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Mr. John Owen being examined, was asked, Whether he persisted in his refusal to give up the author of the pamphlet, intituled, Thoughts on the English Government, &c, ?" he replied, he felt it his duty, not to give up the author Then.

Mr. Thomas Wright was also examined, and being asked, Whether he had not acted as secretary of the association at the Crown and Anchor tavern? he replied, No. And expressing a desire to give information on the subject of that society, which he conceived would illustrate his former evidence; he produced a book, containing their publications, intituled, "Association Papers;" which, at the desire of the committee, he delivered in. And being shown the name of J. Moore, secretary, signed to the first association and declaration and resolutions of the society, on the 20th Nov. 1792; and the N. B. which followed; viz. “ All letters and communications are requested to be addressed to the secretary at this place:" he was asked, Whether he knew the said secretary, J. Moore; he answered, that J. Moore was a man in nubibus. He explained, by stating that he, J. Moore, was merely a fictitious name; that no such person existed as secretary to the society; and that he knew it at the time he printed their proceedings, but that the name had not been continued after a few meetings. On being shown the proceedings of the society on the two next meetings, of the 21th and 29th November, he admitted the signature of J. Moore was the same fictitious name. And being asked, whether there were any fictitious names among the list of the committee, published in the proceedings of the 29th of November? he said, he was sure there were none. And being asked, whether the committee knew that their signing secretary was a fictitious name; he answered, No one but Mr. Reeves. With regard to the means of circulation of the society, he said they were very extensive. He believed the correspondence with Mr. Reeves from other associations would make fourteen volumes bound. And being asked, to whom he returned the manuscript of the pamphlet, intituled, "Thoughts on the English Government, &c.?" he answered, to Mr. Reeves, from

whom he had received it.

Mr. Andrew Wilson being examined, said, that he had been printer of the newspaper called "The True Briton," and had frequent opportunities of seeing Mr. Reeves write for

that paper. And upon being shown the proof sheets of the pamphlet, intituled," Thoughts on the English Government, &c." as delivered in to the committee on a former day by Mr. Jones, he was asked, whether he knew the hand-writing contained in the said proof sheets, and the separate paper thereto annexed? he replied, to the best of his knowledge, they were the hand-writing of Mr. Reeves.

At the request of Mr. Wright, he was again called in; and permitted to add to his evidence, as follows: That it was at his sugges tion originally that the fictitious name of J. Moore was adopted by Mr. Reeves pro tempore, as it might be afterwards dropped; and at the meeting of the 30th of November, he mentioned the circumstance to the committee, who resolved that the name should be dropt. And being asked, why the resolution does not appear on the proceedings of that day? he answered, because it was considered merely as a private resolution.

The Reports were ordered to be taken into consideration on the 14th.

Dec. 14. The order of the day being read for taking the said Reports into further consideration, and the Resolution of the House of the 26th of November, being also read,

Mr. Sheridan said, that after the resolution which the House had just heard read, he should be much disappointed if there should appear any want of unanimity on the subject of the atrocious libel which had been so successfully traced to its source. He could not, however, help expressing an apprehension, from what had fallen on a former evening, that a difference of opinion might arise as to the mode of proceeding, and the measures which should be thought most likely to effect the ends of justice, and support the respectability of the House. When the first report had been presented, objections had been made, that the evidence which had been obtained was not sufficient; other gentlemen had thought, that it was fully sufficient to go to a direct prosecution of Mr. Reeves, either as the author or for acting as the author of the libel; and others had declared that the committee had stopped short at that point, which was in their judgment the most important. That mode of arguing, however, was founded upon a mistake which gentlemen made in the nature and object of the committee which had not been instituted to try a delinquent, but to inquire after and ascertain grounds whereupon to establish the delinquency, and who it was that had

been the author of the libel in question. In order, therefore, to meet every objection, the committee in their second report had taken care to leave no room for similar objections: they had called upon Mr. John Owen, the publisher of the libel, who, he confessed, had been left in a very awkward situation by the state of the evidence on the first. On the last occasion, they had questioned him if he still persisted in his refusal to give up the author; to which he replied, he felt it his duty not to give up the author. The committee had deemed this silence on the part of Mr. Owen contumacious towards the committee; and had directed him, as chairman of that committee, to notice the same to the House. He had thus complied with their direction, but, ever anxious for the preservation of the liberty of the press, he did not wish to extend the proceedings of that House beyond the author of the pamphlet, nor should he have been inclined to be so rigorous towards him, but for the authority which he held, and which was so able to impose pernicious doctrines on the opinions of the people. With respect to Mr. Reeves, as he was chairman of the Association at the Crown and Anchor, it was the object of the committee to compare his handwriting in any of the papers belonging to that association, with the proof-sheets of the pamphlet, and as the only way to do so was by getting at the secretary, they made inquiries for that purpose, but the object failed. Mr. Thomas Wright denied that he had ever acted as secretary to that association, and being shown the name of J. Moore, secretary, signed to the first association declaration and resolutions of the society, on the 20th of November, 1792, he answered, that J. Moore was a man in nubibus, a mere fictitious name, as no such person existed. From Mr. Wright's evidence, however, it appeared that Mr. Reeves was the leading person of the memorable club of alarmists, who had set the country in a flame of fear and discontent, with the bugbear tales of plots and conspiracies, treasons hatched and hatching, of designs on the Tower and the Bank, and Jacobin clubs associated to introduce the levelling and Republican systems. It might, at a first glance, seem that the circumstance of the chairman of such an association as that at the Crown and Anchor being the author of the libel before the House, was of a trivial nature; but if it was considered

that the chairman was himself in the constant habit of correspondence and intercourse with the treasury, that that society had 2,000 other societies, branching from, and affiliated with it, and that such doctrines as the libel held forth obtained the most fatal circulation through the country: when it appeared that the correspondence between Mr. Reeves's mother society and the two thousand nurseries of his principles, would make 14 folio volumes; he thought the seriousness of such a connexion was of no light consideration. Of all the occurrences which had arisen since the Revolution, it was the most alarming for the liberties of this country, that a man, countenanced, as he was, by government, with such means of disseminating his detestable doctrines, should, after having circulated the wicked principles of others through every ramifi cation of the "Society for protecting Liberty and Property from Republicans and Levellers," be himself the author of a work which struck at the foundation of the government, which asserted the inutility of the two Houses of Parliament, and the sole and exclusive right of the government and the law existing in the king: when he saw all this, and knew that such an association, acting with a vicious vigour, erecting itself on deception, supporting itself by falsehood, and maintaining itself by notorious treachery and boundless corruption, had for its president, the author of the libel upon which the House had already decided, he thought it an alarming crisis for the country, and a most important object for the consideration of the House. Mr. S. entered into a history of the association, which he said was commenced in November, 1792, and observed how remarkable it was that the nation was tranquil, no fears abroad or at home, no apprehensions entertained but for the issue of the war; that in one month after that society had been instituted, the nation was alarmed from one end to the other, the guards were doubled, a host of spies were for the first time employed under the sanction of those countenanced by the king of Great Britain's ministers; arms and ammunition were provided, and the duke of Richmond suddenly threw himself into the Tower with all the terror that might arise from an invasion with what effect the House well knew. After secret committees of that House had formed their reports, and after Messrs. Hardy and Tooke had been

threatened with all the penalties of treason, not one of the hired spies of ministers could prove a single fact in any shape resembling plot or conspiracy, although every effort of power, artifice, and corruption had been exerted to strengthen and support the charges urged against them. The Association, he said, had commenced with conscious guilt, and had proceeded upon principles of fraud and treachery. It appeared from Mr. Wright's evidence, that while they advertised that they would receive anonymous information, they added as a nota bene, "all letters and communications are requested to be addressed to the secretary at this place." And who was the secretary? Mr. Wright said it was "a man in nubibus;" and that even the committee did not know, nor did any one but Mr. Reeves and Mr. Wright that it was a fictitious name. What must be thought of the credulity of that committee, and want of the conduct of him who instituted such measures, but as the operations of fear, of guilt, and imposture? At the third meeting of the society, it appeared that the committee was informed that the secretary was a non-entity. The effect this anonymous system had upon Mr. Thomas Law, could not be forgotten. Mr. Law, in a manner equally honourable to his head and heart, after remonstrating against the resolution for receiving anonymous information, withdrew from that society, and exposed the dark principle of its institution. It was remarkable also, that the very resolutions which constitute the anonymous system were carefully kept out of their books and open proceedings. -It was not, however, to this secret system of spies and informers, the invitation of anonymous information, nor the then circulation of the proceedings of that society, that the labours of the association were confined. The works of Soame Jenyns, Whitaker, 'and Arthur Young, were openly recommended and circulated by that society; and the thanks of Mr. Reeves given for doctrines, which were treasonable to the constitution of the country. He lamented that the committee had not been vested with powers more ample, as he was convinced, from what he had already seen, that they could have traced the existence of a regular and deep laid plot to introduce despotism into this country; and to have shown that the title assumed by that society, professedly to oppose "Republicans

and Levellers," was only a pretext under which both Houses of Parliament were meant to be overturned, and tyranny completely established on the ruins of that little freedom which still remained in the country. He adverted to a precedent of 1680, when the Judges Scroggs, Jones, and Weston, were accused of countenancing despotism, wherein one of thosė judges expressed himself in terms the most harsh against Luther, Calvin, and Zuinglius, and against their followers; whom he had said, were men of such harsh spirits and such favourers of democracy, that nothing would serve them, but a parliament, but for his own part, he knew of no authority to whom he could look, nor of any law but what came from the king. Such was precisely the style of Mr. Reeves and his association: and he hoped the House would see their honour was concerned, in conferring a signal proof of their displeasure on the author of such doctrines. He could not avoid remarking, that by the two bills which had just passed, all public meetings in future were to be under the control of magistrates, that in the last commission Mr. Reeves was made a justice of the peace; and that in Westminster the mighty movers of sedition, as they were denominated, chiefly held their meetings. right hon. gentleman had thought, that the paid magistrates of Westminster would not be the first to obtrude themselves at any of these meetings; and perhaps he himself might incline to that opinion. He did not think such a man as Mr. Bond, for instance, would, who always behaved in a fair and modest manner. He begged to be understood that he made no allusion to that gentleman's former mode of life. Whatever that might have been, when he certainly could have no expectations of his present rank, since he had been in office, he had always been respectable; and Mr. S. said he thought it highly improper in the other magistrates, when he came into the commission, to refuse to associate with him, and stigmatise him as "The Cut-purse of the empire and the rule." If such magistrates as these, then, would not be the first to disperse a public meeting, who would? Why, the man of all others would be Mr. Reeves. Mr. Reeves would make himself the chief justice of seditious assemblies, the dictator of the day; and if any person presumed to say that extravagant courts, selfish ministers, rotten boroughs,

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themselves whether this should not be followed up by an address to his majesty to remove him from any place of trust; and instead of committing him to Newgate, he designed to move that he should be summoned to attend at the bar of that House, to receive a reprimand from the Speaker, and be recommended to make a disavowal of his sentiments. He concluded with moving, "That one of the said printed books be burnt by the hands of the common hangman in the New Palace-yard, Westminster, on Monday, the 21st day of this instant December, at one of the clock in the afternoon; and that another of the said printed books be burnt by the hands of the common hangman before the Royalexchange in London, on Tuesday the 22d day of this instant December, at the same hour; and that the sheriffs of London and Middlesex do attend at the said time and places respectively, and cause the same to be burnt there accord

and corrupt majorities ought to be abolished and reformed, he it was, that would instantly call out to Townshend and Carpmeal, "Seize that fellow by the throat, away with him to prison, he is a traitor, and proclaims sedition;" because Mr. Reeves had previously declared that every one of these abuses was essential to our government. Therefore it was the duty of the House, after the passing of those bills, to hold out to the contrary an indemnity, by declaring that the abuses were not among the sacred parts of the constitution; or else in every meeting they would leave no rule for the magistrate, and no limits for the people, to preserve their right from violation. He had before exposed the falsehood of charges of plots and conspiracies. He lamented the credulity of ministers, if it was credulity that led them to believe them, and to adopt the Machiavelian principles of using base means to accomplish what they might conceive to be good ends. He then mentioned the par-ingly." ticulars of the Pop-gun plot, as it was called, and stated the hardships that had been endured by Smith and Higgins. He believed that such proceedings as had taken place never could have been tolerated, if the minds of the people had not been previously poisoned, and that principally under the mask of loyalty, by Mr. Reeves. He did not wish to touch a hair of the heads of either printer or publisher; but when he considered all the consequences that had followed from the system of prosecutions, he thought no measures were too strong, no punishment too severe. He did not mean, however, to move for a prosecution, though he had no mistrust of the learned gentlemen opposite. He put it to the House, whether they ought not to measure equal justice for a conspiracy to lop off the Lords and Commons, as for a conspiracy to depose the king? The pamphlet was not a theoretical treatise on government, but a practical exhortation, addressed to the plain sense of the peo-nary numbers, had more frequently met ple. What he proposed therefore was to move for the censure of the House, and to proclaim that censure by having the pamphlet burnt by the hands of the common hangman. He objected to a prosecution most peremptorily, as he wished to set an example of lenity and mercy, contrary to what Mr. Reeves himself practised; but, though it was with great reluctance, he submitted to the ministers

Mr. Secretary Dundas said, it was not his intention to advert at present to what had passed on the night when the House came to the resolution that the book in question was a seditious libel. Having been absent that night, he had not the advantage of hearing the book read. Whether he might, or might not, however think it had a dangerous tendency, it was his duty to found all his observations on that resolution. He owned he viewed the subject in a very different light from the hon. gentleman. The House would act in taking up the matter in the way the hon. gentleman desired, at once as party, prosecutor, and judge; a complication of powers, which he thought they should by no means exercise. It was his opinion, he confessed, that nothing could have more tended to preserve the dignity of the House, or to support its honour and character, than that the libels, which had been lately published in such extraordi

with censure than punishment; many of which were in the highest degree, contumacious, and levelled directly at the proceedings of the two Houses of Parliament; though the reforming eyes of gentlemen on the other side had not taken them into view. What must any gentleman who valued the privileges of that House, think, upon reading, as he had done, in a paper, a paragraph to this

[670 effect: "Last night the bill for repealing the hon. gentleman's bringing his charge the British constitution passed the House against Mr. Reeves was, that he had set of Commons." Had the motion of the on foot those associations. Mr. Dundas hon. gentleman been confined to a case said he was free to confess, that, so far of mere literal breach of privilege, it from feeling severe to Mr. Reeves he was might not perhaps be inapplicable; but of opinion, that, in the year 1792, the when he complained of a transcendant association sat on foot by that gentle. breach of privilege, to which the House man had done infinite good to the counhad applied so very strong a resolution try. This was his opinion, however other as it had come to, he for one should set gentleman might entertain a different his face against a mode of proceeding sentiment. If the hon. gentleman was of suited only to a mere ordinary breach of a contrary opinion, and really thought privilege. Such had been uniformly his that the association had been productive opinion; and he should require nothing of mischief, he had certainly a right to more to confirm him in it, or to convince be offended. In the breasts of those who the House than the tenor of the hon. gen- thought with him, that to those associatleman's motion. As far as he under tions guarding the minds of the people stood him, the motion was in the first against the poison of their insidious eneinstance, that the book should be burned mies, and awaking them to their danger, by the hands of the common hangman; the present peace and quiet of the coun and that was to be followed up by an ad- try, was, in a great measure, to be attridress to his majesty to remove Mr. buted, no rancour or severity against the Reeves from all offices of trust. Thus, promoter of those associations could find without affording the accused the legal place. It would be their duty, then, to opportunity of encountering the evidence lay that circumstance quite out of their by cross-examining, and invalidating the mind; and so far the hon gentleman's testimony of witnesses, or of making a argument would be of no effect. The defence, but merely on ex-parte evidence House, he again said, must ground their not even taken upon oath, he was to whole proceedings on the resolution alsuffer a punishment the worst almost ready come to. There was nothing more that could be inflicted, namely, a total therefore, that they could of themselves incapacitation from all offices of trust. The do, to add to the effect of that resolution. question really was, whether the Com- The plan proposed, namely, that of burnmons would, in a case in which theying the pamphlet, would be doing nothing. themselves were parties, proceed to decide by their own power, or refer the matter to a trial by another judicature? The resolution which passed on a former night, had declared the book to be a malicious and seditious libel; and the Commons having so given their opinion already on the subject, no one could deny that it was fit for legal inquiry, and that another jurisdiction would more properly more soberly, and more temperately, take up the matter than the House. There was not a single topic of accustomed attack which the hon. gentleman had not contrived to seize by the head and shoulders and force into his speech. Mr. Reeves, the association, ministers, judges, justices; all these were the sports of his invective that night. The hon. gentleman needed not have taken the trouble to own, that not the pamphlet, nor the supposed author, merely as author, but that Mr. Reeves, the head of the loyal association, was the object of his aversion. There was no one who had the least doubt that the reason of

If the publication were really mischievous, that was not the way to prevent its pernicious effects; since experience must inform gentlemen, that they could not take a more effectual method of promoting its circulation; for thousands would be sold in consequence of its being burned that would not otherwise have been enquired after. Were gentlemen ignorant how many most pernicious pamphlets were circulating at that very time? Was parliament to select that one, and leave the rest behind? If gentlemen were disposed to comprehend all such libels in their censure, let them do it; let a committee be appointed to take them all, and make a bonfire in Palace-yard. If all that were truly dangerous (for surely they would not seriously say that danger was solely to be apprehended from the pamphlet in question) were committed to the flames, the bon-fire would be great indeed, as large a one as Palace-yard would hold. To condemn this alone would, in fact, be giving an imprimatur to the rest. It was better, therefore, to let it go to a

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