civil bloodshed. The necessity of entering | been the invariable objects of these multiplied in this Report into a detailed and historical and continued endeavours. enumeration of the different transactions which are included under this general description, is, however, superseded by the distinct and particular statement of them which is contained in the Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, which has been communicated to your lordships, and referred to your Committee.* The whole of that most important document your Committee beg leave earnestly to recommend to the particular attention of your lordships. They have found it supported throughout by the evidence which has been laid before the Committees of both Houses; and the truth of several of the facts there stated, as well as the authenticity of the sources of information from which they were drawn, have received additional confirmation from circumstances which have been disclosed even since the date of that Report. In any attempt to trace the outlines and leading features of the system established and acted upon by the disaffected in this kingdom, the first point which claims attention is the indefatigable industry employed for deceiving and misleading the people at large, and particularly the lower classes of the community. To poison the minds of persons of this description with opinions destructive of their own happiness, and inconsistent with the very ends and nature of all government, has always, and in every country, been the principal endeavour of those who are engaged in these conspiracies for promoting the principles of the French revolution. Your Committee deem it almost unnecessary to recall to the recollection of this House to what extent and with what success this measure was first adopted in France. They have seen abundant proof that, for many years past, and down to the present moment, the same means have been unremittedly pursued here by those who have unquestionably had the same objects in view. It would be an endless and most disgusting task to enumerate the almost infinite variety of impious, immoral, and seditious publications with which the press has of late years been loaded, both in Great Britain and in Ireland, and which appear to have in great part (if not wholly) proceeded from the persons engaged in this conspiracy. From this system of attack, nothing has been held sacred. To revile our holy religion, to undermine the foundations of our faith, to subvert every established principle both of political and moral duty, to destroy all sense of allegiance to our sovereign, all attachment to the forms and principles of our happy constitution, to eradicate every sentiment of national character, and to render the people of these realms indifferent both to the dangers and to the successes of their country, have * For a Copy of the Commons Report, see p. 579, The zeal with which these doctrines have been disseminated, and the peculiar mode of their circulation, are however deserving of particular attention. They appear to be principally addressed, not to that class of society whose habits might enable them, in some degree, to judge of the tendency of such opinions, but to those whose station and occupations have in great measure debarred them even from that degree of knowledge. With this view, these writings have been printed in numerous editions, and in the cheapest forms; they have even been distributed gratis, and in large quantities; and their circulation among the labouring classes has been a principal occupation of emissaries deputed to various parts of the country from the societies established in this metropolis. The same object has been pursued by inflammatory language, by seditious discourses, by lectures publicly delivered, by tumultuous assemblies convened in the neighbourhood of the capital and of other populous places, and by every other means which appeared best calculated to excite throughout the country a spirit of general hostility to its religion and government, and to delude to the commission of the most atrocious crimes, those whose situation most exposed them to this seduction. In this close imitation of the beginnings of the French revolution, the advantage which in that country had been derived to the supporters of these principles, from their success in corrupting the soldiery, could not escape the observation of those who, in these kingdoms, were labouring in the same cause. Your Committee have accordingly found, by clear and multiplied proofs, that repeated endeavours have been employed to taint his majesty's fleets and armies, by the introduction of a spirit of insubordination and mutiny, inconsistent with the duty of subjects, and still more with that discipline which is the indispensable foundation of all military service. Wherever in any part of those gallant and meritorious bodies of men any trace of such a spirit has appeared, to this cause it is principally to be ascribed; and it is much more to their loyalty, fidelity, and steady sense of duty, than to any want of industry employed to mislead them, that the ultimate failure of this part of the conspiracy is to be attributed. Following the same example of the progress and success of the measures employed to promote the cause of the revolution in France, the next object to which the conspirators in these kingdoms appear to have turned their attention was, the formation of popular societies, which, like those established in the earlier periods of the French revolution, might supersede the authority of gogovernment, of whatever description, and enable their leaders to assume and exercise, at their discretion, the whole power of the country, civil and military. guard against the danger of such establishments, the extensive influence of which has already been manifested both in France and in Ireland, and can by no means be considered as an object of slight concern in the present state of this country. To this imitation of the course of the proceedings which have led to such fatal consequences in France, your committee find that the disaffeced in these kingdoms have added the crime of a treasonable communication and connexion with the enemy at various periods during the present war. The history of these successive attempts in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland, is so particularly and distinctly detailed in the report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, that your Committee deem it unnecessary to repeat it here. They will only remark, that these attempts, followed up as they have been with unremitting activity and perseverance, have successively assumed every shape, and covered themselves under every pretence, which might best elude the vigilance of the king's government, and promote the wicked and dangerous designs which were in the contemplation of the leaders of these societies. Intelligence of the state of both kingdoms, with a view to the facility and success of inThe effects which this most powerful in-vasion, has been repeatedly transmitted to strument of treason and rebellion is capable of producing, have been but too strongly shown in Ireland, where, under the name of United Irishmen, a very large proportion of the lower class of the people throughout whole districts, counties, and provinces, have been combined into a systematic body leagued against the government, and protected from detection and punishment by the nature of their establishment, by mutual oaths of secrecy, and still more by the general terror which their menaces, crimes, and outrages, have naturally inspired, till, at length, the whole system burst forth into an open rebellion, which is even at this hour rather repressed than subdued. the French government, both from London and from Dublin. The invasion of Ireland was planned in personal intercourse between some of the Irish rebels and the French general charged with the execution of that measure; a resident envoy continued for a considerable time in France, regularly accredited by the body of United Irish. The communications were also maintained by frequent journics of persons who were addressed from the conspirators in Ireland to the members of the societies in this kingdom, and who from hence passed over to the continent. One of these, being apprehended in the very act of procuring his passage for France, was tried and executed here; and it It is under these circumstances that this appears that at the time of the arrest of this establishment of United Irishmen, which person, and of Mr. Arthur O'Connor, who has been so injurious to the peace and interest was apprehended with him, His majesty's of Ireland, appears to have extended itself to government were in full possession of the this kingdom, and particularly to the metro-knowledge of the treasonable designs which polis, where there is always, among the labouring classes a large number of Irish. It has also been closely imitated by the formation (precisely on the same model) of bodies of United Scotsmen and United Britons, which do not however as yet appear to have made such progress in this kingdom as was probably expected by their leaders. the latter has since confessed. Your Committee have, however, too much reason to apprehend, that neither the punishment of the offender already mentioned, and of those of his accomplices who have suffered in Ireland, nor the imprisonment of others, has yet stopped the course of this treasonable intercourse with the enemy. It has inThe system of Corresponding Societies deed, appeared to your Committee, that, which had preceded these, and prepared the during the detention of the prisoners who way for them in this kingdom, is however were confined on this account in Dublin, they scarcely, if at all, less dangerous, and appears found the means of keeping up communicato have been carried on, to an extent well tions with some of their confederates who deserving the most serious attention of this were still at large: and recent evidence has House. Your Committee have annexed to been furnished to your Committee of the conthis report two lists, one extracted from the tinuance of a treasonable correspondence papers found at different periods in the pos- between the United Irish and the enemy, session of the secretary of the London Cor- with the object of encouraging and aiding an responding Society, and at the General Com-invasion of his majesty's kingdom of Ireland. mittee room of that society; the other a copy of a paper found in the possession of a member of what was called the Executive Committee of that body. They contain the names of different places in this kingdom with which that society entertained correspondence. Your Committee have reason to believe that even these lists do not include the whole, but they appear to your Committee to furnish ample proof of the necessity of some new and more efficient provision to On the whole result of their examination, your Committee have seen the strongest grounds to be persuaded, that if the dangerous designs of these conspirators have been so far checked and repressed in this kingdom, as to prevent any actual interruption of the public tranquillity, this could only have been effected by the vigilance of his majesty's government, aided by the exercise of those extraordinary and occasional powers which parliament has from time to * Kendal, Wooton, Bromley, Kegworth, Debate in the Commons on the Sunday Newspapers Suppression Bill.] May 27. Lord Belgrave rose to call the attention of the House to a subject, at all times of the greatest importance, but particularly world infidelity was making such successso when in so large a part of the Christian ful attacks on religion; he alluded to the time judged it proper, after the example of their ancestors, to confide to his majesty; and supported by the extraordinary and unprece dented display of zeal, energy, and public spirit, on the part of the great body of his majesty's faithful subjects. So long as these continue, and as the attention of parliament is constantly applied to supply any defects in the means which the existing laws may afford to meet the exigencies of this new and unexampled crisis, they are confident that, under the Divine Providence, no danger is to be apprehended to the laws and happy constitution of this kingdom. But they are on the other hand equallyconvinced that this object requires a continued and active vigilance; and they feel it their duty to add, that no form of go-infringement on the decent observance of vernment can, in their opinion, be considered as secure, under which the system of secret societies, such as it is described in the report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, and as it has appeared in evidence before them, is permitted to exist. the Lord's day by the circulation of Sunday newspapers. About the year 1780, papers of this description first appeared; but they had not met with much success till within the last year or two, when a paper, called the Observer, had got into LIST of places with which the London Cor- considerable circulation. He had for responding Society have corresponded, as some time looked with anxiety to publicaappears by the Papers found in the posses. tions of this nature, and one of the evils sion of their secretary, and at the general he had always apprehended from the uncommittee room at the Queen of Bohemia's checked circulation of them was, that Head.-Cradley, Norwich, Sheffield, Man. chester, Chester, York, Liverpool, Halifax, they would ere long accumulate on SunSt. Albans, Bradford, Coventry, Maidstone, day in the same manner as on other days Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, of the week. An advertisement had Dundee, Nottingham, Derby, Banbury, lately appeared for the publication of an Adderbury, Bromley, Leeds, Leicester, additional Sunday newspaper, to be called Exeter, Deptford, Rochester, Ashton, The Volunteer. This paper was looked forTrowbridge, Aston, Dudley, Paisley, Hel-ward to with expectation; and on this acstone, Berwick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Chevening, Oxford, Wolverhampton, Whitchurch, Cardiff, Gravesend, Loughborough, Stourbridge, Battle, Wakefield, Birmingham, Woodchurch, Kent, Bath, Bristol, Tunbridge Wells, Melbourn, Stockport, Woolwich, Linsfield, Finsbury, Crauley, Craley, Ashton-under-Lyne, Framlingham, Garstang, Seven Oaks, Chevinam, Rochdale. A LIST of the United Corresponding Societies of Great Britain, in the year 1797, found in the possession of a person some time a member of the Executive Committee. Portsmouth, Newcastle-underLine, Salford, Manchester, Sheffield, Norwich, Bradford, Nottingham, Birmingham, Halifax, St. Albans, Exeter, Chester, High-Wycombe, Whitechurch, Leominster, Herefordshire, York, Bath, Bristol, Loughborough, Wolverhampton, Stourbridge, Wakefield, Melbourne, Leicester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth, Dundee, Paisley, Helstone, Berwick, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Oxford, Chevening, Gravesend, Maidstone, Rochester, Chatham, Bromley, Cardiff Woodchurch, Truro, Derby, Litchfield, Redbridge, Leeds, Chichester, Liverpool, Jedburgh, Sunbury, Kilmarnock, Stranraer Rowley, Hull, Grantham, Southampton, count he was the more anxious to stop it in limine, and, together with it, all papers of that description. He thought these newspapers an additional weapon in the hand of infidelity; since one of the constant efforts of infidelity had been to deter Christians from a decent observance of the Lord's day. The law upon this subject was notoriously ineffectual. At present, the sale of articles on a Sunday was contrary to law: there was a penalty of 5s. on the sale, and a forfeiture of the article; but the forfeiture, in fact, amounted to nothing, on account of the manner in which it was to be sued for, and the penalty was evidently too small. He should propose to increase the penalty from 5s. to 40s. If it applied to the whole sale, he would propose 207. on the sale of the article altogether; and in respect to the circulation of these newsbreach of the peace, and the person found papers, he would propose to make it a circulating them liable to instant commitment by any magistrate, or peace officer, or churchwarden. He had been told, in palliation of this abuse, that, al : though these were called Sunday newspapers, they were printed on the Saturday night now, whether or no this was the case, the evil was precisely the same; they were intituled Sunday newspapers; they were published, they were circulated, they were read on a Sunday. Independently of the immorality of this practice, he wondered that the taste of the town should be so perverted as to countenance it at all; and that, gorged as it was with news and politics during six days, it should still be desirous of feeding on a summary of the state of politics on the seventh. Was there any advantage, except the gratifying an idle curiosity, to be derived from this practice? None, except a small one to the revenue. What had at all times been the chief cause of the decay and fall of the greatest empires? What, but the pernicious growth of luxury, combined with an inattention to moral and religious duties. He could have wished that the measure had originated with those to whose more immediate care the interests of religion were entrusted; but the evil was of too crying a nature to admit of delay. The noble lord then moved, "That leave be given to bring in a bill for the Suppression of the Sale and Circulation of Newspapers on the Lord's Day."-Leave was given. May 30. On the motion, that the bill be read a second time on Wednesday, Mr. Sheridan said, that this was an extremely harsh measure, and the House would be wanting in duty to itself and to the subject, if, for no solid reason on earth, it adopted a prohibitory law, which not only sought to fetter the human mind, by denying the means of intellectual exercise, but invaded at every point the property of individuals. From all parts of the country, petitions would be presented against the bill. But the evil complained of by no means originated in the Sunday papers. Papers published in the country on the Monday, but which were necessarily delayed at the press till after the Gazette of Saturday could be received, might be said to occasion much more frequent breaches of the Sabbath than the Sunday papers, which were printed late on Saturday night. If the noble lord would fully attain his object, he must not stop at the Sunday papers. People were naturally curious, and why not read of a battle, a negotiation, of deaths and marriages, as well on a Sunday as on any other day? There was an exception in favour of selling mackarel on the Lord's day; but might not the people think stale news as bad as stale mackarel? Besides, there were a great number who could not read the papers on any other day; and would it be right to conceal from them the situation of the empire at home, and of our affairs abroad? The people had a right to be informed on these subjects, and he could not agree to a bill that would deprive them of all means of information. The noble lord had surely not considered the injury he would be doing to the proprietors of those papers, if his bill passed into a law. He would actually rob an industrious class of men of all their property, without the show of equivalent, and without being able in any one respect to correct the abuse of which he complained. It was new to him to find men, for the sake of piety, stripping the adventurous tradesman of his property. He must decidedly oppose the bill, and would move, that it be read a second time this day two months. Mr. Jones thought it cruel to ruin men by this morality bill, while routs, concerts, &c. were permitted to be kept at the houses of the opulent on the Sunday. Mr. Wilberforce, wished that the people should be afforded the opportunity of innocent recreation, but was far from supposing that the reading of papers on the Sunday was among the means of improving the public morals. The people could only innocently recreate themselves on that day by attending to their religious duties. If the selling of papers should be permitted, then might hundreds of other trades be carried on on the Lord's day. The selling of papers on the Sunday was contrary to law. With respect to the injustice of a measure affecting so much the property of individuals, did the House not know that it was a prohibited trade? So far from these proprietors being entitled to the protection of the House, the fact was, that the proprietors of daily papers had a much better claim, because the law was originally framed partly to secure them against any invasion of their trade by this sort of persons. If the House did not prohibit the abuse, it would become a question whether the institution of the Sabbath was any longer to continue. Mr. I. H. Browne wished the Sabbath to be properly respected, but was not for increasing penal laws. All the country read the papers on Sunday, and he thought the reading of them an innocent recreation. He was a friend to newspapers, as he was a friend to every institution whose tendency it was to disseminate political information. If the measure were intended to enforce the existing laws merely, he would support it; but he could by no means agree to any bill that unnecessarily swelled the penal code. Mr. Buxton did not think that the object of the noble lord would be answered by this bill. Papers published on the Sunday were worked off on the Saturday night, and therefore he did not see the same objection to them as the noble lord did. He was sorry to see the Sabbath so ill observed. If it was expected that the lower classes should improve in their morals, the higher should set them a good example. The laws as they stood should be enforced. The question being put, That the words "Wednesday morning next" stand part of the question, the House divided: YEAS NOES Tellers. {Lord Viscount Belgrave } } 25 22 SMr. Sheridan Mr. Jones So it was resolved in the affirmative. The main question being put, it passed in the negative. June 11. On the order of the day for the second reading of the bill, Lord Belgrave said, that the objections which had been started against the bill were various. By some it had been said that it went too far; and by others, that it did not go far enough. He would declare it to be his opinion, that no man could exercise his ordinary calling on the Lord's day, according to the laws of the land and the commands of God, excepting only works of charity and necessity. An exception had been made in favour of the selling and buying of milk and mackarel, this, however, was previous to divine service. Could the sale of Sunday newspapers come within the description of works of charity or necessity? The law as it now stood, was directly against the sale of these papers: it imposed a penalty of 5s. on the sale in the gross. There was also a penalty of the forfeiture of the article in circulation; but these were insufficient penalties. What he proposed was, to make the sale and circulation of Sunday papers a breach of the peace, and [VOL. XXXIV.] to empower churchwardens, constables, &c. to arrest the venders, and take them before the next magistrate, who should have power to confine such persons for any period not exceeding 14 days. This bill went to two points: To the suppression of the sale of these papers, and the prevention of the printing of them on a Sunday morning. With respect to the justice of this measure, as it respected the proprietors, he was glad to find that no petition had appeared against the measure. The printers of this description of newspapers were printers in general; besides which, as they could transfer the printing of their papers from Sunday to Saturday, they would suffer but little injury. He was asked whether it was not an innocent thing which he wished to suppress? In his opinion it was not, since it was contrary to the law of God. There was a large body of men concerned in this trade; he meant the distributors of those papers, many of whom held the practice of publishing Sunday papers in as great abhorrence as himself. Here the noble lord read a letter to this effect from certain distributors, 129 in number, in which they stated that they had formerly signed a petition to the lord mayor and to the bishop of London against this practice. These persons had actually expended 50%. in instituting prosecutions against the printers, but they had not succeeded in their object, doubtless owing to the inefficacy of the law as it stood. He had heard it objected that the present bill was going too far. But he would ask, whether in the present day, we were not in greater danger of running into infidelity, than of being too strict? It ought not to be forgotten, that we were the near neighbours of a nation, where the very name of a Sunday had been blotted out of the calendar. In Ireland, a Sunday newspaper had been endeavoured to be set up: but the magistrates had prevented it. As to the defalcation which this measure would occasion to the revenue, he had heard it stated at 30,000l.; but he did not think the revenue would be a loser, because those who now took in a Sunday paper, would then take in a Saturday, or some other paper; at any rate, the revenue was not to be supported by undermining the goodly fabric of religion. It had been pleaded in extenuation, that the Sunday papers contained sermons, &c. ; but so far from this being a recommendation, he considered it as an evil, inasmuch as it in[3 T] |