sel, who opened his case, according to the published report, in these words- "Mr. Perrin moved the Court to set aside the judgment had by default against the de"fendant, and that he should be furnished" 201., he must be condemned to lingering "not be Law and Justice in Ireland. If "the Court determined that the defendant "should not be permitted to plead, or see "his accusation until he paid the sum of "an expence of 201., or submit and suffer "as if guilty of whatever imputation it "in the first instance and before a plea "shall be received, to the grievous and "monstrous costs of a copy of the informa with a copy of the information gratis, or "and hopeless imprisonment without a "that the same should be read to him, and "trial, for he has deposed that he is not "he be permitted to plead thereto, without "worth 201.; he has been already sen "paying fees and Stamp Duty on a Copy."tenced to two years imprisonment; be"He stated from the affidavit of the de- "fore one third of that period has elapsed "fendant, that the present information "the Attorney-General filed an informa "was filed against him by the Attorney-"tion spread over sixteen skins of purchment ; "General, while he was a close prisoner" and calls on him to take out a copy at "in Newgate; that he never had been apprized of the charge against him, of which he "was still ignorant; that on being served may cast upon him; for recollect that is "in prison with a rule to plead to it, he “ still unknown to the defendunt. If the At"directed his agent to apply for a copy "torney-General have the power not only " of the charge to which he was called on "to subject this defendant, manacled as he "to plead; that he was answered that he " is, to the necessary and heavy expences "could not have a copy, or be made acquainted" of a Crown prosecution, upon any charge "therewith, for less than £20, the amount of "which his discretion or his suspicion may "the fees and Stamps; and that his plea" imagine, by an ex-officio information, but "would not be received till he took out a "copy; that he was not able to pay such "a sum, and that thereupon judgment had "been marked against him for an offence "of which he was still ignorant.". Reader, English reader! Have you no feeling for this man; this ruined man, who is your fellow subject; and, are your feelings so alive towards foreigners, of whose sufferings you have only heard vague and unauthenticated reports? But, Mr. Perrin shall speak to you upon this point; for he has done it more forcibly than I can.- -" He recollected, "he said, that when the defendant was "last before the Court, one of their Lordships pronouncing the sentence of the "Court, dwelt in language as just as it was "eloquent, upon the peculiar advantages "which even culprits enjoy under our con"stitution, and forcibly and emphatically "contrasted the treatment of the defendant with that of the unfortunate Palm, who "had been sacrificed by the tyrant of the "Continent to his hostility to a Free Press, "who had been executed without a trial; "but what was a trial without the opportunity of a defence? If Mr. Cox be not permitted to defend himself, nay to hear the charge against him, is it not a "mockery to call his condemnation trial? "what is the difference between this case and "Palm's? None; and the just feelings "and sentiments which reprobated the "conduct of his persecutors inust befriend "the present application; what was ❝ tyranny and cruelty, in Germany, can tion, under the name of Stamps and Fees "to strip him not only of the constitu"tional shield which a Grand Jury holds, "between every man and imputation, but "for the very weapons of defence, and in"flict a fine for liberty to answer, nay to I hear the charge; what hope can this "unfortunate man entertain of any period "to his confinement? What hope, that "when he has dragged through half the "term, that shall be added to his present "sentence, a new and equally unknown, "equally expensive, and, therefore, equally "undiscoverable information may not be "filed against him? When he may be "equally unable to purchase a trial; and "may again be called to judgment for "a crime of which his poverty alone has "convicted him; what security has any “man against such informations, if he must pay a fine at the pleasure of his accuser for " liberty to plead "Ah! what security indeed! And, are we to be told that such a man enjoys the liberty of the Press! Again, I ask the reader, if he has no feeling; if his feeling be quite dead towards a fellow citizen in this situation, while his feelings are all alive towards the Westphalians, the Dutch and the Swiss? The Attorney and Solicitor General both contended most strenuously against this motion; and insisted that Mr. Cox ought to be brought up to receive sentence without seeing a copy of the Information, " " and even without an opportunity of hearing it read. -But, let us hear what it was that the Attorney General said in answer to the above passage in Mr. Perrin's speech. I beg the reader to mark it well. "He said, that a great deal had been "said about the hardship of paying fees "and Stamps; that the rule of the Court "required the fees to be paid on the copies "before a plea could be received, and "that on recurrence to the Statute the question of Stamp Duty would be ascer"tained; that the Court hadno discretion "on the subject; he WOULD NOT AN"SWER what had been thrown out upon "the subject of ABUSE OF HIS AUTHO"RITY and office, that he would not HU"MILIATE himself to put his character "in issue on the necessity of the present "information or its length, that the public had SUFFICIENT PLEDGES of the "good conduct of the Attorney General " in the SITUATION AND RANK of the "office, and in the CONSCIENCE and "OATH for office of the persons who should fill it; that he would not rely on "the circumstances of this case for the "justification of his character; that he was satisfied none would charge him with oppression or severity, or abuse of the high and important power entrusted to him; that "what had been already observed on these matters and on the danger of the "subject, and the enormous power of the Attorney General in inflicting fines, as "it had been phrased, he was sure was "not expected to weigh with the Court on this motion; but was intended for the "public ear, and to impress a notion of "feeling that the defendant was oppressed "and persecuted by the Government of "the Country; which he trusted that no "one would seriously entertain a belief "of.". -So, he would not humiliate himself so much as to attempt to shew that he had not abused his authority! This was not amiss; but, what he says afterwards is of more consequence. He says, that the public have quite a sufficient security against his abusing his power. And, where have they this security? Why, in the situation and rank of his office; and in his conscience and oath! So,then, away go all the famous checks and balances, which have been so much applauded in our constitution. We are told, that there are two Houses of Parliament to be a check upon each other; that both are a check upon the Crown; that juries are a check upon judges; and that by these means our pre " cious liberties are secured. But, here we have high situation and rank and conscience and oath for the only checks upon a power of accusing, of bringing to trial or sus pending or dropping proceedings, and all this in one and the same person, and that person, too, removeable at the pleasure of the Crown! These, we are here told, are quite sufficient pledges for the conduct of the Attorney General! Why, the judges and the members of both Houses and the King' all take oaths, and why should we not rely upon their consciences and their high rank? But, if the doctrine be good so far, why stop here? If these be quite sufficient securities for his having the absolute power of accusing, arraigning, suspending or suppressing prosecutions; if his high rank and oath be a sufficient pledge for his good conduct as to all these matters, why should they not be a sufficient pledge for his passing sentence without any trial? Why should Judges and Juries be troubled with any part of the business? Why should not the Attorney General of himself have the power of putting into gaols and pillories any body that he pleases?The Judges in Ireland did, at last, allow the unfortunate Mr. Cox to hear the information Ex-officio read, and to take his trial upon it. But, I beg the reader to consider well what a state we are all placed in by this power of the Attorney General. Mr. Cox was excused from paying for a copy of the Information because he was reduced to that state, in which he was able to swear that he was not worth twenty pounds. If he had not been able to swear that, he must have paid the money, or he would have been sentenced as being guilty without any trial. What, then, is our state? What man is safe from ruin? Who is there that may not be made to rot in a gaol, if the Attorney General pleases? And are wa not all at his mercy? Have we any other security than what is to be found in his humanity and conscience -He may, if he pleases, file an Information Ex-Officio against me every day of my life; nay, fifty or a hundred in a day, if he pleases; and, according to the doctrine now laid down in Ireland, I must pay whatever sum he has a mind to make me pay for a copy of each of them, or I must be found guilty upon each, without any trial at all, without either Judge or Jury to protect me; because I am not allowed to plead ; I am not allowed to defend myself; I am not allowed to answer the charge against me, 'till I have purchased a copy of the charge at the Crown Office, and have also paid a tax upon it in proportion to its length. So that, I am wholly at his mercy; and every other man in the kingdom is at his mercy, until we can swear that we are not worth so much in the whole world as will pay the fees and the tax upon any information Ex Officio that he may choose to file against us. Few writers and printers can swear, the first time, that they are unable to pay the fees and the tax; but, the Attorney-General may keep on till he puts them in a condition to swear it; and, if they miss paying the fees and the tax, they are marked down as guilty without any trial. Well, then, are we not all at his mercy? Has he not absolute power over the property and liberty of us all? -I shall be told, perhaps, that I am supposing improbabilities; that such a monstrous abuse of power is not to be supposed. The supposition goes, indeed, very far; but, it is within the compass of possibility, and that ought to be quite enough to put a limit to the power, especially as the person exercising it is at all times removeable from one of the most lucrative offices, at the pleasure of the minister of the day, and is always brought in and put out with the political party to which he is attached. But, why do we talk of probabilities? It ought to be quite sufficient to know that the thing is possible; it ought to be quite sufficient for us to know, that there is an officer in the kingdom who has the absolute power of ruining whomsoever he pleases; this ought to be quite sufficient; it ought to be quite sufficient for us to know that in this kingdom, there is an officer of the crown, who, at his arbitrary will, may reduce any man, be he who he may, to a state of pauperism; or, to make him pass his life in a prison. Any man, no matter who; for there is no limit to his authority in these respects. He may file as many informations Ex-Officio as he pleases against any man; he may make each of them cost the man any sum that he pleases; and, when he has so done, he may, if he pleases, bring him to trial upon none of them, but rest satisfied with having reduced the man to beggary. He may, too, if he chooses, hold the man to bail upon each of them; and thus prevent him from leaving the kingdom for his whole life; for the trial may be deferred as long as the Attorney General pleases; and if the bail do not answer for any length of time, new informations may be filed.The answer Let to all this is, I know, very short. IT IS LAW. Very well; then, let it be KNOWN TO THE WORLD; that is my reply. Let it be known to the world, that it is the law of England. every body know, that we have such laws. Let them not be kept in hugger-mugger. We are everlastingly boasting of our laws; and, therefore, it is right that the world should know what these laws really are; or, at the least, it is right that we ourselves should know what they are.-Let us now take a look at this power of the Attorney General as a SOURCE OF REVENUE. The money, which a man is compelled to pay for liberty to plead ; that is, for liberty to answer the charges preferred against him by the Attorney General, consists of two parts: fees and stamp duty. The fees go into the pockets of the people at the Crown office, I suppose; but, the stamp duty goes into the Treasury. So that, before a man, accused by the Attorney General, can have liberty to answer the charge; before he can have the liberty of defending himself; before he can have the liberty of saying that he is not guilty; before he can enjoy this LIBERTY, he must pay A TAX!- -When you have placed this fact firmly in your memory, reader, then add to it, that the amount of this tax has no other measure than the will, the sole will, of the Attorney General, who may spread his Information over sixteen skins, or sixteen thousand skins, of parchment. And, observe, that, whether the Information be true or false, it is all the same as to the tax; the tax must be paid; and, if the person accused be found not guilty, he is not entitled to any return of the tax; he has no means of recovering that; that is so much money gone for ever. And, besides, the Attorney General is not obliged to put the accused person upon his trial after he has paid the tax. He may then hang the accusation up over the man's head and keep it suspended over him as long as he pleases; or, as I said before, he may quash it at once, at his own will and pleasure. -Well, but THIS IS THE LAW. A quite sufficient answer; but, let all the people know it, then; let us not hide our light under a bushel. Let those who are grown up know what they are liable to; and let our children know what they are born to inherit.——I am aware, that some readers will say: aye, but this law is only for writers and printers. Suppose it were not? What then? Are they so few in their minds as to the nature of his government. Seeing how useful this would be, how much more convincing than any thing said in paragraphs and speeches, I wonder that our government itself has not caused a translation of this famous Code to be made; and a comparison to be drawn between it and our Code. As to the comparison, I do not feel sufficient confidence in my own abilities to promise that; but, if no one will undertake a translation of the French Code, I really think that I shall attempt it, being perfectly convinced that it would be of great public utility. IRISH CATHOLICS.- It is stated, that the Catholic Committee having met in Dublin, upon the business of their petition to Parliament, they were dispersed by the magistrates, and that Lords FINGAL and NETTERVILLE were arrested, by order of the -The public are, already number, and are their occupations such as ought to make it a matter of indifference what laws they are subject to? But the fact is not so. The whole community, every man and woman is liable to the operation of this law; and it is well known, that Ex-officio Informations are constantly resorted to in cases of alledged offences against the revenue laws. I should like to know how many of these Informations have been filed in the last four years. The reader will, perhaps, remember the poor woman, who was, a little while ago, sent to Horsemonger Lane Jail, where she now is, for having interrupted or molested an excise officer in the execution of his duty. She is, I have been told, the wife of a very poor man and the mother of a large family of children. They had not the means of paying the expences of a copy of the accusation against her. She, of course, was marked down as guilty, with-government. out having had any trial. She had to in possession of the cause of all this; and come from a great distance in the country I am not aware that any thing new can be up to London to receive her sentence; said upon it.It is some consolation, her husband came with her to protect however, that there are men who see a her; all their goods were sold off to sup. remedy for the troubles of Ireland. The ply the means of performing the journey; Honourable Henry Augustus Dillon, in a their children were sent to the workhouse; work, addressed, by permission, to the and the mother is now in jail.— " But, PRINCE REGENT, has pointed out a remedy "THIS IS THE LAW." This woman for all the evils that afflict the author's and her husband and family are experi- native land; a salve for all her sores; a encing no more than the effects of THE balm for all her wounds; namely, a chain LAW. All was perfectly LEGAL and of fortified towns garrisoned by a stout standperfectly regular; all IN DUE COURSE ing army! These, he says, are the means, OF LAW. Agreed, with all my heart. and the only means, of promoting civiliI do not accuse any body of doing IL-zation; of softening the manners of the LEGAL acts; I am only anxious that all the world should know what this same law is! All men should know the laws of their own country, at least; and, it is not amiss for them to know the laws of other countries too. I have long wished, that some one would give us a good translation of the Napoleon Code, which is so often alluded to in our news-papers. It would be very useful to us to have it. Napoleon seems not to wish to keep it in huggermugger; for he has had millions of copies of it printed and sold at the price of about eighteen pence. It is surprising, that, with so laudable desire as many persons here have to expose his tyranny, no one has yet hit upon a translation of his Code. This appears to me to be the best way to attack him. Let the people see what the laws are which he makes his subjects submit to; and they will, of course, want nothing more to enable them to make up people; of making them happy and free; of putting a stop to their emigration to America; and of inducing them to defend Ireland to the last drop of their blood. Nay, he goes still further, and insists, that these means would induce people to emigrate to Ireland. He says, that the sight of these fortified towns and garrisons would gladden the heart of the beholder; and that," in half a century, they would make "Ireland what the Low Countries formerly were one fertile and highly cultivated "garden, secured against rapine, and strengthened by numbers of fine and rich "internal towns." He seems to have forgotten, however, to tell us what the Low Countries did when invaded by the French. He seems to have forgotten, that these fine towns threw their gates open to the French, whom the people every where hailed as their deliverers. These well-known facts he may as well insert, in the shape of a note, in the next edition of his book. To preserve the liberties of England this gentleman is content with a great standing army, formed into camps of exercise, (after the Prussian fashion) and field works; that is to say, small fortresses all over the country, each sufficient to hold a regiment, perhaps, or part of a regiment, while the rest are in camps or in cantonments. But, as to Ireland, he is decidedly of opinion, that, to preserve the liberties of that country, fortified towns are absolutely necessary.. -I do not believe, that Mr. Dillon is at all singular in his opinion. I believe that he is very far from the first who has entertained these notions. I believe, on the contrary, that he is, in this case, only the organ through which the opinions and projects of others have been broached to the public. This is my firm belief, and I shall be much disappointed, if we do not soon see proof of the correctness of this conjecture.I will say no more, at present, upon the subject of Ireland; and, indeed, there is little more to be said. All disputation relative to that country, seems to be come to a close. We are now in a state, when we have to look merely to events, It re likely to lead the way to a removal of all "That I am authorised to offer in addi- or if that ship should be no longer in "commission, to such sea-port of the "United States as the American Govern"ment may name for the purpose. AMERICAN STATES.--The correspond-"Majesty's disapprobation. Secondly, ence between Mr. Foster, our Minister in America, and Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State there, has been published in America by order of the government. lates, First, to the affair of the frigate the Chesapeake, out of which, as my readers will recollect, a ship under Admiral Berkeley took several seamen by force, and, in the act, killed several others, in the year 1807; Second, to the affair of the Little Belt; Third, to the seizure and occupation of the Floridas by the United States; and Fourth, to the Orders in Council.With regard to the affair of the Chesapeake, which seems to be now settled, much need not be said. Mr. Foster, on the 20th of October, says, "I am now "ready to proceed, in the truest spirit of "conciliation, to lay before you the terms "of reparation, which his Royal Highness "has commanded me to propose to the "United States' government, and only "wait to know when it will suit your "convenience to enter upon the discussion." Mr. Monroe tells him, in answer to this, that, although he regrets that the communication has been so long delayed, he is ready to receive it; and that he shall have satisfaction in finding it Thirdly, That I am also authorised to "offer to the American Government a "suitable pecuniary provision for the suf"ferers in consequence of the attack on "the Chesapeake, including the families "of those seamen who unfortunately fell "in the action, and of the wounded sur"vivors. These honourable propositions "I can assure you, Sir, are made with the "sincere desire that they may prove sa tisfactory to the United States, and I "trust they will meet with the amicable "reception which their conciliatory na"ture entitles them to. I need scarcely "add how cordially I join with you in "the wish that they might prove intro " ductory to a removal of all the differ |