disorders injurious to their cause. The immediate object of the government was secured: but the association while it avoided a contest with authority — adroitly assumed all the credit of restoring tranquillity to the country.1

But the proceedings of the association itself became more violent and offensive than ever. Its leaders were insolent and defiant to the government, and exercised an absolute sway over the Catholic population. In vain the government took counsel with its law officers.2 Neither the Convention Act of 1793 nor the common law could be relied on, for restraining the proceedings of an association which the legislature itself had interposed, three years before, to condemn. Peace was maintained, as the Catholics were unwilling to disturb it but the country was virtually under the dominion of the association.

tion in 1829.

In the following year, however, the suppression of this and other societies in Ireland formed part of the gen- Suppression eral scheme of Catholic Emancipation.3 The of the associaCatholic Association was, at length, extinguished; but not until its objects had been fully accomplished. It was the first time a measure had been forced upon a hostile court and reluctant Parliament, a dominant party and an unwilling people, by the pressure of a political organization. The abolition of the slave-trade was due to the conviction which had been wrought by facts, arguments, and appeals to the moral and religious feelings of the people. But the Catholic cause owed its triumph to no such moral conversion. The government was overawed by the hostile demonstrations of a formidable confederacy, supported by the Irish people and priesthood, and menacing authority with their physical force. It was, in truth, a dangerous example; and threatened the future independence of Parliament. But, however powerful this association, its efforts would have been

VOL. II.

1 Ann. Reg., 1828, p. 140-146; Peel's Mem., i. 232.

2 Peel's Mem., i. 243-264.

8 Infra, p. 374; 10 Geo. IV. c. 1.

14

A good cause

successful

paralyzed without a good cause, espoused by eminent statesmen and an influential party in Parliament. necessary for The state would have known how to repel iragitation. rational demands, however urged; but was unable to resist the combined pressure of parliamentary and popular force, the sympathies of many liberal Protestants in Ireland, and the steady convictions of an enlightened minority in England. In our balanced constitution, political agitation, to be successful, must be based on a real grievance, adequately represented in Parliament and in the press, and supported by the rational approval of enlightened men. But though the independence of Parliament remained intact, the triumph of the Catholic Association marked the increased force of political agitation, as an element in our constitution. It was becoming superior to authorities and party combinations, by which the state had hitherto been governed.

Increased

public opinion in reign of George IV.

During the short reign of George IV., the influence of public opinion made steady advances. The press influence of obtained a wider extension; and the people advanced in education, intelligence, and self-reliance. There was also a marked improvement in political literature, corresponding with the national progess. And thus the very causes which were increasing the power Improvement of the people, were qualifying them to use it of the press. wisely.

It was not by the severities of the law that the inferior press was destined to be improved, and its mischievous tendencies corrected. These expedients after a trial of two centuries had failed. But moral causes were in operation by which the general standard of society was elevated. The church and other religious bodies had become more zealous in their sacred mission:1 society was awakening to the duty of educating the people; and the material progress of the country was developing a more general and active intelli1 See infra, p. 412.

gence. The classes most needing elevation had begun to desire sound and wholesome instruction; and this inestimable benefit was gradually extended to them. Improved publications successfully competed for popular favor with writings of a lower character; and, in cultivating the public taste, at the same time raised the general standard of periodical literature. A large share of the credit of this important work is due to the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, established in 1826, and to the exertions of its chief promoters, Lord Brougham and Mr. Charles Knight. The publications of this society were followed by those of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and by the admirable serials of Messrs. Chambers. By these and other periodical papers, as well political as literary, — an extraordinary impulse was given to general education. Public writers promptly responded to the general spirit of the time; and the aberrations of the press were in great measure corrected.

--

The government, however, - while it viewed with alarm the growing force of public opinion, which controlled its own authority, failed to observe its true spirit and tendency. Still holding to the traditions of a polity, then on the very point of exhaustion, it was unable to reconcile the rough energies of popular discussion with respect for the law and obedience to constituted authority. It regarded the press as an obstacle to good government, instead of conciliating its support by a bold confidence in public appro bation.

Duke of Wel

secutions of

This spirit dictated to the Duke of Wellington's administration its ill-advised prosecutions of the press in 1830. By passing the Roman Catholic Relief lington's proAct, ministers had provoked the resentment of the press, the Tory press; and foremost among their assailants was the "Morning Journal." One article, appearing to impute personal corruption to Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst,

1 Edinb. Rev., xlvi. 225, &c.

1830.

could not be overlooked; but the editor having sworn that his lordship was not the person alluded to, an information against him was abandoned. The attorney-general, however, now filed no less than three ex-officio informations against the editor and proprietors, for this and two other articles, as libels upon the king, the ministers, and Parliament. A fourth prosecution was also instituted, for a separate libel upon the Duke of Wellington. So soon as the personal character of a member of the administration had been cleared, ministers might have allowed animadversions upon their public conduct to pass with impunity. If the right of free discussion was not respected, the excitement of the times might have claimed indulgence. Again, the accumulation of charges against the same persons betrayed a spirit of persecution. It was not justice that was sought, but vengeance, and the ruin of an obnoxious journal. So far as the punishment of their political foes was concerned, ministers prevailed.1 But their success was gained at the expense of much unpopularity. Tories, sympathizing with writers of their own party, united with the opposition in condemning this assault upon the liberty of the press. Nor was the temper of the people such as to bear, any longer, with complacency, a harsh execution of the libel laws. The unsuccessful prosecution of Cobbett, in the followprosecution ing year, by a Whig attorney-general, nearly brought to a close the long series of contests be

Failure of

of Cobbett,

1831.

tween the government and the press.2

1 Verdicts were obtained in three out of the four prosecutions. In the second a partial verdict only was given (guilty of libel on the king, but not on his ministers), with a recommendation to mercy,-Mr. Alexander, the editor, being sentenced to a year's imprisonment, a fine of £300, and to give security for good behavior during three years; and the proprietors to lesser punishments. Ann. Reg., 1830, p. 3, 119; Hans. Deb., 2d Ser., xxii. 1167.

2 He was charged with no libel on ministers, but with inciting laborers to burn ricks; Ann. Reg., 1831, Chron., p. 95. In the same year Carlile and Haley were indicted; and in 1833, Reeve, Ager, Grant, Bell, Hetherington, Russell, and Stevens.— Hunt's Fourth Est., ii. 67; Roebuck's Hist. of the Whig Ministry, ii. 219, n.

freedom of

Since that time, the utmost latitude of criticism and invective has been permitted to the press, in discuss- Complete ing public men and measures. The law has the press rarely been appealed to, even for the exposure established. of malignity and falsehood. Prosecutions for libel, like the censorship, have fallen out of our constitutional system. When the press errs, it is by the press itself, that its errors are left to be corrected. Repression has ceased to be the policy of rulers; and statesmen have at length fully realized the wise maxim of Lord Bacon, that "the punishing of wits enhances their authority; and a forbidden writing is thought to be a certain spark of truth, that flies up in the faces of them that seek to tread it out."

Fiscal laws

press.

Henceforth the freedom of the press was assured; and nothing was now wanting to its full expansion, but a revision of the fiscal laws, by which its ut- affecting the most development was restrained. These were the stamp, advertisement, and paper duties. It was not until after a struggle of thirty years, that all these duties were repealed: but in order to complete our survey of the press, their history may, at once, be briefly told.

stamps.

The newspaper stamp of Queen Anne had risen, by successive additions, to fourpence. Originating in Newspaper jealousy of the press, its extension was due, partly to the same policy, and partly to the exigencies of finance. So high a tax, while it discouraged cheap newspapers, was naturally liable to evasion. Tracts, and other unstamped papers, containing news and comments upon public affairs, were widely circulated among the poor; and it was to restrain this practice, that the stamp laws had been extended to that class of papers by one of the Six Acts. They were denounced as seditious and blasphemous, and were to be extinguished. But the passion for news and political discussion was not to be repressed; and unstamped publications were more rife than ever. Such papers occupied the same

1 60 Geo. III. c. 9; supra, p. 197.