respects, differ from me in opinion, will, I doubt not, do justice to my motives. As for the opinions, misinterpretations, or abuse of the ignorant, the arrogant, or the malignant, I regard them not. I must now solicit the reader's attention |
