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l3nglI(a lxtractu.
THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS 1N IRELAND.
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
What is a libel 1 Whatever a jury of twelve men
chooses to pronounce one. This is a shorter cut
than that taken by Chief Justice Pennefather in the
case of the Belfast Vindicator-though his doctrine
was sufficiently startling-that to find fault with
any thing done by any public man in the execution
of his office, except by proceeding against him in a
legal tribunal, or petition to parliament, is a libel,
and necessarily a false and.malignant libel, though
the truth or falsehood cannot be Inquired into.
Whatever is displeasing to any man in office, and
whatever he can prevail on a jury to condemn, is of
course a libel. The opinion of the jury is every
thing.
It is reported of King James I., that when on
entering England ho found that he had the making
of the bishops and the judges, he said he would, in
that case, answer for the religion and the law. In
Irland, the connection between the naming of a
jury and the verdict, seems to have been always
well understood.
Mr. Duffy, of the Belfast Vindicator, seems to
have been weak enough to suppose that lie could
shame Oraugemen into a sense of fairness towards
their political opponents. In the north of Ireland,
juries, it is admitted, acquit Orangemen notoriously
guilty of the most horrid crimes ; and they convict
Catholics on no, or insufficient evidence. Against
this lMr. Duffy raised his voice. He endeavoured
to show that Mr. Blackburne had not conducted
himself fairly in discharging the trust reposed in him.
The answer he receives is an ex officio, and Mr.
Bllackburne finds a jury to second him.' Mr. Duffy
is convicted of a libel, and he will no.doubt suffer
punishment in due time.
We are far from wishing to contend that the press
of Ireland either is, or has ever been,2immaculate.
During the first administration of Lord Wellesley
in Ireland, the ascendancy was then unscathed, and
it resented the endeavours of that noble'lord to in.
troduce a milder spirit into the government of that
country, by daily abuse of the grossestdescriptlon,
by the foulest calumnies. A journal which die.
tinguished itself In this species: of. arfare, the
Morning Star, was at last singled out "for prosecu
tion by Lord Plunkett, then Mr. Plunk }, Attorney
General, who thus described the debate. After
alluding to the injustice of the political censures
passed on the noble marquess-" Suclh,' said Mr.
Plunkett, " I would rather suffer to pass un
punished than to do anything that would have a
,tendency to tie up public discussion I But it con
tains malignant private calumnies-it 'bears ultq
mark of the mercenary slanderer, who is repay to
sell (his venom for hire, and to invade indiscrimi.
nately the character of the privatq individual and
public functionary. The ltbeller charges the Mar.
quess of Wellesley with various distinct enormities.
It charges him with an abandoned youth-with
irreclaimable depravity-with contempt for the
established religion-with Inordinate lust of power
with immoralities practised within the walls of
Dublin Castle, of so atrocious a character that it
would violate public dectincy to disclose them in a
newspaper. This man (the libeller) has asserted
the scenes of profligacy which prevailed at the
castle were such as to deter persons of respectability
from attending the court; that females of any no
tions of delicacy or propriety could not appear
there; and after Including the charges of irreclaim
able depravity, contempt of religion, hoarding
avarice, and revolting immorality, the writer instl
tutes a direct comparison between the profligate
Lord Wharton and the Marquess Wellesley." This
is just description of the article selected for prose.
cation, but it was to the taste of a jury selected by
the corporation of Dublin of that day; and it was
by them pronounced to be no libel.
During the whole of the administration of the
Marquess of Normanby, the Orange press teemed
with the most false and malignant charges against
him. The liberty of the press was grossly abused,
but the noble marquess disdained to prosecute.
In England the liberty of the press Ihas often
been grossly abused. No one, for instance, at
tempted to vindicate the offensive libel on the Duke
of Wellington, for which the Morning Journal was
prosecuted by Mr. Scarlett; but the press had been
so long exempt from state prosecutions, that the
whsig Attorney General, as be was termed, was
loudly condemned, both in and out of parliament;
and Sir James Graham even charged Mr. Scarlett
with a desertion of his principles. It was upon the
whole thought that, as the law could be brought to
crush the just as well as the unjust, a public pro.
secution was a very questionable mode of correcting
the errors of the press.
The Molorning Post will have it that there is too
much liberty of the press in this "country:
One point," says our contemporary, "in the
statement attributed to the leatned Lord Chief
Justice (of Ireland)-which was not a point of law
-we take the liberty of thinking to be somewhat
questionable. We mean that in which tie describes
the liberty of the press-such as the law of England
allows-to be one of the greatest of blessings. Now
we are not sure what the liberty of the press, within
the strict limits of the law, really is; and we do
not see. how any one can. tell whether it is practi
cally a blessing or not; for, within the memory of
living man, the press of this country has beets
continually and habitually in thu practice of far
exceeding the strict legal limits.. Though the check
of the law occasionally steps in, yet generally and
practically, the liberty of the press in this country
las little other limit titan that of audacity and
effrontery, which limit Is fixed by the temper of the
time, and the circle of readers to which the publi
cation is addressed."
When our contemporary tells us that " practically
the liberty of the press has little other limit than
that of audacity and effrontery," we bow to an
competent an authority, for in the whole history of
the press we doubt whether so much audacity and
effrontery were ever displayed, as in the long.
continued series of libels in which, in connection
with a lady now no more, and whom we wish not to
name, to avoid unnecessarily giving pain to her
noble relatives, the Queen herself was, in the columns
of the Morning Post, attacked with the utinost
malevolence. We are advocates, however, for no
such litterty, and Mr. Duffy would, we have no
doubt, abhor the very idea of being thought capable
of licentiousness. Ile ventured to toead on what by
the practice of this country is considered safe ground
for a journalist. lie challenged the mode of con
ducting trials pursued by the Attorney General. Ile
said no more titan was said in tie house of commons.
Lord Eliot had, in ilte case of M'Aidle, to which
Mr. Duffy alluded, admitted that the-acquittal of
his murderers was calculated to bring justice into
contempt. The injustice which is committed under
the instrumentality of law is of all injustice the
most revolting. To manage to have a jury so con.
stituted that notorious guilt escapes and innocence
is condemned, is a matter of too common occurrence
in Ireland. Mr. Duffy, on the behalf of the Catho.
lies, who, in the north of Ireland, are denied jus
tice, made the same appeal through the press which
had been made to tho legislature. His language
was warm, but fair and honest. But it displeased
the Attorney General, and a Dublin jury has found
him guilty of a libel.
The law as laid down by the Chief Justico, if
adhered to, would annihilate all liberty of thle press,
for it amounts to this, that no person has a right to
find faulLwith any part of the conduct of a person'
In authority, except by proceedings in a court of
law, or petition to the legislature. In practice the
law is that any man may animadvert on all matters
of public concernment, and the limitation implied
is that truth' should be adhered to. The whole pub.
lic life of England is an open infraction of the law
of Lord Chief Justice Pennefather. Every public
meeting, every journal that is published contains
matter reflecting more or less on some men in office.
By the Irish reading of English law, the whole
people of England are in the habitual violation of
the law. We do not say that he is not correct in
his exposition of ilte law; but we contend that were
such law to be acted on, the greatest revolution ever
known in the world would be effected. The cruelty
of the case is the application to an unfortunate gen.
tlemen, merely because Mr. Blackbhrno is die.
pleased with his strictures on his conduct.
We question not the power of the Attorney
General to obtain a verdict against any man whom.
he chooses to prosecute. But Sir Robert Peel must
be held to approve of his conduct by continuing
such a man in ollice. 'The Attorney. General is of
course a subordinate functionary, and must be held
to give satiafaction to those who employ him,.
We blame not the Olsief Justice, who on the
requisition of the ~Attorney.General, tella the jury
witat the law is. It may be 800 years aid, as the
Chief Justice saiti, or it may be aa old as the days
of tlte Reman tyranny. If such be the lawr it wrould
hbe asabaurd to blame thta Chief JustIce as to blaame
Punch for tclling whlat he is made to say. Buat we
blame Sir Robert Peel for countenancing an ad
rminiatrntlots of the law utterly at variance with the
practice of this country.' We tell him 'that he is
guilty of great injuatire to Mr. Daffy, if lhe suffer
him so he singled out for punishment for what is
conaidered no effenco in 'the every day 'practice of
thus country. We charge him with apptoving of
that which he suffers to go on, while it is in lila
power to' arrest theoarm of line 'Attorney*Geaeral5'
We do not belie~ve that lie enterialns, anyhIoatility
'agains i the freedom of the press as' it exists in tut~
coesitry; for he Is eot' fool' enough to' inxsur this viak
of the' expressed diaapprobation ot,2nglish :Juriee.
Bet there is something beyrtisii measure mteen end
shabby in conniving at *,t'e punlishwent gf en usilor
tuento Irish journaolist merely becnans no dastger or
inconveniencq is apprehended front it. 'Ihhs safe
indulgeo.ce in a lore to inflict pain lo unwcrtlsy of a
Pt'sme MinIster of England, On him, Isuwever, in
the responsibillty of tso 'disgraceful conduct ef lila
Inferiors, if Its abet it. Mr. ,Dully's prosecution
may turn out of more importance to the Premier
*thnn Ite is aware of.
We cannot underotanti what tlte 'triash liberal
members are about In remaining silent while 'the
wltolo press of Iceland is in agitation.
PtlCULlARITlBS OF GBNIOS.-Tycboll
B~rnli diverted hismetif witlh pollaltiog glasses for
spectacles; laleao'a favourite amesesnent was that
of making crayons; liethault loved to wander from
shodp to shop to sea various mechsanles at ilseir labor;
Afontatgne found a playmate in his cat; Cardinal
Rlehellest delighted in playing at lespfrgwith hIsl
strvsnl; Pope wasted his time in trin to jaint
Petllan was sever so happy as when sing to lila
lute ls th ingenious shiyaielan, Dr. Hsrrlngton, only
lived when vocIferating catches and glees; P r.
Arne's greatest enjoysment was in wtitlng poetry;
leoussesu relieved Isis literary studies with the alter
native of comoposing metediess and lPhillder was
even a greseer cheot.player thsae a musiclpn,.-The
Crosrsrt !Rrtrtrt

ROYAL, PREROGATIVE.-The Athe-
naeum, in reviewing Bowyer's English Constitution,
sakes the following remarks on this subject :-" In
glancing at the chapters on the royal prerogatives
and authority, it has occurred to us, that with all
he constitutional sobriety of our English lawyers,
they are not far behind the magnificent flights of
oriental nations, in describing the attributes of
'thrones and dominations.' We do not mean to
impugn the theoretical veracity of the legal ' idea' of
"a king or queen of England, but simply to remark,
that to add to its sublimity would be scarcely
possible. The attributes of the English crown, we are
told by Mr. Bowyer (who merely follows preceding
writers on constitutional law), are, sovereign
majesty, imperial power, inviolability, impeccability,
absolute perfection, irresponsibility, incorruptibility
of blood, ubiquity, and immortality I The queen is
not only chief, but, we are told, sole magistrate, all
other magisterial offices being merely derivative, or
deputed. She is the arbitress of peace and war, the
generalissimo of the army, and the head and
supreme governor of the church. Then she is also
described, in the language of the most exalted
poetry, as the fountain of justice, the fountain of
mercy, the fountain of honour, office, privilege.
When all these truly grand conceptions are put
together, they form a complex Idea of monarchy
immeasurably liner and loftier than any that the
'gorgeous East' has ever framed, because in truth
approaching (peradventure rather too closely) to our
idea of the Supreme Being. Omniscience seems to
be the only divine quality that is not categorically
predicated of the British crown, yet omniscience is
evidently implied in the attribute of ' absolute
perfection.' On the other hand, if many oriental
titles are poetical and sublime, many are turgid and
ridiculous, so that the entire -ideal of the kingly
power, where it is-mDst unbounded, is far lelow the
point to which it Is exalted by the theoretical system
of the nation where it is most controlled and circum.
scribed. The king of- :Arracan,- for example, is
styled ' the possessor of the whide elephant and the
two earrings;' his majesty of Ave is hailed 'brother
to the sun, and king of the four-and"twenty
umbrellas!' Some of the titles of the kings of
Orchan are 'a king, spiritual as a ball is round, P
who; when lie rises, shades all his people; from
e
under whose feet is wafted a sweet odour,' &o. The
sovereign of Monomotapa is the ' great magician,' o
and the 'great thief;' The shah of Persia is the
' branch of honour, the mirror of virtue, the rose of
delight.' By the bye, the ' branch of honour' and
e
' mirror of virtue' closely resemble our 'fountain of
} enour,' and 'absolute perfection,' and the 'rose'
is also the emblem of England; so that we are very
Persian in our royal style."
CELIBACY OF THE CATHOLIC CLERGY.
The clergyman is entirely separated from individual a
interests, or worldly objects of ordinary life, by his
celibacy. This separates him from all other men.
Be their knowledge, their education, their piety what
it will, they belong to the rest of mankind in
feelings, interests, and motives of action, he to a
peculiar class. His avarice, his ambition, or what-
ever evil passions may actuate him, lie all within
his own class, and bring him into no comparison or
collision with other meo. The restrictiont of celibacy
led, no doubt, to monstrous disorder and depravity
in the age preceding the Reformation—an age,
however, in which gross licentiousness of conduct
and language seems to have pervaded all society
but it is a vulgar prejudice to suppose that the
Catholic clergy of the present times are not as pure
and chaste in their lives as the unmarried of the
female sex among ourselves. Instances may occur
of a different character, but quite as rarely as among
an equal number of unmarried females in Britain of
the higher educated classes. The restriction itself
of celibacy is unnatural, and in our church is
properly done away with, because we receive the
elements of the Lord's Supper as symbolical only,
not as being anything else than bread and wine, an
virtue of the priestly consecration. . The papists,
who receive the elements as transubstantiated by the
consecration, require very naturally and properly,
that the priest should beof a sanctified class, removed
from human impurity, .contamination, or sensual
lust,, as well as from all worldly affairs, as far as
human nature can by human means be. Both
churches are right, and consequent in their usage
and reasoning, according to their different doctrines.
The Puseyites of the church of England alone are
inconsequent; for if they claim apostolic succession,
and apostolic reverence and authority for the clerical
body, they should lead the apostolic life of celibacy,
and repudiate their worldly spouses, interests, and
objects.-Laing's Notes of a Traveller.
EDUCATION IN ROME AND BERLIN.
-In Catholic Germany, in France, Italy, and even
Spain, the education of the common people in
reading, writing, arithmetic, music, manners, and
morals, is at least as generally diffused, and as
faithfully promoted by the clerical body, as in
Scotland. It is by their own advance, and not by
keeping back the advance of the people, that the
Popish priesthood of the present day seek to kedp
ahead of the intellectual progress of the community
in Catholic lands; and they might, perhaps, retort
on our Presbyterian clergy, and ask if they, too, are
In their countries at the head of the intellectual
movement of .the agel Education is in reality not
only not repressed, but is encouraged by the Popish
church, and is a mighty instrument in its hands, and
ably used. In every street in Rome, for instance,
there are, at short distances, public primary schools
for the education of the children of the lower and
middle classes in. the neighbourhood. Rome, with
a population of 158,678 souls, has 872 public pri.
mary schools with 482 teachers, and 14,099 children
attendins them. Has Edinburgh so many schools
for the instruction of those classes? I doubt. it.
Berlin, with a; population. about double that of
Rome, has only 264 schools. Rome has also her
university, with an average attendance of 660 stu.
dents; and the Papal States, with a population two
and a half millions, contain seven universities.
Prussia, with a population of fourteen millions, has
but seven. * Is itasked, what is taught to the
people of Rome by all these schools ? Precisely
what is taught at Berlin-reading, writing, arith
metic, geography, history, languages, religious dec.
otrine or some sort, and above all, the habit of pas.
alsov suhmlasion in the one city tn-the clerical, in the
,other to tite government authoritits,-Laivig'a Notes
oJ e Traveller.
4 ROMANTIC IlICIDBINT.-Tho lost
isas of an atotumovl sun were gilding tise tops of
thes old Abbey of Westminster, wlten a figure
emergid ~fcom the dark gothic archway, and darted
with etoe rspidity of lightnlng along sloe aide of tho's
phtlitwll which mnarks the sate where the monastic
.itolthcen foiroetly load their dwelling. The stranger
was dressed in a dark tunic falling so his knee, sod
avers round his mock a profusion of mohalir, which
fell lii am pie folds, and was fastened inside lois vest
by some invisible proceas. H is legs were covered
with a woollen material, shaped into a gsrment, In
accordance with the age in whlich he isved; and lhla
feet were enossed in leather, cut into the fantastlo
fornm characteristic of she 'period we are- writing of,
His head, whlch.wss moulded much after the models
which Phidiaii, Cotrew, P~roiiteles, Behoes, Canova,
Nollekeos, or-Westmacott miight have produced, was
disfigured in same degree by a round black covering,
whIch was~pusled down almost to the eyebrows. and
the finely chiselled chis of thou stranger was can
coaled in a bIrd's eye handkerchief. His nose hooked
as if it was fresh -from thou studio of she sculptor, eo
delicately did it appear carved nut into ulso reflero
from the ceunlenasce, and the stranger's eyes might
have been just wee from tite easel of Michael An
gelo, Bluonareotti, or Martin Aecloer -Shes, en strik
Inogly did the pupil appear to be thrown In betwees
the lowering lashes, Scarcely had the stranger
gainid this eassern angle of the cloister, Into which
he was about to dart, when an individual meffled up
in a cloak stood before him, and producing ,tvo
aspu7er., piced one in thin -hand of she mysterseus
ini ida le she tunic, and having merel called
his attention to sloe other, he departed. The stran.
ger sunk exhausted upon the steon bench loss -runs
round the cloister, and the paper tell from his hand.
I dsrted forward-I picked up this writing which
had produced sucho a asrong effect upon the atranpor's
frame, for he washby eliis tim si~n strong convulsions,
Having reatorod hIls animation by the usual mesas,
1 proceeded so peruse theo paper * * * .ie was
.-hlo copy qf a userit.-Punoh.
A Madrid paper mentions the dis.
covery of a cave near Oviedo, which is nesrly
league sod a hoslf in circumference! -A quantiyo
human bones were discovered, as well as shoe hanl
of so antique sword, -
A PRIMITIVE PARISH. -The account
of the parish of .Johonstone, Dumfnlesshilre, In the
New Statistical Account of Scotland, is thus con
cluded i-"* Finally, in this very populous rural
parish, we have neither a publichouse, nor meeting-
house, nor resident surgeon, nor -village, nor -post
offlce, nor prison, nor lawyer, nor beggar."

VOLTAIRE'S OPINION ON WAR.-A
hundred thousand mad animals, whose heads are
covered with hats, advance to kill, or to be killed
by, the like number of their fellow-mortals wearing
turbans. By this strange procedure they want, at
least, to decide whether a tract of land, to which
none of them lay any claim, shall belong to a certain
man whom they call Sultan, or to another whom
they call Ciesar, neither of whom ever saw, or ever
will see, the spot so furiously contended for; and
very few of those creatutes, who thus mutually
butcher one another, ever beheld the animal for
whom they cut each other's throats I From time
immemorial, this has been the way of mankind almost
all over the earth. What an excess of madness is
this ! And how deservedly might a Superior Being
crush to atoms this earthly ball, the bloody nest of
such ridiculous murderers !
INDUSTRY OF THE BENEDICTINE
MoNks.-Three religious orders, all scions from the
great Benedictine stock, that of the Clugoi, which
dates from the first part of the tenth century, the
Carthusians, founded in 1084, and the Cistercians,
in 1098, contributed to propagate classical learning.
The monks of these foundations exercised them.
selves in' copying manuscripts: the arts of calli
graphy, and, not long afterwards, of illumination,
became their pride; a more cursive handwriting.
and a convenient.system of abbreviations, were in
troduced ; and thus, from the twelfth century, we
find a great increase of manuscripts, though trans.
cribed-mechanically, as a monastic duty, and often
with much incorrectness. The abbey of Clugni
had a rich library of Greek and Latin authors. But
few monasteries of the Benedictine order were desti
tute of one; it was their pride to collect, and their
business to transcribe, books. These were, in a vast
proportion, such as we do not highly value at the
present day; yet. almost all we do possess of Latin
classical literature,. with the exception of a small
number of more ancient' manuscripts, is owing to the
industry of these monks.-Halsm's Literature of
Europe.
THE OBJECTS OF REVOLUTION.-Tho
effects of the Revolution have been to reverse the
position of the clergy of the two churches, and to
place the Catholic, now on the vantage ground,in the
eye of the vulgar of the continental populations,
of being poor and sincere, while the Protestant
clergy, are, at least, comfortable, and well paid for
their sincerity. The sleek, fat, narrow-minded,
wealthy drone is now to be sought for on the
episcopal beoch, or in the prebendal stall of
the Lutheran or Anglican churches; the well-off
comfortable parish moister , yeomanlike in mind,
intelligenc, and social position, in the manse and
glebe of the Calvinistic church. The poverty
stricken, intellectual recluse, never seen abroad but
on his way to or from his studies or church duties,
living nobody knows how, but all know in the
poorest manner, upon a wretched pittance in his
obscure abode-and this is the popish priest of the
19th century-has all the advantage of position
with the multitude for giving effect to his teaching.
-Laing's Notes of a Traveller.
A BIsHoP IN AsIA.-At the village
of Hayis we found Issiiyah, Bishop of Berrawi,
with his attendant, waiting for us; althoogh an old
man he had walked from his residence at Duri, a
distance of nine miles, to meet us. The first spe
cimen of a chief dignitary of the Chaldean church
was highly favorable. I had expected a Bishop
with a dagger and sword-perhaps, as it was time
of war, with a coat of mail; but instead'of that we
saw an aged man of spare habit, with much repose
and dignity in his manner, and a very benevolent
and intelligent aspect, his head and beard nearly
silver white, his forehead ample and unclouded, and
his countenance, from never eating meat, 'uncom.
monly clear and fair. Welcoming us in the most
urbane ,manner, he held his hand to be, sted, a
custom common in this country, and ace anied
the ceremony by expressions of civility and regard.
Dr. Grant describes the same Bishop as a most
patriaschal personage. The Bishop wanted to walk
back, but we offered him the use of a horse. I was
not fatigued and preferred walking, but he had never
been accustomed to ride, 'and it was with some dif
ficulty. that we pot him to' mount a loaded mule,
where he could ott safe butween the bags. We then
started, Kasha' M'andu, and a portly .dressed man
carrying a hooked' stick, walking conspicuously
before.-Ainsworthy's Tour.

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